Dissertation: The dream of the West is stronger than the risks of migration
Saroj Koirala’s doctoral research shows that migration decisions are shaped not only by economic and historical-structural conditions, but also by social expectation, shared emotion and imagination of place and future.
For many migrants interviewed in the research, migration to Finland was not based on detailed knowledge of Finland itself. Instead, Finland was often imagined as part of a broader “Imaginary West”, or as a part of the world associated with prosperity, development, fairness and modern life.
“People do not migrate only towards a particular country. They also migrate towards an idea and an imagined future,” Koirala says. “For many people, Finland represents something larger than Finland itself. It represents access to a different kind of world and future.”
These ideas develop long before migration, through family and peer networks, social media and stories of migrants who have succeeded abroad. Migration can gradually become both desirable and socially expected.
Social media can create false expectations
The research challenges the idea that migration is primarily an economic calculation. Economic factors matter, but they do not explain why people in similar circumstances have different attitudes towards migration, or why migration remains attractive despite known risks.
Koirala describes this tension through two Nepali cultural expressions of emotion surrounding migration: rahar, meaning aspirational desire, and badhyata, meaning a felt obligation or compulsion.
“A person can genuinely desire to migrate while also feeling that they have no choice,” Koirala explains. “Migration can be something people want and something they feel socially or economically compelled to do.”
Social comparison can intensify this dynamic. When friends and relatives migrate, staying behind may feel like missing an important opportunity. Social media can further amplify the successful aspects of migration. The research describes this as FOMO, or fear of missing out, where not migrating can itself feel like a loss.
Yet the imagined destination does not always match reality. Koirala’s research with Nepali migrants in Finland shows how experiences after arrival can disrupt earlier expectations. Participants described challenges including employment, bureaucracy, language barriers, social exclusion and adapting to Finnish everyday life. The research calls this expectation–reality dissonance: the gap between the imagination before migration and the experiences after arrival.
For Finland and other European countries, Koirala argues that understanding these expectations is important for understanding migration itself.
“Migration policies often focus on what happens when people arrive at the destination,” he says. “But many of the ideas and emotions shaping that decision develop much earlier, in families, communities and social networks in the country of origin.”
Koirala’s dissertation consists of four peer-reviewed studies examining migration in Nepal, the emotional dimensions of migration decisions, the social reproduction of a culture of migration, and migrants’ geographical imagination of destinations including Finland.
Saroj Koirala will defend his doctoral dissertation "Aspiration, Emotion, and Imagination in Culture of Migration" at the University of Jyväskylä on 21 August 2026.
