Asian Migrants Research Articles

BOOK REVIEW: Affect, Narratives and Politics of Southeast Asian Migration, by Carlos M. Piocos III

BOOK REVIEW: Affect, Narratives and Politics of Southeast Asian Migration, by Carlos M. Piocos III

Guest Editors’ Introduction Children and Youth in Asian Migration

Guest Editors’ Introduction Children and Youth in Asian Migration

Broken Dreams in Ashkhabad

The purpose of this article is to present a discussion on the main political contradictions (both domestic and international) of post-independence Turkmenistan. As part of a broader effort to understand the social and power dynamics resulting from the collapse of the Soviet Union for the countries of Central Asia, we apply a descriptive analysis of some of the principal domestic and foreign policy events involving the Ashkhabad government, as well as the main implications for the lives of Turkmen (and Central Asian) migrants in the Russian Federation, who have chosen to leave their country of origin in search of better economic and educational opportunities. As a result of the present effort, we observe that the Central-Asian country not only became a laboratory for the exercise of a local version of a 'Cult of Personality' of the leader (resembling the phenomenon occurred during the 1930-1950s within Stalin’s Soviet Union), as well as the precarious operationalization on the part of Turkmenistan of its political neutrality in view of an economic dependence from Moscow and, more recently, from China. Furthermore, the present article evidences the difficulties of adaptation and assimilation of Turkmen migrants (and Central Asians more generally) in Russia, due, in part, to a ‘stereotyped’ view about migrants on the part of Russian public opinion.

Stuck between the Global North and South: Middling migrants in Australia and Singapore

The literature on ‘middling transnationals’ is growing, although studies on Asian middling migrants are still relatively lacking. Current understandings of middling migrants are also frequently fixed on migrants’ mid-level skills and their middle-class status. Drawing on interviews with Nepali migrants living in Melbourne, Australia and mainland Chinese migrants living in Singapore respectively, this article considers how their middling visa status and imaginaries interact with anxious desires. The article argues, first, that migrants from the Global South experience heightened anxious desires due to imaginaries oscillating between the Global North and South. Second, and relatedly, the article argues that migration regimes keep migrants compliant through managing their anxious desires. By detailing the experiences of different groups of Asian migrants in separate migration regimes, the article aims to highlight the heterogeneous experiences among migrants originating from the Global South, and the techniques used by different states to produce temporary and compliant migrants.

Factors influencing the attitudes of young Sri Lankan-Australians towards seeking mental healthcare: a national online survey

BackgroundSri Lankans, as part of the South Asian diaspora, comprise one of the largest migrant groups in Australia. Although few data are available, South Asian migrants appear to experience higher rates of mental health problems, but seek help at lower rates than other migrant groups. Understanding factors that underpin mental health care seeking is necessary to inform mental health promotion strategies, including access to care. The aim was to investigate factors influencing attitudes to seeking care for mental health problems among young Sri Lankan-Australians born in Sri Lanka or in Australia.MethodsAn anonymous cross- sectional online survey which included the Multiethnic Identity Measure, Perceived Stigma Questionnaire, General Help-Seeking Questionnaire, Attitudes Towards Seeking Professional Psychological Help questionnaire and study specific questions to ascertain sociodemographic characteristics. The survey was advertised on social media and specifically included young adults aged between 18–30, who self-identified as being of Sri Lankan heritage and were living in Australia. Participation was not possible for those that did not have access to the internet. Data were analyzed using bivariable and multivariable statistics.ResultsOf the 396 people who attempted the survey, 323 provided fully completed data, 2 provided > 50% completed data which were included in the analyses. 71 were excluded because < 50% of the survey was completed. From all participants, 39.70% were born in Australia (SLaus), 54.46% born in Sri Lanka (SLsl) and 5.8% born in other countries. SLsl had more stigmatizing attitudes towards mental illness (p = 0.027) and seeking professional psychological help (p = 0.03). Women, those who had spent more years living in Australia and whose fathers were more highly educated had less stigmatized attitudes toward mental illness and help-seeking.ConclusionCountry of birth, family characteristics and gender influence stigma towards mental illness and help-seeking. Public health strategies to promote understanding of mental health problems and seeking mental healthcare are more likely to be effective if they address these factors directly.

Physical Activity Experiences of South Asian Migrant Women in Western Australia: Implications for Intervention Development.

