Background and Context 

Seeking a better life and a better place to live are arguably the goals of many migratory projects, and an issue that is at the core of public and political debates in the contemporary world. In the case of Europe, much attention is being paid to the influx of migrants, often underpinned by assumptions of the ‘better living’ conditions that can be found on the continent. The question of ‘return’, however, with a more profound discussion of what ‘better living’ may look like, has been less prominent in public debates.

Following the 2008 financial crisis and the ensuing decline in living conditions among ample sectors of the population, a significant number of immigrants have started returning to their countries of origin. This has particularly been the case in Spain, which has seen a change in migratory patterns related, among other factors, to return migration, notably to Latin America. Set within this broader context, the project builds on the premise that the experience of crisis in Spain has led people who migrated to this country to rethink their migratory trajectory and envisage returning to their country of origin. 

Projects of return migration that originate in crisis situations provide an ideal entry point to understand how people (re)assess what makes for a good and valuable life. When precipitated by disappointment and a breakdown of expectations, migrants’ decisions to return to their countries of origin lead them to revaluate and compare different life scenarios. Studying these processes offers a productive lens to examine how people (re)assess their notions of what makes for a good life, where such a good life is located, and how it may be achieved.

Concretely, the project focuses on the imaginaries and experiences of return of Ecuadorian and Cuban men and women who migrated to Spain, have been affected by the economic crisis, and envisage and carry out the project of going back to their countries of origin.

A multi-sited endeavour, the research is designed as three interconnected subprojects with fieldwork in Spain (Elise Hjalmarson, PhD Student), Ecuador (Jérémie Voirol, Postdoctoral Researcher), and Cuba (Valerio Simoni, Principal Investigator).

CASE STUDIES AND FIELD SITES

Timeline

The project started in February 2018 and will be completed in January 2023. Fieldwork in Ecuador and Cuba takes place 2 months per year for 4 years, and in Spain 4 months per year for 3 years, with mutual 1 month visits to each other site.

Elise Hjalmarson (PhD student) undertakes empirical field research for a total duration of fourteen months. Of these, twelve are spent in the metropolitan area of Madrid, one month in the metropolitan area of Quito, and one month in the metropolitan area of Havana. 

Valerio Simoni (Principal Investigator) and Jérémie Voirol (Postdoc) spend eight months respectively in Cuba (mainly Havana) and Ecuador (mainly Quito), divided into separate annual stays between 2018 and 2022. They also visit the Spanish field site for one month each.

Separating fieldwork periods and distributing them over 4 years enables researchers to follow the evolution of narratives and projects among Ecuadorian and Cuban migrants/returnees over the longer term and ensures the progressive analysis of data and related refinement of the project’s theoretical framework.

PUBLICATIONS

• Hjalmarson, E. 2024. "As if the Soul Returns to the Body": Affect, Stuckedness, and (In)voluntary Return to Nicaragua from Spain. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies [Online First]
• Simoni, V., Voirol, J., & Hjalmarson, E. (2024). Comparative moves: the pursuit of value and belonging in transnational migration toward a “better life.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1–21. DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2024.2354321
• Simoni, V., 2022. 'Migrant, Tourist, Cuban: Identification and Belonging in Return Visits to Cuba.' in Bloch, Natalia, and Kathleen M. Adams, editors. Intersections of Tourism, Migration, and Exile. Routledge.
• Hjalmarson, E., 2022. The diasporic condition: ethnographic explorations of the Lebanese in the world. Ethnic and Racial Studies, DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2022.2071317
• Hjalmarson, E., 2021. Review of Home Rule: National Sovereignty and the Separation of Natives and Migrants by Nandita Sharma. Interface 14(1), 393-395. 
• Hjalmarson, E., 2021. Review of Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism by Harsha Walia. Studies in Social Justice 15(3), 543-547.
• Voirol, J., 2021. Review of Transnational Return and Social Change. Hierarchies, Identities and Ideas by Remus Gabriel Anghel, Margit Fauser, and Paolo Boccagni. Social Anthropology 29(1), 263-264.
• Simoni, V., Voirol, J., 2020. Remittances and Morality: Family Obligations, Development, and the Ethical Demands of Migration.  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 47(11), 2516-2536.
• Hjalmarson, E., Kiderlin, N. T., and Ruud, S., 2020. Ethnography at an Impasse? Fieldwork Reflections During a Pandemic. Allegra Laboratory.
• Simoni, V., 2019. Appartenances et identifications à l’épreuve. Migrants en visite de retour à Cuba. ethnographiques.org 37.
• Simoni, V., 2019. Tourism, Migration and Back in Cuba. American Anthropologist 121(3), 755-760. Accepted Manuscript.

