ABSTRACTS Session 1 A Systemic Understanding of East Asian Migration Patterns

Transcription

1 ABSTRACTS Session 1 A Systemic Understanding of East Asian Migration Patterns Eric Fong (University of Toronto and The Chinese University of Hong Kong) In 2015, over 17-million people moved across national borders in East and Southeast Asia. However, most studies of migration in this region has been either qualitative in nature or country-specific studies. The presentation is based on a data set compiled from various sources to explore systemic patterns of migration in this region in The results indicate that people have been moving toward locations with economic opportunities. However, the choice of destination is also shaped by geographic proximity and historical ties between the places of origin and destination. Forms of Migration and Community Building: The Experience of Hong Kong Ethnic Minority Communities Raees Begum Baig (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) Migration is no any new phenomenon in Asia, and movements within Asia have always been seen as a form of South-South migration under traditional classification of migration. Although there are no exact definitions on the matrix of migrations, the World Bank has classified the countries of South as those low- and middle-income countries and North as those high-income countries. Yet, simply denoting migrations within Asia as South-South migrations could not appropriately represent the dynamic changes of the migration process as not only it could not capture the patterns of economic changes within Asia, but also over-emphasize the economic attribution on migration and disregard the growing social attribution of migration. Globalization has brought about important regional impacts. As a proliferation of transnational network, globalization has increased interactions and interdependences among nations. Intensity of globalization experiences by different nations break down regional homogeneity. Nations across Asia have experience different levels of social, political and economic changes transformed migration from predominantly labour migration to multifaceted forms of migration within the region. As one of the most vibrant society in Asia, Hong Kong has experienced various forms of migrations much earlier than other Asian countries due to British colonization. From labour migration under temporary migration model to family reunification under the settler model with migrants from South and Southeast Asia, changes in global economic structure and demographic patterns have constantly shaped forms of migration in Hong 7

2 Kong which challenges the South-South migration notion on movements in Asia. With developed nations in East Asia start to experience growing complexity of migration under globalization, similar trends of growing phenomenon of South-North migrations coincide with Hong Kong could be traced. With reference to the Hong Kong experience, this presentation aims to present the emergence of transnational communities and identity formation under different forms of migration and discuss whether such multilateral movements could draw collective experience among East Asian nations. Session 2 Can Labor Market Assimilation be Applied in Foreign Highly Skilled Immigrants in Hong Kong? Yuying Tong (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) Wenyang Su (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) As a global city, immigrants have been the important composition of its population in Hong Kong. Previous studies about Hong Kong immigrants have largely focused on Chinese immigrants from mainland China, and less attention has been paid to immigrants from other countries, especially highly skilled immigrants from oversea countries. Among a few exceptions, studies have focused on the channels of such immigrants to Hong Kong, less has been done to examine the labor market outcomes of such immigrants. Part of reason is that theories have been underdeveloped on the highly skilled immigrants in Asian's global city, and the traditional labor market assimilation theory in North America and European may not be applied to the case of global city in Asia. Using Hong Kong census data, we examine the employment status and earnings outcomes of such immigrants and compare then to different Chinese groups, including Chinese immigrant group. Preliminary results have shown there are great heterogeneity in terms of labor market outcome among different highly skilled immigrant group in Hong Kong. An Analysis on Economic Achievement and its Determinants of Immigrant Workers in Japan Yu Korekawa (National Institute of Population and Social Security Research) A number of immigrants in Japan has risen rapidly since the early 1990 s, which is now more than two million immigrants living in Japan. However, there has been a few researches focusing on their economic achievement in the Japanese labour market so far, mainly due to lack of the national-level data. The present study used a micro data of the Japanese population census conducted in 2010, and clarified the situation and determinants of immigrants occupational attainments in Japan. As a result, it revealed that Chinese immigrant are polarized into the low and high stratum of the labour market, and showing a higher attainment than the Japanese counterparts among the highly educated Chinese. On the contrary, low-educated Chinese and all Brazilians are disadvantaged in the return from their educational attainment. Moreover it also found that a longer duration residency will lessen these disparities between immigrants and the Japanese. As a conclusion, an assimilation theory will be applied to the Japanese case, however there are some variations in their economic achievements. 8

