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  5. Volume 7, Issue 1, 2023

Transitions: Journal of Transient Migration - Volume 7, Issue 1-2, 2023

Volume 7, Issue 1-2

Volume 7, Issue 1-2, 2023

Language: English
  • Articles

      • Coronavirus, immobility and informal work in a secondary city in Thailand

        https://doi.org/10.1386/tjtm_00050_1

        Informal work requires mobility. When that movement is prevented, many forms of informal work (just like in the formal sector) are disrupted because of the lack of mobility of suppliers, products, customers and other stakeholders. Lacking access to government support in these circumstances, informal sector workers are obliged to find new forms of activity and to compensate for the loss of principal streams of income. This situation was investigated through a programme of in-depth, personal interviewing with 60 respondents in a secondary city in the northeast of Thailand, Roi Et. Respondents report living on their own resources as long as they can to avoid the spectre of debt. Many seek different forms of mobility in making a living to replace what has been lost. Good relations with the state, including the police, mean that mobility restrictions can be negotiated to a certain extent and, in any case, the main focus of restrictions has been on inter-provincial rather than intra-provincial travel. While respondents are willing to be patient, a sense of resentment at the central government is evident owing to its response to the situation. The forms of resilience demonstrated by respondents are considered.

    • Migration aspiration and desire of international students: Chinese international students under strain amid geopolitical tension and the COVID-19 pandemic

      Authors: Wan Huang and Jingqiu Ren
      https://doi.org/10.1386/tjtm_00049_1

      Confronted with restrictive visa policies, deteriorating US–China relations and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese international students in the United States face unprecedented uncertainty in their immigration prospects. Their unique intersectional identities as temporary immigrants, prospective permanent immigrants and emerging adults modulate their migration aspirations and desires within this exceptional social context. We interviewed and surveyed a group of Chinese international students in a major American university at various stages of their stay in the United States. Using the migration aspiration and desire framework, we explore how they cope with the challenges and plan for immigration upon graduation. Our findings suggest that under the unique temporal junction of the geopolitical tension and a global public health crisis unprecedented in their lifetime, the becoming process associated with their particular identity as in-between migrants and the assemblage of various actors throughout the process help recalibrate their initial aspirations at personal and collective levels and reshape their migration desires. Although it has frustrated their migration motivations and plans, it has also endowed them with perspectives and the capacity to develop effective coping mechanisms and remain resilient.

    • Resilience and adaptation strategies of ethnic migrants in the own-account work sector: A study of Uphill Country Tamils in Kerala, India

      https://doi.org/10.1386/tjtm_00056_1

      This study examines the survival strategies adopted by Uphill Country Tamils during the colonial period to the post-repatriation period to escape exploitation and financial instability through own-account work. Additionally, it investigates the success stories of current Uphill Country Tamils engaged in own-account work and their strategies for combating unemployment. An insider-ethnographic approach was employed to gather data from plantation-concentrated areas. Results revealed that the ethnic group has been able to re-establish own-account work activities upon returning from Sri Lanka to India. However, most Uphill Country Tamils still face severe social and economic challenges. Despite this, some individuals in repatriated settlement areas believe they can overcome their vulnerabilities through own-account work. The shared experiences of the community inspire exploration of self-employment opportunities, adding a new dimension to discussions in the field of own-account work and entrepreneurship research. This study highlights the resilience of Uphill Country Tamils and the significance of own-account work in addressing unemployment and economic issues.

    • The influence of cultural factors on the reidentification of Ukrainian refugees

      https://doi.org/10.1386/tjtm_00052_1

      Refugees experience double cultural trauma: both because of war and moving abroad. The process of moving abroad is accompanied by disruption of habitual social connections and causes restoration of those connections. Identity needs the proof of Others, forcing refugees to engage in processes of interaction. The theoretical concept of ethnomethodology allows the authors to trace the process of restoring these ties: how refugees present themselves and define themselves as Ukrainians with the help of cultural factors embedded in daily practices. We observe the rise of Ukrainian identity with the start of war in 2014 and then escalation in 2022. Research of the national identity of Ukrainian refugees in Germany has been based on unique survey data gathered in June 2022 using the Google Forms online survey tool (Germany, June 2022, n = 423). Survey questions were used to measure the components of national identity: constructive patriotism, civic citizenship, ethnic citizenship. We rely also on representative statistical data gathered by Ukrainian research centres and the UNHCR data portal. In conclusion it is seen that cultural factors help the process of reidentification of Ukrainian refugees.

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