Managing sameness and difference: the politics of belonging among Irish-born return migrants from the United States

Resumen

Abstract Contemporary immigration in Western countries spurs intense debates about immigrant–host society relationships, asking questions about who and what it means to belong in such immigrant-receiving societies. In the Republic of Ireland, the debate about belonging in the wake of large-scale in-migration during the 'Celtic Tiger' years placed the onus on newcomers to shed their 'difference' and conform to Irish society's norms of 'sameness' if they were to belong. Return migrants, however, complicate the terms of social belonging, positioned as they are somewhere between 'newcomers' and 'natives'. Drawing on interviews with return migrants, I analyse returnees' conceptualizations of belonging upon homecoming. I show how return migrants' social positioning in the post-return context is complex, as they move between ascriptions of sameness and difference, at once blending with and challenging cultural norms set by the dominant group. This is important, suggesting that belonging in immigrant-receiving societies is not overdetermined by host society demands on immigrants to shed their difference and conform to dominant norms of sameness. Rather, even as they position themselves as the 'same' as the dominant group, my respondents also resist these norms, weaving moments of both sameness and difference in their everyday negotiations of belonging vis-à-vis the mainstream population. L'immigration contemporaine dans les pays occidentaux incite des débats vifs sur les rapports entre immigré et la société accueillante, posant des questions au sujet de la signification de l'appartenance et de l'identité dans de telles sociétés accueillant les immigrés. Dans la République d'Irlande, le débat sur l'appartenance suite à une immigration massive pendant les années « Tigre Celtique » a obligé les nouveaux-arrivés à se débarrasser de leur différence présumée et à se conformer aux normes de la société irlandaise d'une similitude culturelle comme conditions pour appartenir à cette société. En tirant des entretiens menés auprès des rapatriés, j'analyse leurs conceptualisations de l'appartenance après leur retour au pays natal. Je démontre la complexité du positionnement social des rapatriés dans leur mouvement entre des attributions de la similitude et la différence ce qui implique à la fois une harmonisation et une contestation des normes culturels établis par le groupe dominant. Ce point est important parce qu'il suggère que l'appartenance dans des sociétés accueillant les immigrés n'est pas surdéterminé selon les exigences de la société accueillant que les immigrés se débarrassent de leur différence et conforment aux normes dominants de la similitude. Les répondants ont plutôt résisté ces normes en même temps qu'ils se présentaient comme « pareils » au groupe dominant en tissant des moments à la fois de la similitude et la différence dans leur compréhension quotidienne d'appartenance vis-à-vis la population dominante. Migración contemporánea en los países occidentales estimulan debates intensos sobre relaciones entre inmigrantes y anfitriones, preguntando sobre quien y que significa pertenecer en una sociedad que reciba inmigrantes. En la republica de Irlanda, el debate sobre pertenencia siguiendo los pasos de inmigración a gran escala durante los años del 'Tigre Celta' pusieron la responsabilidad en los recién llegados para quitarse su 'diferencia' y ajustarse a las normas de la sociedad Irlandesa si iban pertenecerse. No obstante, migrantes de retorno se complican los términos de pertenencia social, puestos como son entre 'recién llegados' y 'nativos'. Llevando de entrevistas con migrantes de retorno, analizo las conceptualizaciones de repatriados de la pertenencia al regreso al hogar. Muestro como la posición social de los migrantes de retorno en el contexto de su regreso es complejo, mientras muevan entre atribuciones de uniformidad y diferencia, ambos mezclando con y cuestionando normas culturales hechas por el grupo dominante. Esto es importante, sugiriendo que pertenecer en sociedades que reciben inmigrantes no están sobredeterminados por las demandas de la sociedad anfitriona en inmigrantes para quitarse su diferencia y ajustarse a las normas dominantes de uniformidad. Más bien, aunque se posicionan como 'uniforme' con el grupo dominante, mis respondientes también resistan estas normas, entretejiendo momentos de ambos uniformidad y diferencia en sus negociaciones cotidianas de pertenecer con respeto a la población dominante. Keywords: belongingpolitics of belongingreturn migrantsKeywords: appartenancepolitique d'appartenancerapatriésKeywords: pertenenciapolítica de pertenenciamigrantes de retorno Acknowledgements I thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on an earlier version of this paper, as well as Lynn Staeheli for her thoughtful reading of the draft manuscript. Notes 1. Various legislative and policy amendments during the 'Celtic Tiger' years that made it progressively more difficult for non-European migrants to integrate into Irish society. For example, a 2005 United Nations report berated the Irish government for its 'extraordinarily' restrictive asylum regime, noting that, after Greece, the ROI's acceptances rate for asylum seekers was the lowest across the EU (UNHCR 2007 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 2007. UNHCR Global Report, Brussels: United Nations Press. [Google Scholar]). Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) highlighted Several migrant rights describing the relationship between migrants' temporary immigration status and their poor participation in Irish society, making direct links between lack of a clear path to permanent residency and exclusion not only from better employment opportunities but also from housing, healthcare and education (ICI 2011 Immigrant Council of Ireland. 2011. Living in Limbo: Migrants' Experiences of Applying for Naturalization in Ireland, Dublin: ICI Press. [Google Scholar]). And the 2004 Citizenship Referendum—which 79 per cent of voters supported—removed the automatic constitutional right to Irish citizenship to all children born on the island of Ireland who do not have at least one Irish parent (Gilmartin and White 2008). At the end of 1996–2006 period of unprecedented immigration, the Migration Integration Policy Index (MIPEX)—a European-wide project measuring integration policies across 31 countries—scored Ireland 48 out of 100, ranking the country deep in the lower half of the 31-country table (MIPEX 2007 Migration Integration Policy Index. 2007. MIPEX 2007, London: British Council. [Google Scholar]). Some integration indicators scored particularly poorly; migrants' labour market mobility ranked 28 out of the 31 surveyed countries; family reunification policies were bottom of the pile.