Introduction: Migrant Experiences of Emotional and Material (In)Security: Post-Socialist Perspectives

Abstract

How do migrants negotiate risk and manage both the material and emotional challenges and opportunities which moving to a new place brings? What is the everyday relationship between security and insecurity in lived experiences of migration? What can critical perspectives on post-socialism teach us about the practices, relationships and experiences which migrants from Central and East European countries mobilise in seeking to make themselves and their families more secure? Can migration itself be seen as a ‘social security practice’ entailing both material and emotional dimensions and, if so, with which implications for migrants as individuals, families and identity-based groups? These are some of the questions which this special issue seeks to address.