Showing papers in "Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies in 2011"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors revisited the concept of social remittances and showed how people's experiences before migrating strongly influence what they do in the countries where they settle; this, in turn, affects what they remit back to their homelands.
Abstract: In this article we revisit the concept of social remittances. First, we show how people's experiences before migrating strongly influence what they do in the countries where they settle; this, in turn, affects what they remit back to their homelands. Second, just as scholars differentiate between individual and collective economic remittances, we also distinguish between individual and collective social remittances. While individuals communicate ideas and practices to each other in their roles as friends, family members or neighbours, they also communicate in their capacity as organisational actors, which has implications for organisational management and capacity-building. Finally, we argue that social remittances can scale up from local-level impacts to affect regional and national change and scale out to affect other domains of practice.
496 citations
TL;DR: Goldberg as mentioned in this paper, The Threat of Race: Reflections on Racial Neoliberalism, 2009, 395 pp., £19.99 pb. (ISBN 978312319682)
Abstract: David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on Racial Neoliberalism. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009, 395 pp., £19.99 pb. (ISBN 978-06312319682) The Threat of Race is an extraordinarily wide...
400 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined disaggregated British attitudes to migration from seven different regions and found evidence for a consistent hierarchy of preferences between immigrant groups, with white and culturally more proximate immigrant groups less opposed than non-white and culturally distinct immigrants.
Abstract: Comparative European research has established that public opposition to immigration is widespread and politically important However, most existing research has suffered from a serious methodological shortcoming: it employs aggregate measures of attitudes to immigrants, which do not distinguish between different migrant groups This paper corrects this shortcoming by examining disaggregated British attitudes to migration from seven different regions I find evidence for a consistent hierarchy of preferences between immigrant groups, with white and culturally more proximate immigrant groups less opposed than non-white and culturally more distinct immigrants The differences in attitudes to the various migrant groups are very large, calling into question the reliability of analyses which employ aggregate measures of attitudes to immigration Both total opposition to migration and discrimination between migrant groups decline during the period examined This is the result of large generational differences in
261 citations
TL;DR: The next generation of policymakers and decision-makers will have to consider not only the impacts of climate change but also the impact of migration on these policies in a more holistic way.
Abstract: Stephen Castles and Mark J. Miller, The Age of Migration: International Population Movements in the Modern World, 4th Edition Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, 392 pp., £65.00 hb. (ISBN 978-0-...
205 citations
TL;DR: Helbling et al. as mentioned in this paper studied the effect of economic factors on the outcome of naturalisation processes and concluded that authorities' emphasis on applicants' records in this regard cannot be explained by local politicians' unwillingness to support these residents financially.
Abstract: knowledge of local languages and political structures, their willingness to renounce their homeland citizenship despite the Swiss recognition of dual citizenship, and their lack of a record of unemployment and dependence on welfare benefits. While this appears to contradict his initial rejection of economic factors as explanatory variables, Helbling concludes that authorities’ emphasis on applicants’ records in this regard cannot be explained by local politicians’ unwillingness to support these residents financially. Rather, it is due to the symbolic importance assigned to being a ‘good’ Swiss citizen who is not dependent on the state. This level of analytical depth was made possible by the study’s qualitative component, focusing on individual actors whose recommendations affect the outcome of naturalisation processes. Though the qualitative component of the study appears to be modelled closely on the quantitative sections of the work, overall the methodological rigour undertaken and the theoretical and analytical sophistication achieved are impressive. The quantitative analyses pursued are very thorough, with multiple models controlling for variables presented as important in the citizenship and integration literature. Although there is room for debate on the way in which indicators have been calculated, ultimately the study represents a valuable effort to quantify contextual and vague processes, allowing, then, for comparisons across otherwise incomparable locales. The study also goes beyond the more usual approach of focusing either on the applicant (the immigrant) or on national policy. In so doing, it presents a missing link: the people who receive and process applications, conduct interviews, and present cases to the final decision-makers. The book is a ‘must read’ for any student of citizenship. Zeynep Kilic University of Alaska Anchorage # 2011 Zeynep Kilic
195 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored data from the Netherlands showing how these four dimensions of diversity in the neighbourhood affect the quality of contact with neighbours, trust in the neighborhood and inter-ethnic trust for immigrant and native residents.
