Women migrants and their personal experiences have been in the focus of research scrutiny only for these past two decades. The attention has been paid to them since a general belief prevailed in the ...academic world that migration has always been a process characterized by distinct gender-related specifics. The life stories of migrant women present “lives in a context”, in regard to various social, economic and historical circumstances. They also indicate how these lives depended on cultural landscapes, personal attitudes, intimate calculations and independent decisions. The collected life stories show how the decisions in the life-long migration processes are not influenced only by economic and political factors, but mainly by family and friendship networks and bonds, and by intimate reasons and aspirations. It is impossible to understand migration phenomena without personal accounts of migrants along with subjective experiences of those who leave and those who stay. The use of auto/biographical sources has enriched the migration studies with new insights into the different roles, experiences, statuses and dealings of men and women in migration contexts. The book by seven authors – Mirjam Milharčič Hladnik, Jernej Mlekuž, Marjan Drnovšek, Katja Škrlj, Sanja Cukut, Urška Strle, Špela Kalčič – is a contribution to a better understanding of migration dynamics in Slovenia today and in the past.
The theoretical part of the monograph (' Gender and migration: experiences of women as actors of migration') is based on researching the meaning of gender for understanding migration processes and ...their classifications. By analysing established approaches in migration and related studies the author shows that the definition of the term migrant is related to processed of inclusion as well as exclusion. Through life-stories of female migrants the author tries to explain the wider social context of migration, which, despite the rise of qualitative migration studies in the last two decades, is still lacking in established approaches to migration. The main focus of research is on experiences and perspectives of female migrants. By combining theoretical and epistemological approaches in migration studies as well as in women and gender studies, the monograph contributes to enriching knowledge in both fields.
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