The benefits of physical activity are widely recognised; however, physical activity uptake remains low in South Asian populations. South Asian migrant women face health risks as they adapt to new cultures, and these risks are often intensified through their limited participation in physical activity as one of the behaviours that promote positive health outcomes. Three focus group discussions with sixteen South Asian migrant women aged between 33 and 64 years, with a median age of 48 years and who live in Western Australia, were conducted. Thematic analysis of the transcribed qualitative data was completed to explore and uncover South Asian women’s experiences with physical activity, as well as their motivation, beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge about physical activity. Five major themes emerged after coding and analysing the data. The themes included the women’s knowledge of physical activity, their general attitudes and beliefs surrounding physical activity, the advantages and disadvantages of participation in physical activity, their experiences with physical activity, and the barriers, challenges, and facilitators surrounding physical activity. Recommendations are proposed to increase physical activity among this group to improve overall health and wellbeing and implications for intervention development are discussed.

Transnational physical activity and sport engagement of new Asian migrants in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Based upon a literature review, this paper first identifies and articulates the importance of studying physical activity and sport (PAS) engagement of new Asian migrants within a particular geographical location – New Zealand. A pilot study with a series of in‐depth interviews highlights some challenges that New Zealand Regional Sports Organisations (RSOs) and new Asian migrants face in terms of PAS engagement. Findings from the pilot study interviews indicate that RSOs in New Zealand are well aware of these challenges, and these challenges mainly stem from a lack of understanding of the needs of new Asian migrant communities. These findings also indicate that ethnicity plays a significant role in influencing migrants' PAS engagement.

Epidemic thunderstorm asthma

Epidemic thunderstorm asthma

Using indigenous sport as resistance against migrant exclusion: Kabaddi and South Asian male migrants in Greece

ABSTRACT This article discusses a unique cultural politics of identity affirmation and resistance enacted in the rural spaces of Greece by male migrants from India and Pakistan through the game of Kabaddi, a rural indigenous sport. Drawing on interviews with South Asian migrant men and observation of Kabaddi tournament in Greece, it argues that the play of Kabaddi offers deliberate performative acts of masculine resistance against the emasculatory bordering regimes of illegality, deportability and racial otherness. Kabaddi tournaments occur as highly masculinised, public, collective, celebratory, yet potentially subversive spectacles. Kabaddi allows South Asian migrant men to acquire culturally specific masculine capital through displays of muscular masculinity. As spectators and participants, they collectively engage in cultural affirmation and wresting subjectivity against bordering regimes that subjugate racialised migrant men into (im)mobility, enforce labour disciplining and invisibility and emasculate them into abjectivity.

Book Review: Affect, Narratives and Politics of Southeast Asian Migration by Carlos M. Piocos III

Carlos Piocos’s ground-breaking book, Affect, Narratives and Politics of Southeast Asian Migration published earlier this year by Routledge, provides an in-depth analysis of the intimate labour(ed) landscape of Filipina and Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong and Singapore, and how their (im)mobilities are not just hastened and aggravated by the neoliberal framework of global labor and the policies of their sending and receiving nation-states, but also in terms of the emotionality that circulates within the global care chains network. Piocos specifically turns our attention to the “felt” politics that emanate from films and fictions of and by Southeast Asian migrant workers and how these cultural productions create an affective economy that, according to him, is not just “sticky” as feminist critic Sarah Ahmed describes, but demonstrates varying viscosities of “thickening and thinning out,” reflecting a “messiness” of feelings that do not necessarily coalesce in these texts (p. 10).

Employment of Central Asian Migrant Workers in Russia during the COVID‑19 Pandemic

In the context of the COVID‑19 pandemic and the economic crisis in Russia, the labour market has changed, affecting the foreign labour force, which is an important category of it. In these changed conditions, the study of the employment of labour migrants from Central Asia is becoming more relevant. Based on a sociological study conducted by the author in Russia in 2020–2021 among 900 labour migrants from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in the cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, the type and scope of their employment at home are analysed. The type and scope of their employment in Russia, the method of finding a job and competition with Russians, the type of colleagues and the length of stay in Russia are analysed. The analysis analyses the average monthly and hourly wages in Russia on average per year in rouble and dollar terms and participation in the formation of the family budget at home, the existence of a written agreement with the employer and the reasons for its absence in Russia during the COVID‑19 pandemic in the country and gender sections.

