Article

Examining ‘Expatriate’ Continuities: Postcolonial Approaches to Mobile Professionals

Taylor & Francis
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
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Abstract

In recent years, the interdisciplinary fields of colonial and postcolonial studies have been enriched by nuanced analyses of the ways in which racialised colonial identities (cross-cut by gender, class and sexuality) have been enacted in particular settings. Nevertheless, the quantity and quality of knowledge about the lives of European colonials and settlers can be held in stark contrast with the relative scarcity of studies of those who might be regarded as their modern-day equivalents: contemporary ‘expatriates’, or citizens of ‘Western’ nation-states who are involved in temporary migration processes to destinations outside ‘the West’. These contemporary expatriates are rarely considered through a postcolonial framework. As a corrective, this special issue of JEMS draws together eight articles, each of which explicitly engages in different ways with this theoretical concern. In this introductory paper we argue for the significance of the past in shaping contemporary expatriate mobilities and note postcolonial continuities in relation to people, practices and imaginations. While discussing the resonances across various geographical sites, we emphasise the need to also consider the particularity of postcolonial contexts. Finally, we suggest that we need to broaden the current, somewhat myopic focus on Western expatriates, to understand them in relation to other groups of migrants, particularly in globalising cities, and to include the perspectives of locals.

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... In the last decades, important works in the field of critical expatriate studies (for an overview see, e.g., Farrer 2018; Kunz 2016) or on lifestyle migration (e.g., Benson and O'Reilly 2009;O'Reilly 2000) as forms of contemporary "Euro-American privileged migrants" (Fechter andWalsh 2010, 1198) critically interrogated some of the assumptions of the expat-migrant dichotomy and racialized logics of categorizing migrants. In this article, however, I focus on studies that emerged in the last years and analyze the cases of white individuals migrating particularly to East Asia, yet often outside of the ideal types of expat or highskilled migrants and more or less explicitly cojoining whiteness with migration rather than utilizing any other category. ...
... Lan 2011;Leonard 2018), academics and international students increasingly venturing to geographically more distant destinations (Debnár 2016(Debnár , 2020Moosavi 2022;B. Wang and Chen 2021), or in many cases critically reassessing the concept of expatriation to acknowledge the diversity of the subjects and forms of migration it encompasses (Cranston 2016;Farrer 2019;Fechter and Walsh 2010;Kunz 2016Kunz , 2020. ...
... Consequently, the particularities of the historical contexts of the region and its relations with the West, local meanings of the Western conceptualizations of race, and the changing perceptions of the global hierarchies led researchers focused on the East Asian countries-and particularly China and Japan-to explore novel or different approaches to the study of migration and whiteness. First, studies on white migrants in Japan or China needed to move beyond the previous post-colonial approaches that provided important critical insights to understanding the contemporary "expatriates" in the settings of, for example, South-East Asian countries with a strong post-colonial legacy (see, e.g., Fechter and Walsh 2010). ...
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This article discusses recent development in the emerging field of white migration studies and particularly focuses on the studies on Western or white migrants in Japan and China in the past decade. It is outlining the main contribution of these studies to critical whiteness studies and migration studies as well as it identifies some of the lacunas in the research and possible theoretical and conceptual directions in which the research in this field can develop further. The article argues that establishing the transnational movement of white bodies as white migrations—what have been rather associated with privilege and different categories of mobility—contributes to contesting of the racialized categories of migration and understanding of the position of whiteness and role of white privilege in the context of global migration. The article suggests that by using common frameworks and concepts with the mainstream migration research and further analysis of the local contexts, the white migration research can contribute to our understanding of whiteness in the context of global migration without reinstating it as a Eurocentric category of research even more.
... This narrative is, however, largely the result of scholars' almost exclusive focus on migration in South-to-North contexts (Ilhan-Nas 2011; Dheer 2018)-for example Somali migrant entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom (Ram, Theodorakopoulos, & Jones 2008). Indeed, more recent studies of migration in inverse North-to-South contexts have revealed how migrants cannot be assumed to be disadvantaged and, in fact, in such contexts can become privileged (Fechter 2005;Fechter & Walsh 2010;Hoang 2014;Lundstrom 2017). This idea, that migrants from core-states are often more privileged, is even reflected in everyday language. ...
... This idea, that migrants from core-states are often more privileged, is even reflected in everyday language. They are frequently referred to not as 'migrants', but instead as 'expats', which has connotations of 'whiteness' and 'privilege' (Fechter & Walsh 2010;Leonard 2016). Even within the migrant entrepreneurship literature, many scholars have employed similarly loaded nomenclature, such as 'expat-preneurs' (Selmer et al. 2018;Vance et al. 2016) or 'descending diaspora entrepreneurs' (Harima 2014). ...
... Sociology of Law tantly, such an overwhelming 'downward' focus on migration in relatively disadvantaged contexts may be creating 'somewhat skewed notions of who migrants are' (Fechter & Walsh 2010: 1198. ...
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‘Migrants’ are often depicted as lacking agency and subject to ‘restrictions, limitations, and discrimination’ (Benson & O’Reilly 2018: 11). This narrative, however, is largely the result of scholars’ long-established tendency to focus on migration in South-to-North contexts (Dheer 2018; Ilhan-Nas 2011). Indeed, more recent studies of migration in inverse North-to-South contexts have revealed how migrants cannot be assumed to be disadvantaged and, in fact, in such contexts can become privileged. These studies, however, have largely attributed such privilege to migrants’ ethnicity (Fechter 2005; Fechter & Walsh 2010; Hoang 2014; Lundstrom 2017), financial capital (Beaverstock 2002; Sklair 2012), and human capital (Vance et al. 2016). By contrast, in this paper, which comparatively analyses migrant entrepreneurs from the global North and South in the ‘middle-ground’ environment of Poland, it is found that privilege and disadvantage are predominantly realized by another factor, namely, migrants’ nationality and citizenship. In doing so, the study not only contributes to helping fill a gap in the migrant entrepreneurship literature surrounding migration away from economically developed economies, but also helps to propel the role of nationality and citizenship into the intersectionality (Crenshaw 1991; 2017) debate, subsequently complicating notions of privilege in migration research.
... Mais les étudiant·e·s internationaux·ales n'échappent pas à la suspicion qui entoure les raisons de leur présence (Jamid et al. 2020 ;King et Raghuram, 2013), et ce d'autant plus que la polarisation des flux se fait plutôt des Suds vers les Nords, asymétrie que l'on retrouve dans la géographie des recherches, qui s'intéressent en priorité aux migrations étudiantes internationales entre Nords ou des Suds vers les Nords, même si un intérêt récent pour mouvements intra-régionaux en Asie émerge (Eyebiyi et Mazzella, 2014 ;Gillabert et al., 2017 ;King et Raghuram, 2013 ;Koh, 2017 ;Madge et al., 2015 ;Prazeres, 2013 ;Terrier, 2009). Cette focalisation sur les flux originaires des Suds rejoint la structuration plus globale des études migratoires (Cosquer et al., 2022b ;Fechter et Walsh, 2010 ;Kunz, 2016). L'ambivalence de la catégorisation des étudiant·e·s internationaux·le·s n'est pas sans lien avec les associations tacites entre « migrant·e·s » et provenance des Suds. ...
... Ainsi présentée, on voit bien qu'étudier les migrations privilégiées peut conduire à une certaine difficulté à désarticuler race et classe dans l'appréhension des positions sociales (Fechter et Walsh, 2010). Les migrations étudiantes redoublent cet effet, compte tenu de la place spécifique du capital culturel, à la fois justification de la migration elle-même mais également verrou et outil de tri des parcours scolaires et migratoires. ...
... Cette confrontation à la norme de la blanchité induite par le déplacement des Suds vers les Nords est bien identifié par les études migratoires. Elles ont montré que différentes figures de « migrants », cristallisaient les relations asymétriques, historiquement forgées, entre espaces et départ et d'arrivée (Cosquer et al., 2022b ;Fabbiano et al., 2019 ;Fechter et Walsh, 2010 ;Knowles et Alexander, 2005 ;Koh, 2015). La migration postcoloniale est un trouble : elle vient déranger la prétendue homogénéité raciale enserrée dans les frontières de l'État-nation westphalien. ...
