ABSTRACT
A striking feature of studies on irregular migrants is that little or no attention is paid to their social incorporation. Most studies bypass this theme entirely, while others consider it to be of secondary importance. This lack of attention is probably inspired by the implicit assumption in much research that when migrants are busy ‘surviving’ there is little time for recreational activities or maintaining social relations. Most studies which do deal with the social aspects of irregular migrants’ lives therefore portray images that are in line with this ‘survival perspective’ discussed in chapter 2. They tell stories of migrants who avoid public spaces, stay inside their houses, behind locked doors and closed curtains, either too afraid to venture outside or too tired from work to do so (see also Hondagneu-Sotelo 1994). Psimmenos and Kassimati (2006: 153), for example, write about respondents who live ‘in the shadows’, who are confined to their house and who are ‘afraid of the public’. Likewise, Anderson (1999: 67) asserts that for irregular migrants ‘free time is in short supply’, and ‘largely devoted to recovering one’s energies’ at home. Iosifides et al. (2007: 1,351) paint a similar picture, saying that their respondents speak of the ‘almost total unavailability of free time and recreation’ and that ‘the majority of interviewees equate recreation and free time with rest at home’. Another example stems from the work of Schuster (2005), who claims that irregular migrants do not visit shops, cafés or cinemas, but only visit markets to buy food every now and then. Likewise, Ahmad (2008: 311) writes that irregular migrants are ‘locked in an endless cycle of work that confines them to a physical space of a few square meters both at work … and at home’. In addition, Engbersen (1999a: 236) reports that irregular migrants live their lives in ‘geographically restricted areas’, show ‘immobile behaviour’ and that many are ‘chained to their home’ Likewise, Iosifides and King (1999: 226) report ‘high levels of socio-spatial exclusion’. In addition, according to Diouck (2000: 57) ‘the life of an [irregular migrant] is characterised by a daily struggle to escape police controls’.
