Abstract
Immigration studies have, to a large extent, focused primarily or exclusively on the impact of the receiving society on migrants. This includes the impact of official state policies and the various ways they are implemented, but also the role played by the public in promoting inclusion or exclusion. The former is inevitably complicated by competing economic, political, and cultural factors, and by political divides that push policies in more or less restrictive ways. Linked to these divisions within the state apparatus is the fact that the public is also always divided on these matters. At the same time, migrants are anything but monolithic, and to the extent that their agency matters in determining how successfully they are integrated into a new nation, a considerable variation in outcomes is to be expected. The transnational optic on immigration studies further complicates the picture by pointing to the need to take into account the continuing impact of the sending country, but also the real and imagined ongoing encounters migrants have with their respective homelands.
In their edited collection, it is clear from the title that Caroline Plüss and Chan Kwok-bun are part of the transnational turn. The original feature of this book, again captured in the title, is the attempt to make use of intersectionality to better comprehend the dynamics of inclusion. The book consists of an introductory framing chapter by the editors, 11 Asian-based case studies, and a summary of the results by Plüss. In the introduction, the editors indicate their intention to go beyond much of what is termed ‘intersectionality research.’ They do so by focusing on various forms of capital and by calling for an examination of the factors that contribute to – or impede – capital conversion in the migratory context, which in turn has implications for the ways in which migrants identify with both ‘here’ and ‘there.’
The case studies are divided into four topical sections. The three chapters in the first part examine mobility and inequality; two of them are by Kwok-bun. The first is an autobiographical essay that chronicles his family’s refugee saga from China to Hong Kong and then to Canada. The narrative continues with his return to Hong Kong, the essay framed by insights into marginality deriving from the Chicago School. The second chapter is quite different. It offers a theoretical, rather than empirical, account of the maladaptation and poverty experienced by many mainland Chinese who settle in Hong Kong. The final chapter in this section, by Philip F. Kelly, examines a transnational village in the Philippine province of Cavite, a wealthy and rapidly growing area. As the population nearly doubled in the first decade of this century, new class configurations emerged, which Kelly frames by looking at class from various angles: position, process, performance, and politics.
The second part, with two chapters, is broadly construed insofar as it addresses the nation-state, networks, and emotional spaces. Again, Kwok-bun (this time with Chan Wai-wan) contributes. Their chapter looks at 40 returnees to Hong Kong from various points around the globe, primarily from North America, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Again turning to Park’s marginal man, the authors also make use of Durkheim’s theory of anomie and, in particular, Merton’s social strain theory. Explicitly borrowing from Merton’s famous typology, five adaptive responses to resettlement are identified: émigré conformists, innovators, ritualists, retreatists, and rebels. Selina Lim’s contribution is an explicit attempt to ‘bring the state back in.’ Data derive from the unique context of Singapore, with 40 subjects from Singapore who are either already in or headed to Perth, Australia. Framing emigration as a quest for ontological security, Lim contends that in an effort to reduce levels of out-migration, the authorities in Singapore have undertaken a concerted effort to try to convince those contemplating migration that security can be found at home and does not need to be sought abroad.
The three chapters in the third part place specific emphasis on the issues raised in the introductory chapter: transnationalism and cultural capital. Plüss examines the migratory careers of 15 well-educated and highly skilled Chinese-Singaporean women whose pattern of repeat migrations makes them part of that small segment of global migrants that can truly be called cosmopolitan. The article is particularly good at examining the constant renegotiation required to move frequently between ‘here’ and ‘there.’ Yoonhee Kang examines the phenomenon of sending children in primary and secondary school abroad to study, in this instance South Koreans who send their children to Singapore. She is particularly interested in the role women play in making this work at both instrumental and emotional levels. Rounding out the section is Gracia Liu-Farrer’s study of Chinese migrants in Japan. The chapter attempts to answer what at one level appears to be a puzzle: Why do Chinese immigrants tend to opt for permanent residency status rather than Japanese citizenship even though the latter is easier and faster to obtain. The answer proffered, which I found convincing, is based on the salience of reactive ethnicity.
The final section, consisting of three chapters, is concerned with transnational identity. David Chapman’s chapter is rather different from the others in the volume, both insofar as it contains a historical dimension lacking elsewhere and because he has opted to examine the shifting nature of national identity on the Ogasawara Islands. Possession of these islands shifted over time. Once a British colony, it was also colonized by Japan. The United States gained possession after the Second World War, but in 1968 control was again ceded to Japan. Identities were shaped in part by migration – forced evacuations – but to large extent by the impact of big state power politics. Amporn Jirattikorn’s research explores the Shaun ethnic group, which has in recent decades fled Myanmar for the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. Leaving a repressive regime, the Shaun have worked to maintain a sense of identity with their place of origin, using such vehicles as radio broadcasts to maintain contact, and fairs and festivals as venues to perform their identities. The final chapter in the fourth part, like Kwok-bun and Wai-wan’s contribution, looks at return migrants in Hong Kong. In this case, the emphasis is more on the agency of the migrants than on the social strains they experience, though the difficulties they encounter account for an important part of their collective experiences.
The volume concludes with Plüss’s summary account of the collection, contending that they have succeeded in illustrating the validity of a new approach to intersectionality for immigration studies. I am not convinced that they have succeeded. Indeed, as the descriptions in this review reveal, the authors more often than not appear to simply do their own thing (it is ironic that this can be said in particular for the chapters authored or co-authored by Kwok-bun). Thus, as is true with many edited collections, it does not fit together in a tight, coherent way. That being said, taken on their own terms, all of the chapters contained insightful kernels that make them well worth reading.