Thesis
Cette thèse porte sur la construction des trajectoires étudiantes dans la configuration postcoloniale entre Groenland et Danemark. S’appuyant sur une enquête combinant essentiellement observation participante et entretiens, elle retrace les biographies d’étudiant·e·s groenlandais·e·s à travers un système scolaire forgé par les rapports de force hérités de la colonisation danoise et bâti sur la dispersion de l’offre de formation. Elle montre que loin de n’être dédié qu’au tri social, ce dispositif scolaro-migratoire constitue également un dispositif de transformation des individus, qui travaille vers les régions supérieures de l’espace social transatlantique. Elle déstabilise ainsi l’image de la migration étudiante comme privilégiée autour de deux axes. En prenant en compte les caractéristiques prémigratoires des individus, elle montre l’hétérogénéité des origines sociales de celles et ceux s’orientant vers une formation au Danemark, et le poids des transclasses sur les routes de cette migration. Cela s’explique notamment par l’encadrement matériel et moral affirmé par les pouvoirs publics groenlandais, qui voient dans la fonction technique de production de qualifications du système éducatif une stratégie politique de concrétisation de l’indépendance. Le deuxième axe réinscrit cette migration dans les asymétries globales des formations raciales. Il analyse le rôle de la migration étudiante dans la construction de frontières raciales, associant danicité et blanchité d’une part, et groenlandité et inuité de l’autre, dans les interactions quotidiennes avec la population majoritaire et dans les placements scolaires. Toutefois, la migration étudiante offre également les conditions d’une déstabilisation de la position minoritaire, non seulement dans les rapports de classe, mais également dans les rapports de race. La thèse met en évidence la dimension racialement codée des acquisitions socialement valorisées propres à la migration étudiante (façons de se comporter et de percevoir le monde, dispositions linguistiques ou encore certains goûts), à travers l’étude de la façon dont les étudiant·e·s sont perçu·e·s et se perçoivent pendant leur parcours. Ainsi, en s’appuyant sur les approches bourdieusiennes de la reproduction, sur le nexus analytique de la colonialité et sur les travaux récents sur la socialisation raciale, cette thèse prend le contrepoint de l’analyse de la formation des frontières raciales en migration, qui sont souvent envisagées comme (re)produisant ou solidifiant ces frontières raciales : ces dernières trouvent dans le dispositif scolaro-migratoire postcolonial les conditions de leur (re)production comme les conditions leur mise en crise. Texte intégral disponible ici : https://theses.hal.science/tel-03967384
... This insurmountable social divide was even reinforced by the privilege of whiteness (Fechter, 2016). Fechter and Walsh (2010) explicitly mention Euro-American privileges, especially in connection with ex-colonies, where ex-imperial power contributes to the meaning of being a Westerner. ...
... The homogeneity of the expatriate community was refuted by the interviewees when they gave a more detailed account about their everyday life and their social networks. Previous studies on Western expatriates in ex-colonial countries and/or hardship locations have pointed out Western expatriates' disconnection with local people (Fechter, 2016;Fechter and Walsh, 2010;Lauring & Selmer, 2009;Walsh, 2009). Beyond this, Goxe and Paris (2016) provided evidence on stratification of expatriates, whose salary and status were determined by the country that issued the worker's passport, while it is slightly moderated by the country in which the person graduated. ...
... Western expatriates' detachment from local people (Fechter, 2016;Fechter and Walsh, 2010;Lauring & Selmer, 2009;Walsh, 2009), and the stratification / hierarchy of expatriates depending on the country of issue of passports have been discussed previously in academic literature (Goxe and Paris, 2016;Zaban 2015), but Eastern-European professionals were not in the focus in numerous previous studies, while Goxe and Paris (2016) mention them among the underprivileged expatriates together with mobile professionals from developing countries. The empirical results of this study in Dubai were in contrast with previous studies on Eastern-European employees in the West, for example in the UK (Fox et al., 2012(Fox et al., , 2015 where they were clearly underemployed, while research here has proven that they gain a certain status, as people are often evaluated by their looks, and Caucasian people, especially when they work for a renowned Western company, are automatically considered privileged, and they receive the same respect and advantages as their Western counterparts. ...
Article
Purpose Focussing on the stratification of expatriates and the boundaries between different types of expatriates and locals, this study investigates the lived experiences and testimonies of Eastern European expatriates and their relationships in Dubai. The purpose of this article to develop the current knowledge on expatriates cohabiting in a cosmopolitan city by providing empirical evidence on expatriate bubbles in Dubai. Design/methodology/approach Explorative qualitative research was conducted using online and face-to-face interviews, along with a week-long intensive ethnography with observations, interviews and informal discussions. Findings Three distinct groups of people live in Dubai, namely, Westerners, expatriates from the East and Emiratis. They hardly mingle with each other on equal terms, but they do work in a complementary fashion. In Dubai, the status of East European experts, a subgroup of Westerners, is similar to their Western counterparts and in that they are considered European. Consequently, they experience a slight status development in comparison to when they work in the West. The research provides evidence on social stratification of expatriate bubbles. Research limitations/implications This very short ethnography with a relatively small number of qualitative interviews could be complemented by a further in-depth study. Originality/value Expatriate bubbles have not previously been empirically investigated from an Eastern European perspective, nor has the unique case of Dubai been analysed extensively. Distinct expatriate bubbles with their stratified hierarchies have been identified in this study.
... This has placed some constraints on studying migration as a whole, and has limited our discovery process a bit. "Consequently, one critique of mainstream Migration Studies literatures might be that they are producing somewhat skewed notions of 'who migrants are', leading to rather particular and limited notions of the migration process as a whole" (Fechter - Walsch 2010: 1198. On the other hand, "migrants (…) at the bottom of the economic scale (…) have been largely ignored in business literature, which concentrates on highly skilled and privileged migrants, often discussed in terms of brain drain and brain gain" (McNulty - Brewster 2018: 39). ...
... A so-called traditional expatriate is considered to be an expatriate sent abroad by his employer (mostly a multinational corporation) to take up a job in one of the employer's branches in 3 See the link: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/expatriate 4 This historical legacy, which the concept of expatriate still bears in many respects, is often criticised based of the use of this term in professional discourse. (Fechter - Walsch 2010) In some cases, even foreigners (expatriates) themselves distance themselves from the use of the concept or designation of expatriate, most often because they attribute a negative connotation to it. (Fechter 2007: 3-6; Cranston 2017) However, there are cases where migrants expressly enjoy this labelling. ...
Article
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Expatriates are one type of international skilled labour migration. This text will focus on conceptualising and defining categories of expatriates for research purposes. A closer examination requires a definition that reflects theoretical definitions, but also takes into account the local delimitation and even the self-concept of the immigrants themselves. In this text, these perspectives are laid out side by side. Our conceptualisation is comprised of four basic attributes that refer to the centre of personal life (life strategies), the temporary aspect of residence, professional or working skills, and the motivation to migrate. At the local level, the Brno Expat Centre (BEC) operating in the South Moravian Region, is monopolistically involved in the definition of expatriates on a practical scale. The processes of globalisationand trans-nationalisation have led to the diversification of forms of labour migration, which, together with interdisciplinarity, has resulted in a considerable ambiguity of terms and concepts. Thus, for research purposes, one must bear in mind that despite the uniform designation, we are dealing with a very diversified phenomenon. If expatriates are distinguished from skilled migrants, we usually emphasise the undefined length of their stay as opposed to permanent residence and the very important self-concept of expatriates. Brno has become one of the most important places of concentration of expats in the Czech Republic. From the pre-research of the Indian expats case, it shows that the different transnational strategies are very diverse. For further research, it is important to explore the social and demographic characteristics of expats, and we need qualitative research that focuses on the structural conditions of the life of expats and the self-evaluation of expats themselves, considering ethno-cultural factors and gender. Their family members also cannot be ignored.
... While the term 'transnational worker' covers all residents in the UAE who are there for work purposes, within this broad category both experiences and levels of belonging vary dramatically according to social stratification, often based in part on nationality or passport, as well as linguistic capital. Those from western countries or who hold western passports/degrees from English-medium universities are generally referred to as 'mobile professionals' or 'expatriates', although the latter term is controversial in academic contexts as being reserved for white western migrants (Fetcher & Walsh, 2010). These mobile professionals tend to come to the UAE with their families, and their children usually attend international schools. ...
... Far from being homogenous groups, there is much diversity within general categories of the population. For example, although 'western expatriates' are generally recognized as privileged or elite due to their passports equating to higher salaries (Le Renard, 2021), educational and occupational diversity means that not all western workers can assume upper-class positions in global/ local class hierarchies they inhibit (Fetcher & Walsh, 2010). There are also 'middling' or 'ordinary transnationals' (Conradson & Latham, 2005) who do not conform to the extremes of 'elite' or 'prole' (Favell et al., 2006). ...
