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Máster Oficial Migraciones Internacionales

4721061516 – Comunidades migrantes galegas en América e Europa -

Mestrado Universitario en Migracións Internacionais: Investigación,

Políticas Migratorias e Mediación Intercultural

Laura Oso Casas & Montserrat Golías

Either or & Neither nor

By

Zeynep Pamukçu

2015 – Primer Cuatrimestre

09/12/2015

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Table of Contents

Abstract 3

Introduction 3

Method 4

Literature Review 6

Analysis 8

First Generation 9

Neighbourhood & Housing 9

Work Life & Social Life 9

When the Child Comes to the Picture 10

Meeting with Other Institutions of England as Immigrants 11

Second Generation 12

Integration Period to English Society 12

Work Life 13

Differences Between Traditions of England and Spain 13

How They Found Their Way Back to Galicia? 15

Conclusions 17

Appendix A: Questionnaire of First Generation 19

Appendix B: Questionnaire of Second Generation 25

References 27

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1. Abstract

The aim of this research is to see the impact of migration on the social integration of the

immigrants from different generations to the host societies. During the research, I interviewed

with two generation from the same family, who immigrated to England from Galicia, Spain

and after from England to back to Galicia. To be able understand and examine properly, I

divided the research into two main parts, which are first generation and second generation.

Additionally, I examined each generation within subtopics of work life, social life, school life,

neighbourhood and traditions, and return migration. In this way, it is much easier to see how

the different period and aspects of their lives were affected from the migration in terms of

social integration. This also enables us to see the impact of migration on social integration

from the eyes of different ages and different perspectives. Accordingly, the results indicate

that migration can be so effective with respect to integration in both home and host countries.

2. Introduction

Galicia is one of the most important regions of Spain in terms of both internal and external

migration. Some of the most important reasons of Galician migration have been economic

conditions and related to that job opportunities, economic crises, security, education and

political conditions of Galicia and Spain through time. Accordingly, the migration statistics of

Galicia have been changing in different periods to different destinations along with its

reasons. For instance, it can be said that the significant number of the Galician people left the

country because of the economic conditions and civil war in the period of Franco.

Although it is known that there were a significant number of Galician immigrants in

Switzerland, Germany and France; and there are various researches on them. In the case of

England for the Galician immigrants it is hard to find enough researches. The most concrete

research, called “La Emigración Gallega al Reino Unido” about the Galician migration in

England was done by Francisco Ramón Durán Villa (1985).

The effects of migration known as push effects; however, can it be said that the host

countries that people were emigrating had real good pull effects or were they obligatory or

necessary options? Why those countries? Were the conditions of those countries better than

home or Spain? How about the capital to start a new life and support it for a while in the host

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country? The conditions of trip? It was not like today at all, most of them did not just take the

airplane and left. How about visa? How about acceptance issue by the “the Others”? What

about the idea of returning? All of these and more are the questions that need to be

understood with respect to migration. In my case for this study, I interviewed with a mother

who immigrated to England and returned back to Galicia and her daughter who was born in

England and moved to Galicia. I will try to analyse the interviews from the perspective of

their integration to the society both in England and Galicia/Spain; such as work,

neighbourhood, social capital, family, school and culture.

3. Method

Compare to other techniques, the best techniques to conduct my research was questionnaire

and in-depth interview because the subject of the research, migration, I believe that it requires

face to face conversation. This also makes the respondents more relaxed and it is more useful

way to capture the moments like gestures and to prevent misunderstandings both for the

participants and the researcher. I prepared two different questionnaires since they have

different backgrounds and age of perceptions, even they are family. At the end, it should not

be forgotten that nothing stays stable from generation to generation and taking into

consideration that they were born and grew up in different countries makes the research

questions effectively different from each other.

For this research, I interviewed with 2 people, who are a mother and a daughter. The sample,

family, of the research had been chosen according to the criteria of age, where they live and

lived, how long they lived in the host country and what they do or did for living. According, I

will give background information about the characteristics of the mother and the daughter.

Mother is a 75 year-old Galician returned migrant and now she is not working because she

was retired from England. She left Galicia with her husband in 1961 when her husband got

the job offer from England and lived there for 32 years. Daughter is 44 years old now and was

born in England and migrated to Galicia when she was 23 years old in 1993. She has been

working since then in the jobs which she uses her language skills. I especially tried to find a

family like this to make the research more reliable and valuable. This gave me the chance to

look migration and social integration from different perspectives of different generations from

England to Galicia and Galicia to England from 1961 to 2015.

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The fieldwork took place in A Coruña. It was a little bit hard to find the participants because

of the language difficulties and also not all the people are so willing to share their stories since

not all ended well as it was expected. In other words, many people left the country for better

conditions; but unlike their expectations, for some cases it was a failed attempt or a shame as

they described. Another problem was about keeping their identities hidden, thinking that I was

already an outsider and from a country labelled as Muslim and these days famous with the

subject of terrorism, with some I experienced trust problems because of these reasons. These

happened although I said them that these data will not be used by the government or

organizations; moreover, whenever I meet with a person to talk about the research and my

intensions, I never asked them for their names or surnames and to make them sure that my

investigation does not include any of their political views etc. I showed them the questions.

