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This book provides an in-depth exploration and analysis of marriages between Japanese nationals and migrants from three broad ethnic/cultural groups - spouses from the former Soviet Union countries, the Philippines, and Western countries. It reveals how the marriage migrants navigate the intricacies and trajectories of their marriages with Japanese people while living in Japan. Seen from the lens of ‘gendered geographies of power’, the book explores how state-level politics and policies towards marriage, migration, and gender affect the personal power politics in operation within the relationships of these international couples. Overall, the book discusses how ethnic identity intersects with gender in the negotiation of spaces and power relations between and amongst couples; and the role states and structural inequalities play in these processes, resulting in a reconfiguration of our notions of what international marriages are and how powerful gender and the state are in understanding the power relations in these unions.  

The aim of this article is to theorize interactions between migrant transnationalism and integration using a multiscalar approach. For migrant transnationalism scholars, attention to simultaneity in transnational social fields is given. However, much migration research in Europe continues to suffer from an ‘integration bias’, which under-appreciates the salience of simultaneity within transnational social fields in many migrants’ lives, and implicitly assumes a zero-sum approach to societal membership. Drawing on interviews with migrants in Oslo (Norway) a multiscalar analytical approach is adopted. The salience of where things happen and how they are understood, depending on the perspective of involved actors, across time, space and position, emerges when using this multiscalar approach. Identifying the roles of nested, taxonomical, but also emergent and perspective scales allows a fresh theoretical engagement with interactions between migrant transnationalism and integration, showing how simultaneity and (productive) friction result from additive, synergistic and even apparently antagonistic interactions.

Research on international student migration has been burgeoning, leading to a more nuanced understanding of international students whose experiences were, for many years, conceptualised in a rather limited way. In this paper, we aim to advance understanding of the diversity and complexity of student migrants’ experiences, by proposing a new interpretive framework, developed through narrative enquiry. Based on an in-depth narrative analysis of 41 “biographical encounters” with student migrants in Portugal, we illustrate the potential of biographical approaches in highlighting students’ subjectivities, and the complex interplay of diverse factors that shape migration processes. A migration “profile” was assigned to each narrative, capable of representing its leitmotif. This biographical approach to student migration provides a more nuanced understanding of how student migration emerges in time, thus offering a methodological approach that does justice to the diversity of student migration trajectories and may enhance the empirical examination of their experiences.

Background Migrants settling in a new country experience multiple complexities in navigating health care systems and adapting to a new way of life in the host country. In South Asia, migrating to another country for better life opportunities has been an ongoing trend and migration to Australia has significantly increased in recent years. Lower utilisation of health services and higher risks of chronic diseases among South Asian migrants poses a continuing challenge for the Australian health care system and little is known about why this demographic group does not access health services at the same rate. This study aimed to explore factors influencing access to health care by South Asian migrants in Australia. Methods Using a mixed-method design, we conducted 62 online survey and 14 in-depth interviews with participants from four South Asian countries: Nepal, India, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka. Participants were recruited using a purposive snowball sampling approach following a standard ethical approval process. Survey data were analysed descriptively in SPSS and interview data were recorded, transcribed, and analysed thematically. Results South Asian migrants experienced various complexities while accessing health services in Australia. The findings of this study highlighted a number of negative factors influencing their experiences of accessing health care: long waiting times for public health care, the expense of private health care, and communication problems due to socio-cultural differences. South Asian migrants also expressed their concern for a greater investment of resources into public health care to enable them to access quality and affordable care in these settings. Conclusions Given limited evidence available to help understand factors leading to the lower utilisation of health care and higher risks of chronic diseases among South Asian migrants, this study plays an important role in highlighting social, cultural, financial, and institutional factors that are critical to designing appropriate health-care strategies. This study recommends incorporating a collaborative and culturally competent model of care to increase access to health care and thereby help reduce existing disparities in health outcomes among South Asian migrant populations.