Twenty-first-century African and Asian Migration to Europe and the Rise of the Ethno-topographic Narrative

The first two decades of the twenty-first century have witnessed a rise in the publication of narratives concerning contemporary African and Asian migration to Europe, written individually or collectively, by Asian, African and/or European authors. While scholarly attention has increasingly turned to these texts, our purpose is to further investigate them from a pan-European perspective and to propose a model for their analysis as a distinct literary genre. We therefore introduce the "ethno-topographic narrative" to define, classify and systematically analyze twenty-first-century migration narratives published in Europe in relation to theory, method, corpus, generic type, individual or collective authorship, border and periphery/center, literal and figurative spaces, and multi-voiced modes of narration, including the gaze of the migrant, among other literary and taxonomic criteria. Focusing on five representative samples from Germany, Sweden, Italy, the UK and Greece, we argue that the new geopolitically-charged genre to which these texts belong constitutes a dynamic part of European literatures that attempts to unsettle the monolithic European canon, rejecting, as it does so, the label of the “exotic” text displaying “foreign” characters. Our approach is grounded on the implications of the three components of ethno-topographic (ethnos, topos, graphein), which enable a tripartite form of literary analysis.

Gestational diabetes: changed health beliefs in migrant women from five Asian countries living in Sweden: a prospective qualitative study.

The aim of this study was to explore the temporal development of beliefs about health, illness and health care in migrant women with gestational diabetes (GD) born in Asia residing in Sweden, and the influence on health-related behaviour in terms of self-care and seeking care. Migrant Asian women are a high-risk group for developing GD. Adapting to the culture in the new society and the healthcare system, being diagnosed with GD and becoming a mother is demanding. The question is whether Asian migrants' patterns of beliefs and behaviour change over time, as no previous study has been revealed on this topic. Qualitative prospective exploratory study. Semi-structured interviews were held on three occasions: during pregnancy and three and fourteen months after delivery, with women born in Asia, diagnosed with GD. Data were analysed with qualitative content analysis. There was a temporal change of beliefs influencing health-related behaviour, showing a rising curve in risk awareness. An increasing number of persons described developing a healthy diet/lifestyle based on initial advice and shifted focus from the child to worries about the woman's health and risk of developing type 2 diabetes and being unable to care for the child/family. Also, the number of women perceiving GD as a transient condition decreased and more believed it would last forever. Beliefs about health care were unchanged, the healthcare model was perceived working well but information about GD and follow-ups was requested even after delivery, and competent staff was expected. Health professionals' beliefs about the seriousness of GD influence patients' beliefs and need to be considered. Migrant women need support with adequate information, based on their individual beliefs, to continue develop a sustainable healthy lifestyle even after giving birth, to promote health and prevent type 2 diabetes.

Redefining the Immigrant South: Indian and Pakistani Immigration to Houston during the Cold War by Uzma Quraishi

