When people migrate, they often share their income with members of family members who remain at their place of origin. In 2019, migrants worldwide sent over $700 billions of these so-called remittances, causing multifaceted effects on actors and regions involved. In his dissertation project, Claudius Ströhle explores the effects, functions, and meaning of remittances sent by labor migrants from Austria to Turkey, spanning the period from the 1960s until today. Remittances are understood as a transnational practice of participation and belonging that sustains social relations and contributes to social change. Based on three years of ethnographic fieldwork on various social and geographical locations in Stubai Valley (Austria) and Uşak Province (Turkey), the project provides surprising, multi-layered, and deep insights into the history of migration from an actor-centred perspective.

Claudius Ströhle studied European Ethnology in Innsbruck and Istanbul. In his Master’s thesis, he examined the role of migration at the everyday school-life of a secondary school in Tyrol, Austria. From 2016 to 2020, he was a Research Assistant at the Institute of History and European Ethnology, University of Innsbruck. During a teaching research project at the Municipal Museum Innsbruck, he collaborated with Silke Meyer and BA students to curate the exhibition»Leaving Home and Finding Home. Migration Stories from Innsbruck.« His dissertation is embedded in the research project »Follow the Money. Remittances as Social Practice« (funded by the FWF), exploring the effects, functions, and meanings of remittances in the context of labor migration between Austria and Turkey.