Panel 3

The Construction of the Migrants' Social Spaces: Issues of Mobility, Locality, and Trans-border Networks

Program and Abstracts >>

With the changing nature of nation-states under globalization, the lives of migrants are not as locked by national borders or bounded communities as in the past.  This session explores the dynamics of social interaction in the transition of migration and examines how socio-cultural space is created and negotiated among migrants in a local context.

There has been much debate on the study of migrants using different methodologies. Until recently, assimilation was one of the dominant paradigms in the social sciences explaining the socio-cultural nature of migrants in nation-states.  In this worldview, ethnic and cultural ties among migrants are thought to become less significant and to disappear gradually, ultimately leading to assimilation into the dominant culture or “host” society.  The failure of the assimilation approach is that it often regards migrants as inferior, backward, and marginal in the dominant culture by using negative stereotypes.  The other extreme of recent approaches to migrants are the so-called transnationalism and diasporic studies.  One contribution of the diasporic approach is to shed light on the positive aspects of migrants as they move from one location to another, and to draw attention to a transnational network with a common identity, cultural characteristics, and collective memory.  In this context, migrants are no longer considered as being assimilated into the dominant culture or abandoning their culture of origin in the host community.  This approach encourages us to reconsider the common assumption that culture and identity are embedded in a given territory.  Nevertheless, this approach should not be over-exaggerated.  One of the difficulties confronting transnationalism is that it tells little about the process of socio-cultural interaction among migrants in each local context.  What does the process of migration mean for the migrants in each local culture?  What is the relationship between their homeland and the migrants?  How and why do the transnational networks function in each local context?

In this session, researchers specializing in Asian migrants will discuss the dynamics of networks beyond territory and the changing features of the relationship between migrants and their homeland, focusing on socio-cultural factors and the circumstances in each local context.