Reviewed by: Redefining the Immigrant South: Indian and Pakistani Immigration to Houston during the Cold War by Uzma Quraishi David Reimers Redefining the Immigrant South: Indian and Pakistani Immigration to Houston during the Cold War. By Uzma Quraishi. New Directions in Southern Studies. ( Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2020. Pp. xviii, 315. Paper, $29.95, ISBN 978-1-4696-5519-2; cloth, $90.00, ISBN 978-1-4696-5518-5.) Uzma Quraishi has written a well-documented and engaging book. It was a pleasure to read. Her focus is on changing immigration to Houston, Texas, and she reminds us that this city belongs to both the South and the Sun Belt. The author relates the story of Houston's rapid growth since the 1950s, with its boom-and-bust economy. Quraishi touches on the large increase of the Latinx population, but her study centers on the much smaller populations of South Asians, in particular Indians and Pakistanis. She combines census data and other sources with in-depth oral histories. She studies the first generation of South Asians in Houston after 1965 and gives a picture that is not common among histories of immigration. Why the inclusion of the Cold War in the title? The migration of South Asians to America during the Cold War was part of the U.S. government's attempt to win allies as it promoted programs overseas. The main such program was established by the United States Information and Educational Exchange Act (1948), which attempted to present the best possible view of the United States. Embedded in this program was the educational exchange of Americans and South Asians. South Asians had been severely restricted by regular U.S. immigration channels, which limited immigrants to one hundred per year, until the Hart-Celler Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. When pushing for the 1965 act's passage, Lyndon B. Johnson administration officials suggested that only eight thousand Indians would come to the United States. But the educational exchanges had already opened a path to the United States that proved the 1965 predictions to be gross underestimates. Quraishi points out that some of the South Asian migrants had no initial intention of staying in the United States but decided to stay after favorable experiences with the educational opportunities in Houston. After the economic elite became established, immigrants arriving under family unification followed, thus expanding the community. It should be noted that she does emphasize the difficulties of the highly educated in India to find employment in their home country, which also encouraged them to find their futures in the United States. In any case, "For Indians and Pakistanis in the postwar era, the idea of migration to the United States emerged as an unintended consequence of U.S. State programs abroad" (p. 2). The second part of the book rests on thirty-eight intensive interviews with first-generation South Asian immigrants. Some readers might believe that this sample is too small, but this reviewer was not bothered by a limited group. Quraishi blends the interviews with data about the growth of the community and its presence in Houston. It is important to note that these immigrants were an elite group—as she puts it, middle-class, or "upper caste" (p. 23). What emerges from her interviews is the significance of education in her subjects' lives. It was education that made their success in Houston possible, and their faith in education for their children was the key to sustaining that success. [End Page 197] A major part of the story Quraishi tells is about the growing opportunities for these immigrants due to the expansion of Houston's suburbs. Their search for housing took them to older (but basically new) neighborhoods with quality public schools. As she demonstrates, these neighborhoods were usually white with some other Asians. Rather than challenging segregation, the resulting neighborhoods supported it, with Blacks and Mexicans largely confined to poorer neighborhoods. These South Asians were thus incorporated into a Jim Crow Houston shaped by class and racial hierarchies. David Reimers New York University Copyright © 2022 The Southern Historical Association

Central Asian and Chinese Migrants in Public Opinion: Ural and Siberian Cases

Central Asian and Chinese Migrants in Public Opinion: Ural and Siberian Cases

Central Asian Migrants at the Russian Labor Market: Before the Pandemic

Central Asian Migrants at the Russian Labor Market: Before the Pandemic

Racism in Modern Russia: From the Romanovs to Putin by Eugene M. Avrutin

Reviewed by: Racism in Modern Russia: From the Romanovs to Putin by Eugene M. Avrutin Kimberly St. Julian Varnon (bio) Eugene M. Avrutin, Racism in Modern Russia: From the Romanovs to Putin (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022). 140 pp., ill. Index. ISBN: 978-1-350-09728-5. Eugene M. Avrutin's Racism in Modern Russia: From the Romanovs to Putin is a new release in Bloomsbury's Russian Shorts series. The brief, easy-to-read monograph is a timely and excellent addition to the literature on race and racism in Russia and the Soviet Union. The volume begins with the 2013 Biryulevo protests, which remain a frightening reminder of the power of racism in driving violence against Central Asians in contemporary Russia. Avrutin uses Biryulevo to underscore how Central Asian migrants in Russia are racialized as Black and how the Russian crowds use inflammatory, white supremacist language to mark Central Asians and Caucasians as others (P. 3). From these scenes, the reader learns that "Russia for Russians" and other racist sentiments are not new but a continuation of racialization and othering of ethnic minorities dating back to the tsarist period of Russian history. The introduction also provides readers with a cursory but helpful overview of the treatment of race in the secondary literature in Russian [End Page 377] and Soviet history. Avrutin argues that due to Russia's lack of an overseas empire, its absence in both the African slave trade and the Scramble for Africa, and the international image of the anti-racist Soviet Union, racism and racial thinking in Russia have often been overlooked in academic discourse. He correctly points out that race has often been portrayed as a nonissue in Soviet historiography. He asks: What factors account for this silence (dismissing race-based thought and practices)? Why have scholars shown so little interest in historical and theoretical discussions of race? (P. 4). Avrutin powerfully demonstrates that racial ideologies and racial hierarchies have been part of Russian cultural and social history throughout the 150 years that his book covers. From the premise of the "messy" color line – one in which the ideas and process of racialization are not fixed nor stable – Avrutin diagrams for readers the forms and functions of race in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. He argues that race did not dictate citizenship or social position in Russia or the Soviet Union, "but by rejecting the premise that an individual could belong to multiple identities, the state's classification system primed people to see the world in unambiguous racial terms" (P. 7). Thus, the classification and ordering of groups within the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union according to nationality or ethnicity can be better contextualized in a paradigm of race. The book is organized chronologically into four chapters. Chapter 1, "The Empire's Races," relates the development of anthropological and "scientific" thinking on race in the ethnically and culturally diverse Russian Empire. The chapter also places Russia within Western European discourses on race and racial differences in the nienteenth century. One of the most interesting sections of this chapter examines how Russian anthropologists and race ideologues approached Jews and other ethnic minorities within the empire. Race scientists such as the anthropologist Aleksei Arsen'evich Ivanovskii were confounded by Russia's Jewish population and categorized them as a distinct, non-Russian, race. Imperial expansion merged with the development of social sciences making the myriad of ethnic groups within the empire's borders a boon for Russian anthropologists and reified the idea that Russia was unique relative to its European imperial counterparts. Chapter 2, "Boundaries of Exclusion," builds on the previous chapter's explanation of how race and racial difference were discussed and applied in academics and research. It explores the execution of racialization through how Russianness was defined and utilized by the [End Page 378] tsar and the imperial government to engender public support, maintain political order, and oppress minority nationalities. This chapter draws on Avrutin's expertise in Jewish history with a fascinating discussion of the 1913 Beilis trial that ties the Russian reaction to the case to similar racist attitudes in the United States toward African Americans in the post–Reconstruction Era. Another...