3 Session 3 Changing Attitudes about Immigrant Integration in South Korea Kate Choi (University of Western Ontario) Because intimate unions imply the absence of prejudice and acceptance of partners as equals, intermarriage is considered the final stage of the assimilation process experienced by immigrants (Gordon 1964; Alba and Nee 2009). In equal measure, favorable attitudes towards intermarriage are often used as a barometer of immigrant integration in a host society (Wang et al. 2012). Interestingly, despite the unprecedented rise in immigrant population in South Korea, our understanding about attitudes towards intermarriage in this context is somewhat limited. Using data from the 2010 Korean General Social Survey (KGSS), I describe how attitudes about intermarriage has changed over time. To do so, I first assess the extent to which Korean adults favor intermarriages. I then investigate the social desirability of members of distinct national origin groups (e.g., Americans, Japanese, and Chinese) as our group partners. I conclude by examining the extent to which general and specific attitudes about intermarriage differ according to socioeconomic characteristics and views about future economic prospects. Preliminary analyses suggest that although many Koreans report having favorable, general attitudes about intermarriage, low shares of Korean adults report being able to accept foreigners as marriage partners for themselves or their children. Unfavorable attitudes towards intermarriages are particularly pronounced when the intermarriage involves a Korean- Chinese partner. Finally, attitudes towards intermarriage are especially unfavorable among individuals who report having a high school education or less and those who perceive their future economic prospects to be dim. Migrants are less likely to receive primary care than non-migrants in Hong Kong. A population-based household survey of 2,282 adults. Roger Yat-Nork Chung (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) SYS Wong (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) D Chan (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) M Lau (City University of Hong Kong) H Wong (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) Introduction: Hong Kong is a population largely made up of migrants from mainland China after the postwar period. Over time, these original migrants become an integral local part of the population when the border was closed. Since then, these local Hongkongers had experienced one of the most rapid socio-economic developments in the world. In the more recent two decades, there was a renewed China-to-Hong Kong migration wave by means of one-way permit, investments and quality migrant admission scheme due to the handover of sovereignty in We hypothesized that these new immigrants of Hong Kong may not have the same healthcare utilization pattern as their local counterparts despite the general equality healthcare principle being that no one shall be denied of adequate healthcare due to lack of means. 9

4 Methods: We conducted a population-based household survey of 2,282 adults from 2014 to Information on socio-demographic information (including migrant status as measured by their place of birth, length of stay in Hong Kong or permanent residency status), lifestyle factors, multimorbidity status and poverty status (measured as social deprivation and social exclusion) were obtained. Logistic regressions were conducted to test the association between the migrant status and primary care utilization. Respondents who did not answer were excluded from the analyses. Results: Being migrants in Hong Kong is statistically significantly associated with lower likelihood of having a family doctor (OR = 0.767; 95% CI = ), even after adjustments for sociodemographic, lifestyle factors, multimorbidity status and poverty status, Among these migrants, non-permanent residents (i.e., staying in Hong Kong less than 7 years) were also less likely to have a usually visited doctor (OR = 0.363; 95% CI = ) with statistical significance, after adjustments. Conclusion: Migrants, who tend to be coping with more stress, may be in need of more care. On the contrary, our findings indicated that they receive less primary care; thus, inverse care law may be operating in Hong Kong s healthcare system despite its general equality principle. Further works are warranted to understand the reasons behind the observed differences to inform future policymaking. Session 4 Doing Nepalese Womanhood in Hong Kong: Arranged Marriage, Transnational Marginalization, and Minoritization Re-examined Siumi Maria Tam (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) This paper examines the interface of gender, transnational marginalization, and the concept of minority among three generations of Nepali women in Hong Kong. The first generation were arranged to marry Gurkha soldiers in the British Army, and lived an isolated life physically restricted to the army camp, and socially as ethnic minority in a Chinese society. The second generation were daughters of these transnational marriages, who were caught in reverse migration as they were brought back to be raised in split households in Nepal. They returned to Hong Kong not as independent migrants but as wives of a new generation of male migrants. Like their mothers they were victims of double marginalization by mainstream society due to ethnic affiliation, and by their own community due to gender. The granddaughters of the Gurkhas, who had Hong Kong permanent residency, sought to exercise rights such as to education and employment in Hong Kong which they called home. Despite increased access to social capital, the grasp of arranged marriage did not seem to have loosened over this generation however. This paper digs into the trajectories of gendered migrants to answer the following questions: How have roles and statuses of transnational mother-wives changed as they acquired new social and cultural capital, in face of declining British, military, male 10