However, at the end they did not feel comfortable, so my few possible research groups

became even fewer. I found the participants from my personal connections; however, for the

other possible participants, I went them through Equus Zebra (NGO) and friends of friends.

To inform my participants, I called them first to ask whether they accept or not and later with

the mother we met in her house and with the daughter we met in a restaurant and her work

place.

The relation between me and the participants was not completely formal because of the

subject. I did not experience any power relation or superiority like they were looking at me I

am the one who knows everything and will judge them. On the contrary, they pretended like

they are my instructors and time to time I was their friend to share their good and bad

memories. I suppose this was because of the age difference and my way of approach. I was

curious and they appreciated it, also I was foreigner they were like teaching me the history of

Galicia, Spain and England. All in all, they answered my questions willingly and through their

experiences.

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4. Literature Review

I made literature review before I prepare my research question because it was essential that

whether there are any or many researches on the impact of migration on the social integration

of the immigrants from different generations to the host societies or not. I read by searching

and understanding of migration, integration and social integration, second generation

migration, social capital, history and situation of Galicia, Spain and England from books,

articles and research, discussion reports. According to my research results of the books,

articles and reports, there are not enough researches or source especially for Galician

immigrants in England. Most of the sources that I found are on immigrants of Galicia to other

countries and mainly to Switzerland, France and Germany. In order to make a comparison, I

took help from these sources.

“La Emigración Gallega al Reino Unido” by Francisco Ramón Durán Villa is the only and

concrete one written which directly examines the migration of Galician people to England

(1985). However, it is not enough to understand the immigration relation to England in terms

of social integration.

To give an idea to the reader about the concept of integration and how England takes the

definition of integration, I used ´Department for Communities and Local Government Study´

written in 2012.

Richter (2014) in his article called “Contextualizing Gender and Migration: Galician

Immigration to Switzerland” talks about the emigrants of Galicia in Switzerland from many

aspects. For this research, it was used in terms of the social network of Galician people and

their integration to the society. He claims that when the ethnic group includes many people

from that origin, they do not feel the need to learn the language of the host country. Although

this is the case in his study, I found out that it is not necessarily connected with the social

network size, yet it also depends on the immigrants.

It was common that in Galicia when new person comes to the neighbourhood or when people

see each other on the street to welcome them. However, when the mother moved in England,

there was not such a relation. Although she did not care about it before, when she had a baby,

she invited people from around to meet with her daughter. This reaction contains security

reasons like she mentioned. There is an article done by Berry which is closely related with the

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psychology of an immigrant and their reaction. It was one of the most helpful sources that I

used to see the backgrounds of the actions of immigrants.

In order to understand the second generation and how they cope with the society, I compared

the situation of my second generation respondent and her answers with the studies of Zhou &

Bankston (1994) and Zhou & Portes (1993). They study the second generation in great detail.

They claim that not every second generation can integrate to the society similarly, the

pressure of the family, ethnic community and host society have great influence on them.

Although they made the research on Vietnamese children in New Orleans, this is the work

where I was able to see the differentiation between my respondent and the other second

generations.

Haas and Fokkema in their work, The Effects of Integration and Transnational Ties on

International Return Migration Intentions, claim that emigrants return back home when their

ties weaken with the host society. Unlike what they say, in the case of my respondents, it was

exactly the opposite especially for the daughter. England is the place where daughter was born

and spend most of her life and established relationships more than Galicia; however, she was

the one who pushed her family to go back and basically start over in Galicia. This paper

helped me to see how reasons of return migration can change from case to case. Moreover,

they assert that the decision of migration going or return, integration and commitment relation

are not necessarily substitute to each other, but they are more complements. It can be true or

wrong from case to case, yet in the case of daughter, the reason for moving to Galicia is not

necessarily about her integration or commitment to the English society. From her answers, it

should not be wrong to claim that she had more integrated and committed to English society

when she first moved in Galicia. Today, many things have been changed because she lived in

England for 23 years and now she has been living in Galicia for 22 years. As much as she

feels for England now today she feels it for Galicia, too.

Tortoises and Elephants is an article about return strategy of Spanish emigrants´ children from

France back to Spain. Although Laura Oso (2011) has found clear relations between first

generation stories about Spain and the return decision of second generation, in this research

the second generation played dominant role than the parents on the decision of return.

However, was as well as parents´ good stories, daughter wanted to change her life for good

and it was easier to do it in Galicia rather than starting from over in a new country.

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I used the finding of Chiswick because it is the best way to show that the physical

characteristics of the immigrants are as well as their countries crucial and influential in their

daily life and way of life. I give so much importance to this since the experience of the

immigrants even they have the same background and characteristics can change in the same

country from city to city. Thus, thinking each research with its parameters can prevent both

the reader and the writer from misleading.

In 1997 with his work called “Immigration, Acculturation and Adaptation article”, Beery

showed and summarized us the important lines among integration, assimilation, adaptation

and marginalization. It is significant to separate and not to them from each other while

conducting a research or analysing one.

