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‘Does your granny eat grass?’ On mass migration, care drain and the fate of older people in rural Albania

‘Does your granny eat grass?’ On mass migration, care drain and the fate of older people in rural Albania
‘Does your granny eat grass?’ On mass migration, care drain and the fate of older people in rural Albania
Older people have been the main social casualties of the collapse of the Albanian communist system and the ensuing mass emigration of younger generations since 1990. Some have had to forage for survival on a near-starvation diet, making broth from grass and weeds. For others, remittances from emigrant children ensure adequate material well-being, but a loss of locally-based trans-generational care and of intimate family relations occurs. Rates of emigration have been highest in the southern uplands, where our fieldwork took place. Migration has been mainly to Greece, but also to Italy and elsewhere. Interviews with elderly ‘residual households’ - single people and couples - reveal stories of loneliness and abandonment; cross-generational rupture of hitherto tight family structures is seen as emotionally painful because of the impossibility of enjoying mutual benefits of care sustained by geographical proximity. Profoundly upsetting is the denial of the practice of grand-parenting, which the older generation see as their raison d'être. Cost of travel, visa regimes and emigrants’ irregular status conspire to prevent international visits. Finally, we examine various strategies of overcoming the ‘care drain’ produced by this situation, one of which is for older people to try to join their migrant children and grandchildren abroad
albania, older people, migration, care drain, transnational care
1470-2266
139-171
Vullnetari, Julie
463db806-c809-43d6-9795-1104e3a5788b
King, Russell
eb0786dc-2889-4690-8f54-a62b47541731
Vullnetari, Julie
463db806-c809-43d6-9795-1104e3a5788b
King, Russell
eb0786dc-2889-4690-8f54-a62b47541731

Vullnetari, Julie and King, Russell (2008) ‘Does your granny eat grass?’ On mass migration, care drain and the fate of older people in rural Albania. Global Networks, 8 (2), 139-171. (doi:10.1111/j.1471-0374.2008.00189.x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Older people have been the main social casualties of the collapse of the Albanian communist system and the ensuing mass emigration of younger generations since 1990. Some have had to forage for survival on a near-starvation diet, making broth from grass and weeds. For others, remittances from emigrant children ensure adequate material well-being, but a loss of locally-based trans-generational care and of intimate family relations occurs. Rates of emigration have been highest in the southern uplands, where our fieldwork took place. Migration has been mainly to Greece, but also to Italy and elsewhere. Interviews with elderly ‘residual households’ - single people and couples - reveal stories of loneliness and abandonment; cross-generational rupture of hitherto tight family structures is seen as emotionally painful because of the impossibility of enjoying mutual benefits of care sustained by geographical proximity. Profoundly upsetting is the denial of the practice of grand-parenting, which the older generation see as their raison d'être. Cost of travel, visa regimes and emigrants’ irregular status conspire to prevent international visits. Finally, we examine various strategies of overcoming the ‘care drain’ produced by this situation, one of which is for older people to try to join their migrant children and grandchildren abroad

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Vullnetari & King (2008) Does your granny eat grass_AM-12July07.pdf - Accepted Manuscript
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Published date: 29 February 2008
Keywords: albania, older people, migration, care drain, transnational care
Organisations: Economy, Governance & Culture

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 377089
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/377089
ISSN: 1470-2266
PURE UUID: 339fdd60-5a18-452d-8303-8d26db446ef5
ORCID for Julie Vullnetari: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1578-8622

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Date deposited: 15 May 2015 08:11
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:50

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Author: Russell King

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