We invite you to the 59th Migration Seminar of the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw, organized in cooperation with the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The seminar will take place on March 17, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw (Warsaw, Żurawia 4).
The guest speaker will be Prof. Jasna Čapo (The Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb), who will deliver a lecture entitled: “Transformative Effects of Intra-European Mobility for the Young Croatian Returnees: Intangible Capital, Life Satisfaction and Optimism for the Future.”
The seminar will be held in English.
Description:
The lecture examines recent patterns of migration and return mobility among Croatian citizens, with a particular focus on returnees who lived in the European Union member states following Croatia’s accession to the European Union in 2013. Drawing on qualitative methodology, specifically open-ended semi-structured interviews with return migrants, the study deepens existing understandings of the circumstances and reasons for their mobility, both at the time of departure and upon returning to the country.
With its transformative effects, the recent intra-European mobility acts as a kind of rite of passage or formative mobility on those who experience it. This transformation is evident in the informal human and psychological capital migrants acquired during their stay abroad. Among other, they return with new values, perspectives, and aspirations, expressing satisfaction regarding life in the cities in which they live and optimism for future development of Croatia.