Language Labour And Migration

Language, Labour and Migration explores two fundamental aspects of the migrant experience through a multi-disciplinary lens which combines the research of leading academics at the cutting edge of their fields. This latest volume from the centre for the Study of Migration brings together the work of anthropologists, economists, geographers, historians, political scientists and medical practitioners. Essays explore topics which include the role of mother tongue as a bridge to assimilation, the racialization of immigrants and refugees through language, the patterns of resistance undertaken by lascars, the experience of black British seamen in the eighteenth century, health advocacy in the twentieth century and the way in which cyber-space is being used to rediscover ethnic identity in the twenty-first century. Other essays examine Chinese labour in France during the First world war, employment opportunities for those deficient in the majority language and poverty in old age. All provide new and at times controversial, insights into the problems of language and labour in an alien society.

This book examines how language is a central resource in transforming migrant women into transnational domestic workers. Focusing on the migration of women from the Philippines to Singapore, the book unpacks why and how language is embedded in the infrastructure of transnational labor migration that links migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries. It sheds light on the everyday lives of transnational domestic workers and how they draw on their linguistic repertoires, and in particular on English, as they cross geographical and social spaces. By showing how the transnational mobility of labor is dependent on the selection and performance of particular assemblages of linguistic resources that index migrants as labor and not as people, the book provides a powerful lens with which to examine how migration contributes to relationships of inequality and how such inequalities are produced and challenged on the terrain of language.

Migration and the mobility of citizens around the globe pose important challenges to the linguistic and cultural homogeneity that nation-states rely on for defining their physical boundaries and identity, as well as the rights and obligations of their citizens. A new social order resulting from neoliberal economic practices, globalisation and outsourcing also challenges traditional ways the nation-state has organized its control over the people who have typically travelled to a new country looking for work or better life chances. This collection provides an account of the ways language addresses core questions concerning power and the place of migrants in various institutional and workplace settings. It brings together contributions from a range of geographical settings to understand better how linguistic inequality is (re)produced in this new economic order.

The debate on the free movement of labour within the EU has gained new momentum in the wake of the economic crisis. Building on the earlier Ashgate publication EU Labour Migration Since Enlargement, the editors have assembled a team of experts from across Europe to shed light on the critical issues raised by internal labour mobility within the EU in the context of economic crisis and labour market pressures. The book's chapters tease out the links between economic developments, regulatory frameworks and migration patterns in different European countries. A central focus is on issues of skills and skills mismatch and how they relate to migration forms, duration and individual decisions to stay or return. Based on detailed analysis of European and national-level sources, the results presented clearly contradict assumptions about a "knowledge driven migration". Rather, over-qualification and the corresponding underutilisation of migrant workers' skills emerge as a pervasive phenomenon. At the same time the characteristics of migrants - not just skills, but socio-demographic characteristics and attitudes - and also their labour market integration are shown to be very diverse and to vary substantially between different sending and receiving countries. This calls for a differentiated analysis and raises complex issues for policymakers. Examples where policy has contributed to positive outcomes for both migrants and domestic workforces are identified. Unique in analysing labour migration flows within the European Union in a comparative manner putting skills into the centre and taking account of the effects of the economic crisis, while addressing policy concerns this is a valuable resource for academics, policymakers and practitioners alike.

From the perspectives of the political sciences as well as literature and language studies, this volume looks comparatively at Canadian and European constellations of cultural and linguistic diversity. By so doing, it takes Canada as exemplary for the effects of transnationalization, regionalization, and cultural and linguistic diversification on notions of citizenship and processes of identity formation.

This book explores how the real conditions and subjective conceptions of ageing and well-being are transformed when people move from one country to another. Focusing on ageing female migrants from Latvia in the UK and other European countries, this book is based on fifty life-history interviews with women aged 40s-60s. Empirical chapters concentrate on functional well-being in migration, which includes access to the economic citizenship of work, income, pensions, and accommodation, and on psychosocial well-being, and explores Latvian women’s experiences of intimate citizenship in migration. In addition, the authors’ research challenges the trope of vulnerability which generally surrounds the framing of older migrants’ lives. The study’s findings offer policy-makers insights into the realities of ageing working migrants and advocates for a more inclusive transnational citizenship, better working conditions, and ongoing care arrangements for older migrants post-retirement, either abroad or back home.

