Factoring Turbulence Out: Diaspora Regulatory Mechanism and Migration Development Bank

The ongoing economic crisis has shifted much of the policy debate to problems of financial sector regulation, productive capacity collapse, among others. However, this leaves unattended the real situation with labour migration, which directly impacts social and economic inner components of being of millions of individual families across the world. The somewhat ad hoc nature of the process poses several policy issues for the home and host economies alike. Immediate concerns relate to streamlining migrants and remittances flows. This involves sensitive aspects of inequality in migrant workers’ labour efforts vis‐à‐vis domestic workers; migrants’ social and legal status; and less obvious, but still profound, unproductive misallocation of labour resources. Derived from this premise and recognizing the need for an institutional approach, this paper offers alternative policy solutions to temporary labour migration regulation. This research’s original propositions include a Diaspora Regulatory Mechanism and a Migration Development Bank, both operating within a state‐managed temporary labour migration regime. Fiscal action, including multilateral agreements, is crucial. The functionality of these mechanisms will directly impact infrastructure, human capital and entrepreneurial projects development in both home and host economies. Discussion is inspired by the analysis of actual circumstances in the economies of the Commonwealth of Independent States, where migration is a social, economic, and increasingly political issue. In the interlinked world, diasporas become dominant actors across all society strata. The development plateau of the post‐socialist states offers a rich economic and social soil to conduct responsible policy with future outlook. Moreover, conditions of ongoing economic crisis offer a unique opportunity for daring research to propose and for a motivated decisionmaker to implement original, proactive, and beneficial policy solutions aimed at streamlining the (temporary) labour migration process. This paper contributes to the emerging literature on topics of diaspora, labour migration, and remittance flows.     

Muted Lives:

Battered older women are a silenced and invisible group. They are silenced by ageist assumptions about them as too resistant and hopeless to change or made invisible by the notion that very frail elders are the only victims of elder abuse. Women over 50, abused by partners or adult children, are not accurately perceived and consequently not adequately helped by current domestic violence or elder abuse intervention systems. A new program serving this group, involving 132 women, shows some important similarities and differences between younger and older battered women. Although barriers can differ across the life cycle, even women of advanced age can be free of abuse or develop coping skills to minimize its damage. This article explores the unique factors affecting older women victimized by domestic abuse. The author concludes with questions and suggestions for helpers interested in better serving older battered women.     

Theorizing Diaspora: Perspectives on "Classical" and "Contemporary" Diaspora

Cohen (1997) employed the term “classical” diaspora in reference to the Jews. Indeed, a vast corpus of work recognizes the Jewish people as examples of quintessential diasporic groups. However, a broader conceptualization of the term diaspora allows for the inclusion of immigrant communities that would be otherwise sidelined in the conventional literature on diaspora. This study is therefore a departure from the traditional diasporic literature, which tends to use the Jewish Diaspora as the archetype. It favours, rather, the classification of three principal broad historical waves in which the Jewish Diaspora can be interpreted as part of a classical period. The historicizing of diasporization for the purpose of this paper is achieved by an empirical discussion of the three major historical waves that influenced the diasporic process throughout the world: the Classical Period, the Modern Period, and the Contemporary or Late‐modern Period. The paper discusses these three critical phases in the following manner: first, reference is made to the Classical Period, which is associated primarily with ancient diaspora and ancient Greece. The second historical phase analyses diaspora in relation to the Modern Period, which can be interpreted as a central historical fact of slavery and colonization. This section can be further subdivided into three large phases: (1) the expansion of European capital (1500–1814), (2) the Industrial Revolution (1815–1914), and (3) the Interwar Period (1914–1945). The final major period of diasporization can be considered a Contemporary or Late‐modern phenomenon. It refers to the period immediately after World War II to the present day, specifying the case of the Hispanics in the United States as one key example. The paper outlines some aspects of the impact of the Latin American diaspora on the United States, from a socio‐economic and politico‐cultural point of view. While the Modern and Late‐modern periods are undoubtedly the most critical for an understanding of diaspora in a modern, globalized context, for the purpose of this paper, more emphasis is placed on the latter period, which illustrates the progressive effect of globalization on the phenomenon of diasporization. The second period, the Modern Phase is not examined in this paper, as the focus is on a comparative analysis of the early Classical Period and the Contemporary or Late‐modern Period. The incorporation of diaspora as a unit of analysis in the field of international relations has been largely neglected by both recent and critical scholarship on the subject matter. While a growing number of studies focus on the increasing phenomenon of diasporic communities, from the vantage of social sciences, the issue of diaspora appears to be inadequately addressed or ignored altogether. Certain key factors present themselves as limitations to the understanding of the concept, as well as its relevance to the field of international relations and the social sciences as a whole. This paper is meant to clarify some aspects of the definition of diaspora by critiquing the theories in the conventional literature, exposing the lacunae in terms of interpretation of diaspora and in the final analysis, establishing a historiography that may be useful in comparing certain features of “classical” diaspora and “contemporary” diaspora. The latter part of the paper is intended to provide illustrations of a contemporary diasporic community, using the example of Hispanics in the United States.     

