Diaspora strategies, skilled migrants and human capital enhancement in Jamaica

Abstract

In an attempt to boost its stock of human capital and access to global flows of investment, knowledge and innovation, the Jamaican state has begun to turn to skilled members of its diaspora as a vital and untapped economic resource. State strategies to accumulate human capital within the diaspora, however, raise questions about the culture of labour markets and their effects on human capital enhancement and the transfer of knowledge. Drawing on the labour market experiences of skilled members of the Jamaican diaspora currently living on the island, I explore the possibilities and limits that skilled diaspora network strategies offer for capturing, transforming and embedding knowledge, innovation and investment capital in Jamaica.

Crowdfunding and Diaspora Philanthropy: An Integration of the Literature and Major Concepts

“…Much of the existing research on the impact of diasporas on development in their countries of origin focuses on remittances, business investing, and business networks (Brinkerhoff 2009a, b;Chacko and Gebre 2013;Lowell and De la Garza 2000;Gillespie et al 1999Gillespie et al , 2001Leblang 2010;Mehrez and Hamdy 2010;Mohan Voluntas 2002;Mullings 2011;Mutume 2005;Newland and Tanaka 2010;Nielsen and Riddle 2010;Nyberg-Sorensen et al 2002;Ö zden and Schiff 2005;Page and Plaza 2006;Sikod and Tchouassi 2007;Newland and Patrick 2004;Riddle et al 2008;Tchouassi and Sikod 2010). While scholars recognize diaspora philanthropy as an important subset of remittances (Orozco 2001;Ö zden and Schiff 2005;Page and Plaza 2006;Sikod and Tchouassi 2007;Tchouassi and Sikod 2010), research specifically on diaspora philanthropy is ''in its infancy'' (Brinkerhoff 2014, p. 1).…”

Globalising knowledge networks: Universities, diaspora strategies, and academic intermediaries

“…They are not simply migrants who are lost to their home country (despite ongoing concerns around 'brain drain'), rather they are being asked to act as academic intermediaries for new knowledge configurations. The causes and consequences of this shift in academic life cannot be read off the existing literatures on diaspora strategies which increasingly takes for granted the claim that diaspora strategies are premised on 'neoliberal logics' (Davies, 2012;Mohan, 2008;Mullings, 2011;Pellerin and Mullings, 2013). Universities are not organisations that are becoming 'little fingers of the state' (to use a familiar phrase from a different context), and using the diaspora to help governments and international institutions deliver on wider economic development strategies.…”

“…They have also examined the implications these efforts have for both sending and receiving countries, and for members of the diaspora themselves (Dickinson and Bailey, 2007;Gamlen, 2013;Ho, 2011;McConnell, 2012;Mullings, 2011). Rather than taking the fact of the diaspora for granted, and examining the political processes through which they are mobilised, analysts influenced by the governmentality literature are concerned to understand how diaspora strategies constitute the diaspora as a particular kind of governmental category, and how it is that off shore citizens are constituted as particular kinds of political-economic subjects (Kalm, 2013;Kunz, 2012).…”

“…These strategies reflect attempts by international institutions, governments and other organisations to identify and harness the energies and resources of their offshore citizens in order that they are more likely to support the development aspirations of their former home country. Examples discussed in the academic literature include Australia (Hugo, 2006), Jamaica (Mullings, 2011), India (Dickinson and Bailey, 2007), New Zealand (Larner, 2007), and China (Yang and Welch, 2010), amongst others. These accounts show that whereas once the interest in diasporic contributions to economic development was confined to poorer countries, and focused largely on efforts to increase the flows of remittances or to encourage expatriates to return, today such initiatives are increasingly widespread and are promoted by international institutions and national governments alike.…”

Connections to distant knowledge: Interpersonal ties between more- and less-developed countries

“…That link, often between countries at different levels of development, can facilitate the sharing of capital (Flisi & Murat, 2011;Mullings, 2011), technical knowledge (Agrawal, Kapur, McHale, & Oettl, 2011;Oettl & Agrawal, 2008), and expectations of how business should be conducted (Riddle & Brinkerhoff, 2011). The current paper, which uses a quasi-experimental design, contributes to that literature by identifying when managers in a less-developed country benefit from the perspective of their compatriots now living in a more-developed country.…”