WILL THEY STILL BE DANCING? INTEGRATION AND ETHNIC TRANSFORMATION AMONG YUGOSLAV IMMIGRANTS IN SCANDINAVIA By Carl-Ulrik Schierup and Aleksandra Alund Department of Sociology University of Umea Sweden 1986 "Collective dancing or singing, particularly spectacular cases of the synchro­ nization of the homogeneous and the orchestration of the heterogenous, are everywhere predisposed to symbolize group integration and, by symbolizing it, to strengthen it" Pierre Bourdieu' Front Cover: Wallachian chain-dance in a Danish provincial town © 1987 Carl-Ulrik Schierup and Alexandra Alund Printed in Sweden by Graphic Systems AB Giitehorg, 1987 ISBN 9122-00836-5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Indulged with sociological self-centeredness we have reduced vampires to mechanisms of social cohesion. Hence,we have questioned a culture, seeing vampires as what they are, the dead ones haunting the living. Ifour interpreta­ tions have shown contempt towards vampires, we apologize for our mundane limitations, and thank them for the inspiration. We also thank all those living beings who have helped us through our voyage through the past and present. We give special thoughts to Baba Mitra, Baba Inda, and other great Wallachian mothers, who have received us with hospitality and endured our incessant questioning. For their excellent cooperation: Miroslav Panojevic, Ljubce Muncanovic, Stale Zulumovski, Nada and Aleksandar Serafimovski and many others in Denmarkand Sweden. Special thanks also to Steven Sampson and Michel Vale for their great patience and meticulous scrutinizing of our English. Steven Sampson, Lasse Petterson, Billy Ehn, Ole H\'Siris, Georg Karlsson, Rune Aberg and Christian Horst have read and criticized the manuscript and helped us with valuable suggestions. Finally, for their generous financial support we thank the following organiza­ tions: The Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences, The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, The Danish Social Science Research Council and the Danish International Development Agency. Umea, December 1985 Carl-Ulrik Schierup Aleksandra Alund CONTENTS Acknowledgments PART ONE INTRODUCfION Chapter 1 From "Birds ofPassage" to Ethnic Minorities 13 Perspectives on Integration 15 Migrancy 20 Wallachians and Macedonians 23 Analyzing Ethnic Transformation 27 PART TWO ETHNO-IllSTORICAL BACKGROUND Chapter 2 The Vampire is Still Alive: Wallachian Migrants from Serbia 33 The Blood Drenched Shirt of the Krajina 35 The Village and the Family 41 Migration to Scandinavia 48 1\vo Decades of Migrancy 50 Chapter 2 Alexander the Great and Migration: the Macedonian Peealbari 57 The Historical Background 58 Emigration 62 The Macedonian Family 67 PART THREE PATTERNS OF INTEGRATION Chapter 4 Two Becoming Four 75 Poles of a Continuum 77 The Survey: Some Background Data 79 Four Profiles 86 Chapter 5 Immigrants and the Working Collective 91 The Working Collective and its Cleavages 92 Qualification and Job 94 Working Conditions and Experience of Work 99 Unemployment 105 Patterns of Integration at Work 107 Concluding Discussion 117 Chapter 6 A Threat to Public Order 119 Patterns of Association 121 5 "Defensive Encapsulation": Wallachians in Sweden 125 The Wallachians in Denmark: The Development of an "Ethnic Public" 134 "Yugoswedes": The Macedonians in Sweden 139 Hiding Out ofPublic: The Macedonians inDenmark 146 Concluding Discussion 150 Chapter 7 Women and Men on the Crossroads ofMigration 153 Ethnic Transformation and Gender Relationships 153 Crossing the Bridge to Paradise: On the Position of Women in Wallachian Society 154 The Fall of Public Woman: Wallachians in Sweden 158 Parallel Development? Wallachians in Denmark 160 Male and Female Networks: Macedonians in Sweden 163 Birds of Ambivalence: Macedonians in Denmark 168 Concluding Discussion 169 Chapter 8 Yugoslav Youth: Young Birds ofPassage? 171 Immigrant Youth aud Perspectives for Assimilation 171 Parentsaud Children 173 "It's Control that Malters": Macedonian Youth in Sweden 174 Youth as the "Wings" of Their Parents: Macedonians in Denmark 176 Wallachian Youth: The Hinterland in Presence 178 Yugoslav Youth and Their Present Dilemmas 192 PART FOUR ETHNIC TRANSFORMATION Chapter 9 Do They Dance to Keep up Tradition? 199 "The 29th of November" 200 A Locus of Social Reproduction 206 Continnity and Discontinuity of a Social Field 208 Between Tito and the Vampires: The Formation of a New Elite 220 Tradition and Beyond: Concluding Discussion 226 Chapter 10 Will They Still Be Dancing When the Vampire Has Died? 233 Why Are Vampires Still Alive? 233 But Since They Do Not Dance the Tango... 234 From "Migrancy" to "Ethnic Public" 240 Immigrant Youth: Will They Still Be Dancing? 