Cape Verde: Rethinking Diaspora in Development Policy

In today's global economy, small developing countries like Cape Verde have very few options to spur growth and sustain long term socioeconomic development. Small size, poor resource endowment, declining foreign aid, and decreasing opportunities in the world economy have sharply reduced their options for growth and competitiveness. In response, Cape Verde and other small states have been placing increasing focus on migration as a development resource. For a country with a centuries long history of migration and a diaspora estimated to be twice the size of the resident population, harnessing the diaspora is a viable option for Cape Verde. But under what conditions is such an option effective? This article analyses the evolution of the diaspora's economic role, and assesses the conditions that enable or obstruct the diaspora's role as a development resource.     

Hmong demographic changes in Laos: causes and ecological consequences

This study of the Hmong in Laos is based on ethnographic research conducted during a three week stay in the Nong Het district of Xieng Khouang province. Information was collected on the household agricultural economy, village and household movement, family composition and change, cropping and animal husbandry, and environmental resources. The study area east of the Mekong River and near the Vietnamese border is an infrequently studied area. Findings differ from the ethnographic literature that portrays the Hmong as migrating frequently as swidden fields are exhausted, as living in large extended families, and as polygynous. The Hmong are the second largest minority in Laos (231,000), but are only 0.1% of Thailand's total population (90,000). There are 558,000 Hmong in Vietnam, but 5 million in China. Most rural Hmong in Laos produce opium as a necessary crop for sustaining their household farming economy. Although areas near the study area were involved in major military action during 1960-73, the study area received minimal disruption. Four studies of the Hmong in Laos and Thailand indicated that the Hmong stayed at one residence about 7 years, that residence varied from 6-16 years, and that settlements were short-lived. Household size ranged from 4 to 47 households. The Hmong in this study were more sedentary. In 1990, the villages averaged about 45 households. The population ranged in age from 19 years to 87 years. The Hmong had a high birth rate and a high mortality rate due to poor diet and lack of adequate medical care. 45% of the Nong Het population were aged under 14 years, which suggests a baby boom after the war. The dependency ratio was very high. Polygyny was uncommon. Of the 154 households, the average size was small at 7.40 persons. 71% were nuclear families. Patrilocal residence after marriage was still practiced, but the time spent in the father's home was reduced. The findings suggest that the Hmong are likely to become sedentary due to limits on expansion of swidden farming and government controls. It is unlikely that the Hmong will become landless and depend upon wage labor.     

Repositioning Risk and Resilience: Improving the Lives of Children and Adults with Mental Health Problems in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

The repositioning of risk and resilience within the social work and mental health agenda is examined in this paper through a consideration of the social exclusion of vulnerable children and adults living in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA). There is a pressing need in this region for the development of better conceptions and cultural adaptations of risk and resilience models. An important task is spelling out the implications for effective prevention and intervention programs, and for practitioners and service users in terms of an inclusive, person-centred, and emancipatory practice. The societies of the EECA region may be understood as comprising a distinctive form of risk society, distinguished from Western counterparts by their adverse risk levels, and by their emancipatory potential. Strategies based on user inclusion and participatory action require to be fashioned, along with the development of the social work profession, to facilitate the empowerment of users in the EECA region.     