The purpose of this edited book is to look at work and migration from multiple viewpoints and illuminate challenges faced by immigrants in the labour markets around the world. It takes an approach that listens to the voices of different migrant groups in different countries, based mostly on qualitative research. In addition to the main themes of discussion centred on labour markets, this book also makes reference to a wide range of discussion topics which often intersect with employment, labour markets and the work experience of migrants. These include themes such as migrant integration, remittance transfers, relations established and maintained with home countries, legal and institutional arrangements and policy making processes in the host countries, through the concepts of employment and work. The chapters highlight immigrants’ experiences both theoretically and empirically in the contributions around the world. "This book, which includes the experiences of specific groups like qualified, unskilled, and female migrants, makes reference to a wide range of discussion topics such as migrant integration, remittance transfers, relations established and maintained with home countries, legal and institutional arrangements and policy making processes in the host countries, through the concepts of employment and work.” Contents INTRODUCTION - Elli Heikkilä and Fethiye Tilbe LABOUR MARKET PARTICIPATION OF IMMIGRANTS AND CHALLENGES IN FINLAND - Elli Heikkilä FORCED MIGRANT’S SENSE OF PLACE: THE CASE OF SYRIAN REFUGEE-WORKERS IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY - Basem Mahmud SYRIAN REFUGEE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND DIFFERENTIATED INTEGRATION IN THE DISTRICTS OF HATAY, TURKEY - Olgu Karan ETHIOPIAN-ISRAELI WOMEN IN ACADEMIA: A GENDER EQUALITY PLAN, IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE CHANGE PROJECT - Adi Binhas and Hana Himi WORK LIVES OF SKILLED FEMALE IMMIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES - Harika Suklun HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT AND SKILLED IMMIGRANTS LABOUR MARKET EXPERIENCES IN SOUTH AFRICA: AN OVERVIEW - Sikanyiso Masuku and Sizo Nkala IMMIGRANTS IN SKILLED OCCUPATIONS IN BRAZIL: ASSESSING THE FACTORS IMPACTING WAGES - Renan Gadoni Canaan CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION, INDIVIDUAL AUTONOMY, AND SANCTION IN TARGETING BENEFITS FOR THIRD-COUNTRY NATIONALS’ WORK PROMOTION IN AUSTRIA, FINLAND, AND CZECH REPUBLIC - Eddy Bruno Esien CONTRIBUTORS TO THE IMPROVEMENT OF EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIPS: THE CASE OF THAI MIGRANTS IN ISRAEL - Parkpoom Kuanvinit THE "UNSEEN" IN MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES: THE CASE OF SOUTH ASIAN MIGRANT WORKERS IN CAMERON HIGHLANDS, MALAYSIA - Prakash Arunasalam and Thirunaukarasu Subramaniam

Liberating Temporariness? explores the complex ways in which temporariness is being institutionalized as a condition of life for a growing number of people worldwide. The collection emphasizes contemporary developments, but also provides historical context on nation-state membership as the fundamental means for accessing rights in an era of expanding temporariness - in recognition of why pathways to permanence remain so compelling. Through empirical and theoretical analysis, contributors explore various dimensions of temporariness, especially as it relates to the legal status of migrants and refugees, to the spread of precarious employment, and to limitations on social rights. While the focus is on Canada, a number of chapters investigate and contrast developments in Canada with those in Europe as well as Australia and the United States. Together, these essays reveal changing and enduring temporariness at local, regional, national, transnational, and global levels, and in different domains, such as health care, language programs, and security. The question at the heart of this collection is whether temporariness can be liberated from current constraints. While not denying the desirability of permanence for migrants and labourers, Liberating Temporariness? presents alternative possibilities of security and liberation.