Search Results

People on the Move

George Rupp

in Beyond Individualism: The Challenge of Inclusive Communities

Perhaps the most positive way to construe the displaced persons and uprooted communities that result from current conflicts is to see in the victims of war also large numbers of people on the move ... More

Perhaps the most positive way to construe the displaced persons and uprooted communities that result from current conflicts is to see in the victims of war also large numbers of people on the move toward what might become new prospects.Less

Highly Skilled Lebanese Transnational Migrants: A Kuwait Perspective

Garret Maher

in Arab Migrant Communities in the GCC

This chapter provides new information relating to aspects of transnational migration among high-skilled Lebanese migrants from a dual country perspective; that of the sending country, Lebanon, and of ... More

This chapter provides new information relating to aspects of transnational migration among high-skilled Lebanese migrants from a dual country perspective; that of the sending country, Lebanon, and of the receiving country, Kuwait. By using a dual, home and host country perspective, the chapter shows a more complete picture of some specific aspects of transnational migration, in particular, the motivations and drivers of migration, and why migrants chose Kuwait as a destination, as opposed to other GCC countries. It then explores aspects of integration and socialization to first identify the Lebanese in Kuwait who, according to this research sample, are integrated into Kuwaiti society, and to see if a transnational community was formed among and between other Lebanese in Kuwait. The chapter proceeds to explore temporal aspects of migration to discover how long migrants plan on staying in Kuwait as well as presenting data on returned migrants and the reason for their return to Lebanon. Finally, it explores remittances, which form a key feature of transnationalism.Less

The Young and the Restless: Frontier’s Favorable Demographics

Marko Dimitrijević and Timothy Mistele

in Frontier Investor: How to Prosper in the Next Emerging Markets

Highlights frontier markets’ favorable demographics—large, young populations—and the one-time demographic dividend of modernization.

Domesticating the road

Dimitris Dalakoglou

in The Road: An Ethnography of (Im)mobility, Space, and Cross-border Infrastructures in the Balkans

The flows of remittances and artefacts are centred upon the material entity of the house. New or totally refurbished houses in Albania emerge as the major materialisation of migratory remittances in ... More

The flows of remittances and artefacts are centred upon the material entity of the house. New or totally refurbished houses in Albania emerge as the major materialisation of migratory remittances in the country of origin. The Albanian houses under research are perpetually undergoing construction, while their building materials are brought gradually from Greece, most of the time by the migrants themselves and of course, via the major cross-border road - namely the Kakavijë–Gjirokastër road. The material fluidity of these houses shows their integration into the prevalent cosmology of flows while it signifies an ontological link between the house and the roads. None of the two categories has static materiality; both are inflowing from Greece and represent simultaneously a wanted and an unwanted gain of postsocialist globalised experience. Migrants’ houses and roads are two aspects of the same process but with very different perceptions.Less

Loving Strangers

Minjeong Kim

in Elusive Belonging: Marriage Immigrants and "Multiculturalism" in Rural South Korea

Chapter 3 focuses on relationships among the married couples. The chapter begins by asking, “How do couples who met and married in a matter of days become husbands and wives?” By telling the stories ... More

Chapter 3 focuses on relationships among the married couples. The chapter begins by asking, “How do couples who met and married in a matter of days become husbands and wives?” By telling the stories of four couples who develop and share emotional commitment, love, and affection, the chapter shows how emotional relationships can be forged even with strangers through prevalent “heterosexual scripts.” It also pays attention to how marital intimacy is infused with the issue of remittances, which is an inevitable part of international-married couples. In discussing the couples’ gender relations, the husbands’ stories challenge stereotypes of Korean rural masculinity. This chapter shows that Filipina-Korean couples’ relationships can be troubled and challenging, but conjugal intimacy anchors Filipinas’ sense of belonging.Less

Poverty Abroad: Hawai‘i’s Sugar Fields

James L. Huffman

in Down and Out in Late Meiji Japan

This chapter too shows how poverty among Japanese immigrants on Hawai’ian sugar plantations differed from that in Japan’s cities. It begins with the reasons for immigration and the locales from which ... More

This chapter too shows how poverty among Japanese immigrants on Hawai’ian sugar plantations differed from that in Japan’s cities. It begins with the reasons for immigration and the locales from which people came, as well as the process for getting to the plantations. A section on the sugar fields focuses on how hard the work was, how cruel overseers (lunas) were, and the role played by women. The section on camp life shows the importance of baths and temples and how the coming of women and of religious and educational institutions stabilized the camps. And a section on change discusses the emergence of labor activism, the remittances sent to families in Japan, the growing diversity of jobs, the improvement health care, and the importance of education, including Japanese-language schools. The chapter concludes that change occurred more rapidly in Hawai’i than in the hinminkutsu, for reasons that were primarily structural.Less

Because in the Tang Mountains We Have a Big House

Michael Williams

in Returning Home with Glory: Chinese Villagers around the Pacific, 1849 to 1949

This chapter is a comprehensive look at a specific qiaoxiang—the Zhongshan County district of Long Du—to create a case study illustrating the role of the qiaoxiang in the links with the Pacific ... More

