Will they still be dancing? (1982)

fact that the sexual division of labour in Wallachian peasant society is comparatively
fluid. Thus, women have been engaged in all kinds of agricultural
work on the farm and even in off-farm wage-labour when the need arose. The
mobility of women was supported by the fact that they were not barred from
occupational activity by many childbirths. The family structure among the
Wallachians seems well-suited for sustaining intensive migrancy of
economically active members.
In the dominant type of household, with several cohabiting successive
generations, the older generation(s) would care for young children while the
parental generation left for Scandinavia. At first the younger or middle-aged
Wallachians went abroad in order to earn as much money as possible in a
couple of years, so that the household might achieve a better material position
in the home village and increase its relative socal status. When the most
immediate existential needs had been covered, remittances from abroad were
used to buy land, houses, dowries, etc. (cf. Schierup 1973). This rapidly led to a
tremendous increase in the claims for income of the average household,
inducing increasing numbers to migrate abroad in order to sustain increased
consumption at home. Dowry and bridemoney rose to levels which exceeded
the resources of those households who were without foreign remittances.
Prices of agricultural land skyrocketed and there developed grossly exaggerated
norms as to what was considered a "decent" dwelling. Humble peasant
cottages were supplanted by new solid brick villas. These were first built as
onestorey houses, but gradually became 2 and 3 storey "mansions". Despite
their size the family still utilizes only two or three rooms; others are empty,
with the entire family absent in Western Europe most of the year.
Most investments were tied to increased consumption. Even when migrants
invested in improving household production this has largely taken on the
character of conspicious status demonstrations in the village context. Even
peasants with very little land have invested heavily in tractors, combines and
large agricultural buildings. Some villages have a ratio of one tractor per every
2 hectares of land. Simultaneously, peasants now see agriculture as inadequate
for fulfilling the material norms, needs and claims ofthe migrant communities.
Only very limited possibilities have appeared for the generally poorly-educated
Wallachian labour migrants to return, and only a handful have found
possibilities to reintegrate themselves into thelocal labour market after returning
from Western Europe after 10 or 15 years. Only a viable combination of
wage labour and agriculture could fulfill the goals for which most migrants
went abroad; Le., to return to a better future in the village of origin. Lacking
this combination migrants constantly postpone their return; temporary migration
developed into a permanent process of migrancy.
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