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- Volume 3, Issue 1, 2019
Transitions: Journal of Transient Migration - Volume 3, Issue 1, 2019
Volume 3, Issue 1, 2019
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Transient migrants at the crossroads of China’s global future
By Ka-Kin CheukChina has witnessed a remarkable growth in its foreign population over the past two decades. Even though they are still quite few in number at the moment, foreigners in China are being increasingly recognized and studied in the broad field of migration studies. Although they have neither the hope nor the desire to become permanent residents of China, most foreigners nonetheless continue to be construed as ‘immigrants’ or ‘migrants’ in both the scholarly and policy-oriented literature. This special issue suggests that applying these terms without problematizing them hinders our understanding of foreigners in the real-world context, in which an increasing number of people have become transient migrants in China and elsewhere. By bringing together articles that depict these foreigners’ lives as transient everywhere they go, this special issue aims to develop a new analytical lens through which ongoing global dynamisms in demography, politics and economy – particularly those that matter much to the future of both foreigners and China – can be simultaneously captured.
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Transient trade and the distribution of infrastructural knowledge: Bolivians in China
More LessThis article deals with transient migration of Bolivian traders and grassroots entrepreneurs to China. I trace prior experiences of traders with Asian and Chinese agents in South America to understand current transregional connections, and persistent trading practices and rationales. A growing conviction among Bolivians to travel to China and buy first-hand from factories in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Yiwu and Shanghai on the one hand, and a cautious handling of information and contacts among them on the other, have stimulated the emergence of commercial intermediaries. Very few of the Bolivian brokers, however, have settled down in China. The trade has remained highly transient with about 6,000 Bolivian traders and agents commuting each year back and forth to China. I explore the sources and effects of this transient trade, in particular the distribution of knowledge about infrastructure, technical and legal procedures to spur the inter-continental flow of goods.
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China as a ‘new frontier’: Neo-liberal aspirations, imaginaries and (dis-) enchantments of Swiss migrant professionals in mainland China
More LessMainland China has emerged as a migration destination for foreign professionals in the post-Mao era. This ethnographic article investigates the aspirations of one group among them – self-initiated Swiss migrant professionals – and the imaginative geographies of China that they develop and renegotiate throughout their journeys. The analysis reveals their aspirations and imaginaries signifying a quest to push limits for the sake of neo-liberal self-development. Swiss professionals encounter a China in transformation as a ‘country of extremes’ and approach it as a ‘new frontier’. Rich in challenges and opportunities, it both enables and limits interviewees’ projects for self-realization, further fuelling the strong sense of transience that permeates their migration trajectories.
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Migration as adventure: Swedish corporate migrant families’ experiences of liminality in Shanghai
More LessThe post-reform era in China has seen a steady increase in foreign migrants to the country. Swedish intra-corporate families are ambivalent about the move to China, as this causes the family dynamic to shift from a dual-career model to that of a single-career model. Although structural conditions are important in the decision to migrate, the more subjective part of the motivation to engage in mobility is the main focus of this article. Many assert that wanting to ‘have an adventure’ was a decisive aspect of the decision to migrate. By disentangling this ultimately relational concept, the article analyses the construction of difference in the way China is both imagined and experienced. The article contributes by providing insight into the family dynamics and decision-making involved in taking on an international assignment.
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Transiting (in) Shanghai: High-skilled professionals from Spain to China
Authors: Irene Masdeu Torruella and Amelia Sáiz LópezThe last decade of transformations in global economy have made international migration between China and Spain increasingly popular. The ongoing developmental pathways of the two countries – with China becoming more economically prosperous and Spain struggling to deal with financial crisis – have led to more skilled workers moving from Spain to China in search of better life opportunities. This article aims to capture new mobility flows from Spain to China that involve two groups of Spanish high-skilled professionals: Chinese migrants’ descendants socialized in Spain and Spanish adults born to non-Chinese Spanish families. Drawing on semi-structured interviews the article makes a comparison between these two groups in terms of the aims of migration and the working experience in Shanghai. The main reasons for moving to China, irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds, were to develop professional careers and to gain qualified experience that might prove advantageous for their future life. For them, China is a transitional space in their professional mobility. Therefore, in our study the presence of migrants’ descendants in their parents’ home country cannot be described by the notions of ‘return migration’, ‘ethnic return’ and ‘second-generation return’.
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Reviews
More LessMapping the New African Diaspora in China: Race and The Cultural Politics Of Belonging, Shanshan Lan (2017) New York and London: Routledge, 202 pp., ISBN 978-1-13867-306-9, h/bk, £105
International Migrants in China’s Global City: The New Shanghailanders, James Farrer (2019) Oxon and New York: Routledge, 216 pp, ISBN 978-0-81538-263-8, h/bk, $140
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Saudi female students’ motivations to study in Australia: A qualitative study
Authors: Haifa Mohammad Binsahl, Shanton Chang and Rachelle BosuaMany transient Saudi Arabian students arrive in Australia annually; more than 5000 new Saudi students enrolled in 2017 to join thousands of tertiary students already in Australia. This article specifically explores the motives of Saudi female international students (SFIS) for leaving Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to study in Australia. Data were analysed and evaluated in terms of the ‘push–pull explanation’ of motivation. Salient push elements included the lack of university places and courses for women in KSA, the influence of close relatives (especially male) and Saudi governmental policies. Pull elements included the safety and tolerance of Australia being perceived to be greater than any other western country, Australia’s excellent education system and the relative convenience and ease of Australia’s admission process. The study is significant as it is the first that aims to understand Saudi females’ motivations for studying overseas, especially in Australia.
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