Situating Migrants in Contemporary Japan: From Public Spaces to Personal Experiences

Within the broader literature on migration, Japan is often portrayed as straddling two categories, one of a homogenous country and another of a multicultural society. The arguments on both sides are supported through the historical evidence, analysis of media resources, as well as narratives of Japanese residents. This inquiry seeks to highlight voices of migrants within these debates. This dissertation focuses on the urban – rural residential experiences of international migrants in Kanto and Tohoku regions. This inquiry treats international migration processes in terms of moving between the contexts of different countries as well as between urban – rural locations. These global – local experiences of migrants are set within broader milieu of the social and spatial stratifications created through neoliberal competition. The theoretical framework for this analysis is based on post-structural understandings of identity, migration, and economy. This study draws on qualitative methods, including, ethnographic data, interviews, content and textual analysis of job advertisements, as well as cognitive mapping. These sources allow us to create a unique portrait of migrant subjectivity that pulls from different contexts of fluid, spatial identities which mediate migrants’ interpretations of living and working in neoliberal Japan. The findings of this dissertation support the thesis that intersectional social identities such as gender, ethnicity, and social class, have a spatial component

Gender And Internal Migration In Wuhan, Hubei Province, China: Rural Hometowns, Factory Work, And Urban Experiences

This thesis focuses on gender and scale as key aspects of the rural-to-urban migration process in China. Its specific aim is to connect economic and social reasons for rural women\u27s migration towards urban factory work. Contemporary large-scale migration studies show inconsistencies and contradictions concerning reasons for migration, especially as it relates to gender. Thus, migration research often emphasizes the positive social changes experienced by women workers, in effect signaling that the most important needs of women migrants can be satisfied without economic gains. In contrast, the proposed study seeks to show that social and economic reasons intertwine within women\u27s experiences of and explanations for their migration. The theoretical framework for the proposed study is based on postmodern understandings of gender, economy, and society. Data for the study was acquired through qualitative techniques, specifically through interviews with workers. The findings of this study supported the thesis that both economic and social factors informed women\u27s decision to become migrants. In addition, this study revealed specific experiences of women workers related to migration. Thus, women decided to become migrants largely because their education allowed them to gain employment in urban areas and ability to gain independent income. Although social networks played a large role in the recruitment of rural women workers, they were not necessary to find employment. Experiences of v vi factory work reveal that the relationship between women and their employers are less restrictive than expected. In addition, rural women\u27s experiences of being migrants in the city, although constrained by timings of factory work, encompass both material and social forms of consumption. Overall, migration outcomes reflected changing social status of women in the rural areas. Thus, this research approaches migration as a dynamic process. Embedded in this process are fluid identities of migrant women workers. Through questioning the meanings of \u27social\u27 and \u27economic\u27 migration, this research adds to existing studies on gender and migration in China and contextualizes the value of women workers to China\u27s economy. Alongside, the study moves away from shop floor politics to the wider space outside the factory, thus linking urban and rural contexts. In a broader sense, this research aims to inform theories related to the economics and politics of migration through adding a spatial component to social understandings of the gendered migration process

Gender And Internal Migration In Wuhan, Hubei Province, China: Rural Hometowns, Factory Work, And Urban Experiences

