Browsing by Author "Vaik, Margit"

The study concentrates on living spaces and home in the context of labour migration among Estonian construction workers in Finland. Estonians are the biggest group of migrants in Finland (Statistics Finland, 2019), and from the perspective of labour migration a popular country for work, mainly due to financial reasons. The aim of this thesis is to find out how Estonian male construction workers’ living spaces and sense of home is transformed during labour migration and factors influencing it. Migration in the context of home has not been studied as widely as different migration processes in Europe and concepts of home. Liquid migration is one of the key concepts in current migration research in the European context, and it is used to present the migration background for this study. In more detail labour migrants’ reasons for migrating, decisions regarding staying in the host country and family and social aspects are covered. Three definitions of home are presented to cover the home theme. The analysis draws from Friberg’s (2012) framework on migration process and several conceptualizations of home. Data of the study consists of 6 semi-structured interviews carried out with male Estonian construction workers in Finland. The results fit into the framework of migration processes, with different aspects of home being important in every stage. In the initial stage, home stays in Estonia, although the men start to work in Finland. In the transnational commuter stage various characteristics of home become important in Finland, but as family stays in Estonia, home is there, too. For settlement stage, home shifts to Finland, if the decision is taken and family joins the migrant in Finland. In conclusion, various characteristics of home and labour migration processes are connected in different stages.