engleski

In search of a “normal” and “fulfilling” life: narratives of Croatian migrants in Germany

This paper will analyse narratives of Croatian migrants who have recently moved to Germany. I will pay attention to how these migrants explain their reasons for migration, and how they sketch their current and future life. Even though they come from different Croatian towns and with different backgrounds in terms of age, gender, education and family life, I will focus on several similar narrative junctions. I will be interested in the ways these people articulate and explain their migration trajectories, and in doing so how they connect, compare and contrast the two countries – Croatia and Germany. Furthermore, I will examine how they narrate their personal changes caused by migration, how they perceive their personal well-being, and how they speak about their plans. In this way, I want to show how the broader economic, social and political context is intertwined with personal decisions, feelings, plans and actions. I will pay special attention to the motif of “normal” and “fulfilling” life ; I intend to focus on questions such as how the notion of “normal” life is constructed and explained, how the life should look like to be named as “fulfilling”, and how the feeling of personal satisfaction is defined and achieved. Since the fieldwork on which I base my presentation was conducted in collaboration with Croatian artist Tonka Maleković, I will also describe and analyse her artistic work on the topic of Croatian migrants in Germany.

Croatian migrants; Germany; narratives

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