Emotions on the move: belonging, sense of place and feelings identities among young Romanian immigrants in Spain

This article examines the experiences in terms of belonging and sense of place among young Romanian immigrants who came to Spain in search of opportunities for professional development. The research detects and analyses the process of mobility, the search for job opportunities and the necessity of working below one's level of training or education, which induces young people to re-construct a new and complex identity. By means of the qualitative method of in-depth interviews, the analysis highlights the role that emotions play in young peoples' discourse while underscoring the ability of the interviewees in re-creating their identity and building a place even during the midst of a turbulent and insecure process. The conclusions signal the creation of a new and multiple identity which is complex and fluid and specific to persons on the move. Keywords: identityimmigrantslabour marketworkyouth culture Acknowledgements This article comes as a result of the research project entitled: 'Eastern European migration to Spain in the context of border geopolitics: circulatory mobility and return' (CSO 2010-14870), with funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and coordination by the author (PhD Researcher 'Ramón y Cajal', RyC 2009-03834). Notes 1. Spanish National Statistical Institute: Available from: http://www.ine.es [Accessed 19 April 2011]. 2. Available from: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/education/data/main_tables [Accessed 1 March 2011]. 3. Available from: http://www.oecd.org/document/0,3746,en_2649_201185_46462759_1_1_1_1,00.html 4. Interview, 14 December 2010. 5. The theory proposed is a method that starts with the collection of data and, by means of the data collected, the codes from which the information is then extracted are detected. The codes are grouped into similar concepts from which categories that represent the basis for formulating a theory or hypothesis of reverse engineering are formed. 6. The interviews were coded and analysed with the Atlas ti (version 6) qualitative analysis programme.