Article
Unlike other areas of the Middle East, where nationalism indexes war, border disputes and the dichotomy of ‘us / them’, nationalism in the UAE is usually considered ‘banal’. Banal nationalism, which refers to everyday unconscious flagging of nationalism, receives less attention than ‘hot’ nationalism. However, banal nationalism is not benign. Rather, chronotopic complexities in ‘imagined communities’ impact intercultural communication and belonging in diverse societies. With almost 90% of the UAE’s population being foreign residents, many residents have loyalties and ideological habits from both their country of birth and country of residence. Here, a ‘third space’ often emerges whereby notions of belonging are complex and multilayered. Paradoxical discourses around the creation of ‘authentic’ national spaces run parallel to discourses of tolerance and cosmopolitanism. This article aims to critically assess the implications of contemporary banal, civic, and cultural nationalism to inform future research directions in the UAE setting and beyond. على عكس المناطق الأخرى في الشرق الأوسط، حيث تشير القومية إلى الحروب والنزاعات الحدودية والانقسام بين ‘نحن/هم’، غالبًا ما تُعتبر القومية في دولة الإمارات ‘قومية مبتذلة’ وتشير إلى التمثيلات والممارسات اليومية الدالة على القومية. ولكن تحظى القومية المبتذلة باهتمام أقل من ذلك الذي تحظى به القوميات الشائكة التي ينتج عنها نزاعات. بدلاً من ذلك يؤثر تواتر المعتقدات والقوميات لدى ‘الجماعات المتخيلة’ على الانتماء والتواصل بين الثقافات في المجتمعات متعددة الأطياف. نظرًا لأن ما يقرب من 90 بالمائة من سكان الإمارات العربية المتحدة هم من الأجانب، فإن العديد منهم لديهم ولاءات لأيديولوجيات قومية في بلدهم الأصلي وبلد إقامتهم. هنا، غالبًا ما تظهر ‘مساحة ثالثة’ تكون فيها مفاهيم الانتماء معقدة ومتعددة الطبقات. تسير الخطابات المتناقضة حول إنشاء مساحات وطنية ‘أصيلة’ بالتوازي مع خطابات التسامح والتعددية اللغوية والثقافية في دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة. تهدف هذه المقالة إلى إجراء تقييم نقدي للآثار المترتبة على القومية المعاصرة المبتذلة والمدنية والثقافية لإثراء اتجاهات البحث المستقبلية في دولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة وخارجها .
... These stories, as narrated by the participants in this paper, can be contrasted with the "scripts of servitude" of less advantaged migrant workers in the Gulf region, for example the domestic workers from Asia portrayed in Lorente's (2017) book-length study. Equally, the voices of the participants here are not amongst the UAE's "privileged migrants" from Europe or North America (Fechter and Walsh, 2010), and the stories told here of managerial level transnational workers in the hotel industry in the region have not been depicted previously. ...
Article
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This paper explores, through narrative inquiry, the acquisition and use of English as a lingua franca in the careers of three transnationally mobile managers in the global hotel and hospitality industry. The narratives presented here are interwoven with the context in which the multinational participants were situated at the time of the study: the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which is diversifying economically and socially in preparation for the post-fossil fuel era. In a country where the temporary immigrant population outumbers national citizens, participants’ situated language practices are explored through narratives of their multilingual and translingual repertoires, while focusing on English as a key resource for their self-initiated transnational mobility. These personal stories of the acquisition and use of English as a global language weave a linguacultural web that connects the Gulf region across global space, people, and time. Participants tell of the utility of English for their careers, their multilingual repertoires, and their enjoyment of their temporary working lives in the Emirates. Such voices are seldom heard in the literature.
... Los migrantes privilegiados por ciudadanía, clase o raza ahora están siendo objeto de estudio de varios autores (véase Kunz, 2016;Benson, 2014, Lundstrum, 2017Fechter y Walsh, 2010). Todos ellos hacen referencia a los inmigrantes de estilo de vida desde el norte hacia el sur global, donde persisten las jerarquías raciales y las desigualdades de poder. ...
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El turismo es un fenómeno social, cultural y económico relacionado con el tránsito de personas de su lugar de residencia habitual a otro por un tiempo menor a un año, ya sea por cuestión de ocio, educación, negocios, entre otros (Nava, 2013). Por la naturaleza de su consumo, está engarzado a las industrias culturales inmóviles (Scott, 2004), que son aquellas en las que los espacios y lugares en concreto se convierten en parte del bien de consumo que se adquiere. En este sentido, el turista, al evaluar u opinar sobre un servicio en específico, rememora y aprecia su estadía en el destino a partir del conjunto de sensaciones experimentadas, en la cual no solo inciden los bienes y servicios claramente identificados en la prestación de servicios turísticos, sino que el lugar como espacio social (Park, 1999) se convierte en insumo del destino como producto y, como sugiere Hudson (2006), es también un espacio social resultado de la diversidad de interrelaciones que reflejan la identidad de quienes lo constituyen.
... L'espace apparaît comme un révélateur des rapports de pouvoir, mais la dimension spatiale se retrouve encore surtout en termes de localisations. En regardant plus largement les études portant sur les migrations privilégiées, de nombreux travaux sur les expatrié·e·s analysent leurs « bulles sociales » (Cohen, 1977 ;Fechter et Walsh, 2010). Si certains analysent la ségrégation résidentielle (Cosquer, 2020), ou les pratiques de l'espace du quotidien (Duplan, 2016), la production de cet entre-soi est surtout étudiée à travers l'identification complexe de frontières sociales (Quashie, 2016 ;Le Renard, 2019). ...
Article
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À partir de deux enquêtes menées entre 2014 et 2019 auprès de retraité·e·s français·es installé·e·s à l’année ou de manière saisonnière dans la région marocaine du Souss-Massa, cet article analyse les spatialités migratoires multiples de ces migrations orientées depuis le « Nord » vers le « Sud ». En interrogeant la dimension privilégiée de ces spatialités, l’article contribue au champ émergeant de lifestyle migration, avec une perspective géographique. Nos résultats présentent les privilèges d’accès et d’usages des espaces par ces migrant·e·s dans la destination marocaine en lien avec leurs positions avantageuses dans les hiérarchies sociales, raciales et nationales en contexte postcolonial. Ces spatialités privilégiées n’en paraissent pas moins diversifiées, au regard notamment de l’hétérogénéité sociale du groupe étudié.
... The few studies that do exist have for instance focused on 'global competition for talent' (Ewers et al., 2022), racism (Augusto & King, 2020), bribery (Åkesson & Orjuela, 2019), and post-colonial relationships (Candeias et al., 2019). The latter two foci are the theme of a journal special issue that provides a nuanced discussion of racial hierarchies and power inequalities between skilled migrant workers and the local host population (for the introduction, see Fechter & Walsh, 2010). ...
Article
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This paper discusses the understudied situation of legally-resident migrants and their (in)ability to access employment rights that are otherwise available to Indonesians. In our analysis of the relevant institutional architecture and processes, we approach the issue of integration from a regulatory perspective. We used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to examine how migrants as high-income workers interface with the labor dispute resolution system in Indonesia. Our findings demonstrate the mal-integrated nature of Indonesia's regulatory system in relation to migration and employment and its consequences for migrant workers' ability to lodge grievances and avail themselves of their employment rights.
... Another category of expatriates are older people who retire to places with favorable characteristics such as climate or the cost of living (Balkir & Kirkulak, 2007, Gibler et al., 2009 . Recently, a new trend in expatriation reflecting the changing global economy, seems to point to the use of home-grown expertise rather than relying on foreign experts to drive their economy (Groves & O'Connor, 2018), meaning that the hegemony of Western expatriates will be questioned (Farrer 2010;Fechter & Walsh 2010;Leonard 2010). Even so, these local or regional employees are expected to have some international experience and global expertise. ...
Chapter
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The globally mobile workforce of international professionals has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Closed borders and entry restrictions for foreign residents have left many expatriates separated from partners and family members. Previously held assumptions about the ability to travel whenever needed have been severely challenged, thus leaving some questioning the attractiveness of living and working abroad. The expectations of mobility that individuals as well as organizations used to have are changed. The research aimed to assess the impact of factors like travel and other restrictions on the priorities of expatriates and on their willingness to consider future mobility, as well as how the disruption affected expatriates' concept of family. The research shows that organizations will have to examine if expatriation is a sustainable strategy. Both expatriates and organizations are more than ever subjected to local government regulations concerning the acceptance and conditions of life and travel for expatriates.
... The research presented here is a case review analysis of how we used WhatsApp as part of a qualitative study with Latino expat wives around the globe. The literature on expatriates and their so-called "accompanying spouses" typically focuses on the experience of Western expatriates living in non-Western countries (Arieli 2007;Fechter, 2016;Fechter & Walsh, 2010;Leonard, 2010aLeonard, , 2010bLeonard, , 2013Lundström, 2010Lundström, , 2012Lundström & Twine, 2011;Wang, 2013). By focusing on Latino expats, the study aimed to dissect how this group negotiated their own position between economic privilege, gendered expectations, and ethnic discrimination. ...
