GLAM—GLOBAL SOUTH MIGRATION AND COMPARATIVE INTEGRATION: A STUDY OF SOUTH AMERICAN MIGRANTS

MSCA Project (Horizon 2020) - Grant number: 101023322

Project PI: Carolina V. Zuccotti

Host institution: Departamento de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

What is the impact of migration on migrants and their children’s life chances? Are their opportunities equal to those of local populations at destination? Do they improve with respect to non-migrants in origin countries? These questions are at the heart of migration studies. Yet, our answers to them are partial because, first, most empirical and theoretical work on migrant integration focuses on South-North migration, even though that comprises only a third of total international migration flows. Comparable numbers of international migrants are migrating within the Global South and they need to be included in our research agendas, in order to validate and extend our understanding of migrant integration patterns. Second, studies on migrant integration are often focused on comparing migrants with local populations at destination. They hence fail to capture the counterfactual of what might have happened in the absence of migration or if the migrant had moved elsewhere. Such a counterfactual is crucial to understanding integration in different contexts and the impact of migration. Multisite approaches, which allow addressing these concerns through multiple comparisons, need thus to be incorporated in studies on migrant integration.

GLAM—GLOBAL SOUTH MIGRATION AND COMPARATIVE INTEGRATION: A STUDY OF SOUTH AMERICAN MIGRANTS—builds on my research and expertise on migrant integration in the Global North to address these lacunae. GLAM is guided by three research questions: Q1. How are integration patterns of southern migrants and their children in the Global South? Q2. Do integration patterns of southern migrants and their children in the Global South differ with respect to those of their counterparts in the Global North, and does migrant selection play a role in this? And Q3. What gains (or loses) do southern migrants and their children in Southern and Northern destinations experience with respect to non-migrants in origin countries? To respond to these questions, GLAM studies integration patterns of South-South migrants and their children in a popular destination country in the Global South and provides a comparison with respect to South-North migrants and their children in the Global North and to non-migrants in origin countries. GLAM is specifically concerned with the educational achievements of the children of migrants, which is one of the most important outcomes of integration, and is fundamental for individuals’ long-term life chances and opportunities for social mobility.The project focuses on migration waves originating in South America, a region where approximately 70 per cent of immigration is intra-regional.  I therefore leave aside other regions known for their high numbers of South-South migrants (Asia and Africa). GLAM consists, first, of an in-depth single case study of the main migrant receiving country in South America: Argentina. I will study the socioeconomic integration of long-term southern migrant groups—Bolivians, Chilean, Paraguayan and Peruvian (around 5% of the total population of Argentina)— and provide a comparison with other migrant groups (mostly Italian and Spanish) and majoritarian native Argentineans. I will use the case study to respond Q1. The second part of the project is a multisite study, which I will use to respond Q2 and Q3: I will compare the socioeconomic integration of two selected groups (Peruvian and Bolivian) in three locations where they mostly reside: the Global South (Argentina), the Global North (Spain and Italy), and their origin countries. Both the case study and the multisite study will use a mixture of very rich (national and cross-national) individual, household and neighbourhood census data, and incorporate a combination of advanced quantitative methods that allow, among other things, to estimate the role of migrant selection in integration processes.

By offering an overview of migrant integration at a key Global South destination and by providing a comparative perspective to this knowledge, GLAM will enhance wider empirical and theoretical understanding of integration and the impact of migration. By focusing on socioeconomic integration, GLAM will equally improve our understanding of the relationship between migration, life chances and social inequality in different contexts. From a policy perspective, GLAM’s outputs will contribute to the ongoing international debates as part of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and to migration and integration policy development within the EU. In particular, GLAM will help reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of South-South migration vs. South-North migration in terms of migrants and their children’s life chances. This has the potential to contribute to North-South country collaborations in the design of policies, which are of benefit to all parties involved.