MIGRANTWORKEUROLAB

"Migrant workers across European Labour markets. Mobility, citizenship and urban resources in the pre-industrial cities - XVIth-XVIIIth century"

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The project focus on mobility related to one of the central element of every society: labour market. One of the reasons more frequently adduced at the base of the choice of emigrate is the research of a job. Many scholars have analysed migratory chains and professional specializations of ethnic groups , stressing as immigrants communities were able to conquer relevant places on the labour market. Therefore, the fact that immigrants were not secondary actors on the labour market stage is ascertained, and some studies point out as many foreign people could reach a prestigious position in the city of arrival . Pre-industrial cities and their labour market, in fact, seem to be quite open to foreigners: as many scholars have underlined , modern towns did not divide their inhabitants between citizens and not, but rather between stable and temporary inhabitants. This feature of openness is at the base of the strong circulation of women, men, wealth and knowledges between pre-industrial European countries. In all the major cities we can find foreigners communities, which are frequently well inserted in the local labour markets, to whose functioning they are an indispensable part. Migrant workers mobility traces therefore the lines of a working common space, an European Labour Market where women, men, wealth and knowledges move along, a common space kept together despite its differences and its largeness by the networks between different (and sometimes far) cities, built up and kept in time by its migrant inhabitants.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

European researchers have contributed to knowledge on migrant contributions to European labour markets. The EU-funded initiative also advanced the significance of knowledge transfer as a result of migrant mobility.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Well-established communities of foreigners are to be found in all major cities. Pre-industrial cities and their labour markets are considered to have been quite open to foreigners, and thus formed the crux of the circulation of women, men, wealth and knowledge between pre-industrial European countries. Previous research on migratory chains and professional concentration of ethnic groups has shown that immigrant communities were not secondary actors on the labour market stage, but rather assumed important places in their field of professional or commercial operations.

The Migrantworkeurolab project traces the lines of a common working space, a European labour market where, despite cultural differences among its women and men, wealth and knowledge move along networks and contribute to local environments. In particular, project work focused on analysing the European labour market during the pre-industrial age in order to describe it as an area built up by the mobility of its workers and inhabitants, and as a location for knowledge transfer.

Research concentrated on the complexity of the transfer of knowledge dynamics, emphasising the role of the mobility of migrant workers in constructing the global interdependence of various regions in Europe. In this context, migrants covering long distances, but all the while maintaining contact with their places of origin, constitute a veritable bridge between different places across Europe, and even beyond.

Other project work examined differences and similarities in the attitudes of European countries towards migrant workers and their inclusion in society. Of particular interest were the dynamics between the 16th and 17th centuries, during which time migrants experienced differing receptions, contingent on place and time.