Migration and Motherhood The Journey of Migration into Europe: From a Motherhood Perspective

Abstract

The journey of migration is not inherently dangerous but due to border tactics and increasingly use of securitising borders through both physical and technological deterrence tactics causing the growing vulnerability of migrants (Casas-Cortes et al., 2015, p. 57). The border tactics creating insecurity for mothers are not accidental in nature but outcomes of state actions to deter travel (Cochrane, 2016, p. 1). It is found that practices of border securitisation have created a more hostile and violent environment for women who migrate and a higher rate of mortality. Despite these risks, the decision to migrate when under threat is usually more primal than rational (Donato & Massey, 2016, p. 18), and migrant women and mothers continue to try to reach Europe desperate to escape conflict, violence and persecution to seek for a safer home for themselves and their families (Bosworth et al., 2018; Pickering & Cochrane, 2013). This study aims to explore European legislation on migration and understand how this legislation affects mothers who migrate into the EU in addition to how migration might affect the relationships within the family. This research conducts a theoretical thematic analysis on semi-structured interviews with migrant mothers in Greece to generate themes relating to the concept of vulnerability as proposed by Erinn Gilson and Judith Butler. The four generated themes include: journey of migration versus real life: Fear, oppression, loss, and trauma; dehumanisation, precarity, and challenging living conditions as a migrant; motherhood: intersecting roles and a shifting view of the self; and finally, carrying emotional luggage into a new and uncertain future and family-life.

The journey of migration is not inherently dangerous but due to border tactics and increasingly use of securitising borders through both physical and technological deterrence tactics causing the growing vulnerability of migrants (Casas-Cortes et al., 2015, p. 57). The border tactics creating insecurity for mothers are not accidental in nature but outcomes of state actions to deter travel (Cochrane, 2016, p. 1). It is found that practices of border securitisation have created a more hostile and violent environment for women who migrate and a higher rate of mortality. Despite these risks, the decision to migrate when under threat is usually more primal than rational (Donato & Massey, 2016, p. 18), and migrant women and mothers continue to try to reach Europe desperate to escape conflict, violence and persecution to seek for a safer home for themselves and their families (Bosworth et al., 2018; Pickering & Cochrane, 2013). This study aims to explore European legislation on migration and understand how this legislation affects mothers who migrate into the EU in addition to how migration might affect the relationships within the family. This research conducts a theoretical thematic analysis on semi-structured interviews with migrant mothers in Greece to generate themes relating to the concept of vulnerability as proposed by Erinn Gilson and Judith Butler. The four generated themes include: journey of migration versus real life: Fear, oppression, loss, and trauma; dehumanisation, precarity, and challenging living conditions as a migrant; motherhood: intersecting roles and a shifting view of the self; and finally, carrying emotional luggage into a new and uncertain future and family-life.