Temporalities of citizenship: Malaysian-Chinese skilled migrants in Singapore and returnees to Malaysia

Abstract

This article examines the temporalities of citizenship – how the meanings and significance of citizenship change with time – through the cases of Malaysian-Chinese skilled migrants in Singapore and returnees to Malaysia. Drawing from the narratives of five respondents, this paper focuses on how the subjective, emotional, and rational understandings they ascribe to their citizenship(s) shift and change with time during their stays in Singapore or after their return to Malaysia. This article concludes by arguing that citizenship needs to be theorized and contextualized to time by simultaneously paying attention to firstly, the individual life course, and secondly, citizenship constitutions at the national scale.

Keywords

time and migration temporalities of citizenship Malaysian-Chinese skilled migrations Malaysia Singapore

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