Forced mobility: migrant trajectories in peripheral rural areas

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents evidence related to an ongoing qualitative research carried out in three rural areas of Hungary. Drawing on de Haas’s meta-theoretical concept of migratory agency, we interpret migration as a function of aspirations and capabilities. This approach allows us to identify the structural conditions within Hungarian society which prompt Roma and non-Roma people to migrate, and which shape migration aspirations and capabilities. The main question posed is to identify the kinds of human, cultural and social capital that migrants have access to, and can mobilise in the process of migration. Keywords: migratory agency, aspirations, capabilities, social capital, networks