Facets of African immigrants mobility in Greece: Between transnationalism and integration = Όψεις της κινητικότητας των Αφρικανών μεταναστών στην Ελλάδα: Μεταξύ διαεθνικότητας και ένταξης

Περίληψη

Despite that in the last two decades Greece has rapidly transformed to a destination country for immigrants, the unprecedented crisis has had a severe impact on immigrants’ settlement and integration. New migrant flows which originate from Asia and Africa have induced new challenges for the national authorities and policy makers in Greece. Usually oriented to the countries of Western Europe, migrants from Africa and Asia, are crossing the Greek border in a search for better living opportunities in Europe. In the midst of the economic crisis many of these migrants have never managed to find employment in the country and their greatest care has been to move to the rest of Europe. This paper presents the findings of a recent empirical research conducted in the period 2011- 2013 which aimed at the investigation of the migration process as well as the prospects of African immigrants’ integration in Greek host society. In total 532 questionnaires addressed to immigrants originating from seven sub-Saharan African countries were collected, while more than fifty interviews were conducted with second generation African immigrants, state agencies, migration policy institutions and civil society organizations. The main objective of the paper is to map out the migration process of African immigrants as well as to investigate the various dimensions of their social and geographical trajectories in the country. Looking at seven Sub-Saharan African nationalities, we depict their 'journey' to Greece, their expectations, their routes until the final destination and their integration prospects into Greek society. In the context of economic crisis, the interplay of migrant 'mobilities' and the integration into host societies remains a basic question.