Dr. Eva Shamiran Youkhana
Research project
Citizenship and Belonging of Latin American migrants in Spain: place making processes in a 'barrio' of Madrid
Giving the example of Latin American migrants in Madrid and the changing social and political dynamics after the recent economic crisis, the project looks at the migrant’s social and political positioning in certain districts and public spaces and in how they produce new belongings or sustain borne ones. Since public spaces carry symbolic meaning and serve as important references for the construction of ethnicity, citizenship and belonging, the focus lies on the materialization and negotiation of attachments in these locations (place-making). In order to integrate the local observations into the dynamic social contexts, a spatial conception that is based on relational and network terms will be used. Against the backdrop of ongoing public discourses, which reduce migrants to their role as receivers of integration programs and partitioning measures, the actors-oriented investigation is centered on personal initiatives, daily practices and biographies of migrants.