The editors of this useful book argue that “contemporary migration in East Asia presents a valuable opportunity to rethink a mass of migration research and theory that has tended to be dominated by North American and European data” (p. xi). To this end, they were involved in a series of panels, workshops, and conferences in North America and East Asia from 2006 to 2009, leading to this edited collection. The evocative title, reproduced on the title page in Chinese characters, comes from the Yijing and suggests that it may be the best course to seek one's destiny across the waters (p. 13). This reflects a broad and eclectic notion of migration that transcends the obsession of officials and economists with labor mobility, and includes all forms of human movement, including forced migration, trafficking, marriage migration, family reunion, student mobility, lifestyle tourism, and retirement migration.
The growth of mobility in East Asia is well contextualized in the introduction, in which Haines, Yamashita, and Eades draw attention to major changes in Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and increasingly also parts of China; economic factors such as increasing affluence and the rise of middle classes, rapidly expanding demand for travel, and international education; demographic shifts like the declining family size and increasing life expectancy, creating new needs for social services and care provision; and—more pervasive but harder to study empirically—trends towards transnational lifestyles and identities. East Asian countries experiencing slower economic development have become sources not only of low-skilled workers, but also of care workers, medical personnel, and potential marriage migrants. However, the gulf between origin and destination countries should not be exaggerated: even the richest Asian countries still send students and skilled personnel to the rich postindustrial countries of North America, Europe, and Oceania, while poorer countries remain destinations for “international experts” (both in the private sector and the aid industry), journalists, and lifestyle tourists. Moreover, many countries have made (South Korea, Taiwan) or are making (Malaysia, Thailand) rapid transitions from mainly origin to mainly destination countries.
In sixteen substantive chapters, this collection presents a dramatic picture of the diversity of Asian mobility. It is impossible to sum up all these studies in a single review. For example, Nicholas Lainez presents a history of the trafficking of girls and women for prostitution and forced marriage in colonial Vietnam, showing the ambivalence of bureaucratic responses by the French administration. Xiang Biao brings the theme of bureaucracy up to date with his ethnography of Chinese state institutions at various levels and their roles in managing migration. Zhang Jijiao confronts traditional models of Chinese social networks with contemporary Western theories, and tests these approaches through reanalysis of two surveys on ethnic minorities in Chinese cities. Hung Cam Thai examines visits home by working-class Vietnamese migrants, arguing that this is essential for the remaking of masculinity. Shinji Yamashita looks at Japanese lifestyle migrants to elucidate and explain their specific choices of a destination. An analysis of the politics of skill recognition for migrant healthcare workers by Mika Toyota shows how states use their sovereign power to assign migrant workers to disadvantaged positions in the labor market.
These are just a few examples: all the studies are worth reading. My only critique is that they are often too short to effectively develop theoretical and methodological frameworks, so that one either has to take an analysis at face value, or to express doubts without being able to resolve them satisfactorily. Fewer but longer studies might have been better, but then we would have lost the fascinating kaleidoscope of difference presented by this book. It is best treated as an introductory overview, which should whet the reader's appetite to explore the themes further.
To return to the central theme of the book: back in the mid-1990s, I was involved in building a research network for UNESCO, with the objective of bringing together East Asian scholars who wanted to think through the long-term social and cultural consequences of increased migration in the region. Mainstream scholars and government officials turned up their noses at this idea: migration was only about bringing in temporary workers and would have no long-term consequences for Asian societies. However, we did find anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, and (even) economists who had different perspectives, and understood that human mobility was a great ferment for change. They were the pioneers. It is wonderful to see Asian and Western anthropology now engaging with the new mobilities as if this were the obvious thing to do. It is.
