12th International Etmu Days conference

Lotta Haikkola, Lena Näre and Daria Krivonos took part in Etmu Days conference
Mobile Roots – Rethinking Indigenous and Transnational ties in Rovaniemi, 22−23 October, 2015.

Lotta and Daria presented their co-authored paper on young migrants’ experiences of activation and integration programmes in Finland. They approached integration services (language courses, vocational training, work trials) as an extension of activation policies where welfare benefits have become conditional upon participation in trainings and work trials. They used methodological nationalism theory to describe how integration services recognise migrants’ skills and capabilities.

Daria also presented a paper in a workshop “Everyday bordering: coping strategies of ‘irregular’ migrants” chaired by Lena Näre. She talked about how young Russians make sense of their downward social mobility and problems in securing ‘decent’ employment through racialisation of other migrants in Finland.

The abstracts of presentations can be found here