Abstract: Several studies conclude that ethnic diversity tends to reduce social capital. There may, however, be other forms of diversity that also affect social capital, and their inclusion might make the negative effect of ethnic diversity spurious. Besides ethnic diversity, we identify economic and religious diversity, as well as language proficiency in the neighbourhood. This study explores data from the Netherlands showing how these four dimensions of diversity in the neighbourhood affect the quality of contact with neighbours, trust in the neighbourhood and inter-ethnic trust for immigrant and native residents. We find that ethnic diversity in the neighbourhood still lowers the quality of contact with neighbours. For natives, ethnic diversity is positively associated with interethnic trust, whereas for immigrants there is no effect. Furthermore, for natives, religious diversity negatively affects the quality of contact with neighbours and inter-ethnic trust, whereas for immigrants this effect is positive. Economic diversity positively impacts on trust in the neighbourhood and inter-ethnic trust. We do not find an effect of language proficiency. We conclude that, besides ethnic diversity, other forms of diversity in the neighbourhood do also affect trust. Furthermore, diversity can undermine, but also build, various aspects of trust. Last, diversity in the neighbourhood does not mean the same for immigrant and native residents.
178 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that immigration integration is reflective of a distinctly "Schmittian" liberalism, which aims to clarify the core values of liberal societies and use coercive state power to protect them from illiberal and putatively dangerous groups.
Abstract: A number of European governments have pronounced multiculturalism a failure and opted for more aggressive means of integrating immigrants into their societies. This paper asks what we are to make of this trend: does it reflect deeply rooted illiberal prejudice or a novel shift in liberal-democratic states' approaches to nation-building? I suggest that aggressive integrationism is reflective of a distinctly ‘Schmittian’ liberalism, which aims to clarify the core values of liberal societies and use coercive state power to protect them from illiberal and putatively dangerous groups. In contrast to liberal multiculturalists, who counsel accommodation, compromise and negotiation among majority and minority groups, Schmittian liberals see the task of immigrant integration as part of a broader campaign to preserve ‘Western civilisation’ from illiberal threats. Their framing of the problem in existentialist terms allows them to justify policies that might otherwise be seen to contravene liberal principles of tole...
170 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored how Western high-skilled migrants exert agency to negotiate their positions as non-citizens, privileged others and professional workers in the global context, where whiteness is marked as a visible identity and the superior other.
Abstract: Drawing on the case of Taiwan, this article looks at high-skilled migration from the West to Asia. I explore how Western high-skilled migrants exert agency to negotiate their positions as non-citizens, privileged others and professional workers. I have coined the term ‘flexible cultural capital conversion’ to describe how English-speaking Westerners convert their native-language skills, as a form of global linguistic capital, into economic, social and symbolic capitals. Their privileged positions are nevertheless mediated and constrained by their class, nationality, race/ethnicity and gender. In the global context, whiteness is marked as a visible identity and the ‘superior other’. Such cultural essentialism functions as a double-edged sword that places white foreigners in privileged yet segregated job niches. Their flexibility in capital conversion and transnational mobility is territory-bound. Many experience the predicament of ‘cultural ghettoisation’ in the global South, and they often face grim job p...
138 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors focus on the children's experiences in a multiplicity of migratory contexts and present a special edition of the JEMS conference, Children and Migration: Identities, Mobilities, Belong....
Abstract: There are important gaps in our knowledge about children who migrate. Even in societies which employ technologically sophisticated systems for monitoring and measuring migration, data on child migrants are incomplete and focused on specific groups of vulnerable children and young people. The lack of data and research on processes underpinning child migration and on the experiences of children who migrate are rooted in hegemonic Westernised assumptions about, and constructions of, childhood, family migration, and migration in general. Migrant children are represented as passive, needy and different; their accounts of themselves and their lives are silenced through adultist discourses about migration decision-making and experiences. The papers in this special edition of JEMS challenge these constructions of migrant children by focusing on the children's experiences in a multiplicity of migratory contexts. Presented first at the international conference ‘Children and Migration: Identities, Mobilities, Belong...
123 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compare how these Scandinavian welfare societies have sought to incorporate immigrants and refugees into their national communities and show that family relations play a central role in immigrants' and refugees' establishment of a new life in the receiving societies, even though the welfare society takes on many of the social and economic functions of the family.
Abstract: After a long history dominated by out-migration, Denmark, Norway and Sweden have, in the past 50 years, become immigration societies. This article compares how these Scandinavian welfare societies have sought to incorporate immigrants and refugees into their national communities. It suggests that, while the countries have adopted disparate policies and ideologies, differences in the actual treatment of and attitudes towards immigrants and refugees in everyday life are less clear, due to parallel integration programmes based on strong similarities in the welfare systems and in cultural notions of equality in the three societies. Finally, it shows that family relations play a central role in immigrants' and refugees' establishment of a new life in the receiving societies, even though the welfare society takes on many of the social and economic functions of the family.
