Globalisation, Migration & Mobility
Migration and mobility are central issues in modern economic growth and are consistent with economic globalisation, the role of technology and knowledge in driving social change, and social transformations. Migration has also become a major issue of international and domestic politics since mobility can undermine state sovereignty and has been linked to security and terrorism threats. The emphasis in recent decades on the theme of Migration and Development in academic and policy arenas in the Asia Pacific region and elsewhere also reflects the dramatic changes in the growth of international migration.
Migration studies is an important area of social inquiry at UNE and researchers working on migration theory and methodology are contributing to migration knowledge by developing cross-disciplinary frameworks to study economic and social transformations and the links between internal and international mobility. There are established collaborative links in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Australia with collaborators willing to provide assistance to students working in these countries. There are also collaborative links in the United Kingdom and USA.
Migration studies pose questions about the migratory process and the mechanisms for migration and also seek to integrate the research findings into the wider understanding of the demographic, economic, structural and technological changes that occur in all modernising societies. They enable us to categorise migration as a voluntary or forced process. This in turn helps us to look at conditions of coercion, deception, entrapment, initiative and duress. They also enable us to understand the gendered dimensions of migration, discriminatory immigration frameworks and hiring processes and the niche markets for women workers and they connect the mass migration of Empire (1870s-1930s) with the mass migration of industrialising states in Asia since the 1980s and place the Asia-Pacific in the broad narrative of global migration movements. Case studies enable us to make distinct and original contributions to the global discussion of migration and mobility.
Links
Tessa Morris-Suzuki (ANU) and I have set up the Asia-Pacific Migration Research Forum Network (at ANU and UNE) and collaborate with academics, human rights groups and NGOs in Southeast and Northeast Asia. Together with Ian Metcalfe (Deputy Director of the UNE Asia Centre), we have received funding from various sources to hold International Workshops on Migration in recent years, including:
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Japan Foundation: Migrant Labour in Asia: Needed, not wanted http://www.une.edu.au/asiacenter/MigConf.html
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International Centre of Research Excellence in Asia-Pacific studies:
to host workshops in Armidale and Canberra on the Refugee Crises in the Asia –Pacific
[See "Refugees and Refugee Policies in the Asia-Pacific region", UNEAC Asia Papers 2007, published online http://www.une.edu.au/asiacenter/UNEAC_Asia_Papers_12-19.html] -
Academy of the Social Sciences/ UNESCO :
Workshop on Migration Challenges in the Asia-Pacific in the 21st century
http://www.une.edu.au/asiacenter/MigWshp.html -
[See "Migration and Integration in the Asia-Pacific Region" special issue, UNESCO, International Journal on Multicultural Societies (IJMS), Vol 9 Issue 2, 2007, published online at http://www.unesco.org/shs/ijms/vol9/issue2].
See also
- http://www.une.edu.au/ebl/staff/akaur.phphttp://www.une.edu.au/news/archives/000422.html
- http://www.une.edu.au/asiacenter/EBLBooks.html
- http://www.une.edu.au/asiacenter/reamarjitk.html
Contact:
Professor Amarjit Kaur
Email: akaur@une.edu.au
Phone: 02 6773 2874 (or +61 2 6773 2874 overseas)
Fax: 02 6773 3596