JOURNAL
Citation: Senyo Dotsey (2018) International migration and livelihood dynamics during the recent economic crisis: a study of Ghanaian migrants in the Como province, Italy, Migration and Development, 7:1, 104-123, DOI: 10.1080/21632324.2017.1345146
Abstract/Description: International migration has become a kind of livelihood strategy for migrants (poor), and thus plays substantial roles in their livelihood improvements. Focusing on such perspectives, this study seeks to illuminate how international migration shapes livelihoods of Ghanaian migrants in the province of Como, Italy, during the recent economic crisis. Here, this paper considers livelihood improvements as the increase in the quality of life after migration as compared to migrants’ socio-economic features before migration, through lenses like employment, housing, business activity and necessary residency documents. Central to this analysis is to examine various registers that immigrants draw on to access and improve their livelihoods as they come into contact with their legal standing in the receiving country during the current economic crisis (hard times). Drawing heavily on qualitative inquiry of in-depth interviews and observation, this paper argues that immigrants though of legal standing have to draw on several strategies like personal and informal social networks and other sources like the migrants’ church(es) to access and improve their livelihoods. These findings enrich existing literature on international migration and livelihood dynamics in host countries in times of crises.
This publication is available here.
This is NOT a C-MISE publication: this website hosts links to external publications and resources selected by the C-MISE team on the basis of their relevance for city authorities interested in service provision to migrants with irregular status, and are only presented here as suggested readings. External publications are the product of the authors there mentioned, and are not in any way the product of the C-MISE initiative, nor are they related or endorsed by the C-MISE initiative.