The Indian Diaspora in Africa: The Commodification of Hindu Rashtra

A new approach to India’s diaspora has taken place within the wider context of the adoption, in 1991, of a neoliberal economic policy framework. In recent years, Indian private business enterprises have led the way in Africa and this has had an important impact on the state’s conceptualization of the diaspora. New Delhi’s elites actively seek to embrace an objectified ‘globalization’ as a means to benefit powerful externally oriented fractions and the diaspora’s value is measured in its contribution to this project. There has been a determined attempt to commodify the diaspora to serve particular Indian economic interests. However, the current government’s Hindu chauvinism makes the very question of what constitutes a genuine Indian rather narrow. Two factors thus dominate current policy: commodification and categorization. The diaspora in South Africa is discussed as an example where these dynamics can be acutely observed.     

A Fractured Transnational Diaspora: The Case of Zimbabweans in Britain

Millions of Zimbabweans living abroad have been described as an emerging diaspora. However, there has been little attempt to question their designation as a diaspora, or indeed, to engage with the more theoretically informed and conceptually rich literature on diaspora. The assumption in this categorisation relies heavily upon popular usage of the term diaspora among Zimbabweans themselves both abroad and in the homeland. However, instead of suppressing discussion by simply pronouncing them “a diaspora”, it is important to examine whether or not they constitute a diaspora. Drawing on the concepts of diaspora and transnationalism and on the author’s multi‐sited ethnographic research in the United Kingdom (hereafter, “Britain”), the article examines how the diaspora was dispersed, how it is constituted in the hostland and how it maintains connections with the homeland. What factors influenced people’s decisions to migrate into the diaspora and how can these phases be classified? What types of migration patterns characterise Zimbabweans’ migration to Britain? The study explores the origin, formation and articulation of the Zimbabwean diaspora in Britain, providing a conceptual and theoretical interpretation of the social formation vis‐à‐vis other accounts of global diasporas. The findings of this study suggest that Zimbabweans abroad are a fractured transnational diaspora. The scattering of Zimbabweans evinces some of the features commonly ascribed to a diaspora such as involuntary and voluntary dispersion of the population from the homeland; settlement in foreign territories and uneasy relationship with the hostland; strong attachment and connection to the original homeland; and the maintenance of diverse diasporic identities. The study represents a contribution to our knowledge of the Zimbabwean diaspora in particular and to the field of diaspora and transnational studies in general.     

Recycled Odyssey: Creating Transnational Families in The Greek Diaspora

In this article I explore the types of transnational families forged by Greek Canadian women through cycles of migration between Canada and Greece. The focus is on how transmigrant women search for a spouse and heterosexual lifestyle embodied within a seemingly ‘authentic’ Greek experience. This recycled odyssey in which the women negotiate systems of gender and ethnic identification between two different social milieux highlights how parental guidance, class tensions and representations of gender and sexuality (re)form the Greek transnational family. These conflicts, and their resolutions, indicate how the ties of transnational families are negotiated to accommodate competing notions of sexuality, femininity, filial piety, parental investment and economic responsibility. Such cases are poorly documented since it is assumed that ‘white’ ethnic groups in North America are more assimilated. However, given the forces that drive transnationalism — such as global capital, cheap travel, telecommunications and European integration — belonging to an imagined community has different implications than it did in the past.     

Diaspora and cultural heritage: the case of Indians in Canada

The present paper examines the historical and contemporary context of Indian communities in Canada from a cultural heritage perspective and analyses the processes of migration, settlement and cultural identity. It also examines the challenges of developing museum exhibits which depict the Indian diaspora in Canada. Despite its colourful history and its growing size and prominence in Canadian society, the Indian diaspora has not been the subject of much interest by Canadian museums. While recognising the necessity of working with local communities and thereby reflecting local concerns, it is submitted that any museum exhibit attempting to portray the complex set of experiences of the Indian diaspora in Canada should include some portrayal of the highly marginalised position which the Indian community faced when it first established themselves in the early 1900s. In addition to this historical focus, any attempt to portray the contemporary Indian diaspora needs to portray its growing diversity and its efforts to maintain, and in many cases modify and ‘hybridise’, cultural practices. Such a display would also have to reflect the influence of transnational forces on the contemporary Indian diaspora. Ultimately, efforts by museums to develop exhibits reflecting the Indian presence in Canada will only further the aims of its widely praised state policy of multiculturalism.