“Me fui quedando”: the temporary-prolonged stay of Colombian students in Paris

Abstract

This article addresses the migration of Colombian students in Paris. The objective is to reflect about the processes through which a temporarystay city becomes a place of prolonged esidence. The research is based in a multi-sited ethnography and in-depth interviews conducted in France and Colombia. The text is divided into three sections: The first section explains the dual nature of transience of migrant students; the second section explores the context of departure; and the third section analyses the living conditions of Colombian students without scholarships in France. It is concluded that in order to understand the reorientation of the students’ project and the lengthening of their stay in Paris, it is necessary to address the context of origin and arrival in parallel, both at an individual and at a social and transnational level.

Keywords

• Colombian migration
• foreign students
• working students