5 identities? Despite changing external circumstances, why have patriarchal principles and arranged marriage remained central in the lives of different generations of women in the diasporic Nepali community? Lastly, as cultural heritage became a popular discourse in Hong Kong, how has minoritization become a double-edged sword that both raised cultural awareness and perpetuated victimization? Migrant Women are Wombs Used by The Communist Party! : Gender and Xenophobia in Post-Colonial Hong Kong Susanne Choi (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) Past research on immigrant integration or the lack thereof has focused on the economic and political dimensions of exclusion and discrimination. This paper tries to unpack the cultural dynamics underlying the construction and exclusion of the immigrant other. Using post-colonial Hong Kong as a case study, it examines the insidious gendered process underlying the construction of mainland Chinese immigrants as a despised other by the predominantly Hong Kong Chinese population. My analysis shows that the cultural representation of immigrants as an inferior other, undeserving of full membership of society, represents an amalgam of sexist and classist ideologies. It is based on the misogynist perception that poor men are lesser men, and that poor women are merely sexual objects for consumption or use as weapons in political warfare between men. It is also founded on contempt for the socioeconomically disadvantaged, whose humanity is often denied in order to justify their marginalisation and exclusion. The Hong Kong case illustrates the complex processes through which the immigrant other is racialised and rejected based on gender and other axes of social stratification such as class. It shows that racialisation does not depend on the existence of racial or ethnic differences. Racialisation can proceed on the basis of attribution of characteristics to individuals and the group to which they are supposed to belong; these attributions are used to construct a boundary which excludes the people thus identified from the society. The key to racialisation is not race or ethnicity; it is the politics of exclusion and domination. Session 5 Digital Migration in Hong Kong Saskia Witteborn (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) East Asia is not known as a destination for forced migrants due to political, social, historic, and economic reasons. However, forced migrants come to the region, with Hong Kong being an example for processing claims for asylum although recognition rates remain low. Like in other parts of the world, asylum seekers in Hong Kong are arrested in space and time until their claims are processed. And yet, the people can shape the boundaries of this arrest by using new technologies to create local networks, maintain family relationships, learn languages, engage in political advocacy, and find social and psychological support. This paper examines digital migration as a concept to understand the technological affordances and digital practices by asylum seekers and refugees in Hong Kong and how those shape (forced) movement, connectivities as well as potential mobilities. Based on ethnographic field research, the paper outlines how those practices 11

6 and affordances connect forced migrants, urban spaces, information, and institutions pertaining to forced migration in and beyond Hong Kong and on a global scale. Serial Labor Migration: Exclusion and Domestic Worker Patterns of Temporary Migration Rhacel Salazar Parreñas (University of Southern California) Most migrant workers confront exclusionary contexts of reception. Using the case of migrant Filipino domestic workers in the United Arab Emirates, this article examines how migrant exclusion, including ineligibility for permanent residency, absence of labor market flexibility and denial of right to family reunification shapes the migration patterns of migrant contract workers. As illustrated, exclusion encourages serial labor migration, meaning the multi-country migration process of temporary labor migrants who remain anchored in the sending country while they work in more than one country during the course of their migration. The concept of serial labor migration points to the need for studies to pay greater attention to mobility instead of assimilation and migrant exclusion instead of inclusion for a more accurate description of temporary labor migrant experiences. This article relies on in-depth interviews conducted with 85 Filipino migrant domestic workers in the United Arab Emirates. Session 6 Love in Waiting: State Discipline and Intimate Relations for Asylum-Seekers in Hong Kong Sealing Cheng (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) This paper analyzes how the pursuit of intimacy mitigates the evacuation of the future for asylum-seekers who are stuck often for years waiting in Hong Kong. The current refugee crisis in the world has witnessed state responses to unauthorized human mobility through the creation of a range of refugee-holding facilities, re-routing and deportation programs. In Hong Kong, similar time delay tactics operate to regulate asylum-seekers and refugees, prohibiting them from work, study, and even voluntary work for years if not over a decade of asylum and resettlement process. Deprived of other legitimate forms of social advancement, the future of many asylum-seekers seems uncertain and bleak. Love and marriage, in such context, provide them with a site of hope where they could dream of finding security and stability in a constant state of precarity. Deeply rooted in a structure of inequities, however, such pursuits are filled with its own dilemma, reflecting contending values about gendered selfhood, love, and meanings of life in relation to the border regime of asylum. The Search for a Better Life: How Partnerships with Westerners Shape Thai Life Chances, Social Relationships and Development A Research Agenda Paul Statham (University of Sussex) Dusita Phuengsamran (Mahidol University) This paper outlines the theoretical foundations and conceptual framework for an empirical research project on Thai-Westerner partnerships and their potential development impacts. The study will examine social relationships produced by Thai- 12

