Exploring migration networks in Italy: empirical evidence from field surveys

Antonella Guarneri, Università di Roma "La Sapienza"

Migration dynamics can be studied following generally a macro or a micro analytical perspective. Additional attention, however, deserves the so called meso-level that represents a crucial means to link these more conventional level of analysis: not only families and households, but also other important clusters influence migrants’ decisions to move, stay or return. Through the analysis of the data collected by different field surveys that took place in Italy few years ago (NIDI-Eurostat on Egyptians and Ghanaians in Italy; possible comparison with other surveys that interested immigrants from Albania and Morocco), the objective of this work is to examine the extent to which cumulative migration at the individual, household and ethnic level is differentially important for men and women. To deepen the structure and the main characteristics of the differentiated typologies of networks, a multidisciplinary approach, included the social network analysis, is considered to be appropriate.