Article
This article evaluates the use of the popular Mobile Messaging App (MMA) WhatsApp as a way to conduct qualitative research with geographically dispersed samples. Through the use of a case study of Latino expat-wives around the globe, we show how traditional methods of qualitative interviewing were adapted and evolved through the use of this application. Findings suggest that WhatsApp is a valuable tool for conducting qualitative research with specific advantages over other MMAs and VoIPs due to its familiarity amongst the target group and its flexible blending of video, audio, and written forms of communication. Particularly its use on smartphones led to interactions that went beyond regular face-to-face interviews, thus allowing us access normally only gained in ethnography studies. While this can be a gain in terms of building rapport and increase the depth of data collection, it also brings new challenges in terms of ensuring data quality, interpreting non-verbal cues and ensuring high ethical standards.
... EXPATRIATE Expatriate is an increasingly common term globally, both in popular and academic discourse. The expatriate is the privileged traveller, the inverted version of the migrant (see, e. g., Fechter 2007;Fechter and Walsh 2010;Leonard 2010;O'Reilly 2000: 142). "Expatriate" indicates a position of economic and professional superiority. ...
Article
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This article explores the workings of some familiar keywords when applied in a context where migration patterns diverge from conventional expectations in public debate and research. It focuses on the Portuguese seeking a better future in Angola, and it analyses emerging configurations of keywords of migration in this postcolonial setting. By focusing on this unconventional case, the article illuminates some of the stereotypical notions linked to central keywords of migration. Departing from the concepts “migrant”, “expatriate”, “returnee” and “integration”, it explores emic constructions of the Portuguese mobile subjects’ identities, incorporation processes in Angola and shifting postcolonial power positions. Moreover, it uses the emic viewpoints to discuss some globalised connotations of the four keywords. The analysis will make clear that the context-specific workings of these concepts are influenced not only by the particularities of this case but also by powerful international discourses on human mobility. On a conceptual level, the article argues for using keywords as a tool for social analysis. Arguably, ethnographic explorations of the usage and understanding of purportedly simple words can open up profound insights into shifting social values.
... Secondly, it can be used to understand how the nation -through government policy and media representations -positions migrants through discourses of belonging and citizenship, inclusion and exclusion, which are attached to different migrant classifications and terms (i.e. the perception that Sophie, as a white woman, is a skilled and educated 'expat' who will eventually return home or move to another country while Daniel, as a black Ghanaian man, is positioned as an unskilled 'migrant' who is seeking long-term residency and who, it is assumed, will not leave). While 'expatriate' literally refers to 'a person who lives outside their native country', the term is controversial because in contemporary usage it is largely reserved for white Western migrants (Fechter & Walsh, 2010). Both terms -'expat' and 'migrant' -make assumptions about class, 'race', occupation and skill. ...
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This chapter examines the multi-sited transnational strategies of Dutch-Sudanese migrants who move from the Netherlands to the UK (and/or elsewhere) to fulfil their aspirations at different migration and life-course stages. The ongoing political unrest and economic hardships in Sudan, together with the current restrictive European migration regimes, have led most Sudanese to move to Europe as asylum-seekers. Throughout the years, after obtaining refugee status and becoming European citizens, many settle and remain in the host countries of which they are citizens, while others move onwards to other EU countries (or elsewhere) as European labour migrants. As the migrants’ legal statuses change throughout these stages, so do their aspirations and their capabilities to achieve them. Drawing on 14 months of ethnographic multi-sited fieldwork with Sudanese migrants and their families across the Netherlands, the UK and Sudan, this chapter explores the migrants’ aspirations and capabilities to migrate, which take place within given sets of perceived geographical opportunity structures. By looking at how these migrants navigate institutional limitations with family obligations, individual aspirations and capabilities, the chapter contributes to the conceptualisation of onward migration from the lens of an aspirations–capabilities framework. In so doing, it shows the importance of the family as the main unit of analysis in migration studies and the need to look at mobility as a multi-sited longitudinal family trajectory to fulfil changing aspirations where not all family members benefit equally.
... Secondly, it can be used to understand how the nation -through government policy and media representations -positions migrants through discourses of belonging and citizenship, inclusion and exclusion, which are attached to different migrant classifications and terms (i.e. the perception that Sophie, as a white woman, is a skilled and educated 'expat' who will eventually return home or move to another country while Daniel, as a black Ghanaian man, is positioned as an unskilled 'migrant' who is seeking long-term residency and who, it is assumed, will not leave). While 'expatriate' literally refers to 'a person who lives outside their native country', the term is controversial because in contemporary usage it is largely reserved for white Western migrants (Fechter & Walsh, 2010). Both terms -'expat' and 'migrant' -make assumptions about class, 'race', occupation and skill. ...
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In Guinea-Bissau, as in other African countries, international emigration has intensified in recent decades due to persistent economic depression and institutional instability. In addition to the old routes to Senegal and Gambia, contemporary movements now extend to Europe and beyond. One of the main destinations is Portugal, where Guinean migrants have been attracted by labour demand in the construction sector since the 1980s. However, the recent economic crisis in Portugal has led many Guinean-born citizens to continue their journeys, searching for better opportunities in Northern Europe and benefiting from the acquisition of Portuguese nationality. In this chapter I explore the connections between onward migration and transnationalism by focusing on the case of Portuguese-Guinean migrants living in Peterborough (the UK). Based on ethnographic material, I discuss how transnational ties and practices across various places – including Guinea-Bissau, the UK, Portugal and other sites in the Guinean diaspora – contribute to the emergence of specific forms of subjectivity, marked by manifold identifications in terms of nationality, language, religion, leisure and food.
... Secondly, it can be used to understand how the nation -through government policy and media representations -positions migrants through discourses of belonging and citizenship, inclusion and exclusion, which are attached to different migrant classifications and terms (i.e. the perception that Sophie, as a white woman, is a skilled and educated 'expat' who will eventually return home or move to another country while Daniel, as a black Ghanaian man, is positioned as an unskilled 'migrant' who is seeking long-term residency and who, it is assumed, will not leave). While 'expatriate' literally refers to 'a person who lives outside their native country', the term is controversial because in contemporary usage it is largely reserved for white Western migrants (Fechter & Walsh, 2010). Both terms -'expat' and 'migrant' -make assumptions about class, 'race', occupation and skill. ...
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In this chapter, we examine the remittance-sending behaviour of Ghanaian, Congolese and Senegalese migrants along their migration trajectories to Europe. We aim to understand the extent to which and why sending remittances might differ when the migrants consider themselves to be either en route or settled. We hypothesise that migrants on the move experience legal and economic precariousness and have a lesser capacity and, hence, probability to remit. Moreover, we argue that migrants with close family members and assets in the origin country have higher incentives to remit but are less likely to do so if they are on the move. Overall, we do not find support for the argument that being on the move decreases the probability of sending remittances. Surprisingly, we illustrate that migrants on the move are more likely to be employed and to send remittances compared to settled migrants. We argue that the former may consider their situation to be insecure – despite being employed – and want to keep in closer contact with their country of origin. The chapter highlights the importance of including a(n) (im)mobility perspective when studying remittance-sending and the need for a fuller understanding of how frictions and experiences along more complex migration trajectories affect remittance-sending behaviour.
... Secondly, it can be used to understand how the nation -through government policy and media representations -positions migrants through discourses of belonging and citizenship, inclusion and exclusion, which are attached to different migrant classifications and terms (i.e. the perception that Sophie, as a white woman, is a skilled and educated 'expat' who will eventually return home or move to another country while Daniel, as a black Ghanaian man, is positioned as an unskilled 'migrant' who is seeking long-term residency and who, it is assumed, will not leave). While 'expatriate' literally refers to 'a person who lives outside their native country', the term is controversial because in contemporary usage it is largely reserved for white Western migrants (Fechter & Walsh, 2010). Both terms -'expat' and 'migrant' -make assumptions about class, 'race', occupation and skill. ...
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This chapter adds to a young body of literature exploring the patterns of and motivations for the intra-EU mobility of non-EU migrants. As explanatory factors of these mobilities, recent studies point to the constrained access to work, networks and institutions in the country of residence. The role of children in onward mobilities has received little attention thus far. While offspring are generally theorised as a ‘binding’ factor, research suggests that children can also be central in onward-mobility decision-making. Parents take children’s specific needs and their hopes for their children’s future into consideration within the decision of onward mobility. Children can also move on their own account or stay put while their parents move again. We present a case study to unveil the dynamics within Somali families around the decision to move onwards to the UK. This provides a rich and suitable case, because of the relatively high onward-mobility rates and the great variety in family composition and characteristics. Using a mixed-methods design, we develop, test and contextualise theoretical expectations concerning the relationship between the timing of arrival of children in the host country and their onward migration, with or without their parents. In addition, we empirically address the expectation that independent migration is more common in larger families. A comparison with other young people of refugee background is provided to shed light on the particularities and generalities of our findings.
