Crossing Borders and Traversing Boundaries: Closing the ‘Gap’ between Internal and International Migration in Asia

Abstract

Within migration studies, the division or 'gap' between internal and international migration research has grown over the past few decades despite growing calls to bring these literatures back into conversation. While distinctions between internal and international migration remain relevant in a world in which states retain the power to shape human movements across scales, this division within migration studies is problematic in light of the increasing complexity of human mobility. Scholars seeking to close the 'gap' highlight the common structural drivers of international and internal migration, and note an increasingly myopic focus on international migration overlooking the important economic and social contributions of internal migrants. While in basic alignment with these arguments, the contributions to this special issue focus instead on critically interrogating the relationship between internal and international migration research with the aim of provoking new insights across disciplinary and categorical boundaries. Each of the papers examines migration phenomena occupying the intellectual and empirical space between normative definitions of 'internal' and 'international' migration in order to relink them methodologically and empirically in contemporary migration research. The contributions included here draw on these migration phenomena that do not fit neatly into normative definitions of 'internal' and 'international' migration with the aim of not only narrowing or closing the 'gap', but of retheorising the relationship between them. The collective focus of this special issue, therefore, is to challenge ontological assumptions of 'migration' as a definable object of study and to theorise migration as a co-constituted and relational process. Copyright

Reconstructing Blackness in Grassroots Interactions Between Chinese and Africans in Guangzhou

“…4 Not only are they cut off from the state support system due to their outsiders' status, they are also subjected to various state rules and regulations due to their concentration in the informal economy for job or business opportunities. Recent scholarship in migration studies challenges the division between internal and international migration as two separate fields of study (Hickey andYeoh 2016, King andSkeldon 2010). This research proposes to treat Guangzhou as a contact zone where China's internal migration intersects with international migration.…”

Intimacies Compared: The Emotional Responses of Family Caregivers to Internal and International Migration

“…To date, a small group of scholars offers insights into the distinctions between borders and distance by conceptualizing international migration in relation to internal migration. Recognizing the roles that nation-states play in regulating (im)mobility, these studies also examine the similar causes, processes, and consequences of internal and international migration (King & Skeldon, 2010; Hickey & Yeoh, 2016). We add to this scholarship by situating the comparison between internal and international relocation in the realm of multilocal families negotiating care arrangements.…”

Fathers’ Migration and Academic Achievement among Left-behind Children in India: Evidence of Continuity and Change in Gender Preferences

“…Although not required to show identity documents upon entry, internal migrants in India face obstacles in gaining access to critical public and financial services that are tied to state domicile certificates (Kone et al 2018). Several migration scholars have argued for the need to bridge the divide between international and internal migration research by acknowledging the similarities and interlinkages between them (King and Skeldon 2010; Hickey and Yeoh 2016). Moreover, remittances sent by internal and international migrants contribute toward social and economic development in low and middle-income countries (Adams and Cuecuecha 2010; Dey 2015).…”