Includes bibliographical references and index.

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Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction -- 1.1. context of EU enlargement -- 1.2. Outline of my research questions -- 1.3. Studying migration and social pathways by means of life stories -- 1.4. Structure of this thesis -- 2. Context: Czech-German border crossings against the backdrop of the shifting landscape of European migration -- 2.1. Historical interconnections over the past millennium -- 2.2. 19th and 20th century -- 2.3. Border crossings during the Cold War -- 2.4. fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 and the establishment of new migratory spaces -- 2.5. enlargement of the EU in 2004 and 2007 and the financial crisis -- 3. Research on highly skilled migration in Europe: state of the art -- 3.1. Changing contexts of highly skilled migration: working towards the liberalisation of skilled migration flows -- 3.2. Rethinking the migration of highly skilled people: the research agenda -- 3.2.1. "Highly skilled migrants" as the subject of research -- 3.2.2. neglected gender dimension within studies on highly skilled migration -- 3.2.3. Going beyond the dichotomy of "low skilled migration" and "highly skilled migration" -- 3.2.4. Redefining "highly skilled migrants" and "highly skilled migration" -- 3.3. overview of recent studies on highly skilled migration pathways to and within Europe -- 3.3.1. Education -- the ticket to work? Statistical evidence -- 3.3.2. Legal and institutional frameworks affecting highly skilled migrants: studying the interplay of class, gender and ethnicity -- 3.3.3. agent-centered approach to pathways to the labour market -- 3.3.4. Experiences and coping strategies for deskilling and contradictory class mobility -- 3.3.5. role of the family and social networks -- 3.4. Summary and research desiderata -- 4. Biographical approaches to migration and social mobility -- 4.1. Biographical approaches -- 4.1.1. Historical and theoretical background of the biographical approach -- 4.1.2. central biographical concepts -- 4.2. Biographical approaches to migration -- 4.2.1. First approaches to migration from a biographical perspective -- 4.2.2. Links between the transnational and biographical approach -- 4.3. Shifting social positions in transnational spaces -- 4.3.1. Theorising social mobility in transnational spaces -- 4.3.2. transferability of skills across borders -- 4.3.3. Translocational positionality -- 4.3.4. Making sense of one's own class positioning -- 4.4. Summary: biographical approaches to migration and social mobility -- 5. research process -- 5.1. Telling the stories: the theoretical background behind the "biographical narrative interview" -- 5.1.1. Theoretical assumptions -- 5.1.2. focus on storytelling -- 5.1.3. autobiographical presentation -- 5.1.4. Narrative constraints -- 5.1.5. Cognitive figures of autobiographical presentation -- 5.2. reflexive research process -- 5.3. Constructing the sample -- 5.4. Interview settings -- 5.5. interview process -- 5.6. Brief Summary of interviewees -- 5.7. Ethnographical notes -- 5.8. Transcription -- 5.9. Analysis -- 5.9.1. Formal analysis of the text -- 5.9.2. Structural description -- 5.9.3. Analytical abstraction and the construction of types -- 5.10. Reflections on the research process -- 5.10.1. Reflections on the research process in transnational settings -- 5.10.2. role of language and translation in the research process -- 5.10.3. Being part of it: reflections on my own position within the field -- 6. Biographies -- 6.1. Background: the Czech educational system -- 6.2. Lenka: the difficult route from private to public sphere -- 6.2.1. Interview setting and biographical presentation -- 6.2.2. Lenka's migration and social pathways -- 6.2.3. Summary -- 6.3. Martin: moving places and passing classes -- 6.3.1. Interview setting and biographical presentation -- 6.3.2. Martin's migration and social pathways -- 6.3.3. Summary -- 6.4. Barbora: a story of reorientation -- 6.4.1. Interview setting and biographical presentation -- 6.4.2. Barbora's migration and social pathways -- 6.4.3. Summary -- 6.5. Arnost: living in "exile" -- 6.5.1. Interview setting and biographical presentation -- 6.5.2. Arnost's migration and social pathways -- 6.5.3. Summary -- 7. Cross-case comparisons and findings -- 7.1. Biographical reflections on borders and border crossings -- 7.1.1. Borders and border regions in biographical renderings -- 7.1.2. Becoming an "Eastern European" after migration -- 7.2. Migration as an enlargement of possibility spaces -- 7.2.1. Experiences of inequality in the region of origin -- 7.2.2. Discovering new possibility spaces through initial border crossings -- 7.2.3. Moving back and forth in transnational spaces -- 7.2.4. Doing "transnational work" -- 7.3. Linking spatial and social mobility -- 7.3.1. Biographies at the intersection of migration and gender regimes -- 7.3.2. Negotiating one's own possibilities, skills and knowledge across borders -- 7.3.3. question of translatability and recognition of social positions across the border -- 8. Conclusion.

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The landscape of European migration has changed considerably over the past decades, in particular after the fall of the iron curtain and again after the EU enlargement to the east. The author researches the phenomenon of highly qualified migration using the example of migration between the Czech Republic and Germany. The book reveals diverse strategies migrants use to respond to the possible de-valuation of their qualification, e.g. by making use of their language skills, starting new studies or using transnational knowledge. Anna Guhlich investigates the role of migration within the biographies, the shifts of social positions, as well as the ways migrants negotiate their skills, qualification and knowledge across the borders. Based on biographical narrative interviews, she investigates the migration pathways and the processes of social mobility. The study investigates the influence developments within the Czech society have on migration decisions and transnational spaces as well as o

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