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Orphan pensioners and migrating grandparents: the impact of mass migration on older people in rural Albania

Orphan pensioners and migrating grandparents: the impact of mass migration on older people in rural Albania
Orphan pensioners and migrating grandparents: the impact of mass migration on older people in rural Albania
Since 1990, Albania has witnessed rural out-migration on a massive scale, both to other countries, chiefly Italy and Greece, and internally to Tirana and other major towns. The scale of this migration has disrupted the multi-generational rural social and kinship systems that, before 1990, displayed strong and coherent family bonds, and simultaneously accommodated paternalistic state directives and were supported by welfare provision for all members of the population. The sudden political, social and rural dislocations that followed the end of the communist regime have made older people particularly vulnerable: many have been left behind by their emigrant children, creating the phenomenon of socially-isolated ‘elderly orphans’. While the migrants' remittances cushion this social isolation, the loss of children and grandchildren through emigration has undermined older people's self-respect and raison d'être in Albanian family life. This paper, based on fieldwork and interviews in regions of heavy out-migration in northern and southern Albania, examines the human impact of emigration on the older people who have been left behind as well as their coping mechanisms, one being to follow their children abroad to care for the grandchildren, enabling the ‘middle generation’, working-age parents both to engage in paid work
Albania, migration, older people, grandparenting, transnational care
783-816
King, Russell
eb0786dc-2889-4690-8f54-a62b47541731
Vullnetari, Julie
463db806-c809-43d6-9795-1104e3a5788b
King, Russell
eb0786dc-2889-4690-8f54-a62b47541731
Vullnetari, Julie
463db806-c809-43d6-9795-1104e3a5788b

King, Russell and Vullnetari, Julie (2006) Orphan pensioners and migrating grandparents: the impact of mass migration on older people in rural Albania. Ageing & Society, 26 (5), 783-816. (doi:10.1017/S0144686X06005125).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Since 1990, Albania has witnessed rural out-migration on a massive scale, both to other countries, chiefly Italy and Greece, and internally to Tirana and other major towns. The scale of this migration has disrupted the multi-generational rural social and kinship systems that, before 1990, displayed strong and coherent family bonds, and simultaneously accommodated paternalistic state directives and were supported by welfare provision for all members of the population. The sudden political, social and rural dislocations that followed the end of the communist regime have made older people particularly vulnerable: many have been left behind by their emigrant children, creating the phenomenon of socially-isolated ‘elderly orphans’. While the migrants' remittances cushion this social isolation, the loss of children and grandchildren through emigration has undermined older people's self-respect and raison d'être in Albanian family life. This paper, based on fieldwork and interviews in regions of heavy out-migration in northern and southern Albania, examines the human impact of emigration on the older people who have been left behind as well as their coping mechanisms, one being to follow their children abroad to care for the grandchildren, enabling the ‘middle generation’, working-age parents both to engage in paid work

Text
King & Vullnetari (2006) Orphan_Pensioners & Migrating_Grannies_AM-Feb06.pdf - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 19 February 2006
Published date: 1 August 2006
Keywords: Albania, migration, older people, grandparenting, transnational care
Organisations: Economy, Governance & Culture

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 377093
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/377093
PURE UUID: 32f7fa0d-70b4-4a2a-9d8c-32921a9c3c30
ORCID for Julie Vullnetari: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1578-8622

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Date deposited: 15 May 2015 08:57
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:50

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Author: Russell King

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