5. Analysis

The decision of migration is difficult from one city to another and even harder from one

country to another without knowing anybody in the host area. Debatably, it can be a good or a

hard way of migration. Why good is because being in a country without ties, an immigrant

can have the opportunity to perceive and integrate to the society with less effect and

prejudices driven by another person or immigrant. Why hard is because whenever somebody

starts a new thing, it can be easier having an experienced person in order to help overcoming

the possible difficulties. Not only social connections, but also the behaviour of the host

country is another crucial element of migration. Every country has its own way to cope with

immigration and immigrants in different periods. Thinking from the case of England, England

was and is one of the most popular countries for emigrants. While studying the cases in or

from England, it is significant that taking the cases as possible as separately from each other

because of the variety of the immigrant profiles such as Catholics, Africans, Europeans,

Muslims, White people, Indians, Australians, Protestants and so on in the society. Although it

is commonly accepted that a policy from above (government) reaches to the below (society)

as it is desired, it is not the case especially in the countries where you can find significant

number of diversities in the societies like England. This is why as much as policies, how

immigrants perceive them is important for the research of immigration and the policies of the

countries. From this perspective, I will analyse the respondents in respect to the policy and the

definition of integration of England in that period; besides, their features like being Christian

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and Catholic, being white-European-Spanish are the factors that lead their perception of the

English society and naturally their responses to the questions and study.

5.1 First Generation

In the case of my respondent, her husband took a job offer from a hotel in Torquay, England

in 1961. It was not a hard decision for them to move at that time, even when they did not have

any network or connection in England except the job because they did not have anything in

Galicia like a house or a child or a good job. In spite of some cultural shocks in the beginning,

she believes that she and her husband integrated to the society easily. The definition of

integration used in this study is that “creating the conditions for everyone to play a full part in

national and local life” taken from Department for Communities and Local Government

Study (2012). From her perspective of social integration means that “Integrating, or

connecting or concerning what is going on around or inside the society like neighbourhood,

relationships, mechanisms”. The most two significant pointers of social integration are

neighbourhood and work place because these are where people spend most of their time and

find a chance to interact people.

5.1.1 Neighbourhood & Housing

After moving to England, they hired room with a kitchen inside and a shared bathroom on the

floor. The neighbourhood was not an immigrant one, yet majority of the people in the

building were immigrants. She realized that unlike Galicia, nobody knows, cares or talks to

each other in the building or neighbourhood. In time, she got used to it because she saw the

logic behind this behaviour, which is people do not have time for it, when she started to work.

For a long time, they did not have any contact in the neighbourhood except their Italian

neighbour. Apart from the language problem and lack of social capital, they could not find the

time to establish relationships neither with locals nor with immigrants. Hence, neighbourhood

did not help them so much in terms of their social integration; but this was not a bad thing

anyway from her perspective.

5.1.2 Work Life & Social Life

Her husband´s job contract was for 6 months and in that period she also had little jobs as a

domestic worker. After a sometime, she found a permanent job in a school as a pink collar

worker. By the time when her husband´s contract finished with the hotel, he also found

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another job in a place where immigrants were the majority. The difference of work places

between the husband and wife is another crucial indicator in terms of their social integration.

Working in a school and being with locals made her learn English fast and also it was the

beginning of establishing relationships and realizing what’s happening around. In time, they

began to learn about the immigrant organizations or associations in Torquay, some of them

were arranging organizations like picnics or kind of national celebration days, but she and her

husband did not prefer to get involved for a long time. Later, they realized that the majority of

the Galician people are in London and they established an organization called Grupo de

Gallegos; however, the result did not change this time it was far away from their city.

Nevertheless, in the case of her husband, the integration was different because although they

lived in England for 37 years, he did not learn proper English she says only to solve problems

quickly like what he wants and needs. She describes his life in England as it was so closed

and private unlike Galicia. He had few friends and he lived his life with them. Majority of

them came late to his life, yet he was happy about it. This situation is so common to come

across in the cases of ethnic communities. In the article “Galician Immigration to

Switzerland”, we can find a good example to this; the social life of the Galician immigrants in

Switzerland, who live in the German speaking part of the country, takes place within the

family and the Galician and Spanish speaking populations (Richter, 2004). Looking from this

perspective, it would not be wrong to say that language is the important element of integration

in the host country. In any case, we are the creatures who can understand each other by

talking, but what if you cannot talk the same language of the society that you live in? Unlike

what she says in the beginning of the interview, rather than her husband she was the one who

integrated society more because one of the most important necessities of integration is

language.

5.1.3 When the Child Comes to the Picture

The major change in their life happened after they had a child in 1971. The first real

interaction with the neighbourhood began after she gave birth because she invited all the

people living around to show that she had a baby and she wanted to establish relations with

the neighbourhood. There are three different reasons behind this, two of which were given by

the respondent. The first reason is that introducing a child by inviting people to the house after

the birth is a tradition in Galicia. The second reason is environmental security. She explains

this as feeling secure outside in the neighbourhood. For example, she and her baby girl are

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outside for shopping and she needs help with something. In other words, this was an

investment for the future of her child. For instance, when her daughter is going to school if

she needs help or preventing possible bad situation like kidnapping because the child will be

under the watch of neighbourhood, she felt much better after the meeting in her house. The

third reason that I believe behind this reaction is psychological security of an immigrant. This

reason is more common to come across especially when an immigrant is new and alone

(without ethnic community of their own or social capital) in the neighbourhood, which was

studied by Berry in the article, A Psychology of Immigrant (2001). However, in my opinion

in this case the similarity comes from the feeling of protection. Although they as a husband

and wife got used not to know or not to talk many people around because this is the nature of

England, when their child came to the picture, their reaction also changed and she searched

for her traditions in many terms like security and neighbourhood. This is what happened as

soon as their daughter came.