... Secondly, it can be used to understand how the nation -through government policy and media representations -positions migrants through discourses of belonging and citizenship, inclusion and exclusion, which are attached to different migrant classifications and terms (i.e. the perception that Sophie, as a white woman, is a skilled and educated 'expat' who will eventually return home or move to another country while Daniel, as a black Ghanaian man, is positioned as an unskilled 'migrant' who is seeking long-term residency and who, it is assumed, will not leave). While 'expatriate' literally refers to 'a person who lives outside their native country', the term is controversial because in contemporary usage it is largely reserved for white Western migrants (Fechter & Walsh, 2010). Both terms -'expat' and 'migrant' -make assumptions about class, 'race', occupation and skill. ...
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In Kakuma refugee camp in north-west Kenya, education is perceived by its South Sudanese population to be a key tool needed to escape the social and economic marginalisation experienced within the humanitarian aid system as victims of conflict. This chapter explores the ways in which members of the South Sudanese diaspora have utilised transnational social and financial networks to pursue education throughout East Africa and the Global North, thus facilitating cross-generational onward migration practices. With Kakuma at the epicentre of this population, displaced for decades by civil war, family and community transnational networks utilise financial remittances to help the next generation of their families to access education and facilitate onward migration patterns between East African and Western nations. From the perspective of the refugees of this diaspora and their transnational families who support them, this chapter argues that the pursuit of education was perceived to be the solution to their displacement by offering unique opportunities to migrate beyond the refugee camp as well as to invest in their capacity to develop their livelihoods independent of their protracted vulnerable status.
... Secondly, it can be used to understand how the nation -through government policy and media representations -positions migrants through discourses of belonging and citizenship, inclusion and exclusion, which are attached to different migrant classifications and terms (i.e. the perception that Sophie, as a white woman, is a skilled and educated 'expat' who will eventually return home or move to another country while Daniel, as a black Ghanaian man, is positioned as an unskilled 'migrant' who is seeking long-term residency and who, it is assumed, will not leave). While 'expatriate' literally refers to 'a person who lives outside their native country', the term is controversial because in contemporary usage it is largely reserved for white Western migrants (Fechter & Walsh, 2010). Both terms -'expat' and 'migrant' -make assumptions about class, 'race', occupation and skill. ...
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We depart from a paradox: migrants’ complex migration trajectories challenge dominant, often destination-oriented, conceptualisations of migration decision-making. This prompted us to raise the issue, in the questions pursued in our 30 semi-structured interviews with nurse migrants, of why Norway was chosen as a destination or a base for onward movement. We draw on this dataset, with specific analytical emphasis on eight of these interviews, in which the nurses shared their experiences of complex migration trajectories between Poland, the Philippines and Norway; others included Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and the UK. Our contribution builds on the case of professional, predominantly female, often South-North migrants, whose experiences to date have not been formative in migration theory, despite the volume of interdisciplinary research on nurse migration. We argue that a fresh and critical perspective may contribute to the adjustment of prevailing theorisations. We trace the geographical patterns of our interviewees’ complex migration trajectories and analyse the dynamics of onward migration decision-making in the context of transnational lifeworlds. We find actual and potential onward migration is a significant feature of nurse migrants’ trajectories, where the notion of ‘a destination’ is illusive, changes over time and is shaped by multi-sited transnational ties.
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The literature on transnational professionals (TPs) focuses on transnational structures and practices that are professionally defined. In this article, we start with the observation that Chinese TP lifeworlds in Africa diverge significantly from the ones described in the TP literature. We argue that TP lifeworlds “beyond the Anglosphere” and the practices they produce require more attention to understand the future of transnational governance in a polycentric world. The article analyzes Chinese professionals who work in state-owned and private enterprises in Africa; what is considered competent practice and how promotions occur in this context; and discusses these professionals’ limited autonomy from the state—different from a core assumption on which theories about the power of professionals and their practices in international relations are based. It shows that Chinese TPs rarely advance model practices in their field. They find themselves in expert sectors in Africa because they are made to go there, and apart from (mixed) professional credentials must demonstrate modesty, loyalty and patriotism in order to fit in and advance their careers in global China. Thus more context-sensitive theorizing is needed that considers variation in the role and autonomy of professions and their expertise in constituting community and transnational practices. Theoretically, we bring together literatures on Chinese cadres and corporate professionals with the literature on TPs for the first time. Empirically, the analysis is based on interviews with Chinese corporate professionals in Zambia and East Asia, and an analysis of secondary literature on Chinese companies and professionals operating in Africa more broadly.
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This chapter delves deeper into Singapore’s contemporary migration regime. Migration is heavily differentiated from both above and below in Singapore. The state has created a mutli-tiered visa system which grants different classes of migrants varying benefits based on their value to the Singaporean economy. Lower-skilled workers are kept permanently temporary and are denied the right to settle in Singapore while higher-skilled workers are given the option to take up Permanent Residency and citizenship. However, not all in the latter group opt to put down roots in Singapore and some choose to be segregated from the local community. For those who do choose to call Singapore home the state invests heavily in their integration through community programmes including the naturalisation programme that relies heavily on Integration and Naturalisation Champions (INCs). This chapter ultimately paints a mixed picture of migration and integration efforts which is founded upon normative assumptions of who is more deserving of membership in the Singaporean community over others for whom citizenship is never an option.
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Migrant integration in Singapore is neither simply a result of top-down government policy nor something that simply happens through everyday interaction but involves intermediaries that straddle state and society to aid the integration process. This chapter sets out one way in which migrant integration occurs—through developing a sense of belonging to a local neighbourhood and connection with members of the same locale. Integration and Naturalisation Champions facilitate this localised integration in three ways. First, they extend a welcome to newcomers to the neighbourhood. Second, they educate newcomers on the norms of ‘good neighbourliness’ and smooth tensions that can arise between new and more-established residents. Finally, they recruit new citizens to volunteer in their neighbourhood which deepens the sense of belonging.
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通过CiteSpace可视化分析和文献分析,重点评述当前国外地理学对知识移民研究的主要脉络和议题,发现:(1) 国外对于知识移民研究相对细化,早期主要是教育地理学对于青年知识留学生迁移的系统研究,以及经济地理学对于知识移民及知识转移与全球城市发展关系的系列研究;(2) 新世纪以来,社会文化地理和人口地理学者开始关注知识移民的跨国和跨地方流动,并对其过程中的身份认同与经济社会文化资本、跨地方关系网络、流动过程和特征等议题进行了探讨;(3) 新型全球化尤其是全球南方国家经济崛起的背景下,知识移民与城市创新发展、以及回流移民(包括北南移民)现象越来越得到学者的重视,移民政策和移民−城市关系成为重要关注点。
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Based on two surveys conducted between 2014 and 2019 among French retirees living on a year-round or seasonal basis in the Souss-Massa region of Morocco, this article analyses the multiple migratory spatialities of this migration from the “North” to the “South”. By examining the privileged dimension of these spatialities, the article contributes to the emerging field of lifestyle migration, with a geographical perspective. Our results present the privileges of access to and use of spaces by these migrants in the Moroccan destination linked to their advantageous positions in social, racial and national hierarchies in a postcolonial context. These privileged spatialities nonetheless appear to be diverse, particularly in view of the social heterogeneity of the group studied.
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Cet article interroge la formation des positions sociales dominantes des femmes ayant connu une migration étudiante entre le Danemark et le Groenland, son ancienne colonie. L’inscription dans l’enseignement supérieur au Danemark et la mise en couple avec un partenaire danois permet aux étudiantes groenlandaises d’acquérir des ressources socialement valorisées (titres scolaires, façons d’être ou de parler) qui recomposent leur position sociale. En étudiant les modes de socialisation qui se jouent à l’échelle domestique et en situation de mixité conjugale, l’article tend à démontrer que l’écriture de sociodicées ascendantes, dans ce cas particulier de migration, s’articule avec une réaffirmation de l’ordre du genre et de la position raciale par rapport à la norme de la blanchité.
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New global multi-directional migration flows are decentering extant analyses of White expatriate migration. As migration becomes more diversified, new lines of intellectual inquiry are surfacing about the experiences of middle-class non-white expatriates. This paper uses the case study of China, which with the rise in immigration, has an increasingly diverse ‘expatriate’ population. While the visibility of White expatriates in non-white-majority host countries may compel them to adopt lifestyles segregated from the local population, expatriates of Chinese heritage in China have the (dis)advantage of blending in with the local population. This paper examines the experiences of Singaporean- Chinese migrants in China where their ethnic proximity to the Chinese can be both a boon and a bane. We present our findings in three sections addressing: first, how ethnic proximity can enable mobilities including motility and a mobile sense of belonging; second, how mobilities can condition ethnic proximity as experiences of privilege but also reminders of non-belonging; and third, how participants’ change in life phases i.e. temporalities shift meanings of proximity, mobility and mobile belonging. Through highlighting the multidimensional nature of mobilities – proximity, motility, temporalities – this paper contributes to studies of middling migration, (ethnic) proximity and mobilities.