Invited talks
 

• Hjalmarson, E. 'Emotional Returns and Other (Heart)Felt Migrations among the Cuban Diaspora in Spain'. INTERMIGRA Lab, HETS, Geneva, Switzerland, November 2022
• Voirol, J. 'La desilusión del regreso. Deliberaciones morales y espacio-temporales de migrantes ecuatorianos retornados desde España', Keynote Speaker, Coloquio de investigacion, grupo en Migraciones Internacionales y Globalisacion, FLACSO, Quito, Ecuador, On-line, October 2022.
• Simoni, V. Migrant, Tourist, Cuban: Identification and Belonging in Returns to Cuba 5th MoMO lecture (Moving Mobilities,  Online,7 June 2022
• Simoni, V.Ethics, Success, and Contentious Freedom in Return Migration to Cuba, Cambridge University, Department of Social Anthropology, 25 February 2022
• Simoni, V. 'Enacting the Good Life and Getting Stuck: Moral Economies and Articulations of Value in Touristic Viñales, Cuba', Keynote Speaker for Workshop Trapped in Paradise, University of Bern, Online, June 2021.
• Simoni, V., Voirol, J., and Hjalmarson, E. 'Demanding Comparisons: Interrogating Migration and the "Good Life" in Spain, Ecuador, and Cuba', ANSO Seminar Series, The Graduate Institute, Online, April 2021.
• Simoni, V. ‘Negotiating Ethical Procedures and the Demands of Ethnography: From Research Proposal to the Field’, Swiss Anthropology Association Workshop, Online, March 2021.
• Simoni, V. '“Migration” and Its (Im)possible Demands: The Situation of “Return” in Cuba’, University of Bern Anthropology Research Seminars, Online, March 2021.
• Simoni, V. 'Freedom and Obligation: Challenges from Return Migration in Cuba', Seminarios GI Identidades, Culturas e Vulnerabilidades, Instituto de Ciências Sociais (ICS), Universidade Lisboa, Online, January 2021.
• Simoni, V. 'Making a Difference: Expectations and Reconfigurations of Value in Return Migration to Cuba', Laboratorio demo-etno-antropologico, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Universita Ca' Foscari, Venice, Italy, November 2020.
• Voirol, J. ‘¿Dónde se vive mejor? Narrativas sobre la “buena vida” entre migrantes ecuatorianos retornados a raíz de la crisis de 2008’, FLACSO, Quito, Ecuador, July 2019.
• Voirol, J., Hjalmarson, E., and Simoni, V. ‘Retourner vers un lieu meilleur? (Ré)évaluer la "bonne vie" en temps de crise’, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, May 2019.
• Simoni, V. ‘Regresando a un lugar mejor? Trayectorias migratorias Cuba-España-Cuba y la (re)evaluación de la “buena vida”’, Institut des Hautes Etudes de l'Amérique latine, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3, Paris, France, March 2019.

ConferenceS AND WORKSHOPS

• Strasser, S., Simoni, V., Lems, A., and Dahinden, J. Co-convenors of Workshop 'Trapped in Paradise', University of Bern, June 2021.
• Hjalmarson, E. '"Yo Crucé el Atlantico Sola": Cuban Migrant Women Negotiating Gendered Autonomy in Spain', Latin American Studies Association International Congress, Online, May 2021.
• Simoni, V.  'Integrationism: Social Imaginaries and Moral Justifications, Invited Discussant for Panel The Moral Economies of Knowledge Production on Migration: Conflicts, Values, Positionalities Conference IMIS, University of Osnabrück, Germany, December 2020.
• Hjalmarson, E. 'Migration, Morality and Transformation',  17th IMISCOE Annual Conference, Online, July 2020.
• Hjalmarson, E. 'Between Hope and Despair: The Affective Vicissitudes of Awaiting Assisted Return', European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) Biennial Conference, Online, July 2020.
• Simoni, V. ‘Dubious Returns and the Imperative of “Success”: Some Reflections from Return Migration to Cuba’, Workshop Experiences and Expectations of Return of New Portuguese Emigrants: Reintegration and Mobilities, Lisbon University Institute, Lisbon, Portugal, January 2020.
• Simoni, V. ‘From Worker to Owner: Emerging Moralities of “Trabajo” and “Negocio” in Return Migration to Cuba’, American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada, November 2019.
• Simoni, V. and Voirol, J. 'Articulating Morality in Return Migration', Panel Organization, American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada, November 2019.
• Voirol, J. and Simoni, V. ‘Moral Articulations of Economic Life in Returns to Ecuador and Cuba’, American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada, November 2019.
• Voirol, J. and Simoni, V. 'Imaginaires de l’entreprenariat et de contextes économiques dans les situations de mobilité', Workshop, Graduate Institute, Geneva, Switzerland, November 2019.
• Voirol, J. ‘From 'Social Remittances” to “Moral Assemblages': The Return of Ecuadorian Migrants From Spain and Their Reassessments of the “Good Life”’, Emerging Patterns of Mobility, Graduate Conference of Migration and Mobility Studies, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, September 2019.
• Simoni, V. ‘Tourism, Migration, and Back in Cuba’, Workshop Freedom, Power and Time in Tourism, Institute for Social Anthropology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland, June 2019.
• Simoni, V. Migration and the Imaginaries of “Good Life”, Invited Discussant for Panel, Session at the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) Biennial Conference, Stockholm, Sweden, August 2018.
• Simoni, V. ‘(Re)assessing Cuba and the “Good Life” from the Touristic Borderzone’, Latin American Studies Association International Congress, Barcelona, Spain, May 2018.