Are you who you know ? A network perspective on ethnicity, gender and transnationalism: Albanian-speaking migrants in Switzerland and returnees in Kosovo

Author(s) : Janine Dahinden

Source : http://www.oapen.org/download?type=document&docid=350737#page=128

Abstract:

Using a concrete example, I will show the forms that migrant social networks take, how they are structured and the resulting effects on social practice. As an example, I use Albanian-speaking migrants from the former Yugoslavia. The first part will explain the extent to which gender, in combination with other social categories like national origin, education or type of residence permit, structures the supporting networks of these migrant groups in Switzerland. Furthermore, I will show how the structure of social networks is connected with the specific position of these immigrant groups in Swiss society. At the centre of these explanations will be the link between gender and ethnicity. I demonstrate how different – and multiple – social forms of stratification and exclusion mechanisms work simultaneously. In the second part the support networks of female returnees in Kosovo will be presented. The emphasis in this part of the chapter is on the relationship between gender and identificatory classifications. I will show how migration transforms ideas about gender and in what way these developments make the reintegration process for female returnees that much more difficult.