Morosanu, Laura, Bulat, Alexandra, Mazzilli, Caterina and King, Russell (2018) Growing up abroad: Italian and Romanian migrants’ partial transitions to adulthood. Ethnic and Racial Studies. ISSN 0141-9870

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Abstract

Drawing on in-depth interviews with young Italians and Romanians, representing two of the largest “old” and “new” European populations in Britain, this paper examines migrants’ experiences in the spheres of work, family, and “home”, and their narratives of “growing up” abroad, to enhance our understanding of youth transitions to adulthood in the context of intra-EU migration. Contrary to accounts that see migration as a strategy to either delay or advance adulthood, our analysis offers a more complex picture, showing how migration may unevenly affect transitions to adulthood, advancing some, and delaying others. Furthermore, we extend debates around the meaning of adulthood, illustrating the central role migration plays in generating feelings of “growing up”, even when traditional markers of adulthood are absent, and how these are negotiated transnationally in relation to home-based peers, in ways that combine old and new understandings of adulthood.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Coming of age, intra-EU mobility, Italian migration, Romanian migration, transnational relationships, youth transitions
Schools and Departments:	School of Global Studies > Geography School of Law, Politics and Sociology > Sociology
Research Centres and Groups:	Centre for Innovation and Research in Childhood and Youth Sussex Centre for Migration Research
Subjects:	H Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Laura Morosanu
Date Deposited:	11 Jul 2018 12:42
Last Modified:	24 Oct 2018 16:15
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/77080

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