116 citations
TL;DR: In a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies as discussed by the authors, the authors examine how recent developments in Europe raise new questions regarding the relationship between liberalism, migration, identity and belonging.
Abstract: What are the contemporary ‘limits of the liberal state’ with respect to immigration, citizenship and the rights of ethnic and religious minorities in contemporary Europe? The papers in this special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies examine how recent developments in Europe raise new questions regarding the relationship between liberalism, migration, identity and belonging. In this introduction, we identify three major themes that run through the papers in the issue—the use of liberal norms by states for exclusionary purposes; the possibility of the emergence of ‘illiberal liberalism’; and the extent to which identity politics and policy-making may be increasingly transcending and transforming the limits of the liberal democratic state in Europe. After briefly presenting these three themes, we summarise the arguments of the individual authors and suggest possible directions for future research.
TL;DR: This paper examined the lived realities of ethnic pluralism, social marginalisation and activism in the Alum Rock area of Birmingham, UK, which external media representations have tended to depict as lacking "community cohesion" and fostering "parallel lives".
Abstract: This paper examines the lived realities of ethnic pluralism, social marginalisation and activism in the Alum Rock area of Birmingham, UK, which external media representations have tended to depict as lacking ‘community cohesion’ and fostering ‘parallel lives’. Drawing on qualitative interviews with local residents and entrepreneurs conducted over a three-year period, we challenge such representations and a defining characteristic of currently dominant integration discourses: their tendency to ascribe ‘community cohesion’ or its absence as absolute properties to localities. Contrary to such reifying classifications, our interview data reveal considerably more complex social realities defined by a series of ambivalences. The first ambivalence is between undeniable local conflicts and, simultaneously, the everyday ‘conviviality’ of boundary-crossings and inter-ethnic solidarities. Second, the local economy is shown to enable both cohesion and ethnic exclusion. Finally, local politics and religious practice a...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine refugee experiences of the Danish mandatory spatial dispersal policy, which requires that individuals and families agree to live for three years in an assigned community when accepted as refugees.
Abstract: This article examines refugee experiences of the Danish mandatory spatial dispersal policy, which requires that individuals and families agree to live for three years in an assigned community when accepted as refugees. The policy is based on the assumption that immersion in ethnically Danish local communities will facilitate integration. Ethnographic field research carried out in two rural municipalities shows, however, that trusted relatives or co-ethnics already settled in the country can have a considerable integrative effect because they act as mediators between newly arrived refugees and Danish welfare society. They thus introduce refugees to local cultural values and everyday routines and demonstrate how to navigate them. This is particularly important in a country where, on the one hand, the welfare state and its professional workers tend to intervene deeply into the domestic sphere of its citizens, and, on the other, cultural homogeneity is emphasised and viewed as closely related to equality. Not...
TL;DR: The role of these clubs in serving the ordinary, professional, social and cultural experiences of British expatriates living in Singapore was investigated in this article, where interviews with the General Managers of the British, Singapore Cricket, Hollandse, Pines, Swiss and Tanglin Clubs were conducted.
Abstract: Singapore hosts many different expatriate communities. Whilst the working worlds of expatriates as transnational elites have been examined, little research has studied their ordinary life-experiences. Earlier research has noted that British expatriates were socially and culturally embedded within distinctive transnational social spaces like ‘expatriate’ clubs. This paper investigates the role of these clubs in serving the ordinary, professional, social and cultural experiences of British expatriates living in Singapore. The findings were derived from interviews with the General Managers of the British, Singapore Cricket, Hollandse, Pines, Swiss and Tanglin Clubs about their function in serving a British clientele; from interviews with 24 members of the British Club on its role in their everyday life; and from various club publications.
TL;DR: In this article, the experiences of refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina who settled in Sweden in the early 1990s, at a time when asylum and welfare became highly politicised issues.
Abstract: This article addresses the experiences of refugees from Bosnia-Herzegovina who settled in Sweden in the early 1990s, at a time when asylum and welfare became highly politicised issues. Two main areas of critical concern emerged in policy-making and public debate in this period, one relating to the control of external borders, the other relating to the incorporation of new residents. The article outlines the representations of ‘refugees’ that became salient in a context of processes of social change—global and domestic. It explores public understandings and institutional responses relating to refugees' integration and welfare, and analyses these in relation to refugees' own life strategies.
