Nearly mobile: pandemic im/mobilities and lockdown strategies amongst Asian migrant professionals in England

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article proposes ‘nearly mobile’ as a productive concept to illustrate the im/mobility experiences amongst Asian skilled migrants in England during a global health crisis. The concept of ‘nearly mobile’ describes how mobility practices and aspirations have been heavily restricted during national lockdowns, while still remaining fluid and relational, with both debilitating and empowering potentials. The ambiguity of ‘nearly’ offers both frustration and hope, when the desired ‘mobility as normal’ seems just out of reach. The concept of 'nearly mobile' offers two main dimensions. First, it highlights how migrants navigate through ‘shock precarities’ by safe-zoning – utilising and spatialising voluntary immobility to create unique work and living spaces based on daily assessments of risk and responsibility. Second, ‘nearly mobile’ reflects a continuous yearning for a return to normality, where forecasting and imagining become practical ways of seizing opportunities that emerge amidst crisis and uncertainty. We propose 'nearly mobile' as a productive framework for revaluing im/mobility in times of rising localism, protectionism, and the normalisation of transnational biopolitical regimes, which underpin a possible ‘new normal’ beyond the pandemic.