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P42
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Return migration of South Asians: thoughts about returning and coming home
Short Abstract:
The panel addresses practices and discourse of return among migrants by giving empirical evidences that illustrate thoughts and the decision-making process in relation to return and the experience of return as well as use of knowledge and skills for different groups of migrants of South Asia.
Long Abstract:
The re-emerging discourse on the migration-development nexus and present economic and political contexts such as recession in migrant-receiving regions, security concerns, advancement in economies of traditional sending-regions like India and China, and their efforts to use the knowledge and skills of diaspora have brought back the focus on return migration and in particular, the livelihoods of migrants, their families left behind as well as returnees.
We are interested in these research avenues and call upon papers that address practices and the discourse of return migration. We welcome empirical papers that illustrate thoughts and the decision-making process in relation to return and the experience of return of different groups of migrants (such as laborers, students etc.) of South Asia. We would like to discuss how migrants think about returning together with why they think of returning when they are in their host country and what are returnees' experience in their home country after return. In particular, we would like to discuss why do thoughts of return arise, how are these issues of return discussed and with whom and how returnees experience the return to the home country in different aspects of their lives?
Accepted papers:
Session 1
Educational migration, development and the myth of return in Nepal
Karen Valentin
(Aarhus University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper aims to critically examine the link between educational migration, development and the ‘myth of return’ with attention paid to the expectations of return built into prevailing ideas of education and mobility in the context of educational migration from Nepal to Denmark.
Paper long abstract:
The scholarly literature on Nepalese transnational migration has mostly focused on low-skilled labour migration and the importance of economic remittances for the economy on both national and household level. Portraying migration as primarily a low-class phenomenon and giving priority to socio-economic aspects of migration, this perspective resonates with the prevailing developmentalistic approach, which conceives of migration as an engine for economic development through the transfer of both economic and social remittances. Educational migration to countries in the global North offers a different vantage point from which to explore transnational migration and its returns.
Based on ethnographic data collected among Nepalese students in Denmark and returnees in Nepal, the paper claims that many student migrants, partly with reference to their educated status, have taken on the idea and rhetoric of the "migrant hero," who is morally obliged to contribute to the development of the home country. At the same time it is obvious that ideas of 'meaningful' returns take on different and sometimes conflicting meanings when translated into individual life projects. The aim of this paper is to critically examine the link between educational migration, development and 'return' with attention paid to the expectations of return built into prevailing ideas of education and mobility in contemporary Nepal. It does by exploring the 'myth of return' as both a collective idea reflected through migrants' engagement in homeland associations and as a future point of orientation for individual migrants.
Returns to home: an analysis of internal educational migration in Nepal
Ditte Rasmussen Broegger
(University of Copenhagen)
Jytte Agergaard
(University of Copenhagen)
Paper short abstract:
In this paper we analyze the "home" discourse and return practice among educational migrants from Eastern Nepal. Through analysis of multilocal migrants' connections and orientation towards various "homes" we discuss what "home" means for the migrants, and how their return affect local development.
Paper long abstract:
Studies of migration have benefited greatly from the theorization on transnational migration and other border crossing activities and empirical studies of transnational everyday practices. However, what seems to be less articulated in these theorizations and empirical analyses is how migration within national borders influences rural-urban linkages not least in relation to the demographic transition and transformation in both urban and rural areas.
The empirical analysis draws on a qualitative and multi-sited case study organized around a particular village community in (rural) Eastern Nepal, combined with interviews with educational migrants in various locations. Through this study of educational migrants we analyze how the perceived importance of "home" and the discourse about "returning" among migrants supports their visions for permanent return to home-communities or to nearby urban centers.
The paper examines migrants' perception of "home" and their orientation towards various "homes" and analysis how students from rural areas experience the dilemma of not fitting in at their home-communities, after living several years in a different environment. Emotional ties as well as obligations and responsibility towards family are included in the analysis of migrants' decision-making, as are their aspirations to return to their home-community. Furthermore, migrants' participation in community-activities when they return as well as from a distance is used as an indication for their orientation towards home. The paper explores the educational migrants' multilocal everyday practices and their multilocal habitus and scrutinizes the continued connections, potential return and return of social remittances, which are all important for local development in Nepal.
Exploring the return of IT professionals: perspectives from South Indian metropolis
Berenice Girard
(EHESS Paris)
Aurelie Varrel
(EHESS)
Paper short abstract:
This proposal addresses the meanings and practices of return migration among Indian highly skilled migrants working in the IT sector. It is based on two different studies: one conducted among 45 returned migrants in Bangalore in 2004 and one conducted among 45 returned migrants in Hyderabad in 2011.
