Papers by Valentina Mazzucato
was conducted with the financial support of INED, the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (France), ... more was conducted with the financial support of INED, the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (France), the Région Ile de France and the FSP programme 'International Migrations, territorial reorganizations and development of the countries of the South'. For more details,
Demographic Research, 2016
BACKGROUND The ability of couples to migrate together or to reunify in the destination country is... more BACKGROUND The ability of couples to migrate together or to reunify in the destination country is increasingly limited because family reunification laws are becoming more stringent, especially for those moving from the Global South to the North. However, little is known regarding migrants' reunification behavior. OBJECTIVE We examine the prevalence of couples living-apart-together-across-borders (LATAB), the duration of their separation, and under which conditions they remain transnational or reunify in the destination country. METHODS Using data from the MAFE-Ghana project, we focus on LATAB couples among Ghanaian migrants living in the Netherlands and the UK (n=291). Event history analyses are used to examine the probability of reunification. We consider characteristics of the migrant, the left-behind spouse, their relationship, and the receiving country context. RESULTS Couples remain separated for extended periods of time. Just over half of the couples in the Netherlands and the UK reunified: approximately half did not. Reunification is less likely in the Netherlands than the U.K. and is less likely since 2004, when reunification policies became stricter. Spouse's education is a significant factor in explaining reunification, but, surprisingly, legal status is not. Being able to maintain transnational ties through short return visits increases the likelihood of LATAB.
The objective of this paper - using quantitative data of MAFE – is to provide an overview of the ... more The objective of this paper - using quantitative data of MAFE – is to provide an overview of the changing patterns of African migration in the MAFE countries. Three broad topics are addressed: (1) trend in departures and returns, (2) profiles of migrants, and (3) migration routes. The paper is by nature mainly descriptive, and has not the ambition of identifying determinants of migration as such. However, by describing major changes over the last 30 years, this paper suggests possible links with changing political, economic and policy contexts in both origin and destination countries.
Young, 2020
This study investigates how young Ghanaians’ mobility between Ghana and The Netherlands relates t... more This study investigates how young Ghanaians’ mobility between Ghana and The Netherlands relates to their educational resilience. Based on 20 months of multi-sited ethnographic research following 30 youths of 16–25 age group, we deploy a socio-ecological approach developed in social psychology to identify three resilience-building mechanisms: connection to motivational others, active recollection and comparative confrontation. These mechanisms have to date remained outside of the purview of resilience research and research on migration and education, as these fields focus on the nation-state rather than the transnational context in which young people operate. They thereby ignore mobility patterns that make other contexts relevant to young people’s educational resilience. As such, we expand the socio-ecological model of resilience to include transnational elements and show how mobility can positively relate to education and the resilience of migrant youth.
Most studies on migration focus on migrants and the effects migration has on the host society. Bu... more Most studies on migration focus on migrants and the effects migration has on the host society. But for every migrant that leaves his or her origin country, there are also family members and loved ones that he/she ‘leaves behind’. This geographic separation has well-being consequences on both sides and involves complex transnational caring arrangements when it concerns dependent children or elderly. Yet, only in the past decade has research turned its attention to the ‘left behind’ or stayers. This chapter provides an overview of this recent literature and discusses the effects migration has for stayer children and elderly. The chapter focuses on the main topic investigated by these studies, namely, the effect of migration on the well-being of those who stay in the origin country. Well-being is broadly defined as mental and physical health, education, social behaviour, household labour and economic security. Qualitative anthropological and sociological in-depth studies are reviewed, ...
Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material inf... more Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible.
This paper presents the results of an integrated approach to the study of soil and water conserva... more This paper presents the results of an integrated approach to the study of soil and water conservation in Burkina Faso and discusses the validity of some of the major assumptions that continue to shape soil and water conservation policies and interventions.
A process for the production of R2-isoolefins by decomposition of R1-O-tertiary-R2 is disclosed. ... more A process for the production of R2-isoolefins by decomposition of R1-O-tertiary-R2 is disclosed. R1-O-secondary-R2 that are normally present in the feed stream are selectively removed. Removal of these R1-O-secondary-R2 lowers the R2-normal olefin impurity and increases the yield of the product R2-isoolefins.
HNS en f 1 2000-08-00 rxetninKing soil and water conservation in a changing society a case study ... more HNS en f 1 2000-08-00 rxetninKing soil and water conservation in a changing society a case study in eastern Burkina Faso
migration and the economy of funerals: Changing practices in Ghana. Development and Change 37 (5)... more migration and the economy of funerals: Changing practices in Ghana. Development and Change 37 (5). Mazzucato, V. (2005) The study of transnational migration: Reflections on a simultaneous matched-sample methodology, paper presented at the Workshop on Migration and Development Within and Across Borders, Social Science Research Council, New York City, November 17-19. De Witte, M. (2001) Long live the dead! Changing funeral celebrations in Asante, Ghana. Amsterdam: Askant Academic Publishers. Ethnic and Racial Studies (1999) 22(2) special issue on transnationalism. Mazzucato, V., B. van der Boom and N.N.N. Nsowah-Nuamah (2005) "Origin and destination of remittances in Ghana", in T. Manuh (ed.