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This article focuses on ethnic hierarchies found within highly educated migrant women working in Istanbul traced through their everyday urban practices. It introduces the stratified and comparative results of migration and resettlement of those from the Global North and the Global South through a comprehensive analysis on their urban lives, including their social positionings, preferences of neighbourhoods and daily patterns of their use of the city. Contrary to the common conception that skilled migrants are privileged, our research reveals inequalities and discriminatory practices they face that intersect with gender, nationality and ethnicity. Our research, based on qualitative analyses of in‐depth interviews along with online subjective mapping representing use of the city, also reveals that regardless of their origin and identity, almost all our participants experience verbal/physical sexual harassment or discrimination in public space in Istanbul, which forces women to produce spatial tactics of everyday life.
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Third culture kids (TCKs) are people who lived outside their parent's passport country before the age of 18 for temporary reasons, such as their parent's work or advanced training, for at least one year. Despite the growing prevalence of TCKs with increased globalization, there is little empirical evidence as to how growing up this way impacts psychological well-being and interpersonal relatedness. This study aimed to develop a critical realist grounded theory of how growing up as a TCK impacts psychological well-being and interpersonal relatedness. Sixteen participants from around the world were recruited via online TCK communities and took part in an hour-and-a-half online Zoom interview. This data was then analyzed consistent with a critical realist grounded theory approach, and a theory was developed. The findings suggest that growing up as a TCK impacts psychological well-being and interpersonal relatedness in various ways. Repeated relational loss and rebuilding, a lack of control and choice, and meaningful engagement with many new places, people, cultures, and situations were found as primary themes. The repeated relational loss and rebuilding that TCKs experience in childhood can lead to a strong core group of friends, with other interpersonal connections beyond this being difficult to reach emotional depth in and maintain. For a lack of control and choice, communication and emotional support from parents were found to be imperative in determining psychological well-being outcomes. Lastly, meaningful engagement with cross-cultural experiences led to the development of resilience, empathy, and independence. Furthermore, the intersectional privilege of a TCK can determine the systemic issues and discrimination they face, which impact their psychological well-being. These findings are discussed in relation to counseling psychology and its implications.
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Le « migrant », « l’expatrié » et « le réfugié » représentent des vécus migratoires appartenant à des réalités allant du privilégié au vulnérable. L’exploration qualitative de l’expérience subjective de cet événement de vie, à travers le vécu de la maternité, nous montre l’impact de la migration sur le fonctionnement psychique. Comment cerner l’impact du vécu migratoire sans critiquer le jeu de catégorisation derrière la figure du migrant ? Cette recherche explore la maternité en situation de migration de mères françaises et de leurs nourrissons au Japon. Pendant deux mois, les mères se sont confiées, filmées en interaction avec leurs bébés, sur leur parcours migratoire. Les obstacles rencontrés en termes de différences culturelles ont pu contribuer à accentuer les vulnérabilités psychiques des processus de maternalité . D’autres recherches comparatives permettront de cerner le vécu migratoire en fonction des représentations collectives des sociétés d’accueil.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand how those involved in executive pay determination in large publicly quoted UK businesses see the role of diversity within remuneration committees (Remcos) as enabling the input of different perspectives, which can enhance their decision-making and potentially improve pay outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 18 high-profile major-enterprise decision-makers and their advisers, i.e. non-executive directors (NEDs) serving Remcos, institutional investors, executive pay consultants and internal human resources (HR) reward specialists, together with data from three focus groups with 10 further reward management practitioners. Findings Remco members recognise the benefits of social category/demographic diversity but say the likelihood of increasing this is low, given talent pipeline issues. The widening of value diversity is considered problematic for Remcos’ functioning. Informational diversity is used as a proxy for social category/demographic diversity to improve Remcos’ decision-making on executive pay. While the inclusion of members from wider social networks is recognised as potentially bringing a different informational perspective, the social character of Remcos, reflecting their elite nature and experience of wealth, appears ingrained. Originality/value Our original contribution is to extend the application of upper echelons theory in the context of Remco decision-making to explain why members do not welcome widening informational diversity by appointing people from different social networks who lack value similarity. Instead, by drawing views from employees, HR acts as a proxy for social network informational diversity. The elite, upper-echelons nature of Remco appointments remains unchanged and team functioning is not disrupted.
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This study investigates the career paths of 33 graduates from Swiss Hospitality Management schools in China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), exploring the nuances of international credential valuation. It identifies two key factors influencing access to management positions: (1) the degree of internationalization in major cities, which impacts the significance of international versus local skills and (2) individual cosmopolitan capital's role in shaping local career opportunities. The paper introduces a post‐colonial conceptualization of cosmopolitan capital, encompassing institutionalized, embodied and objectified forms, challenging Western‐centric views. By doing so, it reveals how mechanisms of racialization influence the assessment of international qualifications. In Hong Kong and Shanghai, returning Chinese are prospering in corporate head offices by mobilizing both local/national and international capital, challenging the white privilege of Western managers in this sector. Meanwhile, in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the competition is for a pool of ‘international talent’, even though being perceived as ‘Arab’ or ‘white’ seems to improve career prospects.
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Identity refers to a person's sense of self and how it shapes an individual's interaction with others in the social world. Identity claims can be invoked to reinforce or challenge systems of domination; hence it is a powerful tool in the hands of social actors and the social structures they represent. This entry examines the multifaceted nature of identity and how it is formed through social processes and relationships. For geographers, identity is not only spatially situated but also constituted in space and across geographical scales or networks. The entry identifies how different axes of identity matter in citizenship and postcolonial spaces. It underlines the intersectional aspects of identity and how identity is relational as well as situational.
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While geography has traditionally ‘looked down’ in the search for social justice, a recent trend in the social sciences has argued for thinking through privilege. Taking this call seriously, this paper draws on feminist scholarship and uses intersectionality to demonstrate that reflections about privilege are imperative in the pursuit of social justice. Through laying the groundwork for a theorisation of privilege within and beyond migration geographies, we use transnational circulation, as one of the – unquestioned and taken for granted – characteristics of elites, arguing that an understanding of privilege in migration is critical to understanding and combatting inequalities and injustices. This leads us to argue for the need to explore privilege in relation to its others, such as precarity and vulnerability. We conclude by advancing a research agenda on privilege in (migration) geography that draws upon a feminist ethics of responsibility.
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This article discusses the social position of ‘expatriation’ in Abu Dhabi, in terms of the ranking struggles that distinguish it from the Emirati population, in cultural practices and in the workplace. It shows how strategies, discourses and practices of distinction involve racialised representations of social hierarchies within a transnational space and emphasises the alignment of whiteness, upper-class authenticity and deservingness. This distinction can be seen as a post-colonial struggle over social ranking between racialised segments of the upper classes, characterised by the feeling of losing some of the economic, political and symbolic advantages that colonisation used to guarantee to white migrants.
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Cet article examine l’histoire de vie de sept immigrants ou immigrantes LGBTQ, originaires du Nord et du Sud global, qui habitent à Montréal. Les recherches sur l’immigration ont longtemps été réalisées selon un cadrage hétéronormatif, ce qui met à l’écart toute une série de questions relatives à l’impact de l’orientation sexuelle et de l’identité de genre non normative sur l’expérience migratoire. Les sociétés imposent des contraintes distinctes vis-à-vis des personnes LGBTQ. Une fois installées dans la société d’accueil, ces sujets peuvent expérimenter plus de possibilités sur le plan sexuel ; néanmoins leur origine peut devenir un marqueur qui les place à l’intérieur d’un rapport de pouvoir avec le groupe majoritaire. Notre article vise à mettre en lumière la manière dont les immigrants LGBTQ construisent leurs histoires de vie dans un contexte où leur vécu est traversé par l’imbrication de plusieurs aspects identitaires comme l’orientation sexuelle, l’identité de genre, l’ethnicité et la religion, pour n’en nommer que quelques-uns. L’approche intersectionnelle rend possible l’identification des systèmes de pouvoirs contraignants auxquels les participants font face quotidiennement. L’analyse thématique nous a permis d’être à l’écoute des individus afin de connaître les catégories de pouvoir et les systèmes d’oppression dont ils parlent — le but étant de positionner les répondants comme des sujets connaissants, et non de simples objets d’étude. L’analyse des entrevues montre que les individus LGBTQ qui expriment une combinaison variée d’identités affrontent des défis spécifiques liés au parcours migratoire.
