Transnational Return and Local Transformation: A Case Study of Returnee Entrepreneurs in the Negotin Region (Serbia)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21301/eap.v20i2.3Keywords:
return migration, returnee entrepreneurs, opportunity entrepreneurs, 1.5 generation, migration-social change nexus, human approach, Negotin Region, SerbiaAbstract
Our research focuses on returnee entrepreneurs in Serbia, particularly members of the 1.5 generation, amidst ongoing campaigns promoting the return of highly educated migrants and potential entrepreneurs. Using a transnational paradigm, we examine their regular homeland visits, household and community investments, and both monetary and social remittances sent to family members remaining in Serbia. Our qualitative research methodology involved fieldwork and semi-structured narrative interviews conducted in Negotin and its surrounding area, known as Negotinska Krajina – a border region characterized by significant migration patterns, economic underdevelopment, sparse population, and demographic decline. In recent years, entrepreneurial returnees have become noticeable agents of social transformation in their local communities.
The study is guided by qualitatively oriented research questions examining how these entrepreneurs narrate their migration and return experiences, highlighting how their enterprises reflect economic, social, and cultural resources acquired abroad. It investigates how returnees interpret and navigate opportunities and constraints within the local economic environment, including the presence or absence of institutional support. Moreover, we explore their processes of reintegration and community relationships, underscoring broader visions of development and belonging articulated through their entrepreneurial activities. Our findings challenge simplistic migration-development discourses by emphasizing context-specific, socially embedded transformations that returnees initiate within this rural region.
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