Contemporary Migrations: Global Movement and Transnationalism

Abstract

In order to contextualise the subsequent discussion of local Island ideologies concerning migrant island communities, Beswick continues her exploration of migration to Jersey in this chapter through a clear examination of post-war, multilingual migratory movement to and from Jersey since 1945. She outlines the significant changes in the socioeconomic context of the late 1940s and early 1950s, also exploring the presence of other types of migration allied to the development of an international banking and finance centre. In doing so, Beswick traces the trajectories and backgrounds of migrants over the past 70 years through some of her empirical fieldwork data. She also examines policy and planning legislation regarding population size as well employment, residency and citizenship. These issues serve to clearly contextualise her subsequent discussion in Chapter 5 of receptor community ideologies and responses to the visibility of migrant communities and their use of languages other than English in situated practices. By considering touristic re-framings and re-imaginings of the Island, Beswick also considers the juxtaposition of Jersey as an island of refuge and an island of privilege and concludes by examining the Island’s reputation as a transitory workspace for those migrants who in the twenty-first century often view it as a stepping-stone to better employment elsewhere.