Amsterdam University Press

Inge Van Nieuwenhuyze
Getting by in Europe's Urban Labour Markets
Senegambian Migrants' Strategies for Survival, Documentation and Mobility

This book examines two major social changes experienced by European cities in the last two decades: post-industrial economic restructuring and new immigration flows. The link between both has been extensively discussed throughout a variety of theoretical approaches and in numerous descriptive contributions. Adding to those studies, this research focuses on three elements of migratory experience that have been relatively neglected thus far: a dynamic view of changes over time, the influence of national welfare and legislation frameworks, and the importance of support mechanisms outside the labour market. The material underpinning the arguments is the qualitative life-course analysis of 81 in-depth interviews with Senegambian migrants living in Antwerp and Barcelona.

Reviews
"This beautifully crafted comparative analysis skilfully combines structural factors and migrants' agency in its approach. The result is a rich depiction of the life trajectories of Senegambian migrants arriving to Europe in search of a future."
-- Francisco Javier Moreno Fuentes, Research Fellow, Spanish National Research Council, Madrid

“Carefully prepared qualitative fieldwork and clearly written research results make this comparative case study highly useable. Inge van Nieuwenhuyze contributes great value to the European literature in the field of contemporary migration and post-migration dynamics.”

-- Marco Martiniello, Director of the Center for Ethnic and Migration Studies, University of Liège and FRS-FNRS

“This book offers fascinating and very readable insight into how undocumented immigrants into Europe manage to access labour and housing markets, along with the varying migrant situations and experiences between countries.”

-- Chris Hamnett, Professor of Geography, King’s College London