TL;DR: The authors examined the influence of gender as an identity on an individual's ability to exercise agency in decision-making about internal migration in Vietnam and found that women and men exert agency with reference to prevailing social norms in order to negotiate for or against their own migration and that of others.
Abstract: This paper examines the influences of gender as an identity on an individual's ability to exercise agency in decision-making about internal migration in Vietnam. Women and men exert agency with reference to prevailing social norms in order to negotiate for or against their own migration and that of others. It has been well recognised that, beyond sex, their specific gender identity as mothers or fathers, daughters or sons, husbands or wives, etc. impacts on who can migrate for what kind of work. However, this study explores the more neglected ways in which gender structures migration. While my findings show that decision-making about migration was overwhelmingly consensual in nature, this did not necessarily mean that migration was equally in everyone's best interests. Women's agency around their own migration was in part constrained because they were forced to negotiate for their interests whilst trying to preserve family harmony. While social norms supported men's power to make unilateral decisions and ...
TL;DR: In Denmark, the practice of transnational arranged marriages among immigrants has stirred debate on several levels of society and one effect of the debate is a tightened regulation of family formation migration, seen as an effective means both of limiting the number of immigrants and of furthering processes of social integration.
Abstract: In Denmark, the practice of transnational arranged marriages among immigrants has stirred debate on several levels of society. One effect of the debate is a tightened regulation of family formation migration, seen as an effective means both of limiting the number of immigrants and of furthering processes of social integration. Within media-based and political debates, transnational marriages are frequently described as practices destructive both to individual freedom and to Danish national identity. Nonetheless, it is a practice in which both minority and majority citizens engage, one that frames both their family lives and their lives as citizens. This article analyses the dynamic relationship between public discourse and practices of transnational marriage. The first part describes how political and legislative perceptions of transnational (arranged) marriages are situated within a discussion of ‘Danishness’. The second part describes how second-generation immigrants from Turkey and Pakistan, all of who...
TL;DR: De Haas et al. as discussed by the authors described irregular migration from West Africa to the Maghreb and the European Union as an Overview of Recent Trends Geneva: IOM, 2008, 64 pp., $16.00 pb.
Abstract: Hein de Haas, Irregular Migration from West Africa to the Maghreb and the European Union: An Overview of Recent Trends Geneva: IOM, 2008, 64 pp., $16.00 pb. (ISBN 1607-338X) According to mainstream...
TL;DR: In this article, the formation of social relationships and the orientations and forms of belonging that emerge in second-generation children and youths are studied. But the authors focus on two aspects: the formation and orientation of social relations, and the orientation of belonging.
Abstract: Migrant and refugee children's and youth's experiences of transnational ties and processes are not well documented in the literature on transnationalism. Existing studies concentrate on children's socialisation or their future as second-generation adults. This article studies second-generation children and youths as subjects of transnational social relations. It focuses on two aspects: the formation of social relationships, and the orientations and forms of belonging that emerge. The article shows how children are incorporated into two types of network: one spanning the places of origin and destination, the other spanning several countries. The family mediates children's transnational ties and activities, but children also connect to their cross-border family members, particularly cousins, and form friendships across borders. This does not happen on its own, but must be mediated through return visits to the place of origin or to third countries. The transnational field of relations opens up a space in whi...
TL;DR: In this article, the interplay between government policy and practice and refugee children's welfare is discussed in Sweden, and the authors address the ways in which the focus on children resonates particularly in the Swedish context, related both to a long-standing concern with children's wellbeing and to a Swedish selfimage as international model for children's rights.
Abstract: This article concerns the interplay between government policy and practice and refugee children's welfare as these issues have been brought to the fore in public debate and controversy in the recent past in Sweden. Framed by the tension between immigration law and human rights conventions such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), incidences of ill-health and suffering among asylum-seeking children have both spurred public concerns over their vulnerability and welfare and questioned the authenticity and legitimacy of their claims. The images reflect the ambiguous constructions of refugee children and their families either as victims or as untrustworthy ‘others’. The article addresses the ways in which the focus on children resonates particularly in the Swedish context, related both to a long-standing concern with children's wellbeing and to a Swedish self-image as international model for children's rights. The issues manifested in the Swedish context form part of a wider problematic: suff...
