Migration Processes in Central and Eastern Europe - Multiple Choices

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Construction of Borders and Practices of Labour Migration
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uncultivated. Most people make a living through either
domestic or international labour migration. 6 The reasons
for the extremely high level of labour migration in the
village can be explained on three intertwined levels: 1. the
specific labour context of the village (the economic context
presupposes a high migration rate); 2. the “culture of
migration” and the marginalised position of the Bulgarian
Muslims; 3. the position of Bulgaria in the world labour
market as a semi-peripheral country.
MIGRATION PRACTICES AND DESTINATIONS
– THE FOUR TYPES
For the purposes of this paper I will delineate four
types of migration according to the destination. 7 Thus, the
types to be presented are Greece, Spain, Dupnitsa and Sofia
(both in Bulgaria).
•• Greece
Family labour migration to Greece is seasonal,
legal and partly employer-regulated. It started approximately
seven years ago. Usually whole families go to Greece to take
up seasonal work, spending up to six months there. 8 They
work on tobacco fields, legally with working visas, for Greek
employers in small villages in the northern part of Greece.
Greek employers have been coming to the village to recruit
workers for the last five years. Groups of families from one
kin tend to work for the same employer, with one employer
typically coming from each small Greek village. As a result,
there are kin clusters in the different Greek villages and
consequently there is almost no interaction between the
different groups from Ribnovo, whilst in Greece.
The choice of destination is based mainly on
social networks. Employers ask new workers for recommendations
from old ones. At the same time the recommendation
process flows in the opposite direction, with the migrants
asking for advice from their relatives; thus the process of
mutual selection and recommendation leads to kin clusters
in particular villages working for particular employers.
When away, in the cases of family agricultural work, there is
a tendency to try and keep the same social milieu. People
who are closely related in the village tend to migrate together.
Thus a group of ten to twenty families, most of which have
a kin relationship, reproduces to a great extent the direct
social environment in which these families live when in
the Bulgarian village. This in turn creates not only the
re-production of the family atmosphere, but also of the
family power structure.
•• Spain
Spain is a traditional migration destination for
people from the Western Rhodopi region, and specifically
for the Bulgarian Muslims living there (Troeva and
Grigorov, 2003). At present, between 60 and 100 people
from Ribnovo work in Spain. 9 The usual period for staying
in Spain varies from five to eight months. The migrants,
mainly young men, travel as tourists but work illegally and
overstay the legal period of three months. Migrants from
Ribnovo head mainly to the small towns and villages in the
southern part of Spain near the coast. This type of migration
is completely unregulated and the migrants rely entirely on
their social networks for all the stages of the process. They
usually travel either alone or in groups of two or three. In
most of the cases the respondents begin by contacting
a relative member (of varying degrees of closeness: an
uncle, cousin, or the husband of the respondent's sister
is the most usual connection) who have already settled in
Spain. The relative usually finds work and a place to live in
advance. He will also lend some money, if necessary. Thus,
in the case of Spain, the mobilisation of social networks is
more apparent than in Greece. The whole process from the
initial choice of destination to returning back to Bulgaria is
arranged by the migrant themselves and is mainly based on
the use of contacts and help from relatives.
•• Dupnitsa
It is traditional for villagers from Ribnovo and
other Bulgarian Muslim villages to migrate to work on
tobacco fields (Decheva, 2003: 124-140). At present, the
most popular destination is Dupnitsa and the surrounding
villages. It is a town about 100 kilometres away from
Ribnovo on the main road from Sofia heading towards the
Greek border checkpoint. In 2005 more than 300 families
went to work on tobacco fields in the region of Dupnitsa.
The families usually go with their children, unlike in the
case of the migrants to Greece. Contracts to rent land are
usually drawn up in advance. In most of the places, all the
families from Ribnovo live together in renovated cattle
sheds, which were previously used by the agricultural
cooperatives. A specific feature of this migration type is the
transporting of the family's domestic belongings, such as
beds, ovens, silverware etc. People who have stock take that
as well. This has further implications for the construction of
the material side of the “home”.
Unlike in the case of the migrants to Greece,
the choice of place depends entirely upon the migrating
family. The specific clusterings of relatives in a village play
a significant role when choosing the place of work. There is
a channelisation of the migration flows to particular small
villages, as is the case with the migration to Greece.
•• Sofia
Since the beginning of the last century, it has
been traditional for labour migrants from the mountain
villages to work in the field of construction. Some men
work in construction during the whole year as a permanent
occupation, others do it in between other jobs.
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Migration Processes in Central and Eastern Europe: Unpacking the Diversity