Abstract
Since 2008, thousands of young Galician graduates have left their country looking for the job opportunities they cannot find at home, with the UK (particularly London) as their main destination. A noticeable feature of this movement is the increase of women migrants, who have sometimes occupied unskilled, low-paid jobs despite their university qualifications. Starting in the second decade of the 21st century, a corpus of narrative texts written by Galician women authors (Alba Lago, Anna R. Figueiredo, María Alonso, and Eva Moreda) has given visibility to these experiences. Lago’s, Figueiredo’s, and Alonso’s characters express anger and frustration as a way of denouncing the precariousness of their situation and the material conditions that led to their departure from Galicia. Combining different theoretical approaches from migration studies (Morokvasic; Nail; Kędra), criticism of global neoliberalism (Bourdieu; Bauman; Sassen), and affect theory (Ahmed), I propose an analytical framework for reading these texts as expression of a “poetics of expulsion” with four thematic axes: expulsion, exploitation, (dis)connection, and repossession. I finish by considering Moreda’s novel as illustrative of a different view of migration, focusing on the migrant’s agency and on migration as a personal choice (Silvey and Lawson).
Highlights
Spain’s economic prosperity at the end of the twentieth century seemed to reverse historical trends in migratory movements
Not all the stories of the new Galician diaspora fit the pattern of expulsion, as shown by Moreda’s novel, which I analyse last as a text that focuses, instead, on migration as a personal choice
Samuel’s own conception intertwines the paths of the Galician diaspora and other migratory movements, suggesting a transnational connection based on solidarity and empathy with other migrants in London, as a response to the anti-immigration rhetoric prompted by Brexit
Summary
Spain’s economic prosperity at the end of the twentieth century seemed to reverse historical trends in migratory movements. I propose that these texts demand a critical examination that refocuses our attention to the material conditions that prompted these young migrants to leave, addressing their emotional responses to the effects of such unwanted displacement They echo the voice of a generation often described as the most highly educated in Galicia’s history, as in the rest of Spain, “usually the descendants of small middle-class families who have pinned their hopes on their children’s schooling, shouldering the cost of higher education with the expectation of social advancement” Not all the stories of the new Galician diaspora fit the pattern of expulsion, as shown by Moreda’s novel, which I analyse last as a text that focuses, instead, on migration as a personal choice
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