TL;DR: The Cultural Politics of Talent Migration in Asia: as discussed by the authorsocusing on the economic rationalities and corporate logics of transnational mobility among professional, managerial and entrepreneurial elites, to a greater interest in these elite transnational subjects as embodied bearers of culture, ethnicity, class and gender.
Abstract: In this introduction to the special issue of JEMS on The Cultural Politics of Talent Migration in Asia, we note the movement in the academic literature from a narrow focus on the economic rationalities and corporate logics of transnational mobility among professional, managerial and entrepreneurial elites, to a greater interest in these elite transnational subjects as embodied bearers of culture, ethnicity, class and gender. We draw out two key themes that inform the arguments advanced by the papers in this special issue. First, instead of hyper-fluid global nomads who move effortlessly across frictionless global space, the papers show that moving and belonging are not simply motivated by economic logic but are folded into broader social, cultural and political considerations and conditioned by the power geometries of race, nationality and gender. Second, different groups of talent migrants are attracted to and positioned differently in specific spaces of encounter within cities, generating a politics of ...
TL;DR: The authors examines the legislation and enforcement of provisions against incitement to racial hatred, Holocaust denial, and crimes motivated by racial bias in Western Europe and the United States, and concludes that it is possible to enact and enforce laws that limit these forms of racism without being overly inimical to freedom of expression and opinion.
Abstract: Since the 1960s, many liberal democracies have instituted laws that penalise hate speech and hate crimes in ways that limit the freedom for racists to express themselves. This article examines the legislation and enforcement of provisions against incitement to racial hatred, Holocaust denial, and crimes motivated by racial bias in Western Europe and the United States. Viewed over time, the pace of change has more closely resembled a slow creep than a slippery slope, and the extent of legislation and enforcement has differed across countries in different domains. This article documents the trend and highlights causes for concern, yet concludes that it is possible to enact and enforce laws that limit these forms of racism without being overly inimical to freedom of expression and opinion.
TL;DR: The authors discusses the mechanisms that shape such an immigrant occupational niche and the opportunities and constraints presented to Chinese students in Japan, and argues that it provides a pathway for immigrants to enter a previously inaccessible labour market.
Abstract: Expanding international education and economic globalisation have changed both the make-up of international labour migrants and the patterns of immigrant economic adaptation. Chinese student migrants' employment experiences and economic mobility in Japan suggest that an immigrant occupational niche has emerged among Japanese firms characterised by a set of corporate positions that specifically deal with businesses in China. These firms preferentially recruit Chinese student migrants to fill these positions. This paper discusses the mechanisms that shape such an immigrant occupational niche and the opportunities and constraints presented to Chinese students in Japan. It discusses the paradoxical effects the existence of an occupational niche has on Chinese students, and argues that it provides a pathway for immigrants to enter a previously inaccessible labour market. However, the existence of an immigrant occupational niche itself is a product of prevailing institutional, structural and cultural barriers i...
TL;DR: The authors argue that socioeconomic regime variation has contributed to quantitative and qualitative variation in migrant labour across Western Europe over recent decades, which has consequences for the quantity and skillset of economic migrants required.
Abstract: Existing theories of labour migration are inadequate explanations for variation in levels and types of economic immigration across states. I argue that socio-economic regime variation has contributed to quantitative and qualitative variation in migrant labour across Western Europe over recent decades. Western European economic and labour market institutions generate low-paid, low-skilled employment—where migrant workers tend to concentrate—to different degrees. Furthermore, welfare and education and training institutions shape the domestic supply of labour in diverse ways across Western Europe, which has consequences for the quantity and skillset of economic migrants required.
TL;DR: The authors explored the experiences of separated asylum-seeking children and considered the implications of dominant understandings of "childhood" for the ways in which the children's experiences of persecution and violence are interpreted in the UK asylum system.
Abstract: This article explores the experiences of separated asylum-seeking children and considers the implications of dominant understandings of ‘childhood’ for the ways in which the children's experiences of persecution and violence are interpreted in the UK asylum system. Although there is a widely held consensus among academics that the boundaries of ‘childhood’ are socially constructed—and that this is reflected in differences in what it means to be a ‘child’ over time and across space—this understanding is largely absent from the policies and practices that constitute the asylum determination process. Children who claim asylum are constructed as passive, vulnerable, dependent, asexual and apolitical victims (usually at the hands of adults) who should be allowed to stay on a discretionary basis until they turn 18 but who are not considered deserving of, or entitled to, protection under international law. Where children assert their agency and insist that their political and sexual experiences are taken into ac...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the effects of acculturation attitudes on immigrant psychological and socio-economic adaptation, and found that three attitudes (separation, assimilation and integration) were positively related to immigrant adaptation, either directly or moderated by the length or country of residence.
