Between Ambiguity and Ambition: Experiences of Belonging and Spatial Mobility Among Business Professionals whose Parents Migrated from Turkey
Contested Belonging: Spaces, Practices, Biographies
ISBN: 978-1-78743-207-9, eISBN: 978-1-78743-206-2
Publication date: 29 May 2018
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter examines place attachment and spatial mobility intentions among highly skilled professionals who are descendants of low-skilled migrants from Turkey. Having achieved considerable intergenerational mobility, these professionals work in prestigious international firms.
Research Design – The analysis in this chapter is based on 27 indepth interviews with descendants of migrants from Turkey, who now occupy leading positions within the corporate business sector in France, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.
Findings – The study reveals that respondents feel attached to the city they live and work in, but feel less attached to the country at large. Along with this ambiguity towards their home country, they are open to spatial mobility and would move to another country based on their career aspirations. They display a feeling of ‘inbetweenness’, but they are able to turn this condition to their advantage by framing it as an inherent adaptability to the marketdriven requirement to be mobile.
Originality and Implications – The study provides an original contribution to the field by focussing on an understudied group: highly educated descendants of migrants from Turkey. The findings have practical and social implications, showing that, despite their steep upward mobility and success in the labour market, descendants of migrants continue to be the subject of integration and exclusion discourses that influence their sense of belonging to the countries where they were born and raised.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Maurice Crul, Willem Schinkel, the editors of this volume, as well as two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this chapter.
Citation
Konyali, A. and Keskiner, E. (2018), "Between Ambiguity and Ambition: Experiences of Belonging and Spatial Mobility Among Business Professionals whose Parents Migrated from Turkey", Davis, K., Ghorashi, H. and Smets, P. (Ed.) Contested Belonging: Spaces, Practices, Biographies, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 113-133. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78743-206-220181006
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018 Emerald Publishing Limited