5.1.4 Meeting with Other Institutions of England as Immigrants

The integration has been taken to another level by the school period of the child. Step by step,

the institutions which were not their concern formerly began to come to their attention. I

believe this is another way of their integration to the society and the system because they

started to take part in and have an idea about both local and national level of the institutions

more than they before. She says there were and are different types of schools in England such

as faith, private and state boarding schools. Because they did not have enough money, they

send their daughter to Catholic faith school. If they had money, they would prefer sending her

to private school; but they did not regret the education that the child attended. In a way, all the

students in the school were taking the same education with the rest of the country except the

scripture lessons. She says although religion was not a big issue in England, she is happy that

her daughter grew up by learning their religion especially when they were planning to return

back to Galicia soon, which did not happen as it is planned. Through parents´ meetings in the

school, she found the chance to know other circle of people in their city since many of the

immigrants were Catholic and sending their children to the same school. She said there were

many Italians, Greeks, Portuguese, Irish and Scottish people. Gradually, she started to be

friends with parents of the children in the school. Although she thinks that English people

were good to her, thinking that she is immigrant there and she worked in a place where most

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of the people are English, she had her best friends from Irish, Scottish and Portuguese parents.

This is also the time when her husband met the majority of his friends.

5.2 Second Generation

In the case of second generations; unlike their parents, their experience and perception of the

host country and society are much more different along with their concerns. Like in the first

generation; being white, Muslim, Indian; living in an ethnic community in terms of pressure;

or having tight relations with other immigrants can also change the way of the second

generation attitude to host country. Actually, the case study of Zhou and Bankston about

Vietnamese youth in New Orleans proofs the effects of ethnic community and neighbourhood

on the second generation; whereas, in the case of my second generation respondent which is

exactly the opposite of Vietnamese youth (1994). Considering from this point, Portes and

Zhou claim that growing up with two cultures can be a matter of smooth acceptance or of

traumatic confrontation (as cited in Zhou & Bankston, 1993, p.823).

5.2.1 Integration Period to English Society

In the case of the daughter (second generation respondent), it can be said that it was a smooth

acceptance. There are three main possible reasons for that. The first one is because she was

born in England; from her words, she is Spanish-English. It is important to note that not every

second generation considered or taken as the children who were born in the host country in

the literature, but also the children who emigrated because of their parents at a young age. The

second possible reason is she was in a relatively free environment outside of the house

comparing to Vietnamese children. Putting differently, although in the house she was exposed

to or live in the Spanish-Galician culture, outside in the school she was all with English

traditions, language and so on. The last possible one is she had to meet and get into society at

young young age. What I mean is that her mother was taking her to job with herself after she

became 6 week-old. Furthermore, at the age of 2, she started to go to kinder garden where she

started to connect with local people and learn English. Because of that, she did not experience

any language problem between Gallego and English. Her parents were talking almost only in

Gallego sometimes in Spanish and in the kinder garden, school and work for her all life there

was in English. When she was 5, she began to Catholic school where English students were

the minority and the language of instruction was in English. Until the age of 12, which means

during the compulsory education years, she also took Spanish classes to indicate that she has

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Spanish as well as her English. These classes were not related with her education in the

school, but her parents wanted her to go for the future possibilities. At the end of this, she

accepted as trilingual.

5.2.2 Work Life

With respect to her work life, she began to work when she was 15. She was working not

because they do not have enough money, but it was and is a normal age in order to start to

work in England. She worked in a fish and chips shop owned by an English person during a

whole school year. She found the job; in this sense through social capital that she has

established since her primary school years. She worked there for a year and after she changed

to clothe shop like Zara and continued in that sector until she is 18. She studied up to

Bachillerato according to the Spanish education system. Later, she found a job in the

international relations related department of an airport and worked full time until 23. After

when she moved to Galicia, she worked in different places; but she was always using her

English. For example, in Zara in the department of international relations for one year; in

Vodafone as Vodafone Secretary and only dealing with English speaking countries and

costumers for seventeen years and now in a hospital as welfare coordinator handling non-

Spanish speakers patients´ problems since 2011.

5.2.3 Differences Between Traditions of England and Spain

Her idea about tradition such as music, food, relationships and customs can be described as in

between two worlds. I asked her about the differences of these between Spain and England.

Also, if there is something that she feels strange about and whether she still follows the

English traditions or not in Galicia/Spain. From her own words, it will be more explanatory;

In the house;

“In the house generally, the Galician and Spanish traditions continued. However,

after I started to understand what is tradition, what English people do in the New

Year; I wanted what I saw, not what Spanish people do there. I think because when I

was a child rather than Spanish culture and customs, English ones were more magical

for me. For example, my parents were not giving gifts for me in the New Year, but

instead of that, on the 6th

of January (el día de los Reyes Magos) there was a present

always waiting for me. Nevertheless, because of the reasons that I said, that present

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never affected me as much as the present of the New Year. Yes, in that I was a child,

but today still keep the tradition of England with me. I think at the end they become my

traditions mostly.”