Abstract: In this study we examine the time-, context- and outcome-specificity of the effects of acculturation attitudes on immigrant psychological and socio-economic adaptation. The participants were 172 immigrants from Russia and the former Soviet Union residing in Finland and Israel, and the mean time since their arrival was approximately six years. Each of the three acculturation attitudes (separation, assimilation and integration) was positively related to immigrant adaptation, either directly or moderated by the length or by the country of residence. A main effect was obtained only for integration attitude positively predicting psychological adaptation. There was also clear evidence of context-specificity in the effect of the separation attitude on both psychological and socio-economic adaptation. The impact of integration and assimilation attitudes on socio-economic adaptation was also time-specific; these attitudes showed adaptive value only at earlier stages of the acculturation process in the culturally d...
TL;DR: The authors examine the liberality of recent restrictions to family reunification that set conditions for integration, and argue that family restrictions based on a concern for cultural integration push the limits of the liberal-rights fram...
Abstract: Whereas family reunification has been considered an essential element of integration for European labour migration since the late 1950s, it is now under attack as fraught with abuse and undermining national solidarity and social cohesion. Given the continued presence of and need for labour migrants, national reforms have sought to introduce employment, skills-based immigration and terms of integration that, on the face of it, emphasise liberal values and civic participation. At the European level, there has been a push to create a unified approach to the treatment and rights of third-country nationals that both offers protection and preserves the sovereignty of member-states to define the terms of national belonging. Through a discussion of the EU Family Reunification Directive, I examine the liberality of recent restrictions to family reunification that set conditions for integration, and argue that family restrictions based on a concern for cultural integration push the limits of the liberal-rights fram...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the historical construction of the transit country as one answer to the perceived loss of control over migration that governments of the developed North have increasingly felt, and argue that such "suspended" illegal migrants have the capacity to reinvent themselves precisely because they are outside the realm of juridico-political categorisation and enumeration.
Abstract: This article explores the historical construction of the ‘transit country’ as one answer to the perceived loss of control over migration that governments of the developed North have increasingly felt. A frenzy of re-conceptualisations has taken place over the past 20 years, leading to a discourse—unquestioned and accepted by policy-makers and many academics—of Migration Management. A consequence of the evolution of Migration Management is captured by the notion of ‘suspension’, which often refers to either the physical or the metaphorical death of a certain minority of illegal migrants. However, I argue that such ‘suspended’ illegal migrants have the capacity to reinvent themselves precisely because they are outside the realm of juridico-political categorisation and enumeration.
TL;DR: This article found that the language of economism is communicated in a highly ritualistic manner and, conversely, political rituals serve as a crucial part of the conventions, and that the ritualised economic and technological-determinist discourse appears apolitical, yet acquires strong m...
Abstract: Since the Guangzhou municipality in south China organised the first Overseas Students Fair in 1998, large conventions aimed at recruiting overseas Chinese professionals (OCPs) have become a regular scene in major cities in China. These conventions constitute one of the most visible means of the Chinese government's engagement with the 800,000 OCPs who remain overseas after receiving tertiary education abroad. Characteristic of the conventions, and OCP policies in general, is a highly ‘materialistic’ thinking: it is argued that OCPs deserve generous financial rewards because they are economically and technologically beneficial to China, and that financial reward is the most feasible means to attract them back. My ethnographic data, however, reveal that the language of economism is communicated in a highly ritualistic manner and, conversely, political rituals serve as a crucial part of the conventions. The ritualised economic- and technological-determinist discourse appears apolitical, yet acquires strong m...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse how these demographic and social transformations affect policies of migration and integration in this region and find that despite the rapid and dramatic demographic changes during the last three decades, the magnitude and speed of change within the policy provisions for migration, integration and integration are still limited and slow.
Abstract: Japan, Korea and Taiwan have experienced rapid and dramatic demographic changes during the last three decades. In all three countries, changes of fertility decline, ageing and sex imbalances preceded massive increases in international marriages and labour migration. In this article, we analyse how these demographic and social transformations affect policies of migration and integration in this region. Demographics are changing with the integration of foreign brides and professional migrants and with declining fertility rates. Despite this, the magnitude and speed of change within the policy provisions for migration and integration are still very limited and slow—Japan, Korea and Taiwan, for instance, all maintain ‘assimilationist’ or ‘passive multicultural’ migration and integration policies.