| Summary: | The purpose of the thesis is to find out the migrant rationality of international African migrants
who make the decision of staying in Finland. The purpose is to examine these migrant’s specific
framework of reasons, logic, practices and motivations. The point of view of the thesis is that
theories of international migration are limited by the structure agency disunion in the social
sciences. Further, the migration phenomenon is perceived as complex, dynamic and diverse thus
requiring alternative approaches. This thesis applies the social constructionist approach to examine
the stance of actor agency in the context of migration. The method of analysis is the data driven
technique developed from Corbin and Strauss’s techniques and procedures of qualitative data
analysis. The data of the thesis is composed of transcribed interview audio recordings of 20
International migrants from Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia. The data is a collection
of detailed migrant accounts shared by migrants during individual semi structured in-depth
interviews. My research results suggest that migration is a time and a domain specific process that
undergoes key transformation over its time span. In light of my data, it can be argued that the
migration trajectory of these group of migrants is influenced by a configuration of constraints
emanating from the structure, and the migrants’ agency freedom. Individual transformation is
pursued and achieved collectively within migrant networks. Based on the research results, it can
be concluded that African migrants in Finland collectively engage in the development and
acquisition of a migrant habitus that directs their migration trajectory towards perceived success.
|
|---|