244 6 APPENDIX Methods ofEmpirical Enquiry 249 NOTES 252 REFERENCES 264 7 TABLES, FIGURES AND MAPS TABLES Table 1: Occupational distribution among Yugoslavs com­ pared with migrants who were active before taking employment abroad (1971) . 78 Table 2: Respondents according to ethnicity, sex and coun- try of immigration . 79 Table 3: Respondents classified according to ethnicity, country of immigration and type of occupation before emigration . 82 Table 4: Education by the time of emigration according to ethnicity and country of immigration . 83 Table 5: Education at the time of interview according to ethnicity, country of immigration and age . 84 Table 6: Education at time of emigration according to ethnicity, country of immigration and sex of res- pondents . 85 Table 7: Education, work, conditions ofwork and influence upon working conditions and human relations at the place of work . 95 Table 8: Relationship between Yugoslav level of skill at the time of the interview and of skill level of present occupation among Yugoslav men . 99 Table 9: General employment situation over time during stay in Scandinavia . 106 Table 10: Young Wallachians in Sweden according to sex, education and skill acknowledged in present job. 110 Table 11: Agreement/disagreement to the statement: "Yugoslavs should not mix into socio-politicallife in Denmark/Sweden." . 115 Table 12: Motivation/initiative of immigrants to associate with Danes/Swedes during free time. Initiative of Danes/Swedes (as perceived by immigrants) to associate with immigrants during free time . 122 Table 13: Factors which induce respondents to return to Yugoslavia . 132 Table 14: Possibilities of realizing plans for employment in Yugoslavia . 133 8 Table 15: Plans for return to Yugoslavia/time for return ... 140 Table 16: "The kitchen is no place for a man!" Attitudes according to ethnic group, immigration country and sex . 159 Table 17: Some stereotyped statements according to sex. Wallachian immigrants . 162 Table 18: Some stereotyped statements according to sex. Macedonian immigrants . 167 Table 19: Multigenerational households among the Wallachians . 186 Table 20: Residential patterns of Wallachian children . 186 Table 21: Where is it best for the children to live while parents are abroad? . 187 Table 22: Where is it best for children to go to school? In Denmark/Sweden or in yugoslavia? . 188 Table 23: Wallachians in Denmark. Illness according to sex and age . 219 Table 24: Wallachians' educational level by sex and age . 225 FIGURES Figure 1: T\vo family models. The "zadruga" and the present day Wallachian family model. 42 Figure 2: Marital alliances between Wallachian multigenera- tional households . 46 Figure 3: Relative weight of positive and negative responses to several stereotyped statements . 88 Figure 4: Motivation/initiative of immigrants to associate with Danes/Swedes during free time. Initiative of Danes/Swedes (as perceived by immigrants) to associate with immigrants during free time . 123 Figure 5: Inner and outer circles of association . 124 Figure 6: Help in cases of personal crisis . 128 Figure 7: Typical developmental cycle of Wallachian migrant household . 185 9 MAPS Map 1: The share of migrants in total population according to communes . 25 Map 2: The distribution of Romanian speakers in Yugoslavia in 1921 . 36 Map 3: The Habsburg monarchy, the Habsburg Military March towards Turkey, The Ottoman Empire and the provinces of Serbia and Wallachia circa 1650. 38 10 Part One INTRODUCTION 11 Chapter 1 FROM "BIRDS OF PASSAGE" TO ETHNIC MINORITIES "... apathy and disillusion often transform themselves into a renewal ofautonomous, public initiatives". Jolm Keanel In Scandinavia of the 1980's, the era of the "guest worker", "the bird of passage" (Piore 1979), is now over. Although most immigrants still harbour a profound sense of attachment to their countries of origin, they are now developing strategies of integration in the society of immigration. There are emerging ethnic minority cultures with a variety of dilemmas and oppor­ tunities. The migrant population which came to Scandinavia during the 1960's and 1970's has largely stabilized, a result of the immigration of dependent family members and of the reproduction of the migrant population within the im­ migration countries. The reproduction of immigrants within the orbit of the immigration countries we shall refer to as integration in the most general sense. Our use of the term integration covers a range of specific processes of adapta­ tion and social change. Itis these processes which are the subject ofthis book. In particular we focus on two groups of Yugoslav migrants in Denmark and Sweden. The two groups are the Macedonians from southern Yugoslavia and the Romanian-speaking Wallachians of northeastern Serbia. Members of both groups settled on each side ofthe strait dividing