IMISCOE is academic and personal journey into Albania’s post-communist society examines RESEARCH the links between internal and international migration in one of Europe’s poorest countries. e author follows rural migrants to urban destinations both within Albania and in neighbouring Greece. eir lives and experiences are captured in interviews, alongside group discussions and ethnographic observations. is rich Albania on the Move empirical material is analysed with reference to an extensive body of literature. e author’s own experience as a migrant and re ections as a researcher studying her own Albania on the Move communities of origin add valuable insights. e result is a demonstration of the complexity of the links between internal and international migration, especially from a development perspective. Links between Internal and Julie Vullnetari is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Sussex Centre for Migration International Migration Research, University of Sussex. “Mastery of migration theory and a ne ethnographic sensibility combine in this careful and intelligent research.” Gilles de Rapper, Institute of Mediterranean, European and Comparative Ethnology, Aix-en-Provence “ is research has signi cant policy implications for how we view the relation between migration and development.” Ulrike Hanna Meinhof, Centre for Transnational Studies, University of Southampton “Bridging a major gap, this study is one of few to e ectively investigate the interrelationships between internal and international migration.” Ayman Zohry, Egyptian Society for Migration Studies, Cairo Winner of the rst IMISCOE Maria Ioannis Baganha Dissertation Award .. A MSTERDAM U NIVERSITY P RESS Albania on the Move IMISCOE International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion in Europe The IMISCOE Research Network unites researchers from, at present, 28 institutes specialising in studies of international migration, integration and social cohesion in Europe. What began in 2004 as a Network of Excellence sponsored by the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Commission has become, as of April 2009, an independent self-funding endeavour. From the start, IMISCOE has promoted integrated, multidisciplinary and globally comparative research led by scholars from various branches of the economic and social sciences, the humanities and law. The Network furthers existing studies and pioneers new scholarship on migration and migrant integration. Encouraging innovative lines of inquiry key to European policymaking and governance is also a priority. The IMISCOE-Amsterdam University Press Series makes the Network’s findings and results available to researchers, policymakers and practitioners, the media and other interested stakeholders. High-quality manuscripts authored by Network members and cooperating partners are evaluated by external peer reviews and the IMISCOE Editorial Committee. The Committee comprises the following members: Tiziana Caponio, Department of Political Studies, University of Turin / Forum for International and European Research on Immigration (FIERI), Turin, Italy Michael Collyer, Sussex Centre for Migration Research (SCMR), University of Sussex, United Kingdom Rosita Fibbi, Swiss Forum for Migration and Population Studies (SFM), University of Neuchâtel / Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lausanne, Switzerland Agata Górny, Centre of Migration Research (CMR) / Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, Poland Albert Kraler, International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), Vienna, Austria Leo Lucassen, Institute of History, Leiden University, The Netherlands Jorge Malheiros, Centre of Geographical Studies (CEG), University of Lisbon, Portugal Marco Martiniello, National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS), Brussels / Center for Ethnic and Migration Studies (CEDEM), University of Liège, Belgium Patrick Simon, National Demographic Institute (INED), Paris, France Miri Song, School of Social Policy and Sociology, University of Kent, United Kingdom More information and how to join the Network can be found at www.imiscoe.org. Albania on the Move Links between Internal and International Migration Julie Vullnetari IMISCOE Research Cover photo: taken by the author in one of the research villages in 2005, symbolically making reference to internal (Korça) and international (Greece) out-migration. Cover design: Studio Jan de Boer BNO, Amsterdam Layout: The DocWorkers, Almere ISBN 978 90 8964 355 1 e-ISBN 978 90 4851 493 9 (pdf) e-ISBN 978 90 4851 684 1 (e-Pub) NUR 741 / 763 © Julie Vullnetari / Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam 2012 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. In memory of my mother Contents List of tables, figures and photos 9 Abbreviations 11 Preface 13 1 Introduction 15 1.1 Why link internal and international migration in development? 