In terms of traditions;

“Today I still celebrate the Christmas in an English way with three and many

decorations; even my partner and daughter do not feel like that. This is why on

Christmas and New Year my daughter is with me; on the other hand, she spends 6th

of

January with his father.

The other shocking thing was the way of entertainment between England and Spain. In

England, the life more or less stops at 11 o’clock for adults and because children are

not staying until that time outside, they go to each other’s houses for sleep over.

However, the summers in Spain are completely different and I was here only in the

summers, so I talk about summer entertainments. Children are out until 3 o’clock in

the morning, having party and they play on the street. I could not get used to that/this

version and still today when my daughter is going out for party or meeting her friends

and stays late, I get worried and feel like something is wrong. However, there is

nothing wrong because this is the way of Spain unlike what I think.”

In terms of relationships;

“In terms of friendships; I believe in England people are more respectful to the others´

personal space. Here since I move here, I see that everybody wants to know about the

others life and the friendships are the same rather than neighbourhood. In England, if

you do not tell people do not insist to learn. Although I have friends here since my

childhood, they do not understand and want to accept the logic that I have some things

that I want to keep to myself.”

In terms of continuation of the habits and customs;

Other than these, in our house unlike Spanish people; me, my partner and my

daughter are so punctual and everything is in order like “English order”. This is one

of the things that I still maintain although I live in a Spanish society and a Spanish

family. Because I got used to this way, I still give so much importance to being

punctual and being in order.”

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Looking from her perspective, it can be said that although she is in Galicia/Spain and loves to

be here, for some reasons she still likes and applies the English ways. This does not mean that

she did not integrated to social life, but she has her differences coming from England. She

describes this as “I was never English and I am not completely Spanish or Galician, in

England I was the Spanish girl, now here I am the English girl”; which is as she says always

being in between never this and never be that.

6. How they found their way back to Galicia?

Unlike what parents (first generation) were thinking in 1980s, they stayed in England ten

more years than planned and the decision of return at the end came from their child, when she

was 23. In 1993, as daughter says with “youth fire”, she decided to change her life and having

the Spanish passport, thanks to her father because he registered his daughter in the Spanish

Embassy after she was born, made it easier. Haas and Fakkema claim that emigrants generally

go back to home countries when their economic and social ties weaken in the host countries;

nevertheless, in the case of my respondents it is exactly the opposite and even the decision of

migration did not come from the parents or first generation migrants (2011, p.757). In

addition, daughter was the one who has more roots in terms of economic and social ties than

her parents. The similar claim was done by Richter specifically for Galician people, Richter

declares that Galician return back when they retired (2014, p.271). This is another proof that,

this is not the one and only and important factor of returning because when mother and

daughter returned, father was still working and because of this, he stayed five more years in

England not to lose his pension. Why Spain is because daughter says that her family was

always talking good about Spain and Galicia; which is the reason when she decided to move,

she preferred Galicia with confidence. There are many different examples of second

generation migration to the homeland in the article “Tortoises and Elephants”, searched and

written mainly to understand the effect of first generation on the decision of their children´s

migration to home countries from the case of Spanish immigrants in France (Oso, 2011). In

this research, I could not find the same reasons such as nostalgia or social mobility for

daughter´s desire to come to Galicia as clearly as Oso´s work. Although there was a

confidence about Galicia like most of the immigrants and their children, daughter also had

doubts to find a job. This is why she gave herself six months to see whether Galicia or Spain

can work for her or not. During the period, she moved to her grandmother´s house. Because

there was not any concrete decision, mother did not come with her in the beginning. She

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found the job less than a month and hired a flat and later her mother came back to Galicia.

Her father joined them in 1998 after the retirement.

The question here can be “Why? Was there an integration or commitment problem to the

English society for daughter about being the Spanish girl in England?” The answer is no

because she was also the English girl in Galicia. Maybe here instead of looking integration

and commitment relation as a substitute to each other, taking them as their complements

would be helpful, Haas says (2011, p.758). Nonetheless, it is hard to separate or complement

them from each other in the case of daughter. Thus, it is not necessarily the issue of social

integration or commitment to the society. In addition to this, it should not be forgotten that

she never lived in Spain before. Hence, this brings the issue of integration to the Spanish

society for her. As well as she, her parents also returned and it was not the same Spain or

Galicia that they left even they were in Galicia for the summer vacations; visiting and living

do not give the same effect at the end to see the real change after 32 years in terms of

economy, them, politics, people and so on. As I mentioned above, for daughter one of the

difficulties was about the relationships among neighbours and friends in terms of personal

space, which was also the problematic case for her mother. This can be the indicator of

reintegration of the mother, even though she was born and lived in the Galician society when

she came back it was strange for her and took time to get used to old version, still time to time

she does not feel comfortable when some people go beyond her borders. The reason I used

reintegration for the situation of the parents is because they already lived in Galicia and for

daughter it can be taken as partial integration because she was not completely outside of the

culture, traditions, or the land. As a result, it would not be wrong to say that although they are

not completely reintegrated or integrated Spain, they also were not completely integrated to

England; so whether they go back to England or stay here, after many years of experience in

England and Spain, I believe that it would be extremely difficult for them to feel whole. In

other words, like daughter says there are two worlds for them and they will always live in

between. At the end, wherever they live or go, they have something to miss from one another.