First call, home: perception and practice around health among South Asian migrants in Melbourne, Australia.

The socio-cultural context of populations has a significant effect on health outcomes across every stage of life. In Australia, South Asian migrants have a comparatively higher incidence of chronic disease and less use of health services. Often overlooked are community views of health, cultural traits and belief systems. This study aimed to explore the factors that influence health perception and practice of South Asian migrants. The study used a mixed method approach with both a survey and interviews. A total of 62 participants between the age of 18 and 64 years were surveyed and 14 participants completed interviews. Data were analysed descriptively and thematically. South Asians share a common perception and practice around health and illness. This paper highlights two key findings. First, these groups take a broad view of health encompassing physical, mental, emotional, social and economic aspects of life. Second, these cultural groups do not seek medical help as their first choice, but have a high level of trust in family for providing health advice and share a belief in the effectiveness of home remedies for managing health conditions. Participants shared their expectation that the Australian health system should consider their socio-cultural construct to make services culturally safe and engaging to enhance service utilisation.

Analysis of cultural values of Russian youth and Central Asian migrants at the present stage by G. Hofstede methodology)

Analysis of cultural values of Russian youth and Central Asian migrants at the present stage by G. Hofstede methodology)

Миграции из Южной Азии в Западную Европу: истоки, тенденции, перспективы

The article is concentrated on the phenomenon of Indian and South Asian migration to the countries of Western Europe. Initially, migration flows from this region were an inalienable part of metropolis–colonies interrelationship and were sustained on the notion of free and unrestricted movement of human resources from South Asia to the British Isles. After the dissolution of the British Empire and gaining independence, the inhabitants of India and South Asia, in search for a “happier life” overseas, set their course for the United Kingdom and Western Europe, where later migrants were put under rigorous political control. However, the flows of those seeking economic prosperity and political asylum remained intensive and became subject to methodical social regulations in Western Europe. Equilibrium of this kind was put to a severe test when the migration crisis of 2015 and 2016 broke out. Only the most advanced groups of migrants could adjust themselves to the newly emerged reality as demonstrated by the cases of the Netherlands and Italy. The Dutch government has restricted the inflow of low-skilled labour, while encouraging skilled immigration. Indian labour force is generally employed in IT, consultancy, engineering or management. Local and national governments work together with private partners to make the lives of these newcomers easier. High-skilled migrants are welcome as new citizens. Most Indians in Italy have settled in the north of the country and work in agriculture. Indians are considered industrious, business-minded, hard-working and law-abiding. The Indian migrant community has integrated successfully into Italian economic and social life. The author argues that the Dutch and Italian practice of handling the Indian migrants could be critically absorbed in Russia that is keen to attract the “demographic dividend” from outside.