15 1.2 Albania: Some background notes 16 1.3 About the book 19 1.4 Methods and sites of data collection 20 1.5 Some ethical issues 32 1.6 Book outline 33 2 The migration-development nexus 35 2.1 Internal and international migration: Towards an integrated approach 35 2.2 Migration and development 44 2.3 Social fields: Linking internal and international migration 55 2.4 Conclusion 57 3 Albanian migration and development 59 3.1 Historical migration 59 3.2 Albania 1945-1990: An era of no migration? 62 3.3 ‘A new migration order’: Contemporary migration in Albania 66 3.4 Trends and patterns of internal migration 89 3.5 Combined developmental effects of internal and international migration 95 3.6 Conclusion 104 4 Leaving home: Migration patterns and dynamics 107 4.1 General patterns and destinations 107 4.2 Differences between the two types of migration 119 4.3 Sequencing internal and international migration 133 4.4 Conclusion 141 8 ALBANIA ON THE MOVE 5 Across the border: Migrants in Thessaloniki 145 5.1 Leaving Albania and arriving in Thessaloniki 145 5.2 Identity and survival, or strategies to ‘fit in’ 147 5.3 The nightmare of ‘papers’: The effect of ineffective immigration policy 150 5.4 Work and gendered labour markets 154 5.5 Housing and spatial location 157 5.6 Incorporation, assimilation and return: Between myth and reality 161 5.7 Conclusion 163 6 Family, migration and socio-economic change 165 6.1 The difference that money makes: Remittances 165 6.2 Social remittances or the wisdom of a traveller 177 6.3 ‘I am a man and a woman’, or the gendered household 183 6.4 Migration as a rite of passage for young men 186 6.5 Transnational family and care 189 6.6 Conclusion 193 7 Migration and Albania’s dynamic transformation 195 7.1 The village, the city and the rural town 195 7.2 Albania’s socio-economic polarisation revisited 221 7.3 Conclusion 230 8 Conclusions and recommendations 233 8.1 Dynamics of internal and international migration in development processes 233 8.2 Migration and development: The role of policy 237 8.3 Achievements and limitations of the study and future research 241 Notes 245 References 257 List of tables, figures and photos Tables Table 3.1 Estimates of Albanians living abroad, 1999, 2005 and 2010 70 Table 3.2 Albanians in Greece according to various sources, 1990-2010 71 Table 3.3 Albanians in Italy with ‘permits to stay’: End of year, 2003-2009 74 Table 3.4 Flow of migrants’ remittances to Albania and their macroeconomic significance, 1993-2009 100 Table 5.1 Daily/monthly wages by gender and occupation for interviewees in Thessaloniki, June 2006 155 Figures Figure 1.1 Albania: Location map 18 Figure 1.2 Fieldwork sites and imaginary social field, Albania-Greece 22 Figure 1.3 Tirana: In-flow of migrants by mini-municipality 27 Figure 1.4 Thessaloniki: Conurbation map 29 Figure 3.1 Albania: Population density, 1978 64 Figure 3.2 Greece: Location map 81 Figure 3.3 Albania: Key to 36 districts 91 Figure 3.4 Albania: Migration dynamics, 1989-2001 97 Figure 4.1 Migration pathways 134 Figure 7.1 Tirana: Location of migrants from the study villages 204 Figure 7.2 Korçë: Location of migrants from the study villages 210 Photos Photo 1 ‘Albanian woman with head cloth, Ellis Island’ 60 Photo 2 Communist-era bunkers, Devoll 66 Photo 3 Mountain pass to Greece, Devoll 68 10 ALBANIA ON THE MOVE Photo 4 ‘American lottery fever’ in Korçë 111 Photo 5 Partizani Square, Tirana 125 Photo 6 View of the seafront in Thessaloniki 150 Photo 7 Albanian migrants working in construction, Thessaloniki 154 Photo 8 Children and parents in a primary school, Thessaloniki 163 Photo 9 Houses in peri-urban Tirana waiting for the next round of remittances 171 Photo 10 What financial and social remittances mean to migrant families, Devoll 179 Photo 11 The ‘holy trinity’ of transnational care in rural south- east Albania, Devoll 192 Photo 12 Apple orchards and a new house, Devoll 201 Photo 13 ‘Bricks and mortar’ effect: Construction in Tirana 203 Photo 14 ‘Bricks and mortar’ effect: Construction in Korçë 203 Photo 15 Peri-urban Tirana: Devoll neighbourhood (lagja e devollinjve) on the hill 205 Photo 16 Mixed impact of historical and contemporary migration, Korçë 209 Photo 17 Tirana’s polarisation 216-217 Photo 18 Migrants from Greece visit for a wedding in rural south-east Albania 219 Photo 19 ‘Dance of the drunkard’ (vallja e pijanecit)at a wedding