17

7. Conclusion

There are three important points while reading and analysing this research. The first one is

shortage of sources about the Galician emigrants in England and their return to Galicia.

Because of this, making comparisons with other England cases is widely not possible. Thus,

this is a good thing to give for the other researches and a bad thing at the same time since I

could not compare my findings with other cities or cases. The other points are related with the

problem of relativity. The relativity of the concept of integration and social integration can

make the analyse part difficult to obtain and this is why I put a definition in the beginning to

give a perspective about the concept. The other relativity and last point is about the number

and the characteristics of the participants. In this position, it is crucial to remember that this

research does not represent all the emigrants of Galicia and England because all the

immigrants and places of Galicia and England have different characteristics.

In the case of the two participants, I believe that they socially and systematically integrated to

both Galician and England societies and systems to a certain extent because even today after

32 years experience of England and 22 years of Galicia, they still like and criticize both of the

countries in many aspects.

Mother was young relatively young when she migrated to England and after a long time in

England, she got used to many mechanisms and traditions. At the same time, she followed her

traditions in her house with her husband and daughter. Because she was working in an

English environment, she learned the language; this is one of the important steps of

integration. In the beginning both the father and the mother did not have many relations with

society; however, with the daughter they both met with the new institutions and began to get

in touch with the society closely. This situation played a big role in their life and mainly

changed their integration level because social integration requires awareness and participation

to both socially and systematically. Even when they came back to Galicia, they realized that

how they got used to English ways and how weird some ways of Galicia looks like now. This

is why I believe that mother integrated to England and Galicia; nevertheless, because she does

not describe herself neither as English nor as Galician completely; she is just in between and

actually from her answers it should not be wrong to say that she belongs to both and from my

perspective of social integration; she integrated to both.

18

Being born in a different country and living in a different country from your origins; willingly

or unwillingly affects beliefs and traditions even the in the house you have a different one; it

is more likely to be more close to what society does and it could be because of the number of

the people you get in touch or about the time that you spend outside with other people. To

some extent, parents are the ones who determine some characteristics of the children;

nonetheless, when the children start to use their own wings to fly, they begin to collect from

the environment. At the end, this is how we are different from each other or even a sister from

sister. In the case of daughter this is exactly what happened. Living 23 years in an English

society gave her different kind of integration experience both in England and Galicia. She

says that although she is known as the Spanish girl, she does not and did not get the

impression of an outsider. Here, where it comes the specific characteristics of her like skin

colour, being Spanish/European, being able to talk English as a native and so on. Why? It is

because like Chiswick says “white foreign-born workers earn the same as white native-born

and that non-white foreign-born earn substantially less than white natives” (as cited Bauer,

Lofstorm & Zimmermann, 2000, p.15). This is a claim done by Chiswick in 1980 and more or

less the same period when daughter started to work. What I mean by that is every research

should be read or analysed according to the variables. What daughter experienced is a little bit

because of her physical characteristics and also the society and environment that she lived in.

Social integration is one of the most important concepts of migration which we should be

researching more. It is mainly because without interacting, integrating, adapting and adjusting

it is impossible to live in a society. For example, the father did not know English very well,

but this does not mean that he did not go to market to buy bread or did not use the bus.

Integration is in every aspect of the society like buying bread, we just need to know how to

look or in which aspect do we want search like social integration, cultural integration and

define the concepts properly. I tried to understand from the perspective of social integration

and like Berry indicates in his article I believe there so tiny lines which we need to be aware

of among integration, adaptation, assimilation and marginalization (1997, p.10).

19

Appendix A: First Generation Questionnaire

1. Where did you emigrate?

Torquay, England.

2. Why England, but not another country?

Because my husband got a job offer from England for 6 months.

3. When did you leave Spain?

In 1961.

4. How old were you when you were leaving?

21 and my husband was 25. We were married with my husband for 4 years.

5. Did you leave alone?

With my husband.

6. How did you decide to go?

Except our families, we did not have anything here such as permanent job or house.

Because my father was a soldier during the civil war, he supported us to go. He was

thinking there is nothing in Galicia or Spain, so the best thing to do is leaving the

country. At the end, the job was also for 6 months, it gave us the chance to see

whether we can do it or not.

7. Did you get any help to leave? (Financial or moral support)

The moral support came mostly from my father since we do not have anything here we

could not sell anything and took the money and leave. So, no for financial support.

8. Did you need to get visa or any kind of bureaucratic papers when you were leaving?

No, because the company prepared everything for us. We did not do them, but they

did it for us. And we used those papers when we are going out to France, during the

trip and going inside England.