This chapter is a comprehensive look at a specific qiaoxiang—the Zhongshan County district of Long Du—to create a case study illustrating the role of the qiaoxiang in the links with the Pacific destinations. Here it is argued that support for and intention to return to the qiaoxiang were the basic motivating factors in the links between the Pearl River Delta qiaoxiang and the Pacific Ports in the years after 1849. The history of the qiaoxiang links is not only a history of movement outside the qiaoxiang but a history of efforts to survive, return to, retire in, and improve the qiaoxiang. The huaqiao’s efforts were aimed at using the wealth and resources they could obtain in the destinations to improve the position of themselves, their families, and possibly their clans and villages, in the qiaoxiang. This was an aim that not all fulfilled but this does not mean it did not exist.Less

He Would Have to Send Money

Michael Williams

in Returning Home with Glory: Chinese Villagers around the Pacific, 1849 to 1949

In this chapter is discussed the mechanisms and the motives through which life in a qiaoxiang such as Long Du was influenced by the qiaoxiang connections and how developments arose that resulted in ... More

In this chapter is discussed the mechanisms and the motives through which life in a qiaoxiang such as Long Du was influenced by the qiaoxiang connections and how developments arose that resulted in some never returning to their “big house”. The motivations for establishing and maintaining these links will be examined. Here is investigated the mechanisms, or those tangible elements, which ensured that money, information, and people were constantly transferred between the qiaoxiang and the Pacific Ports. Sending money, being kept informed on family and qiaoxiang affairs, regular visits, and even ensuring that one’s bones returned after death were all part of the qiaoxiang links. These connections were sustained through the establishment of associations in the destinations, as well as through services provided by stores and businesses. How these elements were established, maintained, and evolved over distance, time, and generations, and how their development helped to sustain the qiaoxiang links is investigated here. The presence of the family in the qiaoxiang was central to the evolution of these mechanisms. Those in the qiaoxiang did not remain passive in this interaction and, through their letters and more formally through the qiaokan, made efforts to keep the huaqiao connected and supportive.Less

Ties to home

Angela McCarthy and T.M. Devine

in Tea and Empire: James Taylor in Victorian Ceylon

For the most part, the majority of Scots as with the British in general who were drawn to Asia over much of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were young, single men who went out to make ... More

For the most part, the majority of Scots as with the British in general who were drawn to Asia over much of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries were young, single men who went out to make money, hopefully as quickly as possible, and then return home with their gains. Some migrants to the East like James Taylor, however, did spend their lives in the tropics while remaining deeply and intimately connected to their homeland. This chapter examines these emotional and practical connections to home with a particular focus on remittances, photographs, health, death, and neighbourhood ties.Less

Migration

Matteo Gomellini and Cormac Ó Gráda

in Measuring Wellbeing: A History of Italian Living Standards

In the global history of human migration, the emigration out of Italy is unique. Between 1869 and 2015 some 30 million people left Italy. As a result, today we count 17.2 million Italian Americans ... More

In the global history of human migration, the emigration out of Italy is unique. Between 1869 and 2015 some 30 million people left Italy. As a result, today we count 17.2 million Italian Americans who constitute 5.4 percent of the U.S. population, 19.7 italo-argentini who constitute 46 percent of the population in Argentina, and 27.2 million italo-brasiliani in Brasil. This is the footprint left by the massive outflow of Italians documented in this chapter. Emigrating is, essentially, an action geared to seeking improved wellbeing. In this chapter we use new datasets in order to tell a story that is made of lives, suffering, sacrifices, losses, and disappointments, but also of pride, of enthusiasm for the prospects of a better life, of success and the joy of reunions. The study of migration in the past helps to reduce the gap between perception and reality in today’s debate.Less

Papua New Guinea: Jobs, Poverty, and Resources

Colin Filer, Marjorie Andrew, Benedict Y. Imbun, Phillipa Jenkins, and Bill F. Sagir

in Jobs For Development: Challenges and Solutions in Different Country Settings

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a “resource-rich” country with extreme levels of poverty and very poor human development indicators. This chapter questions the common assumption that jobs created in the ... More

Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a “resource-rich” country with extreme levels of poverty and very poor human development indicators. This chapter questions the common assumption that jobs created in the extractive industry sector make little or no contribution to improvements in national wellbeing because of their isolation from the rest of PNG’s economy and society. It summarizes what is known about changes in PNG’s job configuration since Independence in 1975, including those induced by the recent “resource boom,” and shows how the PNG government currently treats the problem of job creation in national development policies. The poor quality of existing datasets prevents any quantitative assessment of the contributions that different types of jobs make to productivity, living standards, and social cohesion at a national scale, but interview data collected for this study does provide some fresh insights into the contributions made by citizens employed in the extractive industry sector.Less

Diversification, Flexibility, and Social Connectedness: Understanding the Narratives

Daniel Maxwell and Nisar Majid

in Famine in Somalia: Competing Imperatives, Collective Failures, 2011–12

This chapter provides an analysis of the narratives presented in Chapter 5. First, it provides an overview and explanation of the complex issue of Somali clan structure and clan relations. Second, it ... More

This chapter provides an analysis of the narratives presented in Chapter 5. First, it provides an overview and explanation of the complex issue of Somali clan structure and clan relations. Second, it reviews significant diversification of livelihoods in some of the most affected areas in the run up to the 2011 crisis. It provides a typology of coping with the crisis, develops a “three circle” explanation of social networks in Somalia and the diaspora, and provides an analysis of the way in which social connectedness and remittances explain the outcomes of the famine—both at the level of individual households and for larger groups—up to and including the level of sub-clans. It also analyzes the negative side of social connections, including the “gatekeeper” phenomenon, in which powerful groups exploited the internally displaced to attract aid, but then controlled and indeed diverted much of that aid away from its intended recipients.Less