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This research is intended to be a contribution to the growing number of constructionist studies on heterosexuality. The aim of the chapter is to investigate knowledge production on the tradition of premarital sleeping together in the late 19th and the early 20th century from a variety of epistemological locations. I explore a romantic nationalist perspective (which advocates for sexual purity), a left-wing perspective (which assumed sexual relations between young people), a colonial perspective (constructing an image of oversexualized ‘savages’), as well as a more recent feminist perspective (which raised gender-related violence issues). Upon this, applying the queer theoretical approach, I scrutinize the emic semantic system in order to comprehend how premarital practices of corporeal pleasure could be perceived beyond the modern idea of sex and (hetero)sexuality.
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“A life in transit”: contemporary dance through seen through the perspective of mobility This article examines the way in which mobility acts to structure artistic careers in the transnational field of contemporary dance. It shows how mobility regimes constitute a professional norm in which dancers are socialised, but also how they are closely linked to the acquisition of a symbolic capital that is a determining factor in the construction of their careers. Finally, it highlights the tensions resulting from these mobility regimes in terms of precariousness and constraint, especially towards the end of the dancer’s career.
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For transnational families, visits represent an opportunity to temporarily punctuate the geographical distance that separates them from significant others in everyday life. Drawing on data from mapping‐interviews conducted with older skilled migrants in Abu Dhabi, the UAE, this paper is concerned with how transnational visiting is harnessed to sustain a sense of family togetherness at a later stage of the life course. The discussion contributes to migration scholarship on return visits and visits by relatives to the migration destination but also draws attention to a third dimension of visiting; family meet‐ups in a third space—a location that is neither the country of origin nor the migration destination. Hence, I propose an explicitly spatial, relational conceptualization of transnational family visits, arranged around a multi‐local framework: the return visit (‘there’); the receiving of visits in the migration destination (‘here’); and visits in an in‐between geographical space (‘somewhere’). In so doing, this paper places the spotlight on the geographies of visiting, drawing attention to the dynamic way in which the practice of transnational family visiting in enacted in later life.
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Alors que dans les médias, les migrations sont présentées comme le résultat de crises humanitaires, l’expatriation et la mobilité internationale sont dépeintes comme les résultats naturels d’une globalisation qui sert autant aux pays du Sud qu’au pays du Nord. Or, un nombre grandissant d’Européens font le choix de s’installer dans un Sud à long terme, malgré la sécurité supposée offerte par les États « providence » ou de « bien-être » desquels ils proviennent. Dans la littérature universitaire, ces derniers sont souvent identifiés comme des agents reproducteurs des systèmes postcoloniaux ou comme des migrants privilégiés. Dans un contexte où la Commission Européenne s’est donné le mandat, depuis maintenant une quinzaine d’années, de favoriser autant la mobilité internationale que l’entrepreneuriat chez les jeunes, qu’en est-il des jeunes Européens qui s’engagent dans le développement d’un projet entrepreneurial dans un Sud, alors qu’ils sont encore au début de leur carrière professionnelle? Cette recherche vise à décrire l’expérience migratoire et d’entrepreneuriat de jeunes adultes et adultes middle-aged Européens dans la ville de Mexico en particulier. Nous avons effectué une enquête ethnographique d’une durée d’un an et demi situé dans la ville de Mexico qui tient compte des temporalités inhérentes aux processus migratoires et entrepreneuriaux. Les données sont tirées des récits biographiques des participants, de différentes activités d’observation en lien avec leur vie entrepreneuriale et leur condition de migrants « du premier monde », ainsi qu’une expérience de quotidienneté partagée. À travers une lorgnette principalement interactionniste, la thèse présente les caractéristiques des trajectoires de ces entrepreneurs, les quêtes qui sont à la source de la constitution de leur projet entrepreneurial et la place qu’ils occupent socialement dans le contexte de la métropole de Mexico. Nous retenons que les migrations Nord-Sud peuvent aussi impliquées un processus d’incorporation marqué par des ruptures, des difficultés ou de nécessaires négociations identitaires, tout comme les migrations traditionnellement étudiées. Cela dit, leur expérience contient aussi son lot d’aspects connectés aux conceptions divisant les « Nords des Suds » qui sont enracinés dans le contexte local particulier, la ville de Mexico, et qui se révèlent dans l’interaction sociale en présence des homologues mexicains qu’ils rencontrent.
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Cities have always been arenas of social and symbolic conflict. As places of encounter between different classes, ethnic groups, and lifestyles, cities play the role of powerful integrators; yet on the other hand urban contexts are the ideal setting for marginalization and violence. The struggle over control of urban spaces is an ambivalent mode of sociation: while producing themselves, groups produce exclusive spaces and then, in turn, use the boundaries they have created to define themselves. This volume presents major urban conflicts and analyzes modes of negotiation against the theoretical background of postcolonialism.
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This paper explores the ways in which notions of nationality, whiteness and gender are drawn upon by British expatriate women in the construction and performance of their identities in post-colonial Hong Kong. A British colony since the mid-nineteenth century, Hong Kong was returned to China in the 1997 handover to become a ‘Special Administrative Region’. Now, as the administrative workings of empire are receding, so too are the expectations about race and nationality which went with them. For the white British, the opportunities to reconfigure discourses and subjectivities of whiteness are there, although the findings of this research reveals the unevenness of take-up. The paper draws on a broad feminist post-structuralist approach to reveal the ways in which four different British women migrants position themselves in the changing landscape. The approach shows important patterns of difference and diversity between the women in the performances of gendered Britishness and whiteness, and in the extent to which these are used to redefine or challenge the memory of relations established through imperialism.
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As a contribution to the growing literature on contemporary forms of global mobility, we consider young New Zealanders who move to the UK for a period of work and travel, typically basing themselves in London. Beyond consideration of career opportunities, we find formulations of the self as creative project to be remarkably central to the mobility of these New Zealanders. Their time in London is often understood as a period of exploration, travel and new experiences. We note also the distinctive role that friendship networks play in sustaining and shaping this movement, in both practical and less tangible ways. Significantly, we find that these friendship networks are themselves mobile, in some cases undergoing almost complete temporary relocation from New Zealand to the UK. This raises questions about how we think about contemporary international mobility, and the significance of friendship as opposed to kin or neighbourhood relations within it. We conclude with a series of schematic statements regarding what is needed to more fully come to terms with the distinctive forms of mobility that these New Zealanders--and the Australians, South Africans and Canadians with whom they have much in common--embody as a way of life.
Book
Eurostars and Eurocities: Free Movement and Mobility in an Integrating Europe examines intra-European Union migration in the cities of Amsterdam, London and Brussels. Based on sixty in-depth interviews of free moving European citizens, and more than five years of ethnographic and documentary research, it uncovers the rarely studied human dimension of European integration. Examines the mobility, lifestyle and career opportunities created by the borderless society of the European Union, as well as the barriers that still persist. Analyses the new migration trends, challenges to the welfare state, and forms of urban cosmopolitanism linked to processes of European integration.
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Privileged migrants, such as expatriates living abroad, are typically associated with lives of luxury in exotic locations. This fascinating and in-depth study reveals a more complex reality. By focusing on corporate expatriates the author provides one of the first book length studies on 'transnationalism from above'. The book draws on the author's extended research among the expatriate community in Jakarta, Indonesia. The findings, which relate to expatriate communities worldwide, provide a nuanced analysis of current trends among a globally mobile workforce. While acknowledging the potentially empowering impact of transnationalism, the author challenges current paradigms by arguing that the study of elite migration shows that transnational lives do not always entail fluid identities but the maintenance of boundaries - of body, race and gender. The rich ethnographic data adds a critical dimension to studies of migration and transnationalism, filling a distinct gap in terms of theory and ethnography. Written in an engaging and accessible style the book will be of interest to academics and students, particularly in anthropology, migration studies and human geography.
Article
Discussions of whiteness often focus on the ‘invisibility’ of whites. I suggest, though, that the situation of whites in non-white environments contributes a crucial dimension to concepts of whiteness. In particular, I examine the case of white Euro-American expatriates living in Jakarta. These corporate expatriates have been posted to Indonesia by their companies, and they often experience being ‘racially marked’ for the first time. This takes place through the ‘gaze of the Other’; being looked at by Indonesians in the street, and by being called bule, an Indonesian term for ‘white person’. While many regard these practices as unpleasant and offensive, expatriates are unwilling to acknowledge their political implications. They often refuse to recognize their status as a ‘race’, thus highlighting the persistence of the notion of whiteness as unmarked, even when confronted with situations which suggest otherwise.
