Taking Stock: Where to London?

Abstract

In the first three chapters of this book, I presented a theoretical framework for the stories told in Chapters 5–8. I discussed globalization, migration, multiculturalism, identity, London as a global city and the history of migration and multilingualism in Britain and London. My argument was that in order to understand micro-level individual stories, one must consider the global social and historical forces which form the backdrop to these stories. Chapters 5–8 were then devoted to the stories of Japanese graduate students, French foreign-language teachers, Spanish-speaking Latinos and British Asian undergraduate university students. In no way were the stories presented as typical of the migrant groups that they putatively represent. However, they were meant to illustrate how some of the denizens of London today bring to life membership in these migrant groups in London. In this final chapter, I would like to revisit the themes covered in Chapters 1–3 and examine how the stories relate to them. In effect, I will attempt to answer the third question outlined in the Preface: What do the stories tell us about migration as a global phenomenon; multiculturalism and multilingualism; migrant identities in the early 21st century; and London as a global city?