Déjeuner de l'axe MiFRI

Nous aurons le plaisir d’entendre Cosmin Popan, postdoctorant GATES à la MaCI présenter son travail de recherche.

Sa présentation sera intitulée “Becoming adult, man, and citizen. The social navigation of migrant gig workers”.

Abstract :

For the increasing number of young male migrants who earn a living as platform workers in Western cities, masculinity is a process of constant renegotiation. Their migration trajectories, often marked by long and strenuous journeys and an irregular status once they set foot in Europe, accelerate the transition into adult life while preventing them from acquiring full citizen rights. The precarious labour conditions in the gig economy have a detrimental impact on their attempt to claim hegemonic entrepreneurial masculinities, since many struggle to make ends meet and fail to obtain residence permits due to their self-employed status. This article draws on a five-year ethnographic work with platform food couriers in three European cities to examine how migration and platform labour shape men migrants’ adulthood transitions, their performance of masculinities, and their narratives of adult male identity. A particular attention is paid to practices of social navigation relying on moral definitions of success which food couriers mobilise in response to their migratory and work vulnerabilities.