Environmental Justices and Labour Mobility in the Peripheries of Europe

The presentation builds on data from over three-year of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in five different rural areas in Iceland. In the last years Iceland witnessed unprecedented increase of foreign population. Just within thirty years, the share of immigrants in the total population grew from 2% at the beginning of 1990s to 17% in 2023. The migration is predominantly labour driven, with people coming to work in construction industry, low-skilled service jobs and food processing. In our presentation we focus on young migrants coming to work in rapidly expanding tourist sector in rural areas in Iceland. We are particularly look at narratives of those who moved to Iceland following their idea of the country as remote, peripheral and unspoiled. Many of them arrived to Iceland seeking for a slower and less hectic lifestyle, away from market economy, environmental insecurity, as well as economic and social injustice, affording hope for an alternative future. However, by undertaking temporary and precarious jobs in tourism, they confirm to the employers’ demand for flexible labour. Consequently, reinforcing instability created by neoliberal economy. In our presentation we discuss these apparent contradictions in the recent migration trends by apply theories of escapism and alternative futures.