Cosmologies and migration: on worldviews and their influence on mobility and immobility

This article argues that the concept of 'cosmologies of destinations' is a useful theoretical tool to provide an emic understanding of the social and moral meanings of migrants' journeys. By this concept, I refer to the hierarchical representations of the world that orient migration j...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inIdentities (Yverdon, Switzerland) Vol. 29; no. 5; pp. 557 - 575
Main Author Belloni, Milena
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 03.09.2022
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Cosmologies
culture of migration
Destinations
Emic and etic
Ethnography
imaginaries
journeys
Migrants
Migration
Mobility
mobility and immobility
moralities
Personal safety
Respondents
Social meaning
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Summary:This article argues that the concept of 'cosmologies of destinations' is a useful theoretical tool to provide an emic understanding of the social and moral meanings of migrants' journeys. By this concept, I refer to the hierarchical representations of the world that orient migration journeys. Drawing from my multi-sited ethnography with Eritreans at home and abroad, I illustrate how migration destinations were mapped by my informants along an implicit but widely shared normative and moral scale, with different levels of perceived safety, individual freedom, social recognition and economic achievements. After charting the theoretical field concerning social imaginaries and cultures of migration, I show the importance of symbolic and moral structures for understanding my informants' mobility choices at different stages of their migration process. I conclude by highlighting the potential of this concept to study the interplay of mobility and immobility, particularly in the framework of increasing constraints.
ISSN:1070-289X
1547-3384
DOI:10.1080/1070289X.2020.1748357