Migrants’ housing in the homeland. A case study of the impact of migration on a rural community: the village of Marginea, Romania

Abstract

International migration induces changes in values and lifestyles, transformations perceived as well in housing practices and living standards. Building and decorating a home is one of migrants’ main targets, as the house becomes a sign of wealth and social ascension that mobilizes a significant proportion of their remittances. This article aims to show how the migrants’ “debrouillard” spirit and their migration experience acquired during the communist regime helped them in wheeling and dealing under the new post-communist economy and build their houses in the homeland. The paper relies on data collected in fieldwork carried out in the village of Marginea, Romania, a rural community comprising ca. 10.500 people, characterized by strong international migration.

Authors and Affiliations

Andra Letiția Jacob Larionescu

Keywords

Related Articles

The organization of Romanian social memory after the December 1989 events

The social memory phenomenon causes debates nowadays, puts in opposition methodological schools, generates a series of incompatible theoretical positions. Proof that the concept of “social memory” “lived” its first age a...

Linking social capital, cultural capital and heterotopia at the folk festival

This paper investigates the role of folk festivals in transforming interconnections between people, space and culture. It interlinks three sets of theoretical ideas: social capital, cultural capital and heterotopia to su...

Euthanasia and normality in Romania or Being reluctant to a good death

The present paper explores the perspectives of introducing human euthanasia on the Romanian public agenda by using the realm of normality as framework for argumentation. When choosing the topic I was inspired by the grow...

Multi-dimensional change and the question of comparison

This article elaborates and endorses the idea of civilization as advanced by R. G. Collingwood. Particular attention is given to two of his most neglected works, The New Leviathan and “What ‘Civilization’ Means”. The New...

Success IS a choice! Explaining success in Academic Preparation Programs in Israel

Operating within universities and colleges, Academic Preparation Programs in Israel (APPs) allow students in their twenties a second chance to pass their matriculation examinations, a requirement for acceptance by academ...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP151208
  • DOI -
  • Views 104
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

Andra Letiția Jacob Larionescu (2012). Migrants’ housing in the homeland. A case study of the impact of migration on a rural community: the village of Marginea, Romania. Journal of Comparative Research in Anthropology and Sociology, 3(2), 81-95. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-151208