The migrant voice : the politics of writing home between the Sinophone and Anglophone worlds

This paper addresses the politics of language, identity, and diasporic Chinese writing in old and emerging Chinese migrant literature. I opt for the idea of a “migrant subject” as brought up by Ha Jin to underscore a diverse verbal strategy and mobile literary creativity: that of the migrant writer who initiates linguistic and literary perversions to actively intervene in the cultural politics of both the host country and the motherland. The article proceeds to recuperate the diasporic narratives of Sinophone authors Bai Xianyong and Nie Hualing as two earlier examples of migrant writers before Ha, which exemplified the Cold War phase of overseas Chinese American writing. Whereas writing in an adopted tongue of English, as attested by Ha himself, unleashes his creative and critical urges, for Bai and Nie writing in Chinese in a foreign land as America does likewise and ushers in the critical distance cherished by the migrant writers to work on such subject matters as exile and cultural alienation. Originally written in Chinese or English, their migrant voices bring in a minor language to major traditions (Chinese literature and American English literature). Tracing the historical trajectory of migrant literature, in which Sinophone and Anglophone texts are increasingly translated and circulated between cultures, I stress the gains in translation and intercultural writing as the migrant subject can stand valid as a position for writers of transnational literary creativity

Sounds of the jungle: Re-humanizing the migrant

This article examines the cross-border tensions over migrant settlements dubbed ‘The Jungle’ in Calais. The Jungle, strongly associated with the unauthorized movement of migrants, became a physical entity enmeshed in discourses of illegality and violation of white suburbia. British mainstream media have either rendered the migrant voiceless or faceless, appropriating them into discourses of immigration policy and the violent transgression of borders. Through the case study, Calais Migrant Solidarity (CMS), we highlight how new media spaces can re-humanize the migrant, enabling them to tell their stories through narratives, images and vantage points not shown in the mainstream media. This reconstruction of the migrant is an important device in enabling proximity and reconstituting the migrant as real and human. This sharply contrasts with the distance framing techniques of mainstream media, which dehumanize and silence the migrant, locating the phenomenon of migration as a disruptive contaminant in civilized and ordered societies

Migrant entrepreneurship in Hamburg: Results from a qualitative study with Turkish entrepreneurs

This article is an overview study on migrant entrepreneurship in Hamburg with a special focus on Turkish entrepreneurs. On the basis of 58 semistructured interviews conducted between October 2008 and January 2009, several patterns such as entrepreneurial motivation, business development and embeddednes in co-ethnic or mainstream networks are closely examined. Furthermore, this article refers to problems migrant entrepreneurs encounter in the business process and illustrates formal and informal strategies applied in solving these issues. Lastly, support structures for migrant businesses in Hamburg are discussed and evaluated. --migrant entrepreneurs,migrant entrepreneurs in knowledge-intensive service sectors,social capital,co-ethnic and mainstream embeddedness,support structures for migrant businesses in Hamburg

“Care drain”. Explaining bias in theorizing women’s migration

Migrant women are often stereotyped. Some scholars associate the feminization of migration with domestic work and criticize the “care drain” as a new form of imperialism that the First World imposes on the Third World. However, migrant women employed as domestic workers in Northern America and Europe represent only 2% of migrant women worldwide and cannot be seen as characterizing the “feminization of migration”. Why are migrant domestic workers overestimated? This paper explores two possible sources of bias. The first is sampling: conclusions about “care drain” are often generalized from small samples of domestic workers. The second stems from the affect heuristic: imagining children left behind by migrant mothers provokes strong feelings of injustice which trump other considerations. The paper argues that neither source of bias is unavoidable and finds evidence of gender stereotypes in the “care drain” construa

Migrant women’s experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and maternity care in European countries: A systematic review

Background: Across Europe there are increasing numbers of migrant women who are of childbearing age. Migrant women are at risk of poorer pregnancy outcomes. Models of maternity care need to be designed to meet the needs of all women in society to ensure equitable access to services and to address health inequalities. Objective: To provide up-to-date systematic evidence on migrant women’s experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and maternity care in their destination European country. Search strategy: CINAHL, MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycINFO and Scopus were searched for peer-reviewed articles published between 2007 and 2017. Selection criteria: Qualitative and mixed-methods studies with a relevant qualitative component were considered for inclusion if they explored any aspect of migrant women's experiences of maternity care in Europe. Data collection and analysis: Qualitative data were extracted and analysed using thematic synthesis. Results: The search identified 7472 articles, of which 51 were eligible and included. Studies were conducted in 14 European countries and focused on women described as migrants, refugees or asylum seekers. Four overarching themes emerged: ‘Finding the way—the experience of navigating the system in a new place’, ‘We don't understand each other’, ‘The way you treat me matters’, and ‘My needs go beyond being pregnant’. Conclusions: Migrant women need culturally-competent healthcare providers who provide equitable, high quality and trauma-informed maternity care, undergirded by interdisciplinary and cross-agency team-working and continuity of care. New models of maternity care are needed which go beyond clinical care and address migrant women's unique socioeconomic and psychosocial needs

Migrant Farmworkers\u27 Perceptions of Pesticide Risk Exposure in Adams County, Pennsylvania: A Cultural Risk Assessment

