Resistance or Resilience? Tracking the Pathway of Recent Arrivals to a ‘New’ Rural Destination

Abstract

AbstractRecent patterns of migration indicate that international migrants are not confined to urban gateways. Instead many migrants have settled in new destination areas located in rural and small town areas. While this might appear to be a positive phenomenon for rural areas struggling with decline and stagnation, the reality is that many of these areas are ill‐equipped to manage the rate and pace of change that has been witnessed in recent years. Migration to established, typically urban areas has been the subject of extensive research. However, little is known about the way in which migrants navigate their way through social structures as they settle into destinations with little experience of immigration. Using empirical research, this article considers the way in which migrants navigate their way through social structures to establish life in a so‐called ‘new’ migration destination. It analyses the way in which government and civil society respond to their needs of recent arrivals, showing how both NGO’s and the statutory sector play an important role in this process. It considers the ramifications for these different sectors and the implications for so‐called ‘new’ destinations as they become more established or ‘mature’ areas of immigration.