Krila migracij

Women migrants and their personal experiences have been in the focus of research scrutiny only for these past two decades. The attention has been paid to them since a general belief prevailed in the academic world that migration has always been a process characterized by distinct gender-related specifics. The life stories of migrant women present “lives in a context”, in regard to various social, economic and historical circumstances. They also indicate how these lives depended on cultural landscapes, personal attitudes, intimate calculations and independent decisions. The collected life stories show how the decisions in the life-long migration processes are not influenced only by economic and political factors, but mainly by family and friendship networks and bonds, and by intimate reasons and aspirations. It is impossible to understand migration phenomena without personal accounts of migrants along with subjective experiences of those who leave and those who stay. The use of auto/biographical sources has enriched the migration studies with new insights into the different roles, experiences, statuses and dealings of men and women in migration contexts. The book by seven authors – Mirjam Milharčič Hladnik, Jernej Mlekuž, Marjan Drnovšek, Katja Škrlj, Sanja Cukut, Urška Strle, Špela Kalčič – is a contribution to a better understanding of migration dynamics in Slovenia today and in the past.

Življenjske zgodbe migrantk predstavljamo zato, ker brez subjektivnih izkušenj tistih, ki odidejo, in tistih, ki ostanejo, migracijskih procesov sploh ne moremo razumeti. V svetu se posebna raziskovalna pozornost migrantkam posveča šele zadnji dve desetletji, ko se je uveljavilo prepričanje, da so migracije spolno obeleženi procesi in da je treba poleg makroekonomskih in političnih vzrokov razumeti tudi splet družinskih in prijateljskih vezi in mrež, znotraj katerih se sprejemajo usodne odločitve o selitvah. S pomočjo življenjskih zgodb in z rabo (avto)biografskih virov nas študije migracij seznanjajo z različnimi vlogami, izkušnjami, položaji in obravnavami moških in žensk v migracijskih kontekstih v preteklosti in danes. Knjiga – delo sedmih avtoric in avtorjev: Mirjam Milaharčič Hladnik, Marjan Drnovšek, Urška Strle, Jernej Mlekuž, Katja Skrlj, Sanja Cukut in Špela Kalčić – je prispevek k obogatitvi te vednosti in razumevanju migracij na Slovenskem.