9. How did you finance your trip?

10. What kind of transportation did you use?

11. How was the trip? (Was it hard and how long was it?)

The company also paid them; however, because they paid it, it was a terrible trip.

Started from Santiago de Compostela we used train and bus until France. Later from

France we travelled with ship to England. As long as I remember it took 3 days to

arrive to England.

20

12. When you were leaving, were you thinking about returning?

We (me and my husband) were always planning to come back, but there was nothing

here and in time we said when we have child, when the child finishes school, bla. bla.

bla. But the funny thing is that our daughter decided to come back and we came back

thanks to her. However, my husband couldn’t come with us directly when we move

because he had to wait for his pension for 5 years more.

13. When you were leaving, did you have any backup plan or arrangement in case you

return earlier than you think?

Because we already did not have anything, if we were coming early, everything would

be the same except looking for a job here again.

14. How long did you live in England?

For 32 years.

15. How did you deal with the language?

Because I was working with English people day by day using it. Also the effect of the

school because I started work in a school and the children there were helping me by

showing the things and it was easier to learn with children. On the other hand, my

husband did not go beyond saying I need bread, I need this bla bla because he was

working in a place full of immigrants. This also affected his relations with people. He

did not have many friends, but he was happy I guess because he seemed like that and

never complained about it.

16. Today, after the contracts or the reason completed in the host country, they want you

to leave immediately. In your case you had a 6 months contract, how did you stay,

how was the regulations there in that time?

At that time, we were going to police every 6 months to show or prove that we have

job and we are living here. When the contact was over, I was working and we were

able to stay. Not long after, also my husband found another job and we continued like

that.

17. Do you have the double nationality?

No, we never asked for it, but we registered our daughter both to England and Spain.

18. What does social integration means for you?

Integrating, or connecting or concerning what is going on around or inside the society

like neighbourhood, relationships, and mechanisms.

21

19. Where did you live? Can you describe the place, neighbourhood and conditions?

We hired a room with my husband. The building was small with 5 floors and in every

floor there were 2 rooms and a shared bathroom. We were sharing it with an Italian

woman. In the room we had a bed, table and some kitchen equipments when we first

arrived. Inside the room we had the bedroom and saloon together and an open kitchen

can be said it was inside the saloon and bathroom. We live there for 10 years until.

When we had a baby in 1971, we bought a house and began to live there. It was also

small, but comparing to other room of course not that much. It had 2 rooms, bathroom

and a separate kitchen and saloon. We did not change the neighbourhood. The

neighbourhood was not completely full of immigrants. Actually, there was not any

specific place in the city to say this place is an immigrant neighbourhood.

20. Did you find any other Galician or Spanish people where you moved?

In the close environment no, but in time we learned that there were other Spanish

immigrants around. However, because we were working so much, we could not attend

the events that they were planning to come together and enjoy speaking your own

language with others. We learned that there was a kind of association in London where

the Galician people meet called Grupo de Gallegos, it was far and lack of time did not

let us to know others around so much. After my daughter started to school we created

time to meet with other mothers because we wanted to know the other families that

our daughter playing with.

21. Were you visiting friends and family in Galicia?

We were coming only in the summer vacations because the trip was expensive in

Christmas.

22. Can you describe your time in England as an adventure?

It was yes and no. Yes because we had a good time and a different life there. No

because we were mostly working and did not have enough time to see around or have

fun.

23. What are your best and worst experiences?

The worst is when we were going to England on the ship I saw the first time a black

person in my life and I started to cry and I was so afraid.

The best is that although it was so strange for me in the beginning, in England people

do not care about each other like they do not ask how are you and the neighbourhood

we live together, but they do not know it or care it, what people wear is not their

22

concern or what they believe in. This was completely weird for me and also I felt like

an outsider, immigrant and I thought that people do not talk to me was because of that.

But no that´s just the way they are to all people without differentiating. Now, here

when people talk about their clothing or beliefs asking too many questions about the

other´s lives; I feel uncomfortable. The normal and the good have changed for me too

after 32 years of England experience.

24. How was the culture such as food, music, friendships?

Friendships were more distant to each other than here, but only in the beginning. I

think it is just people´s way. Although I did not have any problem with the society and

English people because they did not make me feel as an immigrant of course after I

understand their way, my best friends at the end were originally from Ireland and

Scotland, also Portuguese and Italian people, as they are immigrants, were one of the

closest nations to me.

Food; although they are an island, they do not have sea food so much because they are

exporting almost all and so it was expensive. We were missing sea food of Galicia and

some of our traditional food or the things we had here.

Music; it was different for sure, when we here a Spanish music; we were getting

melancholic.

25. Can you give positive and negative aspects or comparison of Galicia and England?

In England, people work properly. Here they work more and without purpose

because of the abnormality of the work hours, Spanish people in front of the desk

just killing the hours.

English people are more punctual than Spanish people. Not being punctual here

not only affects the relationships of the people, but also the work life. For example,

I needed a repairman for the broken television, the repairman said to me to come at

2 o’clock, but because he does not keep his promises, I have waited for him until

6. This never happens in England.

However, in England, I know a man died in his house and until he began to smell

nobody realized it and this never happens in Galicia.

