In the meanwhile: Time welfare and prolonged temporariness of Moldovan domestic workers in Italy 

Abstract:

Based on ethnographic fieldwork in several Italian cities with a large concentration of Eastern European migrants, I put forward a temporal approach on migration experiences in terms of time qualities and life planning. Drawing on narratives of Moldovan migrant live-in care workers in Italy, I first examine constructions of wellbeing and temporal resistance techniques under conditions of precarity. I conceptualize migrant domestic work as a precarious type of employment marked by particular time qualities, derived from the conflation of workspace with living space, ever-availability, repetitive tasks, subordinate status, etc. In the context of time commodification, migrants seem positioned at the bottom of temporal hierarchies: doing the jobs that locals do not want, often working non-standard hours, saving hard, cutting back on leisure and self-gratification.

Secondly, I look at how temporal horizons impact on migration projects and affect long-term decision-making in crucial domains of life. Even if planned to be temporary, most migration projects of Moldovans in Italy have been extended indefinitely over the years. I illustrate how intended temporariness is reflected in everydayness, family life, qualities of time and how it affects decision-making in practical domains such as occupational career, access to social benefits, pension and health system. I argue that maintaining a temporary mindset correlates with ​ ​halting migrant conduct in terms of time strategies. By and large, I address the time management of those who are not always in the position to "own" time, have a clear vision of what lies ahead and make informed choices.

Bio:

Olga Cojocaru is about to complete her Ph.D. thesis in Migration Studies at the University of Warsaw, dealing with the temporalities of migration with a case study on Moldovan migrants in Italy. Over the past years, she has been affiliated with the Centre of Migration Research in Warsaw, as a doctoral fellow in the TRANSMIC project funded through the European Commission’s Marie Curie actions. She has been a Pontica Magna Fellow at the New Europe College in Bucharest (2018-2019), a visiting doctoral student at COMPAS Oxford (2019) and at EUI in Florence (2017). She holds an MA degree in Social Anthropology from ​the ​Central European University in Budapest (2013) and an MA in Anthropology from the National School of Political Science and Public Administration in Bucharest (2011).

Recommended readings:

Cwerner Saulo B. (2001) The Times of Migration, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 27(1): 7-36, DOI: 10.1080/13691830125283

Griffiths Melanie (2013) Migration, Time and Temporalities: Review and Prospect, COMPAS Research Resources Paper, March 2013, COMPAS: Centre on Migration, Policy and Society, University of Oxford.

Harper Robin A. and Hani Zubida (2017) Living on borrowed time: borders, ticking clocks and timelessness among temporary labour migrants in Israel in: H. Donnan, M. Hurd and C. Leutloff-Grandits (eds) Migrating Borders and Moving Times. Temporality and the Crossing of Borders in Europe, Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 102-120.