Host governments have responded to the migration of Somali refugees throughout Africa in recent decades in different ways. Kenyan policymakers have treated Somalis primarily as a security threat, imposing restrictions on them that especially target this group. In South Africa, where economic and political competition fuel xenophobia, Somalis are part of a larger foreign national population that is seen as having disproportionate economic influence. However, Somali Bantus have been welcomed in Tanzania, which granted them citizenship even as it limited the mobility and activities of other refugees. A comparative analysis suggests that the relative balance among security, economic, political, and normative considerations shapes the extent and scope of host government policies. les gouvernements hôtes ont réagi de différentes manières à la migration des réfugiés somaliens à travers L’Afrique au cours des dernières décennies. Les dirigeants kényans ont traité les Somaliens principalement comme une menace à la sécurité, imposant des restrictions les visant tout particulièrement. En Afrique du Sud, où la concurrence économique et politique alimente la xénophobie, les Somaliens font partie d’une population nationale étrangère plus importante et considérée comme exerçant une influence économique disproportionnée. Cependant, les Bantous somaliens ont été accueillis en Tanzanie, ce qui leur a octroyé la citoyenneté, même si cela a limité la mobilité et les activités d’autres réfugiés. Une analyse comparative suggère que l’équilibre relatif entre les considérations de sécurité, économiques, politiques et normatives conditionne l’étendue et la portée des politiques du gouvernement hôte. Nas últimas décadas, a atitude dos governos africanos em relação às migrações de refugiados somalis tem assumido expressões variadas. No Quénia, os decisores políticos encaram os somalis sobretudo como uma ameaça à segurança, impondo restrições que afetam especificamente este grupo. Na África do Sul, onde a concorrência económica e política alimenta a xenofobia, os somalis integram a população de origem estrangeira que é vista como detendo uma influência económica desproporcionada. Todavia, os bantu da Somália são bem-vindos na Tanzânia, que lhes concedeu cidadania, mesmo quando impôs restrições à mobilidade e às atividades de outros refugiados. Uma análise comparativa sugere que a dimensão e a abrangência das políticas dos governos de acolhimento são determinadas por um equilíbrio relativo entre a segurança e considerandos de natureza económica, política e jurídica.

'In Tamil we don't say goodbye.Only, I will go and come back.' S.Shakthidharan's extraordinary multilingual play (English, Tamil and Sinhalese) Counting and Cracking traverses countries and decades to bring us an epic tale of family, love and politics.

Refugee resettlement is accomplished through the intersecting administration of state and non-state actors with competing claims and interests. These competing claims are caught between humanitarian imperatives to rescue the most vulnerable refugees on one hand and security demands to protect national borders from those deemed undesirable and undeserving on the other. Based on ethnographic research with Somali refugees in Nairobi from 2013 to 2015, Balakian examines the ways in which refugees maneuver through an unsynchronized assemblage of institutions to which they are subject; she brings this assemblage into relief through ethnographic accounts of Somali refugees as they attempt to navigate the resettlement system and are simultaneously caught in Kenya’s 2014 anti-refugee security operations. Based on this case, the research demonstrates that being subject to multiple, competing governing bodies is central to the condition of statelessness in twenty-first century Africa. la réinstallation des réfugiés est réalisée par une administration entrecroisée composée d’acteurs étatiques et non étatiques ayant des revendications et des intérêts contradictoires. Ces revendications concurrentes sont prises entre des impératifs humanitaires de secours aux réfugiés les plus vulnérables d’une part et aux exigences de sécurité visant à protéger les frontières nationales contre ceux qui sont jugés indésirables et non méritoires de l’autre. Basé sur des recherches ethnographiques à long terme menées auprès de réfugiés somaliens à Nairobi de 2013 à 2015, Balakian examine comment les réfugiés manœuvrent à travers un ensemble d’institutions disparates auxquelles ils sont soumis ; elle met en relief cette structure par le biais de récits ethnographiques de réfugiés somaliens alors qu’ils tentent de naviguer le système de réinstallation et les opérations de sécurité anti-réfugiés du Kenya en 2014. Basé sur ces cas, cette recherche démontre que le fait d’être soumis à de multiples organes directeurs concurrents est au cœur de la condition d’apatridie dans L’Afrique du XXIe siècle. O realojamento de refugiados é levado a cabo através da intervenção simultânea de agentes estatais e não-estatais, como interesses e reivindicações concorrentes. Estas reivindicações concorrentes situam-se entre a exigência humanitária de socorrer os refugiados mais vulneráveis, por um lado, e as necessidades securitárias para proteger as fronteiras nacionais daqueles que são considerados indesejáveis ou indignos, por outro. Partindo de uma investigação etnográfica de longo termo realizada junto dos refugiados somalis em Nairobi entre 2013 e 2015, Balakian analisa os modos segundo os quais os refugiados lidam com um conjunto desarticulado de instituições a que estão sujeitos; a autora evidencia este conjunto de instituições através dos testemunhos etnográficos de refugiados somalis que tinham simultaneamente de lidar com o sistema de realojamento e com as operações de segurança antirrefugiados levadas a cabo no Quénia em 2014. Com base neste caso, a investigação demonstra que a sujeição a organismos reguladores múltiplos e concorrentes é central para a condição apátrida na África do século XXI.