Social Networks, 2017
Research on the role of social networks in human migration has mainly relied on single snapshots ... more Research on the role of social networks in human migration has mainly relied on single snapshots in time. This paper focuses on the changes in composition and usage of the transnational networks of migrants and why these changes occur. It is based on ethnography and network analysis with forty sub-Saharan African migrants in two transit contexts: Turkey and Greece, over a 17-month period. Findings show that relationship preferences, resources and communication infrastructures constitute an individual opportunity infrastructure affecting how critical events produce network changes. This process is ongoing through the continued experience of critical events, suggesting that the role of networks fluctuates over time.
Child Indicators Research, 2016
This study empirically measures the perceptions towards maternal and paternal migration of male a... more This study empirically measures the perceptions towards maternal and paternal migration of male and female children who stay behind in Ghana. It analyses survey data collected in 2010 among secondary school children aged 11-18 in four urban areas with high out-migration rates: the greater Accra region, Kumasi, Sunyani and Cape Coast (N = 1965). The results show significant gendered differences in how children perceive parental migration. Specifically, female children have more positive views towards maternal and paternal migration when parents are abroad and in a stable marital relationship, when the assessed parent is abroad but the other parent is the caregiver in Ghana, when there is a frequent change in the care arrangement, and when female children receive remittances. These findings were not replicated for male children. The analysis highlights the sensitivity of the results to the gender of the child and to the characteristics of children's transnational lives that are being analysed.
Global Networks, 2016
In this article, we investigate the daily work entailed in maintaining informal transnational chi... more In this article, we investigate the daily work entailed in maintaining informal transnational childcare relationships between migrant parents and the children's kin or non-kin caregivers in the country of origin. By applying the concept of 'kin work', we seek to understand how work is performed within transnational care relationships. Using a simultaneous matched sample methodology that gives equal weight to data on both sides of the transnational relationship, a team of researchers collected ethnographic data from Ghanaian migrant parents in the Netherlands and from their children's caregivers in Ghana. This approach allowed us to investigate the day-today care work from two perspectives-namely the visible and the invisible actions of the people involved in creating the kinship relationships of care work. Discrepancies in perceptions were uncovered because we compared data obtained on both sides of the relationship. These findings contribute to our understanding of the ways in which long-distance practices facilitate the maintenance of kin relationships and how the inability to perform these can lead to tensions.
Journal of Global …, 2011
This paper discusses the particular and strategic roles, which migrants play in the development o... more This paper discusses the particular and strategic roles, which migrants play in the development of their country of origin, notably their rural "hometowns." It is based on a multi-sited, contemporaneous study in cultural economics that explores the influence of transnational ties between ...
Global Networks
The burgeoning literature on welfare migration, or on the likelihood of migrants moving to countr... more The burgeoning literature on welfare migration, or on the likelihood of migrants moving to countries with more generous welfare states, yields mixed results. In this article, we aim to disentangle what kinds of considerations underlie the decisions that migrants and their families make to address their social protection needs when they move to certain places. We explain how Sudanese extended families, with members scattered across multiple countries, draw on formal and informal institutions to meet their needs for social protection. Through a transnational approach, we analyse the mechanisms guiding the access, circulation and coordination of resources to cover different but related social protection domains. We contribute to current debates on transnational social protection by drawing on the life stories of members of a Sudanese transnational family and by expanding on the concept of 'resource environment'. We based this article on 14 months of multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork with Sudanese migrants and their families in the Netherlands, the UK and Sudan.
Life Course Research and Social Policies
Child Raising Arrangements (TCRA) project was funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientif... more Child Raising Arrangements (TCRA) project was funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO/WOTRO grant W01.65.316) and is coordinated by Maastricht University (V. Mazzucato) in collaboration with the University of Ghana (T. Manuh). M. Poeze and E. Dankyi worked on the project as PhD students. (www.tcra.nl).
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Research has shown that migration impacts youth outcomes, including educational performance and m... more Research has shown that migration impacts youth outcomes, including educational performance and mental and physical health. It is, however, unknown whether differing patterns of mobility affect young people differently. This is because scholarship and policy-making on youth and migration simplify youth mobility by conceptualising youth either as immobile (when they 'stay behind' while their parents migrate) or as moving only once (when they follow parents or migrate independently). Between these extremes is the possibly more common phenomenon of youth who engage in sustained mobility patterns prior to, during, and after their first international move. This paper explores how youth mobility can be conceptualised to include the often-complex mobility patterns exhibited by youth in today's global cities. Through an analysis of detailed mobility data collected using mixed methods among young Ghanaians growing up in and between the Netherlands and Ghana, we propose a typology of their mobility trajectories that highlights the variety of mobility patterns that youth engage in. Such a typology helps move research beyond the ethnic lens and rigid dichotomies between internal and international migration. We argue that the diversity of youth mobilities needs to be taken into account in order to understand how migration affects youth.
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Papers by Valentina Mazzucato