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

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

The structural invisibility of outsiders: the role of migrant labour in the meat-processing industry

This article examines the role of migrant workers in meat-processing factories in the UK. Drawing on materials from mixed methods research in a number of case study towns across Wales, we explore the structural and spatial processes that position migrant workers as outsiders. While state policy and immigration controls are often presented as a way of protecting migrant workers from work-based exploitation and ensuring jobs for British workers, our research highlights that the situation ‘on the ground’ is more complex. We argue that ‘self-exploitation’ among the migrant workforce is linked to the strategies of employers and the organisation of work, and that hyper-flexible work patterns have reinforced the spatial and social invisibilities of migrant workers in this sector. While this creates problems for migrant workers, we conclude that it is beneficial to supermarkets looking to supply consumers with the regular supply of cheap food to which they have become accustomed

“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 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

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

No. 21: The UN Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers: The Ratification Non-Debate

In recognition of the need to explicitly define and uphold the rights of migrants, and in particular migrant workers and their families, the United Nations General Assembly approved the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (ICMW) on 18 December 1990 (Appendix A). The significance of the Convention has been identified as follows: Migrant workers are viewed as more than labourers or economic entities. They are social entities with families and accordingly have rights, including that of family reunification. The Convention recognizes that migrant workers and members of their families, being in countries where they are not citizens, are often unprotected. Their rights are often not addressed by the national legislation of receiving states or by their own states of origin. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the international community, through the UN, to provide measures of protection. The Convention provides, for the first time, an international definition of migrant worker, categories of migrant workers, and members of their families. It also establishes international standards of treatment that would serve to uphold basic human rights of other vulnerable migrants as well as migrant workers. Fundamental human rights are extended to all migrant workers, both documented and undocumented, with additional rights being recognised for documented migrant workers and members of their families, notably equality of treatment with nationals of states of employment in a number of legal, political, economic, social and cultural areas. The Convention seeks to play a role in preventing and eliminating the exploitation of all migrant workers and members of their families, including an end to their illegal or clandestine movements and to irregular or undocumented situations. The Convention attempts to establish minimum standards of protection for migrant workers and members of their families that are universally acknowledged. It serves as a tool with which to encourage those States lacking national standards to bring their legislation in closer harmony with recognized international standards. The decision of the UN to draft and adopt this convention was a strong statement of international consensus concerning the need for greater protection of the rights of migrant workers and their families. To date, 34 countries have ratified and a further 15 countries have signed the convention, but a study of the ratifications and signatures suggests that it is in the main developing countries and those traditionally regarded as \u27sending\u27 countries that have done so. In addition, from the African continent, there are only 13 ratifications and 8 signatures. Of these, only two countries; namely, Seychelles and Lesotho are member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). In order to better understand the relevance of the Convention to South Africa, it is necessary to examine the history of the ICMW and why other countries have been so hesitant to ratify it. Second, it is necessary to provide an overview of migrant rights in South Africa. If migrant rights are already sufficiently protected then ratification should present no obstacle to the South African government. The purpose of this policy brief is therefore to raise awareness of the Convention in South and Southern Africa and to examine the response of the South African government to ratification. SAMP will examine the position of other SADC states in future studies. The brief is organized as follows: background on the origins and content of the Convention summary of the attitudes of other states to ratification of the Convention analysis of why the South African government has not signed or ratified the Convention and identify the specific obstacles to ratification in the South African context. The brief concludes with a set of recommendations and proposed strategies to promote ratification by the South African government

Migrant Workers' Interactions with Welfare Benefits: A Review of Recent Evidence and its Relevance for the Tax Credits System

This literature review was conducted as part of the HMRC project "European migrant workers' understanding and experience of the tax credits system". The project aimed to identify the issues faced by migrant workers when claiming Child Tax Credit (CTC) and/or Working Tax Credit (WTC). The group of interest was migrant workers who had recently settled in the UK and resided there for less than five years. Four countries of origin were selected for the study: Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Portugal

Immigration politics, slavery talk: the case for a class perspective

The UK Modern Slavery Bill, and UK politicians’ obsession with immigration, risk undermining political moves to greater solidarity among all those—migrant and non-migrant—experiencing abuse or unfreedom in their employment