The influence of family and personal networks on migrants’ trajectories: two re-search experiences compared

The migratory experience often involves families and communities of origin of the migrants. This collective dimensionof exodus has characterized the diaspora of many peoples for a long time. The decision to leave their land and moveelsewhere to look for work or to build one's life in other contexts is rarely a purely individual choice. The support of theown family group and the activation of personal relationships are decisive factors, from which the success or failure ofthe migration project may also depend. The phenomenon of so-called "migratory chains" is itself the result of thiscollective mobilization in which the relational resources, starting with the family one, play a central role.The proposed presentation concerns the activation of family and personal networks in the experience of internationalmigrants. In particular, it is proposed to highlight how the family and personal networks are activated to solve problemsand to meet the needs that accompany the whole migratory project: from collecting the resources necessary for thetrip to the first accommodation in the places of arrival, from job search to social integration in the country host.The ways in which family and personal networks are activated can be manifold. There is not only one model to refer to.Networks can be activated following different strategies, depending on a series of conditions, like the initial migrationproject, the cultural background, the migrants' attitudes.To highlight these processes, we compare the results of two different investigations carried out in recent years. The firstconcerns the experience of three generations of migrants from Southern Italy who moved from 1950s in various regionsof the world (Canada, United States, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Australia, Northern Europe). The second concerns thepaths and the experiences of a group of Senegalese immigrants in an Italian urban context (Genoa). Starting from partlydifferent research methods, both investigations, thanks to the collection of deep interviews, detect how family andpersonal networks affect life-course trajectories and transitions.Although these are different migratory experiences that develop in different eras and along with multipleroutes/directions, their comparison - with the similarities and differences that emerge - offers interesting insights,because it allows us to reflect on the underlying processes the activation of relationships and the representation thatmigrants themselves give of the function development of family and personal networks.By illustrating the two cases, it is also intended to draw attention to the model of analysis adopted, given that the waysof activating family and personal networks are analyzed starting from the biographical accounts, favoring the culturaland identity dimension underlying the networking practices of migrants.