Impact of Migration to the UK on Lithuanian Family Relationships

• In Event: Migration and Transnationalism

Abstract

Since the opening of European borders to new EU member states, a large number of immigrants continue to arrive in the UK and specifically to the East Midlands and East Anglia. To date, little or no research has been conducted to understand their experience and adjustment in this part of the country. With my research I was aiming to find out how Lithuanian emigration affects family relationships and identify issues that face families when one of their members emigrates on his/her own. Results show that transition stage, while family lives apart, puts an enormous strain on family’s relationship, however it does not lead to or cause people’s break ups (provided family was a close unit prior migration). Final results support emerging theory that if a family had good relationships back in Lithuania – all challenges of migration would not break that bond – on the contrary - it would bring them even closer. Findings answer the initial research question whether migration to the UK affects Lithuanian family relationships by suggesting that it does not affect more than any other big and stressful life’s events, e.g. death, childbirth, job loss, illness, house move, etc. According to the findings - migration is one of those life events, where in order to succeed - people need to take conscious decision and make needed arrangements to overcome future obstacles, and here, like in other life events - communication is a key issue.

Short Bio

Ausrine Bremner was born in Lithuania in 1967. Studied theatre management at the Klaipeda’s conservatoire and later did her Master’s degree in social work at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas. In 2003 Ausrine moved to the UK where she was teaching sociology at Davies Lang and Dick college in London and later at Brooke House college in Market Harborough. In 2017 she has been awarded PhD in social sciences from De Montfort University in Leicester. Her main interest is Lithuanian community in the UK, particularly focusing on migration effect on Lithuanian family relationships. During her research, Ausrine developed a great interest in Grounded theory which she used as a guiding approach for her data collection and analysis. She is also a great advocate of Layder's theory of social domains which she applied in order to explain her research findings. Ausrine took part in many national and international conferences presenting her research at its different stages from methodological approaches (Grounded theory, Use of Skype for data collection , Social theory in qualitative research) to presenting final research findings. At the moment Ausrine is working on publishing a book based on her research.

Author

• Ausra Bremner, De Montfort university, Leicester