Logo Desarraigos.

Exploring and thinking about the emigrant experience

The project’s mission is to explore, understand and give visibility to the experience of emigration and its emotional impact, based on a series of interviews with Spanish emigrants.

Moving to a foreign country is a profoundly life-changing experience, full of mixed feelings.

Excitement and nostalgia, hope and migratory grief are often intertwined in the emigrant experience.

Crouching man, loneliness and migratory grief.

These emotions alter the way people understand themselves and their connections to their social and physical environments.

The project investigates these feelings, paying special attention to the ways in which relocation affects migrants’ sense of belonging and rootedness.

Woman from behind talking to a man in a cafe.

Would you like to participate in our research?

To go deeper into these processes, the project is collecting and studying the testimonies of Spanish emigrants who have relocated to various EU countries.

We are also interested in understanding the impact of return after a period of several years abroad.

If you are Spanish and have moved to another European country, or if you have returned to Spain after a period living abroad, and would like to contribute to the project by sharing your experiences with us…

We would love to interview you!

About us

The main inspiration for the project comes from the Principal Researcher’s, Alba Montes Sánchez’s, own experience of emigration.

Alba has gone through many of these processes during more than a decade abroad.

The project team also includes a PhD student, Eleonora Bordogni, and a network of national and international collaborators.

The project is based at Carlos III University of Madrid.

Black and white portrait of alba montes .

Alba Montes. Image property of Thomas Szanto.

More information

To find out more about our work, you can:

Have a look at the detailed description of the Project.

Attend one of the Events where we present our research findings.