Abstract
Some scholars have argued that the notion of “return” should give way to transnational mobility and circular exchange. But at the same time return migrations of different types are on the rise in Asia and beyond since the 1990s, and return is becoming a defining factor of how transnational migration in general is managed, as evidenced by circular migration programs. Yet, the movements covered by the rubric of “return” are extremely diverse. This chapter explores how the heterogeneity of the experiences of return and the ambiguity of its meaning can be turned into sources of theoretical innovation. The chapter first argues that we need to move away from the predominant perspective that regards migration as a behavior, and should instead regard migration as phenomena co-constituted by different actors. By examining how the recent intensification of return movements in Asia is deeply tied to other larger socio-political changes, this article theorizes return as a mode of order making in the world that is formally consisted of nation-states but faces ever escalating transnational movements. Asia is significant here not because it is different from the “West” or the “rest,” but on the contrary, Asia typifies some aspects of the relation between return migration and social transformations that are potentially global.
Parts of this paper draw on discussions in my chapter, Xiang, B. (2013). Return and the Reordering of Transnational Mobility in Asia. In B. Xiang, B. Yeoh and M. Toyota (Eds.), Return: Nationalizing Transnational Mobility in Asia (pp. 1–20). Duke University Press.
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Notes
- 1.
When Washington-based Migration Policy Institute (MPI) asked a number of leading migration experts what surprised them most in 2006, Howard Duncan, executive head of the International Metropolis Project identified the return migration of professionals to Asia as the most striking. “Although return migration is a common phenomenon, the number of returnees, especially to Hong Kong, is significantly higher than one would expect,” he commented. ( See Migration Information Source. Migration Experts Size Up 2006. December 2006. Available at www.migrationinformation.org. accessed on 10 October 2009.) At least 120,000 returned in 1999 alone (Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong SAR 2000:48; see also Ley and Kobayashi 2005, p. 116).
- 2.
Parreñas (2001) documents how return became a major theme of Filipino migrants’ literature in Hong Kong, and the preparation for return dominated the life of Filipino entertainers in Japan beginning with their arrival.
- 3.
Behavioralism differs from behaviorism. The latter is a school of psychology of learning that suggests that human behavior is socially acquired and thus socially malleable, while the former was largely a positivist movement in political science, particularly in the US, since the 1930s. For the differences between the two, see Berndtson 1997.
- 4.
The three ports of Xiamen, Shantou, and Hong Kong in South China, for example, recorded 14.7 million departures between 1869 and 1939, and 11.6 million returns between 1873 and 1939 ( see Sugihara 2005). On the other side of the world, one-fourth to one-third of transatlantic migrants returned from North America to Europe between 1870 and 1940, amounting to ten million (King 2000, p. 29). For a careful research on the high level of return migration from the United States to Europe at the turn of the twentieth century, see Wyman (1996). For a recent review of return as a historical phenomenon, see Ley and Kobayashi (2005, p. 112).
- 5.
For a revealing case study of how Indian seafarers had moved back and forth without the intention of settling in the UK for a long period of time, see Balachandran (2012).
- 6.
Prominent historian Wang Gungwu has expressed similar views on different occasions. He pointed out that, until recent time, the English word “migration” referred to the mobility of manual labor only. The wideningin scope of the term “migration” to include other groups was a result of the generalization and bureaucratization of migration control.
- 7.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, “ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers.” (Available at http://www.aseansec.org/19264.htm, accessed on 14 April 2012.) Battistella and Asis (2003, p. 10) conclude that the ASEAN “regional approach [to migration management] remains at the consultative level, with minimal impact on policy process and decision-making in the individual countries.”
- 8.
For Australia, see the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Annual Report for the 2000s. For the UK, see UK Home Office. (2009). Control of Immigration: Statistics, United Kingdom 2008. August 2009. Available athttp://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs09/hosb1409.pdf. For the United States, see US Department of Homeland Security (2011). 2011 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics (p. 94). Available at http://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/publications/yearbook.shtm.
- 9.
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Biao, X. (2014). The Return of Return: Migration, Asia and Theory. In: Battistella, G. (eds) Global and Asian Perspectives on International Migration. Global Migration Issues, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08317-9_9
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