Abstract
Research in the field of transnationalism has largely focused on the experience of migrants in the host country and only offhand remarks have been documented on those who have returned or moved on to a third place of residence. Underlying reasons are that return migration to a place of origin is understood to convey a sense of closure, finality, and completion of the migration journey and that the experience of migrants who have returned to their homeland is predicated to weaken their linkages with their previous host country. However, for Hong Kong Chinese migrants who emigrated prior to the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty, return migration to Hong Kong is often another stage in a continuing journey with further movements ahead. This chapter evaluates the use of the concept of transnationalism, identifying gaps in the literature that have emerged from the applications of transnational framework in return migration research. In particular, I argue that the ways in which identifications operate for Chinese returned migrants in Hong Kong requires a multi-faceted conceptualization of transnationalisms, which encompasses a focus on the migrants’ ‘inverted’ transnational linkages. Copyright © 2012 Springer Netherlands.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Living intersections: Transnational migrant identifications in Asia |
Editors | Caroline PLÜSS , Kwok-bun CHAN |
Place of Publication | Dordrecht |
Publisher | Springer |
Pages | 235-257 |
ISBN (Print) | 9789400729650, 9789400729667 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2012 |