Nicola Mai – författare

Despite continued public and legislative concern about sex trafficking across international borders, the actual lives of the individuals involved—and, more importantly, the decisions that led them to sex work—are too often overlooked. With Mobile Orientations, Nicola Mai shows that, far from being victims of a system beyond their control, many contemporary sex workers choose their profession as a means to forge a path toward fulfillment.Using a bold blend of personal narrative and autoethnography, Mai provides intimate portrayals of sex workers from sites including the Balkans, the Maghreb, and West Africa who decided to sell sex as the means to achieve a better life. Mai explores the contrast between how migrants understand themselves and their work and how humanitarian and governmental agencies conceal their stories, often unwittingly, by addressing them all as helpless victims. The culmination of two decades of research, Mobile Orientations sheds new light on the desires and ambitions of migrant sex workers across the world.

Despite continued public and legislative concern about sex trafficking across international borders, the actual lives of the individuals involved—and, more importantly, the decisions that led them to sex work—are too often overlooked. With Mobile Orientations, Nicola Mai shows that, far from being victims of a system beyond their control, many contemporary sex workers choose their profession as a means to forge a path toward fulfillment. Using a bold blend of personal narrative and autoethnography, Mai provides intimate portrayals of sex workers from sites including the Balkans, the Maghreb, and West Africa who decided to sell sex as the means to achieve a better life. Mai explores the contrast between how migrants understand themselves and their work and how humanitarian and governmental agencies conceal their stories, often unwittingly, by addressing them all as helpless victims. The culmination of two decades of research, Mobile Orientations sheds new light on the desires and ambitions of migrant sex workers across the world.  

Analysing the dynamics of the post-1990 Albanian migration to Italy, this book is the first major study of one of Europe’s newest, most dramatic yet least understood migrations. It takes a close look at migrants’ employment, housing and social exclusion in Italy, as well as the process of return migration to Albania. The research described in the book challenges the pervasive stereotype of the “bad Albanian” and, through in-depth fieldwork on Albanian communities in Italy and back in Albania, provides rich insights into the Albanian experience of migration, settlement and return in both their positive and their negative aspects.

This is the first major book on Albanian migration, the most significant East-West migration since the collapse of the Soviet bloc. Prevented from leaving their country for over 45 years, the citizens of the Republic of Albania emigrated en masse during the 1990s and the exodus continues. According to the 2001 census, one in five Albanians was a migrant living abroad, mainly in Greece and Italy but also, and increasingly, in a range of other European countries and in North America. The volume offers a comprehensive and integrated understanding of Albanian migration, addressing its temporal and spatial dynamics, its diversity of types and destinations, and the implications of the migration for Albanian society and economic development. Its contributors comprise key researchers on Albanian migration from around the world. The book reflects the wide diversity of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches deployed by researchers studying this phenomenon.

"I strongly believe that this book will soon become a 'standard reference' in studies of Albanian society, Albanian migration, immigration to Italy (and possibly to Greece)." * Panos Hatziprokopiou Analysing the dynamics of the post-1990 Albanian migration to Italy, this book is the first major study of one of Europe's newest, most dramatic yet least understood migrations. It takes a close look at migrants' employment, housing and social exclusion in the country, as well as the process of return migration to Albania. The research described in the book challenges the pervasive stereotype of the "bad Albanian," and through in-depth fieldwork on Albanian communities in Italy and back in Albania, provides rich insights into the Albanian experience of migration, settlement and return in both their positive and negative aspects. Russell King is Professor of Geography at the University of Sussex and Co-Director of the Sussex Centre for Migration Research. Nicola Mai is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of European Transformations, London Metropolitan University.Both together and individually, they have published widely in the field of migration studies, specialising in Italy, Albania and other Southern European and Balkan countries.