Agricultural exceptionalism, a system in which regular labor laws and standards do not apply to farm labor, makes migrant farmworkers particularly vulnerable populations—economically, socially, and in terms of environmental health. To address inequities inherent in migrant farmworker margin­aliza­tion, studies advocate for actively engaging the migrant farmworker population in the conversation surrounding these issues. We conducted 40 semi­structured interviews with migrant farmworkers in Adams County, Pennsylvania, to understand pesti­cide risk exposure perceptions and practices. We employed the Health Belief Model as our cultural risk assessment frame, using it in combination with technical risk assessment, which uses government calculations (from the Environmental Protection Agency) to quantify pesticide risk exposure. We used mixed methods analyses (quantitative and qualitative) to compare and understand farmworker demographics, perceived risk, perceived control, and risk behavior. Results show that demo­graphics —e.g., age, education, visa status—are important factors in risk perception. They also confirm observations present in many earlier studies. While trainings and educational materials are valuable to help build awareness of risk, a systemic lack of control over their circumstances make it hard for migrant farmworkers to engage in safe behavior. Results also highlight the limitations of technical risk assessment. Such calculations, however, rarely account for risk perceptions and experiences of farm­workers themselves. Acknowledging the voices of migrant farmworkers is an essential first step in rebalancing inequities of power in our food systems, and cultural risk assessment can help frame recommendations that target different stake­holders across the pesticide regulatory spectrum to ensure migrant farmworker needs and safety

Migrant workers in the East Midlands labour market 2010

This report is an update of previous intelligence (Migrant Workers in the East Midlands Labour Market 2007) on the profile and economic impact of migrant labour in the East Midlands economy

Migrant Rights are Human Rights

Although it is the case that a rights discourse has become part of everyday language, the discourse remains relatively weak when it comes to migrant workers in Canada and around the world. Most certainly, the rights discourse has not been translated into everyday practices that protect the rights of migrant workers and their families worldwide. In fact, although we have the language of rights clearly articulated in the 1990 UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICMW) which offers significant protections for migrant workers, Canada and most other receiving countries have yet to ratify this agreement. Similarly, Canada has not ratified the two International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions that pertain to the rights of migrant workers, C97 Migration for Employment Convention (Revised) (1949) and C143 Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Conventions (1975). By ratifying these agreements, receiving countries would send a signal that the rights discourse applies to migrants as well as citizens, and it would also indicate a commitment to taking concrete steps towards protecting migrant rights. striking feature of contemporary patterns in international migration is the rising number of migrant workers leaving their homes in the global South for jobs in high‐income countries. Many high income states have turned to immigration policy to meet employer labour needs through temporary migration, creating new programs or increasing the volume of older versions. The United States, for example, now has over 80 types of temporary visas. In the UK, the liberalization of labour mobility has led to an estimated one million migrant workers arriving from EU accession countries in three short years. While some of these managed migration schemes provide a stepping stone for permanent residence, which is particularly the case with skilled workers, those in so‐called low‐skilled or unskilled occupations are generally designed to prevent settlement and restrict mobility. However, as evidenced by the history of temporary migration schemes in Europe and the U.S., temporary migration schemes are never temporary and tend to lead to long term settlement and a growth in undocumented migration. Since the significant demand for workers often exceeds the capacities of legal programs, and there are limited permanent migration channels for many migrants from developing countries (particularly those living in poverty), means that there is significant growth in undocumented migration as well

¿Quo Vadis? Reclutamiento y Contratacion de Trabajadores Migrantes y su Acceso a la Seguridad Social: dinamicas de los sistemas de trabajo temporal migratorio en Norte y Centroamerica

Different regions and countries of the world face a serious need to design and make use of necessary policies and resources to better manage worker migration, thus ensuring the welfare and human rights of these people who, in the end, are of benefit to their society of origin, as well as the receiving society. Although international labor migration may turn out to be productive for many people, many of these migrant workers have unsatisfactory living and working conditions. While it is likely that their labor conditions are better than in their own country, in many cases they are inferior to the working conditions of nationals in their receiving country. Despite international standards to protect migrant workers, their labor rights are frequently abused, especially if they have immigrated in an irregular fashion. In this context, INEDIM took on the task of developing an integral and comprehensive document regarding different migrant worker and visa systems in Central and North America.The work presented here holds enormous value for delving in-depth to the forms of management of temporary migrant workers, as well as their access and guarantees to social and labor protection in North and Central America. This report addresses the problem of management of labor migrant flows among countries in our region. This study is based on an ordered and scrupulous methodology in which different migration systems and visa schemes for the hiring of temporary migrant workers are analyzed from the perspective of protection, respect for, guarantees and promotion of human rights. The study analyzes six systems that seek to regulate temporary migration in the region along the Central and North American corridor. The countries involved in these six systems are El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Canada, the United States, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The authors carry out a thorough and well-structured study based on two focuses of analysis: first, the processes for recruiting and contracting migrant workers and secondly, access to social protection for temporary migrant workers by means of the right to social security. From these two focuses, the authors are able to identify and demonstrate structural insufficiencies and gaps in the analyzed systems, which should guarantee labor security and social security for these workers

Fair and accurate? Migrant and refugee young people, crime and the media

The public perception of young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds is often associated with crime or offending behaviour. Unbalanced media stories sometimes reinforce these stereotypes. Executive summary This paper aims to gain a more accurate picture of migrant and refugee youth offending, by comparing media portrayals with available police, census and Youth Justice (Department of Human Services) data. To set the context, it briefly explores risk and protective factors, with specific regard to the migrant and refugee experience. It also examines the negative impact that misinformed public perception can have upon the lives of young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. While the picture is still incomplete, as the data collected is currently inconsistent, CMY believes that the available data points to migrant and refugee young people being under-represented in the Victoria Police and Youth Justice systems. However, there are particular ethnic groups who appear to be over-represented in relation to their population in Victoria. There is an urgent need for increased and more accurate data which is essential to develop effective and culturally relevant programs for migrant and refugee youth; decrease the number of migrant and refugee youth entering the Youth Justice system; and to challenge inaccurate stereotypes. This is particularly important in regards to specific groups who seem to be over-represented in crime statistics. In addition, it is evident that a better response is needed to not only challenges the negative media portrayal of many migrant and refugee young people but also allows these youth to better represent themselves in the media