49 – Changing faces of South Asian migration in continental Europe: new niches, new figures, new paths
The continuous influx of South Asian migrant workers to continental Europe over the past few decades has made them visible in many countries where they used to be marginal groups with a mere “folklorical” presence. From the category of “recently arrived”, they are increasingly entering into settlement paths (through different routes and administrative ways, both legal and illegal), occupying or creating original economic niches, that are not anylonger confined to the transnational well-known figures of the IT consultants (Amrute, 2016), so-called exotic restaurants’ staff or nurses (Rajan, 2019). Such niches, hence their visibility, differ significantly according to their country of living, depending on the economic and educational conditions offered at the national level, that are also shaped by the state of the labour market, migration policies and demographics. There is a growing scholarship documenting these South Asians’ new professions – and new paths of integration - in Europe, but it is a relatively scattered literature usually describing such phenomena at the local or national level (e.g. Thapan, 2023).
ECSAS would offer an ideal platform to reflect on a comparative perspective on these new economic niches, changing figures of South Asian workers in continental Europe and such original paths of economic integration, in spite of mounting xenophobic political forces.