This does not mean one is better than the other, but they all have different ways,

let’s say culture. At the end, I had so good years both in England and Galicia and I

love both as they are.

23

26. Were you working in Galicia before you migrate?

Yes, in a marisco and pescado shop.

27. Did you work in England?

Yes, in the first 6 months I only worked in the houses as a cleaning lady. Later, when I

started to establish relations, I found a permanent job in a school the same job with

real benefits and officially. When my husband´s contract finished, he also found

another job in an immigrant related place. By the time, when he was looking for a job

after the contract is over, I was the one who is earning money. Being in England, for a

long time and experiencing these kinds of things changed my husband´s way of

thinking about being a man of the house or the way Galician people think how a man

should be. He was a modern man and we always supported each other in bad and good

times. We even changed our schedule of work to be able take care of our child and he

never said you are the mother sit and deal with it. We worked hard and we raised a

child together. I took my daughter to job time to time until she becomes 2. He took

half of the day off to be able help me and to able to work both of us. I back to the work

after 6 weeks of the birth and he stood by me for that.

28. Were your conditions better in England than Galicia?

I can say yes and in terms of many things such as economically, opportunities for my

child and us. Economically better because there was a job problem here already, me

and my husband worked all the time and it was good enough according to the

conditions of England, we even bought a house. We raised a child in a good

environment. She had more chances and possibilities than she could have in Galicia.

29. After you moved and settled, did you recommend or helped anybody to move to

England like friends, uncles, cousins?

Our condition was good and whenever we come, of course we were talking good

about England, too. However, nobody followed us maybe it was about the courage and

capital also. Because when we were going, we knew that we will have money and a

place to stay, but just going without job and only knowing some people there is hard I

believe.

30. Do you think there was a big difference in your lives before and after having a child?

The first thing that I did after the birth is arranging a meeting with the people around

in the neighbourhood. I think in that moment I wanted the relations in Galicia because

I was not just looking for a friend, but I was also thinking about the safety of my

24

children when she will start to go to market, to school etc. by doing that, not only me,

but my daughter too was comfortable I believe.

Moreover, we started to learn the systems and things around which were not our

concern before even in Galicia. For example, we got in contact with Spanish Embassy

in London for the first time. After that, school/education system and this also gave us

the chance to know other people around because she had friends and we were meeting

with the mothers of other children and etc.

31. How was school system? How did you decided to send your daughter to Catholic

school?

There were faith, private and state boarding schools. We wanted to send her to private

school, but they were pretty expensive. The other choice was directly faith/ Catholic

school because if one day we go back, we wanted that our children has the closest

education at least in terms of religion to Spain. Although religion was not a big issue

in the society, we chose the best we can think for her according to our budget and

circumstances.

32. Did you find what you were looking for?

Yes, but we weren’t looking for a magic, it was about job and we knew that we will

not make millions because our education level wasn’t high, but a little bit better

conditions and we found more than that by also having the chance to raise our

daughter there. Also, we were able to buy a house in England and when we came

back, we even bought our house here. We provided good conditions to our child that a

normal conditioned family can give to their children.

33. Do you think you were and are socially integrated to England and Galicia? Why?

Yes and no, we were both integrated and not because we were living in between we

spend most of our lives both here and there. So maybe it is fair to stay that we were

integrated to both at some point.

34. Do you miss those days?

Yes, but they are just good memories. I wouldn’t prefer to go back now, only for

vacations.

25

Appendix B: Second Generation Questionnaire

1. For how long your mom took care of you?

2. When did she go back to work life?

3. Have you ever had a baby-sitter?

4. In the house in which language were your parents speaking to you?

5. When did you learn Spanish?

6. How your parents did explain the change or difference to you in terms of language?

7. Did you go to kinder garden? If yes, when?

8. After school what were you doing? Were you alone in the house?

9. How were you coming and going to school?

10. Did you know the people in the neighbourhood like hairdresser, neighbours, and

market owners?

11. When did you start to learn English?

12. When do you think your real interaction started with society?

13. Were you “the Spanish girl” in England?

14. Did you have friends in Galicia from your summer visits?

15. Have you ever come to Galicia on your own to visit friends or family members?

16. What was the most different or weird thing for you between Galicia and England?

(According to age could be?) such as friendship, food, culture, music, entertainment.

17. How your parents were describing Galicia to you? Were they missing Galicia, family,

friends, food, etc.?

18. Were they talking about returning? Do you think your decision of moving Galicia can

be affected by your parents?

19. At what age you started to work?

20. What kind of jobs you worked?

21. How did you find those jobs?

22. When did you finish the school and started to work full time?

23. Did you use Spanish or English in the job? Did you ever have a job in England that

you used Spanish?

24. Why did you decide to move to Galicia?

25. When you settled completely?

26. What kind of jobs you worked in Galicia?

26

27. Did or do you use your English in the position that you work and worked?

28. What does social integration means for you?

29. Do you miss the days in England?

30. If you had the chance, would you like to go back?

31. Do you still have some certain things coming from English tradition or way of life that

you continue to do here?

32. In which language are you talking to your daughter?

33. Do you feel more English, Galician, or Spanish?

34. Do you think you are socially integrated to England and Galicia? Why?

27

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