Article
The international migration of professional workers has increased in scope over the past 20 years as skilled workers are needed when companies' activities cross national borders. While this trend has been recognised from an economic perspective, much less has been researched from a social and cultural angle. Using case studies of British and Singaporean migration to China, this paper employs a comparative frame to examine the effect of cultural differences--both in terms of business culture as well as social norms regarding ethnicity and gender--on the dynamics of the 'contact zones' emerging in various cities in China, including the cosmopolitan cities of Shanghai and Hong Kong, the Chinese capital city of Beijing, as well as the industrial townships of Suzhou, Wuxi and Guangzhou. As sites which invoke the spatial and temporal copresence of subjects previously separated by geographic and historical disjunctures, and whose trajectories now intersect, 'contact zones' (as defined by Mary Pratt in the context of colonial encounters) are frontiers where 'difference' is constantly encountered and negotiated. Given very different ethno-historical linkages traced by Singaporeans and Britons to China and as a result a divergence of cultural imaginings about 'China', it is not unexpected that the two groups of transmigrants enact different ways of encountering life in China. The paper explores the differential politics of the Singaporean and British presences in China around three stereotypical images of the foreigner in China--the culturalist, the colonialist and the imperialist.
Article
Since the late 1980s, international skill mobility has become a topic of academic enquiry, examined from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Economic theorisation has centred on the elite professional migrant moving within corporate spheres of influence concentrated on ‘world cities' such as London, New York and Paris. Whilst accepting the value of this work—particularly in terms of its contribution to the broader re-theorisation of migration studies—this paper is critical of the focus on a privileged economic form of career-based mobility. I argue that skilled international migration, although still practised by a relatively small number of people, has nonetheless become a ‘normal' middle-class activity rather than something exclusively confined to an economic elite. This implies complexity with regard to the skilled migrant communities that form within the contemporary world city, complexity that has hitherto been overlooked. This omission is addressed through a six-faceted lifestyle typology derived from 36 interviews with skilled British residents in Paris. The typology underpins the main argument of the paper: namely that skilled migration has developed an increasingly diverse ‘human face' since studies of the phenomenon began in the late 1980s, and that traditional notions of the economic ‘expatriate' need to be placed within a much broader contextual and conceptual framework. In the final part of the paper, reasons for the development of this complexity are briefly explored.
Article
This is NOT an article but a book; the full subtitle is "Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq". As I say, it's a book so I do NOT have any copies to send anyone -- so please don't ask -- but you can find many of my later articles, essays etc under the DOWNLOADS tab on my blog geographicalimaginations.com
Article
Large companies employ more skilled international migrants than small ones and, since global cities are very attractive locations for transnational companies, they are also host to large numbers of skilled expatriates. Lack of research on skilled migrants in the global city is unfortunate since it appears that they are both consequence and part-cause of global city formation. Results from research in Hong Kong help to illustrate some of the salient characteristics of an expatriate community in a global city and to explore why business culture determines that companies employ expatriates in very different ways.
Article
Diversity in Britain is not what it used to be. Some thirty years of government policies, social service practices and public perceptions have been framed by a particular understanding of immigration and multicultural diversity. That is, Britain's immigrant and ethnic minority population has conventionally been characterized by large, well-organized African-Caribbean and South Asian communities of citizens originally from Commonwealth countries or formerly colonial territories. Policy frameworks and public understanding - and, indeed, many areas of social science - have not caught up with recently emergent demographic and social patterns. Britain can now be characterized by 'super-diversity,' a notion intended to underline a level and kind of complexity surpassing anything the country has previously experienced. Such a condition is distinguished by a dynamic interplay of variables among an increased number of new, small and scattered, multiple-origin, transnationally connected, socio-economically differentiated and legally stratified immigrants who have arrived over the last decade. Outlined here, new patterns of super-diversity pose significant challenges for both policy and research.
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With reference to British transnationalism in Dubai, this article examines the discourses surrounding three types of intimate relationship – couple, family and friend – as sites in which love might be located and experienced. As such, it responds to a widespread neglect of the emotions in accounts of migration. The discussion focuses on the ways in which British migrants negotiate different sorts of love relationships with Britons both in the UK and in Dubai; how such relations in different places are inter‐connected; and the way in which they are central to spatial imaginations of mobility/dwelling, home/away, proximity/distance and absence/presence.
Article
This paper explores the spatiality of colonial and postcolonial power and discourse as produced, performed and imagined by former British colonial service officers and contemporary UK international development professionals. It focuses on two key aspects of spatial practices. The first addresses the spaces inhabited by these colonial officers and development professionals overseas and how their locatedness, embedded or enclavic, shapes relationships to others. The second explores this distinctive social and spatial distancing through their relationship to, and imagined geographies of, home and away and how these are embodied in their institutional and cultural capital. The paper examines the regularities and consistencies that stand out from numerous individual practices through which both former colonial officers and development professionals negotiate the situations in which they live and work. It also specifies how authoritative management, privilege and distance informs their spatial practices despite changing global contexts and a more diverse composition of those who articulate contemporary relationships between ‘first’ and ‘third’ worlds. Finally, the paper suggests that the cultures which travelled over colonial space through being performed by colonial officers have been reworked throughout the postcolonial period, belying epochal historical periodizations that conjure up a clear disjuncture between colonial and development eras.
Article
Skilled international migration is as an important process of both contemporary globalization and the global city. The establishment of a transnational elite of expatriate labour in international finance plays a vital part in the accumulation of capital within international financial centres (IFCs). Expatriate labour has become a major determinant of the IFC, creating financial capital through complex social relations, knowledge networks, practices and discourses. The principal argument being made in this paper is that expatriates are major agents in the accumulation and transfer of financial knowledge in the IFC, and that such processes are undertaken through expatriate global–local knowledge networks and other social practices. The paper is divided into three major parts. Following a discussion of transnational elites as expatriates in global cities, which also conceptualises their contribution to the spatialization of financial knowledge networks, the empirical study investigates the working, social and cultural knowledge networks and practices of British expatriates in Singapore. Finally, the paper revisits the conceptual work on transnational elites and suggests that expatriates were deeply embedded in global–local relations in the workplace and the business/social sphere through interaction with local `western educated/experienced' Singaporeans, but were disembedded from the local in the home and other household social spaces due to the invisibility of the local population in their interactions. Both the theoretical and empirical analyses suggests that expatriates are flow in the Castellian spatial logic of the network society.
Article
While skilled labour migration across international borders is a phenomenon of increasing significance in the age of globalization and an important component in the production of global cities, it has not been given sufficient attention in traditional migration analyses. Recent research has focused on institutional mechanisms regulating the patterns of skill transfer rather than the individual experience of being part of the international labour circuit. Women, in particular, have usually been relegated to the role of “trailing spouses” and are generally invisible in the migration process. Using a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews, this article attempts to reinstate the importance of women’s roles by portraying them as active agents who adopt a range of strategies in negotiating the move and coming to terms with the transformations wrought by the move in the domains of home, work and community. It argues that skilled labour migration is a strongly gendered process, producing different sets of experiences for the men and women involved in it. While international circulation often represents “career moves” for expatriate men, their spouses often experience a devalorization of their productive functions and a relegation to the domestic sphere. As an adaptive strategy, expatriate women often turn to the social and community sphere to reach for grounding in their lives. The article also points to the diversity of “expatriate experiences”: while “western” expatriates tend to recreate a more exclusive world by drawing on strong institutional support, “Asian” expatriates find that they have to navigate much finer social and cultural divides between themselves and the host society.
Article
PIP Along with the rise in research on globalization, the concept of globalization has become a subject to a more critical scrutiny. While majority agree that it represents a serious challenge to the state-centrist assumptions of most previous social science, doubts about its newness, inevitability and epoch-making qualities are also being raised. Others argue that the globalization literature neglects issues of social regulation by the nation-state, while some critics view it as a discourse drawn upon to legitimize particular political and economic agendas. Debates focus on metropolitan manifestations and impacts. Moving from this background, the paper presents three sociospatial urban configurations that have emerged in the literature. Alongside attempts at identifying globalizing cities and transnational urban networks as new theoretical subjects, another significant vein in the literature focuses on the complex forces of globalization and the production of new urban spaces in these cities. In addition, economic conceptions of globalization is now being pushed beyond adding sociocultural or sociopolitical dimensions and argue instead for the need to theorize globalization as a discursive formation. The global city as a discursive category conjures up imaginary concepts of high modernity, megadevelopment, 21st century urbanity. However, it is noted that the way forward is to focus on the distinctive ways in which urban actors engage in specific processes of economic and social reflexivity. There exists an urgent task for theorizations of the global city, which weave together historical, economic, cultural, sociopolitical and discursive dimensions.
Gender and Family among Transnational Professionals
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Going First Class? New Approaches to Privileged Travel and MovementTransnational elites in global cities: British expatriates in Singapore's financial district The Idea of the West
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