An ethnographic analysis of two interconnected cities for the Somali diaspora—Nairobi and Johannesburg—helps to uncover alternative narratives about the lives of Somali women and the ways they renegotiate their cultural and religious identities in diasporic contexts, moving beyond the widespread representation of Somali women in the global imagination as helpless victims. Using the domains of marriage and female circumcision, Ripero-Muñiz analyzes how these women exercise their agency while at the same time negotiating the cultural and religious practices of their community. By focusing on the ways in which Somali women re-negotiate their identities, this article helps to locate the agency of women in refugee and migrant communities in sub-Saharan Africa. une analyse ethnographique de deux villes interconnectées pour la diaspora malienne, Nairobi et Johannesburg, permet de découvrir d’autres récits sur la vie des femmes maliennes et la façon dont elles renégocient leurs identités culturelles et religieuses dans des contextes diasporiques allant au-delà de la représentation répandue dans l’imagination mondiale des femmes maliennes en tant que victimes impuissantes. En utilisant les domaines du mariage et de la circoncision féminine, Ripero-Muñiz analyse comment ces femmes font usage de leur libre arbitre tout en négociant les pratiques culturelles et religieuses de leur communauté. En mettant l’accent sur les façons dont les femmes maliennes renégocient leur identité, cet article aide à localiser l’agence des femmes dans les communautés de réfugiés et de migrants en Afrique subsaharienne. Através de uma análise etnográfica de Nairobi e Joanesburgo – duas cidades interligadas da diáspora somaliana – é possível encontrar outras narrativas acerca da vida das mulheres somalis e do modo como elas renegoceiam as suas identidades culturais e religiosas nos contextos da diáspora, superando os limites, muito presentes na imaginação internacional, da representação das mulheres somalis enquanto vítimas indefesas. Perscrutando os domínios do casamento e da circuncisão feminina, Ripero-Muñiz analisa o modo como estas mulheres exercem a sua agencialidade, ao mesmo tempo que negoceiam as práticas culturais e religiosas da sua comunidade. Ao focar os mecanismos segundo os quais as mulheres somalis renegoceiam as suas identidades, o presente artigo ajuda a compreender a agencialidade das mulheres entre as comunidades de refugiados e de migrantes na África subsaariana.

This forum contributes to debates on migration, displacement, and placemaking in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. We bring together an interdisciplinary group of scholars to move the existing literature beyond the dominant focus on the causes of displacement to a rich and granular exploration of its consequences. The forum focuses on Somali refugees and migrants for two reasons. First, Somalia is one of the largest refugee-producing countries in the world. Second, depending on the host states in which they find themselves, Somali migrants and refugees can encounter many different fates, ranging from living in refugee camps to migrating to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa to a small minority being resettled in countries of the global north. These varied circumstances make it possible to study strategies of place-making among Somali communities from several different perspectives. A central theme of this forum is to highlight the agency of migrants and refugees and to emphasize the fact that these groups are more than mere victims of their circumstances. The articles in this volume will be of interest to scholars of African studies, anthropology, comparative politics, migration studies, peace studies, and Somali studies. Ce forum contribue aux débats sur la migration, le déplacement et la création de lieux en Afrique subsaharienne contemporaine. Nous rassemblons ici un groupe interdisciplinaire d’universitaires dans le but de faire passer la littérature existante au-delà de l’accent dominant sur les causes du déplacement vers une exploration riche et méthodique de ses conséquences. Le forum se concentre sur les réfugiés somaliens ainsi que les migrants pour deux raisons. Premièrement, la Somalie est l’un des plus grands pays producteurs de réfugiés au monde. Deuxièmement, selon les États hôtes dans lesquels ils se trouvent, les migrants et les réfugiés somaliens peuvent connaître de nombreux destins, allant de la vie dans des camps de réfugiés à la migration vers d’autres pays de l’Afrique subsaharienne, en passant par la réinstallation d’une petite minorité dans les pays du Nord. Ces circonstances variées permettent d’étudier des stratégies de création de lieux au sein des communautés somaliennes, sous plusieurs angles. L’un des thèmes centraux de ce forum est de mettre en évidence le rôle des migrants et des réfugiés et de souligner le fait que ces groupes sont plus que de simples victimes de leur situation. Les articles de ce volume intéresseront en particulier les chercheurs en études africaines, en anthropologie, en politique comparée, en études sur les migrations, en études sur la paix et enfin, en études somaliennes. Este fórum contribui para os debates acerca da migração, do deslocamento e do placemaking (“construção dos espaços”) na África subsariana da atualidade. Reunimos um conjunto interdisciplinar de académicos com o objetivo de fazer com que, em vez de se centrar predominantemente nas causas dos deslocamentos, a literatura da especialidade se dedique à análise, mais rica e com maior espessura, das suas consequências. Há duas razões para que o fórum se centre sobretudo nos refugiados e migrantes somalis. Em primeiro lugar, a Somália é um dos países que mais refugiados produzem em todo o mundo. Em segundo lugar, consoantes os estados de acolhimento onde se encontrem, os migrantes e refugiados somalis podem conhecer destinos muito diversos, desde ficarem instalados em campos de refugiados, até migrarem para outros países da África subsariana ou, no caso de uma pequena minoria, serem transferidos para países do norte global. Estas circunstâncias variadas permitem estudar, sob diferentes perspetivas, as estratégias de placemaking entre as comunidades somalis. Um dos objetivos centrais deste fórum é o de sublinhar a agencialidade dos migrantes e dos refugiados e o facto de estes grupos não serem meras vítimas das suas circunstâncias particulares. Os artigos deste volume interessarão aos académicos da área dos estudos africanos, da antropologia, da ciência política comparada, dos estudos migratórios, dos estudos da paz e dos estudos somalis.