Should I Stay or Should I Go?: Sense of Belonging and Intentions to Stay among Young Newcomers to Armenia

Most academic work on migration focuses on rich, developed countries. This project focuses on an LMIC country (Armenia) which, like others, has high rates of outmigration that threaten its socio-economic development. However, like other countries in the region, Armenia has also recently received new immigrants including many Syrian-Armenian refugees. Its new government sees their retention as critical to rebuilding its economy in the wake of earthquake and war. Developed alongside Armenian partners, this project will assist the development of a comprehensive policy framework to support newcomers’ material and social integration. Its historically informed approach will incorporate a nuanced, holistic understanding of newcomers’ different backgrounds, avoiding a monolithic, homogenising approach to migration. One group (mostly Indian) reflects the potential for growth associated with international higher education markets. The other groups are ‘diasporic Armenian’ migrants who share Armenian histories of Ottoman persecution but very different subsequent histories and notions of ‘homeland’.

Dr Sarah Wilson, University of Stirling; Dr Maria Fotopoulou, University of Stirling; Dr Sossie Kasbarian, University of Stirling; Dr Marina Shapira, University of Stirling; Professor Zinaida Tokmajyan, Yerevan State University, Armenia; Professor Maria Zaslavskaya, Yerevan State University, Armenia