Politics & Government Business
March 18, 2010

POLITICAL SCIENCE;
Research reports on political science from Masaryk University provide
new insights

According to recent research from Brno, Czech Republic, "This paper
brings attention to the role of social networks in the migration of
asylum seekers and explores how the embeddedness of the migrants in
social networks both facilitates and constrains their mobility in
different phases of the migration process. It reconstructs the
migration paths of eight Armenian migrant families who arrived in the
Czech Republic as asylum seekers during the 1990s and the beginning of
the twenty-first century."

"By examining the narrated stories of the Armenian migrants it shows
that social networks formed an important context for employing various
migration strategies in all phases of the migration process, and that
the meaning and character of migrants’ social networks changed over
time. In the initial phase of decision-making about migration as well
as on their journey, it was mainly weak ties of random acquaintances
that played a dominant role. The position of the migrants in those
networks was rather insecure. They held a little control over the
information they received, but in these vulnerable situations they had
to rely on their weak ties, which strongly influenced their mobility.
In the arrival and settlement phases the social context of the refugee
camp hindered the cultivation of social ties outside the migrants’
circle on one hand, and facilitated development of bonding ties among
the migrants on the other. Bonding social networks enabled inclusion
of the Armenian migrants into various social spheres especially at the
beginning of the settlement process. However, the bounded character of
these networks was also recognized as excluding them from access to
resources of the dominant society and preventing their social mobility
in later phases of their settlement," wrote R. Klvanova and
colleagues, Masaryk University.

The researchers concluded: "Thus, bridging networks that provide
access to certain resources of the dominant society were sought."

Klvanova and colleagues published their study in International
Migration (Moving Through Social Networks: The Case of Armenian
Migrants in the Czech Republic. International Migration,
2010;48(2):103-132).

For additional information, contact R. Klvanova, Masaryk University,
Fac Social Studies, Inst Res Social Reprod & Integrat, CS-60177 Brno,
Czech Republic.

Publisher contact information for the journal International Migration
is: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc., Commerce Place, 350 Main St.,
Malden 02148, MA, USA.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress