Rethinking Migration and Return in Southeastern Europe This book provides an important new analytical framework for making sense of return, remigration, and circular mobility, conceptualising them as different phases of a wider migration process. Using an in-depth case study of Albania and its two main destination countries, Italy and Greece, the book demonstrates that instead of being viewed as a linear path between origin and destination, migration should be seen as a segmented or cyclical pattern that may involve several local- ities and more than two countries. Characterized by important previous historical, social, economic, and political linkages, geographical proxi- mity, but also high migration volatility and sustained flows in either directions, Albanian migration to Italy and Greece offers an optimal case study for analysing complex return, reintegration, and mobility processes. While interesting as a unique regional migration system, the lessons learned cast light on important migration and mobility dynam- ics that are relevant for labour migration in Europe, also from other important migrant origin countries in the EU’s neighbourhood such as for instance Morocco or the Ukraine. This rich theoretical and empirical study will be of interest to researchers within European studies and migration studies, as well as providing a useful contribution to policy debates on how to govern return migration, reintegration, and circular migration. Eda Gemi is Senior Lecturer at the University of New York Tirana. Anna Triandafyllidou holds the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies. Routledge Research on the Global Politics of Migration Rethinking Security in the Age of Migration Trust and Emancipation in Europe Ali Bilgic Citizenship, Migrant Activism and the Politics of Movement Peter Nyers and Kim Rygiel Migration and Insecurity Citizenship and Social Inclusion in a Transnational Era Niklaus Steiner, Robert Mason, and Anna Hayes Migrants, Borders and Global Capitalism West African Labour Mobility and EU Borders Hannah Cross International Political Theory and the Refugee Problem Natasha Saunders Calais and its Border Politics From Control to Demolition Yasmin Ibrahim and Anita Howarth Liquid Borders Migration as Resistance Edited by Mabel Moraña Rethinking Migration and Return in Southeastern Europe Albanian Mobilities to and from Italy and Greece Eda Gemi and Anna Triandafyllidou Rethinking Migration and Return in Southeastern Europe Albanian Mobilities to and from Italy and Greece Eda Gemi and Anna Triandafyllidou First published 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Eda Gemi and Anna Triandafyllidou The right of Eda Gemi and Anna Triandafyllidou to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. The Open Access version of this book, available at www. taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Gemi, Eda, author. | Triandafyllidou, Anna, author. Title: Rethinking migration and return in Southeastern Europe : Albanian mobilities to and from Italy and Greece / Eda Gemi and Anna Triandafyllidou. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. | Series: Routledge research on the global politics of migration | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020048793 (print) | LCCN 2020048794 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367361785 (hardback) | ISBN 9780429344343 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Return migration--Albania. | Albania--Emigration and immigration. | Italy--Emigration and immigration. | Greece-- Emigration and immigration. Classification: LCC JV8296 .G46 2021 (print) | LCC JV8296 (ebook) | DDC 304.8094965--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020048793 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020048794 ISBN: 978-0-367-36178-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-429-34434-3 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Taylor & Francis Books Contents List of illustrations vi Preface vii 1 Rethinking return, reintegration, and mobility in southeastern Europe 1 2 Setting the analytical framework: Reconceptualizing return, reintegration, and mobility 11 3 Return mobilities of first-generation Albanians: Reconciling the rupture of disintegration and negotiating the future 41 4 Return mobilities of the second generation: Between disintegration and hybrid identities 83 5 A typology of return, reintegration, and onward mobility 124 List of interviewees returned from Italy, 2014–2017 137 List of interviewees returned from Greece, 2014–2017 139 Second-generation interviewees, Italy and Greece, 2017 142 Index 145 Illustrations Figure 1.1 The migration space 4 Tables 1.1 List of interviews, 2014–2017 6 3.1 Socio-demographic profile of returnees, 2014 43 3.2 Socio-demographic profile of returnees, 2017 44 3.3 Socio-demographic profile of second-generation returnees, 2017 47 5.1 Typology of return migration, re-integration, and mobility 134 Preface This book marks a 15-year collaboration and friendship that started at the seminar room of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) when Eda started working at the EU-funded project POLITIS, on the civic participation of migrants in EU countries as one of our country experts. That was back in 2005. This collaboration has developed over several research projects, and has continued even when we both moved on to new jobs and new responsibilities, and also new geographical destinations. The origins of this book lie in our joint reflections on what drove many Albanian families during and after the most difficult years of the Greek financial crisis to return to Albania and what happened after this return. Did they stay? Did they manage to adapt? Did they move on? These questions became press- ing empirical and policy questions as the crisis continued, and as our ongoing work in the context of the METOIKOS project (funded by DG Home) and the IRMA project (funded by the Greek Secretariat for Research) showed that there was a substantial and continuous return flow from both Italy and Greece to Albania. Almost ironically, both of us have been ‘return migrants’ in our respective countries of origin, Albania and Greece, and know first-hand some of the dilem- mas, challenges as well as opportunities that this involves. We have also both been involved in onwards mobility and remigration. Work for this book started in 2014 and continued till 2017 thanks to the financial support of the Global Governance Programme of the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, where Anna had moved to in 2012. This limited funding made it possible for Eda to travel back to Albania and conduct interviews with returnees. As the work progressed, it became clear that it was important to include not only first-generation returnees, but also those that are not returning but rather moving back to their parents’ home country, notably the second gen- eration. We were thus able to delve deeper into their experiences, and viii Preface also to the academic literature, and identify some of the missing links between return, reintegration, and onward mobility, which this book seeks to fill. This research was completed in the summer of 2020, under a pandemic lockdown, thanks to some additional funding support from the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration Program of Ryerson University. One might argue that the many seas that this book has travelled reflect the transnational mobility experiences of our inter- viewees. We are grateful to our respective families for their patience and support during these years as research work often inundates what should be ‘free time’ and ‘family time’. This book is dedicated to our children, young cosmonauts of this mobile world. Eda Gemi, Athens/Tirane Anna Triandafyllidou, Toronto 20 October 2020 1 Rethinking return, reintegration, and mobility in southeastern Europe Introduction This book studies the return, remigration, and circular migration of Albanian citizens towards Italy and Greece in the 2010s. It develops a new analytical framework for making sense of return, remigration, and circular mobility by conceptualizing them as different phases of a wider migration process. We disentangle reintegration from return and question whether and how successful reintegration can discourage or encourage remigration, depending on the opportunity structure and motivations of the migrant. This book is inscribed in an innovative strand of the literature that brings together the study of return, reintegration, and remigration with that of circular migration – an