English Summaries
Luigi Lorenzetti, Anne-Marie Granet-Abisset, Back migrations.
A disregarded chapter of Alpine history
The range of migratory movements and their periodical or temporary nature have been duly recorded, but little scholarly attention has been paid to the meaning and significance of return migrations in the Alpine regions. And yet there has certainly been no dearth of marks or vestiges in the life of many mountain communities, especially affecting their architecture, clothing, food, language, etc. Mediating as it does between two contexts - origin and destination environments - a homecoming also raises different questions concerning the single individuals and their interpersonal relations. A migrant’s hard-won decision to come back (integral to many migrants’ plans) may be seen to depend on various factors and yield distinct interpretations. It may be seen as a moment of personal redemption and achievement of social and economic success; but also as marginalisation induced by a sense of failure or the inability to settle back into the “old life” or to adjust to the loss of family and social ties existing before one’s departure.
Annemarie Steidl, Customary communication between the Alps
and Vienna. Regional mobility of chimney-sweepers in Vienna
The example of Italian-speaking chimney-sweepers who settled in Vienna shows
a multitude of migratory relations. A migratory route is no one-way street:
explanations that involve a single cause (for instance economic downturns or
overpopulation) fail to produce an accurate representation of the numerous exchanges between the alpine regions and the plains. The steady contribution of
