Volume 16, 2007

Issue N. 3

Tom O'Neill

"'Our Nepali work is very good': Nepali Domestic Workers as Trasnational Subjects,"  Vol. 16 (3), pp. 301-321, 2007
 

This paper explores the experiences of several young Nepali women who spent time in the Persian Gulf as transnational domestic workers, and argues that migration served to increase their sense of autonomy and agency. In it, I question the conflation of transnational domestic work with the trafficking of prostitutes into India, which figured in governmental protective measures until 2003, or during the time when these young women worked abroad. This conflation did considerable violence to the autonomy of working women, undervalued their growing importance for the sustainability of households in Nepal, and led to policies that excluded women from participating in Nepal’s increasingly important remittance economy. The young women described in this paper crossed borders in active, covert rejection of those rules of exclusion in order to become responsible individuals meeting the needs of their families, not as trafficked women nor as passive victims of social and economic change.

Dudley L. Poston, Jr. and Hua Luo
"Chinese Student and Labor Migration to the United States: Trends and Policies Since the 1980s,"   Vol. 16 (3), pp. 323-355, 2007
 

This paper analyzes recent patterns of Chinese immigration to the United States. We mainly compare the migration trends of students and laborers. Foreign students enter the U.S. usually as temporary immigrants with F1 or M1 visas, thus they are easily distinguished from permanent immigrants. Labor immigrants come to the U.S. in either a permanent or temporary status. We examine and compare the trends of these groups of Chinese immigrants for the 23-year period of 1980 to 2002 and evaluate the degree to which U.S. immigration laws have influenced the trends.

Nobue Suzuki
"Carework and Migration: Japanese Perspectives on the Japan- Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement,"   Vol. 16 (3), pp. 357-381, 2007
 

This paper details the context of the reception of Filipino careworkers under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). Following the reduction in the deployment of Filipina/o entertainers in Japan since March 2005, the potential deployment of careworkers to Japan has generated much interest in the Philippines. However, many aspects of careworker migration are not well understood. The primary objective of this paper is thus to clarify the social conditions surrounding the JPEPA to better understand the various issues involved in carework in Japan. Towards this end, the paper discusses the following: the attempt of the state to reduce the costs of carework; state policies on foreign workers and the prospect of bringing in Filipino careworkers under the JPEPA; the responses of government institutions, medical and labor organizations to careworker migration; the process of careworker migration as provided in the JPEPA; and possibilities of cooperation between Filipinos already in Japan and incoming careworkers.

Hui-Peng Liew
"Contraceptive Use among Women Migrants in Nang Rong, Thailand: An Exploratory Study,"   Vol. 16 (3), pp. 383-403, 2007
 

Understanding the dynamics of contraceptive use among women migrants is considered important, especially to a country like Thailand that is undergoing many changes, and an increasingly female-dominated migration during the last few decades. Using survey data collected in 2000, this study seeks to examine the determinants of modern contraceptive use among women migrants in Nang Rong, Thailand. The study found that several demographic and socioeconomic factors are significant predictors of contraceptive use among women migrants and the magnitude of such effects varies across different migrant types.

Nahid Kabir
"Mackay Revisited: The Case of Javanese-Australian Muslims, 1880-1999,"   Vol. 16 (3), pp. 405-424, 2007

The development of Queensland’s sugar industry in the nineteenth century led to an influx of non-European laborers, such as Melanesians, Cingalese and Javanese. Years later, under the Immigration Restriction Act, 1901, many Asian people were expelled from Australia, but some Javanese remained in Mackay. This paper examines the Javanese settlement pattern during the colonial, “White Australia,” and multicultural periods in terms of race, ethnicity, culture and religion. These accounts were derived largely from interviews with Australia-born second, third and fourth generation Muslims of Javanese origin in Mackay.

CONFERENCE REPORT
 

Ronald Skeldon
"Migration and Labor Markets in Asia and Europe,"   Vol. 16 (3), pp. 425-441, 2007