This thesis focuses on gender and scale as key aspects of the rural-to-urban migration process in China. Its specific aim is to connect economic and social reasons for rural women\u27s migration towards urban factory work. Contemporary large-scale migration studies show inconsistencies and contradictions concerning reasons for migration, especially as it relates to gender. Thus, migration research often emphasizes the positive social changes experienced by women workers, in effect signaling that the most important needs of women migrants can be satisfied without economic gains. In contrast, the proposed study seeks to show that social and economic reasons intertwine within women\u27s experiences of and explanations for their migration. The theoretical framework for the proposed study is based on postmodern understandings of gender, economy, and society. Data for the study was acquired through qualitative techniques, specifically through interviews with workers. The findings of this study supported the thesis that both economic and social factors informed women\u27s decision to become migrants. In addition, this study revealed specific experiences of women workers related to migration. Thus, women decided to become migrants largely because their education allowed them to gain employment in urban areas and ability to gain independent income. Although social networks played a large role in the recruitment of rural women workers, they were not necessary to find employment. Experiences of v vi factory work reveal that the relationship between women and their employers are less restrictive than expected. In addition, rural women\u27s experiences of being migrants in the city, although constrained by timings of factory work, encompass both material and social forms of consumption. Overall, migration outcomes reflected changing social status of women in the rural areas. Thus, this research approaches migration as a dynamic process. Embedded in this process are fluid identities of migrant women workers. Through questioning the meanings of \u27social\u27 and \u27economic\u27 migration, this research adds to existing studies on gender and migration in China and contextualizes the value of women workers to China\u27s economy. Alongside, the study moves away from shop floor politics to the wider space outside the factory, thus linking urban and rural contexts. In a broader sense, this research aims to inform theories related to the economics and politics of migration through adding a spatial component to social understandings of the gendered migration process

Situating Migrants in Contemporary Japan: From Public Spaces to Personal Experiences

Within the broader literature on migration, Japan is often portrayed as straddling two categories, one of a homogenous country and another of a multicultural society. The arguments on both sides are supported through the historical evidence, analysis of media resources, as well as narratives of Japanese residents. This inquiry seeks to highlight voices of migrants within these debates. This dissertation focuses on the urban – rural residential experiences of international migrants in Kanto and Tohoku regions. This inquiry treats international migration processes in terms of moving between the contexts of different countries as well as between urban – rural locations. These global – local experiences of migrants are set within broader milieu of the social and spatial stratifications created through neoliberal competition. The theoretical framework for this analysis is based on post-structural understandings of identity, migration, and economy. This study draws on qualitative methods, including, ethnographic data, interviews, content and textual analysis of job advertisements, as well as cognitive mapping. These sources allow us to create a unique portrait of migrant subjectivity that pulls from different contexts of fluid, spatial identities which mediate migrants’ interpretations of living and working in neoliberal Japan. The findings of this dissertation support the thesis that intersectional social identities such as gender, ethnicity, and social class, have a spatial component

Migrant Women and the Distribution of their Income in Hubei Province, China

Alors que les contributions des femmes chinoises à l’économie mondialisée ont été mises en valeur dans de nombreuses études, il est également important de comprendre la signification de leur travail pour les femmes elles-mêmes. Notre approche est ici de retracer la manière dont elles partagent leurs revenus entre leurs propres besoins et ceux de leur famille. Cet article se penche sur le cas des femmes migrantes travaillant dans les ateliers textiles de Wuhan, Hubei, de façon à examiner comment leurs salaires sont répartis entre dépenses personnelles et envois aux foyers natal et marital, et comme cette répartition diffère entre femmes célibataires et mariées. Cela fournit une base de compréhension de l’évolution possible des relations traditionnelles entre les sexes, du fait de la valeur économique croissante du travail des femmes. Cet examen de l’utilisation du revenu des femmes permet aussi d’attirer l’attention sur les flux géographiques des revenus dans la Chine d’aujourd’hui, puisque les femmes migrantes se situent non seulement entre foyers natal et marital, mais aussi entre des résidences urbaine et rurale. Plus généralement, cette recherche vise à enrichir les théories de la migration par une compréhension croisée des aspects économiques et sociaux des expériences et processus sexués de la migration en Chine.While contributions made by China’s women workers to the global economy have been emphasized in many studies, it is also important to understand the meanings of such work to women themselves. One approach is to trace the ways in which women distribute their wages between their own needs and the needs of their family. This article focuses on migrant women working in textile factories in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, in order to examine how women’s wages are distributed between personal spending and contributions to natal and marital homes, and how such distributions vary between single and married women. It thus provides a basis for understanding possible transformations in traditional gender relations given the increasing economic value of women’s work. This examination of women’s income disposal also draws attention to spatial flows of income in contemporary China, since migrant women are poised not just between marital and natal homes, but also between urban and rural homes. More broadly, this research aims to inform theories of migration through an interlinked understanding of economic and social aspects of gendered migration processes and experiences in Chin