7 Western partnerships, and their impacts on Thai individuals, their extended families, and socio-economic development in rural communities. First, partnerships importantly shape individual life chances and wellbeing. They can potentially improve life chances by providing a route out of poverty and the sex industry. Second, this partnering produces new family structures that cut across generations and cultures, and builds new transnational relations between Thailand and the West. Third, partnerships can impact on the socio-economic development of a Thai s homeland region, e.g., if financial and social remittances are sent to support the extended family. The research is funded by the British Academy under the Newton Advanced Fellowship scheme and will be based on interviews with Thai partners, their families, and homeland regions, to assess potential impacts on life chances and development. Trends in the Marriage Immigration in Taiwan: Comparing the 2003 and 2013 Survey on Immigrants' Demographic Profile and Fertility Behaviors Yu-Hua Chen (National Taiwan University) Chin-Chun Yi (Academia Sinica) There were 498,368 marriage migrants in Taiwan by the end of Among them, more than 90% were females and 68% were from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao with the remaining mainly from Southeast Asia such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. With regard to foreign grooms, Japanese has been the number one choice in the marriage market. Historically, the trend of marrying foreign spouses occurred in the 1960s. But the number and share of cross-border marriages increased significantly since the late 1990s and reached 31.9% in To decelerate the fast growth of marriage immigrants and to inhibit the possibility of marriage fraud, a variety of legal restrictions and penalties were implemented in 2004 which resulted in expected stagnation of crossborder marriages in Taiwan. It has been documented that intermarriages tend to suffer from conjugal violence, family conflict and societal anxiety, considerable efforts have been made to explore the marriage process, migration policy, social adaptation as well as the stigmatization of foreign spouses in Taiwan. The purpose is to help solve the existing social fact which is often viewed as social problem. However, among all these debates, relatively less research has focused on the demographic characteristics and fertility behaviors of intermarried couples. Hence, the objective of this study is to provide comparative estimates of demographic profiles and fertility outcomes of Taiwanese marriage immigrants from Mainland China, Southeast Asia, and other countries. Using the 2003 and 2013 Survey of Foreign and Mainland Chinese Spouses Living Conditions, we will first describe trends of marital behaviors over the last decade. Next, a comparison regarding fertility behaviors between Taiwanese and non-taiwanese women will be presented. The implication of marriage immigration in Taiwan will be discussed from the demographic perspectives. 13

8 Session 7 The Socio-Demographic Incorporation of Asians in the United States John Iceland (Pennsylvania State University) The Asian population in the United States has increased rapidly in recent decades, largely due to increased immigration. From just 2000 to 2010, the percentage of the U.S. population that reported being at least part Asian increased from 4.2 percent to 5.6 percent. Since a significant percentage of Asians in the United States are either first- or second-generation Americans, we need to take into account how the adaptation and assimilation process is shaping current patterns of well-being. On the whole, evidence suggests that Asians are faring well in higher education and the U.S. economy. This is strongly suggestive of successful incorporation. It is important to note that considering Asians as a whole obscures the diversity of experiences among constituent ethnic groups (e.g., Chinese, Filipinos, Asian Indians), so I discuss these within-group differences as well. Linguistic Distances, Age at Migration, and the English Proficiency of Asian Immigrants in the United States Gillian Stevens (University of Alberta) In the United States, the educational, cultural, social and economic attainments of many immigrants from non-english language countries rest on their success in learning English as a second language. But some immigrants may find it easier to learn English than others because their first or native language shares more phonological, syntactical, or lexical features with English by virtue of the language being more closely related to English. In this paper, I investigate how the linguistic distances between English and 40 different languages (such as Cantonese, Japanese, Malayam, or Thai) affect levels of English proficiency among Asian immigrants in the United States. The results, based on the American Community Survey, suggest that linguistic distance matters. Moreover, the impact of linguistic distance varies with age at migration suggesting that the linguistic distance between a migrant's first language and English is less important if a migrant starts learning English in childhood when second language learning is easiest. Session 8 Ethnic Networks and Immigrants Earnings: Comparative Evidence for Asian Immigrants in New Zealand Xingang Wang (University of Auckland) Sholeh A. Maani (University of Auckland) The international evidence on whether ethnic concentration economically benefits or harms immigrants is divided. In this paper we examine the earnings of Asian immigrants in New Zealand compared to two other major immigrant groups. We extend the migration literature by applying a spatial autoregressive network approach to relax the assumption of independence of immigrant ethnic groups economic outcomes, and account for immigrant ethnic resources and networks. We apply unit-record data across 14

9 ten years and compare earnings outcomes for Asian immigrants who live within or outside of high Asian ethnic concentration states. Our results shed new light on the debate and the determinants of Asian immigrant earnings in New Zealand. We show that Asian immigrants earnings are about 18% lower than immigrants from English-speaking countries with similar years of education. However, immigrants who reside in high Asian ethnic concentration areas have a significant positive impact on their earnings. Immigrants Peer Effects on Native Students Academic Achievement: Evidence from Hong Kong Dongshu Ou (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) Do immigrants serve to enhance or dilute the quality of the peer group for native-born students? This paper attempts to provide new empirical evidence from Hong Kong by studying the impact of Mainlander immigrants on native-born students. Using two-stage least-squares regressions and the 2003 to 2012 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data, our results show that Mainlander immigrant peers' SES and the share of immigrant peers both positively affluence the native students' academic achievement in Hong Kong. Our results are consistent with previous literature that the positive peer effects might due to the exposure to peers from high-achieving origin regions. Our findings will shed light on schooling policies that affect new immigrant children in destination countries. 15