Due to its increasingly unstable nature, contemporary return migrations call into question the current definition of return as an anchor. The factors which enabled this situation are the opportunities to move within the European Union, the EU’s open labour markets, and free access to information. Empirical research shows that the most important capital of contemporary return migrants is no longer their savings but their experience connected to international migration, especially when the reality of the home country exceeds migrants’ expectations and possibilities to readjust after return. The text is based on the results of qualitative research conducted in Podlaskie among migrants who returned from abroad and decided to start their own business. Their migration experience constitutes an invaluable source of knowledge not only about the factors responsible for the decision to return but also about the process of readjustment, including the application of skills acquired abroad and the introduction of changes at home, especially in the context of self-employment. Based on the experience of return migrants it is also possible to follow the decision- making process concerning re-emigration which is often simply a return to the well- known country of migration or setting off for a new destination.
The article reflects on the role of mobility within transition to adulthood process. It will present the results of research focusing on the transitions to adulthood of representatives of the generation born at the beginning of the 1980s in Poland. This boom generation experienced both the transformation from a communist to a capitalist state, as well as the joyful and hopeful moment of Poland’s accession to the EU in 2004. Post-2004, faced with high unemployment, the representatives of this age cohort decided to leave Poland en masse in search of employment opportunities. Based on biographical interviews with young Poles born in the early 1980s and living in Poland, the article reflects upon the meaning of mobility and migration experiences in their young age. What was mobility impact on different transition to adulthood trajectories – employment, family or independent living? How has it affected the concept of adulthood? In the article, the mobility experience will be looked upon through the lenses of theories of youth studies, which is a recent trend in analyzing young people’s mobility or migration. The article points to the three meanings of mobility: mobility as an experience of semi-independence, mobility as time to gain adulthood, and mobility as a celebration of youth. As the experience of this cohort is unique in the historical sense, it is also exemplary for the growing importance of mobility in transitions to adulthood.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.