Paper short abstract:

The paper analyzes the objects taken by migrants in their first suitcase. It will reflect on how these objects contribute to providing continuity and meaning to their biographic and migratory experience.Transformations at the destination and the importance of (new) location will be also considered.

Paper long abstract:

Which objects do migrants choose to accompany them on their migratory journey? What trajectories do these objects experience once they reach the destination, and what possible transformations do they undergo?

The paper proposed is based on an investigation that answers these questions in the context of migrants to Catalonia (Spain). It deals with objects that have been appropriated; objects that carry biographical and personal meaning and that, once they have travelled in the suitcase, also serve to tell of the migratory experience.

Through the use of interviews, observations and photography, data were gathered that showed regularities in the kinds of object that were selected; these being, objects relating to certain moments of the biographical experience that the person wants to emphasize or remember; objects embodying the person's relationship with the loved ones, and objects that were gifts given at the time of the departure. These objects transmit continuity towards the personal experience that has been lived until the moment of migration, which is perceived as a moment of uncertainty.

The analysis also considers the trajectory of the objects in connection to the migratory experience and the subsequent transformations as "testimonies" of the migratory experience; this includes ruptures and the emergence of new necessities that are translated into the material surroundings. In addition, the paper will reflect on the importance of considering the spatial location of the objects, as this provides important data on the ways of experiencing migration and the different manners of conceiving the private and public spheres.

Paper short abstract:

This study discusses how a virtual ethnic enclave, developed by ICTS among Indonesian nurses and care workers in Japan, has transformed affective responses to transnational migration and how it differs from a traditional ethnic enclave.

Paper long abstract:

Based on the bilateral IJEPA scheme, candidates for nurses and care workers have been accepted by hospitals and nursing homes all over Japan. Under this scheme once candidates pass the Japanese National Exam for Nursing or Care Workers, they are entitled to obtain a working visa for three years, renewable without limit. Otherwise, candidates have to go home.

We have interviewed them in order to examine their experience in Japan, affect accompanying and their meaning attached to this migration and found that a sort of virtual ethnic enclave has formed by the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). This virtual enclave by active utilization of the internet and the mobile phone functions as a social support network to cope with difficulties they confront in Japan and as a site of information exchange about salary and working conditions, which sometimes breed dissatisfaction with institutions they have been accepted. Within this enclave a study group by the skype emerged to prepare for the National exam for nursing. This presentation discusses how the virtual ethnic enclave has transformed affective responses to transnational migration among young people as well as how it differs from a traditional ethnic enclave.

Paper short abstract:

O'ahu's west side contains the most populous Hawaiian Homesteads. Often referred to as Hawaiian Land, it also provides home for many non-Hawaiian who have been an important part of the community. This presentation examines Hawaiian local identity that brings unification to the multicultural society.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation examines Hawaiian " local identity", a comprehensive identification which seemingly bring an unification in the multicultural Hawaiian society.

On the most west side of O'ahu,Wai'anae District contains the most populous Homesteads in Hawai'i. Often referred to as "Hawaiian Lands," there are an estimated 8,600 Homestead residents, constituting almost one-fourth of the Wai'anae coast's population.

The Hawai'i Department of Hawaiian Home Lands states that lease applicants "must be a native Hawaiian defined as 'any descendant of not less than one-half part of the blood of the races inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands previous to 1778.'" This requires a "blood quantum" of at least 50 percent native Hawaiian, and for the successors 25 percent. For many Hawaiian families it has over time become increasingly difficult to meet this blood quantum mandate, leading to proposals that would take other cultural factors into consideration.

At the same time, deeply reflected on the Hawai'i's demographics, Wai'anae also is increasingly multicultural, embracing broad diversity. This multiculturalism is evidenced in many forms ranging from community organizations to churches and local eateries, and also residents' multi-ethnic last names.

Though the ethnic and cultural identification are diverse as such, the people of Wai'anae shares one common "local" identity. In a Hawaiian community the word "local" can be applied for anyone who were born and raised in Hawai'i. Even in Wai'anae, the land of Hawaiian, the term "local" makes it home for any non-Hawaiian community members.

Paper short abstract:

In this text Ipresent some thoughts about the Maison du Brésil. Myobjective is to research this temporary residency for researchers through themeanings that characterize it as a Brazilian territory in Paris and through thevery belonging to the category elite as a peculiarity of its residents.

Paper long abstract:

The Maison du Brésil is one of the 40 residences that make part of thearchitectural set of Paris's Cité Internationale Universitaire. Some of these residencies (around 23) have a "national character" and are responsible for hosting graduate students and researchers during a temporaryperiod that can vary from a few weeks to the time necessary for the obtentionof a full doctorate degree in Paris. The CIUP was conceived in the 1920's, beingmeant by its main idealizer, André Honorat, as an international space forintegration of the intellectual elites in formation in French soil. At that moment, it served to thedouble need of improvement of conditions of student housing in the period,situated at the Quartier Latin, and the development of an internationalist spirit towards keeping world peace,which was shaken by the First World War.

Maison du Brésil is called for yours temporary inhabitants a space to live the "brazilian culture in Paris. I wish to analyze the international circulation of students and researchers that live there and have an educational experience of multiple dimensions as experiences of deterritorialization ofidentities and its consequences in a housing space which is at the same timepublic and private. Based on documental analysis andethnographic fieldwork I present some aspects of the history and the everydaylife of the Maison du Brésil and Paris' Cité Internationale Universitaire. Also I intend to show how the meanings of Brazilianness are used as support for the identity crisis lived by the membersof a supposed Brazilian elite in Paris.

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