'Between a rock and a hard place': Bulgarian highly skilled migrants' experiences of external and internal stereotypes in the context of the European crisis. Issue 1 (2nd January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Genova, Elena
• Is Part Of: National identities. Volume 19:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 33
• Page End: 51
• Publication Date: 2017-01-02
• Subjects: Bulgarian migrants -- highly skilled -- stereotypes -- European crisis -- double-sided othering; Nationalism -- Periodicals; Ethnicity -- Periodicals; 305.8005
• DOI: 10.1080/14608944.2015.1136609
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1460-8944

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The intensification of intra-European migration has more recently coincided with the negative socio-economic consequences of the European economic crisis. The latter has revitalised dormant national stereotypes, employed into the scapegoating of migrants across Europe. Drawing on multi-sited ethnographic research, this article focuses on young, highly skilled Bulgarian migrants in the UK. Their experiences of internal and external national stereotypes are examined in detail. This article argues that this results in a process of double-sided othering, which has implications upon the identities of young skilled Bulgarians as they employ various strategies to make sense of their migratory choices.