title: Os que marcharon
Creators: name: Graf, Elisabeth
Publisher: name: :none
Year: 2013

description: Das Ziel der vorliegenden Forschungsarbeit ist die Darstellung der Lebenswelten von galicischen ArbeitsmigrantInnen, die in der zweiten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts von Spanien in die Schweiz ausgewandert sind. Die Analyse von 18 narrativen biographischen Tiefeninterviews betrachtet Migration aus der Innenperspektive der teilnehmenden Individuen, sie entwirft eines möglichst komplexes Bild der individuellen Migrationsverläufe, in dem Themen angesprochen werden wie die Motivation der Auswanderung, die Lebensumstände in der Migration, die Frage nach der Rückkehr ins Heimatland sowie das sprachliche Verhalten und die kulturellen Identitätskonstruktionen. Die theoretische Abstrahierung der empirischen Ergebnisse macht deutlich, dass neben dem „klassischen“ Konzept der auf die Heimat ausgerichteten Rückkehrmigration bei den galicischen MigrantInnen zunehmend transnationale Lebensformen und Identitätsgefüge auftreten. Der ursprünglich linear-progressiv Migrationsverlauf wird abgelöst durch eine zirkuläre Bewegung, die sich in einem Hin und Her zwischen Herkunfts- und Aufnahmegesellschaft ausdrückt, die kulturellen Identitäten orientieren sich nicht mehr an nationalen Konzepten, sondern an einem neuen grenzüberschreitenden Bezugsrahmen.
description: In the 1960s and 70s Spain represented one of the major countries from which migrants moved to Switzerland for work. A large proportion of the emigrants came from the province of Galicia. Most of the emigrants left their home with the intention to work for one or two years in Switzerland, which, once they returned to Spain, would allow them to build a new life. However, for many of them, the return was postponed for many years and others are still living in Switzerland. This qualitative study treats the life experiences of these (re)migrant groups. The research is based on 18 narrative-biographical interviews that deal with the life stories of these emigrant Galicians. The interviewees are people who have lived for at least 10 years in German-speaking Switzerland before returning to Galicia or who still live in Switzerland. The research objective is, based from the information obtained from the qualitative data, to design a complex picture of the individual migration histories. The analysis focuses on issues such as the motivation of the emigration, the life course of the emigrants, the question of returning to the home country as well as processes of identity and linguistic behavior. The aim is to explain causal relationships between the crucial factors for decision making. The theoretical part of the study focuses on the Galician migrants as a specific group with their own historical, economic and socio-linguistic environment, whose development differs significantly from other Spanish regions. Firstly, the historical development of Galicia is explained and the migrant group that opts for Switzerland is characterized. Secondly, a picture of Switzerland as a receiving country for migrant workers is drawn, which considers the historical development as well as the current political situation. The results of the empirical analysis of the interviews show that the “classical” migration type of return migration is increasingly replaced by transnational forms of life, which can be characterized as a circular movement, expressed in a back and forth between home and host society. Cultural identities are no longer limited to national concepts, but build up on a new cross-border framework. Therefore this research can be understood as an impetus for revising the image of migrant workers in Europe to adapt them to current social circumstances of contemporary forms of migration.