Transnationalism unstuck

Precarious work and the transnational geographies of failed migration of Bangladeshi migrant workers in Singapore

Bibliographic Data

ID4262854
AuthorsYea (0000-0001-9789-479X, Department of Social Inquiry La Trobe University Wodonga Victoria Australia, corresponding author), Sallie Yea
Year2022
Volume22
Issue2
Pages259-273
Publication date2022-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueGlobal Networks (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1470-2266 • E-ISSN: 1471-0374
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/glob.12343
OpenAlexW3196805935
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited49

This paper explores the ways exploitative labour migration arrangements leading to 'failed migration' can extend discussions of transnationalism. Specifically, failed migration produces different sorts of engagements in transnational social fields to those commonly discussed in the literature and in relation to migrants who are considered successful. These departures allow for reflection on key assumptions about the practices of connection and engagement across borders between migrants and non-migrants that typify the operation of transnational social fields, including the ways constructions of gender shape these practices. The paper draws on a case study of Bangladeshi low-waged, transient migrant workers in Singapore. I examine three registers of diluted connection, namely: protecting the family from anxiety; distress for migrants through imposition of censure and suspicion; and the shame associated with exploitation. Moral-cultural frames that inscribe particular economic and social expectations on migrants and, in this case, values associated with 'being a man' transferred from home provide a lens through which to understand the reconfiguration of transnational social fields in the context of failed migration

Geography · Migration studies · Mobilities · Political science · Politics · Shame · Social science · Sociology · Transnationalism · Gender Studies · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Socioeconomic Development in Asia

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