Paper long abstract:
This proposal addresses the meanings and practices of return migration among Indian highly skilled migrants working in the IT sector. It is based on two different studies: one conducted among 45 returned migrants in Bangalore in 2004 and one conducted among 45 returned migrants in Hyderabad in 2011. These two studies consisted of interviews meant to collect life narratives and provided material to analyze in a detailed manner the migratory histories and experiences of these migrants. The migrants benefit from a vibrant online community of returnees and returnees-to-be who share on Internet Forums and blogs, their tricks and experiences of return. With return migration turning into a well-travelled path, experiences are shared and contribute to build a common "know how of returning", i.e. a set of information and practices aimed at making the process smoother. One can also observe the development of a collective discourse on the meanings and values attached to return, that dilutes the individual trajectories and their ambivalences. For instance it looks as if, neither the year of return (1990s, 2000s, 2010s) nor the destination (Bangalore, Hyderabad) would have made any difference, either on the decision-making process or on the experience of return. The storytelling developed by the migrants on their return insist on the idea of continuing to circulate, and attributes positive value to mobility. This contribution will give a critical analysis of these discourses and develop a constructivist perspective on the hardships of circulation for this highly skilled, mobile yet disposable workforce.
Some reflections on how Hindu-Gujarati merchants in Portugal have lived through the recent economic crisis
Rita Cachado
(ISCTE-University Institute of Lisbon)
Paper short abstract:
Until recently, Portuguese Hindus were often associated with upward social mobility. At the moment, some of them are considering returning to Mozambique. The main issues discussed in this paper will be how the economic crisis affects their businesses and what their overall perspectives are.
Paper long abstract:
As is well known in South Asian Studies, Indian migrants throughout the world in general (and the Portugal case does not constitute an exception) are generally considered to be virtuous merchants across the world and in fact they often conform to this stereotype. South Asian migrants to Portugal are diverse, but the oldest have been living in Portugal since the late 1970s. Most are Portuguese Hindus that migrated from Mozambique, where their families had lived throughout the 20th century.
The intention in this paper is to present a portrait of Portuguese Hindu merchants in Lisbon from two viewpoints. The first explains the different locations of their stores and therefore explores the 'ethnic economy' that they are engaged in from a different perspective to being viewed as an 'enclave', as it so often is. The second will examine their views on the Portuguese economic crisis and its implications for their businesses. My recent fieldwork points to the fact that different kinds of impulses are now at work among them: either maintaining their small businesses in Portugal despite the economic difficulties that are now involved in doing so or returning to Mozambique or emigrating to India and trying and establish businesses there.
Until recently, the professional trajectories of Portuguese Hindus were associated with upward social mobility. However, we need to examine their perspectives in detail, with regard to how the economic crisis has affected their businesses, what their opinions are about this and whether they would prefer to return to Mozambique.
Questioning home: representations of adoptee return journeys in diasporic Indian women's writing
Holly Morgan
(Lakeheadu University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper addresses the relationship between transnational adoptees’ return journeys and the diasporic return. How do literary representations of adoptee return challenge/support understandings of other diasporic returns, and how does the return journey influence identity construction of adoptees?
Paper long abstract:
Shilpi Gowda's novel "Secret Daughter," Bharti Kirchner`s novel "Shiva Dancing," and Asha Mirό's memoir "Daughter of the Ganges" all feature representations of female transnational adoptees returning to India for the first time. This paper considers how adopted individuals in these texts construct their homes, and how the return journey for adopted individuals in literature can be related to the concept of diasporic return in a broader context. I address issues such as the how literary representations of adoptees both conform to and challenge contemporary models of diasporic consciousness, as well as how adoptees (de/re)construct concepts of 'Home' and 'Self' in relation to 'Other.' Furthermore, I consider the ways in which understandings of national/cultural identity are shaped through return journeys.
Utilizing the tools of transnational feminisms and diasporic literary criticisms, I draw on studies from a range of disciplines to work towards a framework for understanding the relationship between the diasporic female author and the transnationally adopted girl-child/character. For example, in Mirό's text, the character and author are simultaneously the same and different, while Gowda's and Kirchner's texts also feature biographical elements, strengthening the association between adoptee and diasporic subjectivity. A common quest for truth and belonging underscores these works, and all of the adoptees come to similar realizations about their 'Selves' which is heavily influenced by perspectives attainable only through the return journey, making it central to these three texts.
Return migration of the Tamil diaspora? Regional identity across global spaces
Christabel Devadoss
(Kent State University )
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the return migration of Tamil diaspora to and from the cultural home in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and host landscapes in the United States, particularly Cleveland, OH.
Paper long abstract:
This paper examines the return migration of Tamil diaspora to and from the cultural home in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and host landscapes in the United States, particularly Cleveland, OH. Through an autoethnographic approach—including interviews in Tamil Nadu and the United States—as well as references to visuals and soundscape, the paper demonstrates how the image of an idealized home and the concept of 'returning' are constantly in flux. Ultimately, the paper emphasizes how state-based reverse migration takes precedence over a national reverse migration, especially as a construct of Tamil diasporic cultural transmission.