Volume 12, 2003

Issue N. 3

Joon Kim

"Insurgency and Advocacy: Unauthorized Foreign Workers and Civil Society in South Korea,"  Vol. 12 (3), p. 237-270, 2003

Due to major structural changes in the 1980s, South Korea initiated an international contract labor program known as the industrial trainee system in 1991. Started ostensibly as a temporary measure to deal with domestic labor shortage in the declining manufacturing sector, the program has spread recently to other sectors, including fisheries, construction and agriculture. Currently, over 300,000 unskilled foreigners reside in South Korea, of which two out of every three persons are identified as unauthorized workers. This article examines how the South Korean industrial trainee program systematically produces unauthorized workers and highlights the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in protecting the human rights of foreign workers. The successful collaboration of South Korea’s civil society stems from its unique historical formation, rooted in democracy movements of earlier decades. It also implicates strong prospects for substantive integration of foreign workers and, as a consequence, suggests important changes in the country’s social and economic structures.

Kou Yang
"Hmong Diaspora of the Post-War Period,"  Vol. 12 (3), p. 271-300, 2003 

The fear of retaliation, retribution and persecution, combined with alleged forcible re-education by the post-war socialist government of Laos have forced half of the 300,000 Hmong of Laos to flee the country since the Secret War ended in 1975. The majority of these Hmong refugees were resettled in the United States. By 2003 they had established a Hmong American community comparable in size with the current Hmong community in Laos. The rest of these Hmong refugees settled in Australia, Argentina, Canada, Germany, France and French Guyana. Their post-war diasporic experience includes forced dispersion to at least two foreign countries, struggling to maintain a collective memory of their homeland, and maintaining a Hmong ethnic consciousness. Some have experienced difficult relationships with host societies, while others have adapted better, and learned to develop a more tolerant attitude toward diversity. Additionally, a small group of the Hmong in the West continues to support the resistance movement in Laos, where Hmong ethnic oppression is still said to exist.
This paper is an attempt to explore the Hmong Diaspora in the Post-Secret War Period. It focuses on two communities in 2003: the Hmong in Laos and Hmong Americans.

Lloyd L. Wong
"Chinese Business Migration to Australia, Canada and the United States: State Policy and the Global Immigration Marketplace,"  Vol. 12 (3), p. 301-336, 2003

This paper examines business migration to Australia, Canada and the United States by integrating the concepts of a global immigration marketplace and the commodification of citizenship into global political economy theory. It finds that state business migration policies constitute “offers” to potential businesspersons, in a discourse of “competition” and simultaneously regulate the process. In the sorting process of potential migrants across countries many businesspersons have a rational “choice” of the country they want to emigrate to. This competition and choice provide evidence of a global immigration marketplace and data show that only Australia and Canada are active competitors with Canada having an advantage. An analysis of Chinese business migration from China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore indicate substantial numbers in the tens of thousands in the early 1990s but this has decreased in recent years due to several economic and political factors. Currently there are moderate levels of Chinese business migration with China now as the major source country. Since businesspersons are not a homogenous group the paper concludes with some suggested policy changes to make business migration more accessible and transformative.

Guy Ramsay and Anna Shnukal
"'Aspirational' Chinese: Achieving Community Prominence on Thursday Island, Northeast Australia,"  Vol. 12 (3), p. 337-360, 2003

The experience of the Chinese diaspora in Australia has been the subject of much academic attention in the past three decades. The prevailing narrative of the Chinese presence, which dates from early White occupation of Australia, has highlighted discourses of marginalization and exclusion for the Chinese pioneers who contributed so significantly to the economic development of the nation. Yet, despite their economic success, few Chinese gained regard and standing in mainstream colonial society and, of these, the best known resided in southern cities. Across northern Australia, far from the major population centers and seats of government, Chinese also became economically successful as agriculturists and merchants. Again, only a handful sought and obtained wider community acceptance, even local prominence. Our study draws on the diasporic experience of Chinese on Thursday Island in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to elucidate strategies employed by a minority to achieve social status within the general community. Through exploration of the socio-cultural forces influencing their choices - the dominant ethos of Thursday Island, multi-ethnicity and the consequences of anti-Chinese legislation - a unique portrait of the Chinese diasporic experience emerges, narrated through multiple sites of cultural collusion and contestation.

Wei Wei Da
"Gender Relations in Recent Chinese Migration to Australia."  Vol. 12 (3), p. 361-384, 2003

The study frames its exploration of gender relations among recent migrants from the People’s Republic of China to Australia from theory in two fields: migration studies and gender roles. Based on interviews of recent Chinese migrants to Australia, findings suggest that gender role performances are strategic and flexible. Women actively engage in international migration. The mobility of women is contingent on their education, occupation, language skill and networks. Neither do conventional migration models or gender role theories render clear explanations of the gender roles exhibited by women migrants in the sample. Rather, the impact of migration on gender relations is multifaceted, individualized and cultural. Women’s expectations of men involved elements of tradition, modernity and some degree of ambivalence. The findings suggest the importance of considering the social context, culture and social class of migrants in the home country when discussing the gender relations of migrants in the process of settlement in the host country. The study calls for country/culture- specific approach and suggests a fresh way of studying gender relations among the Chinese in a globalizing era.

Xin Frank He
"Explaining the Development of Migrant Businesses in Beijing,"  Vol. 12 (3), p. 385-406, 2003

This article argues that restrictive laws against migrants in Beijing, China have some unexpected consequences which turn out to be conducive to the survival and development of migrant businesses. First, restrictive and discriminatory legislation compels migrants to cooperate with locals, illegally or semi-legally, in order to get into the market. Locals are willing to provide migrants with protection in exchange for monetary interests. The cooperative relationship between migrants and locals renders the state and its agents unable or unwilling to strictly enforce the restrictive laws. Second, in response to discriminatory and restrictive regulations, migrants turn to informal rules and communal solidarity. Third, given the hostile legal environment, migrants tend to be ambivalent about settling down in big cities. As a result, they work harder and spend less. These factors enable migrants to survive the hostile legal environment and achieve considerable economic success. In turn, their economic success gives them more bargaining power to consolidate their cooperation with locals and gain a de facto existence in the city.


BOOK REVIEW

Gilbert V. Sembrano
"The Grounds of Refugee Protection in the Context of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law: Canadian and United States Case Law Compared"
By Mark R. von Sternberg,  Vol. 12 (3), p. 407-408, 2003