The GOINGLOBAL project (2020) is a collaboration between MANTRA, researchers at Aarhus University and Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality. The project examines challenges in the integration and retention of international workers in the Danish rural districts- and will particularly involve workers from countries in Eastern Europe such as Poland, Romania and Ukraine. Many Danes have moved from rural areas to the city, and international workers are therefore an important resource for the Danish rural areas. It is thus also important to understand their experiences of living and working in the countryside.
By exploring the three following research tracks, the project will lead to practical solution proposals for improving the integration of international workers in Danish rural districts:
1. The company track. This explores relations between international and national workers in the workplace by, among other things, examining the importance of hierarchies and communication between workers.
2. The family track. This explores the integration of migrants’ families in the local area by examining, among other things, how they are included in local associations, offers and events.
3. The language track. This explores the municipal initiatives for migrant language learning and how they are implemented and function in practice.
At MANTRA and at the Department of Anthropology, we are happy that Astrid Stampe Lovelady has chosen to become our new colleague. Astrid has at the University of St. Andrews just finished her PhD thesis on Romanian migrants in the countryside in Denmark. All her life she has had a personal and professional interest in the developments in Europe- including the Eastern European countries- and has carried out fieldwork in Denmark, Poland and Romania (and speaks Romanian). Here she has particularly studied the consequences of European integration between Eastern and Western Europe, religion, gender and socio-economic transformations. In addition, over a number of years, Astrid has also worked outside the university for, among other things, consulting firms and as an adviser at the Danish embassy in Romania.
