Memoir/manuals of South Korean pre‐college study abroad: defending mothers and humanizing children

In this article, we analyse the memoir/manuals of three ‘goose’ families. These are South Koreans whose children participate in pre‐college study abroad (PSA). One parent (typically the mother) accompanies the child while the other (usually the father) remains at home to support the venture. Although many South Koreans aspire to study abroad, both the mothers and children of goose families have attracted wide criticism – the mothers for being narrowly instrumental and too family centred, worried only about social reproduction and mobility and the children for forsaking their nation, foregoing their filial duties and, perhaps, failing abroad. These memoir/manuals defend the goose mother and protect the PSA child against such charges. As memoirs, they depict remarkable people worthy of documentation. As manuals, they offer (at least some) guidance for mothers and families contemplating this particular family strategy. The memoir/manuals open a window to the challenges and anxieties of PSA in South Korea today.     

Affects of unease: mother–infant separation among professional Indonesian women working in Singapore

The extent of systemic forms of mother–child separation has received insufficient attention in research on migrant families. In this article, I explore the little‐studied phenomenon of mother–infant separation among professional women migrants. I draw from in‐depth interviews with Indonesian professional women working in Singapore who have lived apart from their infant children to pursue work and education. Narratives of separation illustrate a complex transnational network of care built around an availability of support offered by spouses or extended kin. Women experience unease about separation, which emerges in how they talk about their absent infants. Mothers articulate ambivalence about the potential cost of their decisions, positing infants as able to pass judgement on them, with potential rejection and disengagement causing them potent concerns. The unease of these mothers moderates claims that transnational separation is readily managed and highlights the ambiguity embedded in an increasingly common form of transnational mother–child separation.     

Seeking identity: the transborder lives of mainland Chinese families with children born in Hong Kong

Between 2001 and 2013, Hong Kong regulations permitted pregnant women from mainland China to travel to Hong Kong to deliver their babies. In this article, based on 30 in‐depth interviews, I explore the transborder lives and identities of these mainland Chinese families who, motivated by cost considerations, citizenship and anticipated benefits for their children, chose to give birth to their babies in Hong Kong. In some cases, family networks providing flexible residential practices and family care, supported these transborder activities. However, the complexities of transborder life reveal the diverse ‘identifications’ within Hong Kong society and mainland families. Because neither administration totally accepts them, they are not full members of either society and so the identities they form are both plural and fragmented.     

First‐generation migrants become grandparents: how migration backgrounds affect intergenerational relationships

First‐generation migrants are not only reaching the age of retirement, but they are also becoming grandparents in the host society. Through the specific case of Portuguese migrants in Luxembourg, we look at what point their migration background becomes important to their intergenerational relationships. We have acquired the data for this article from biographical narrative interviews with ten older first‐generation grandparents and ten second‐generation parents. On the basis of these findings, we address three important aspects of intergenerational relations: (i) how first‐generation migrants socialize their grandchildren, (ii) grandparental mobility patterns and their embeddedness in practices of socialization and care, and (iii) the challenges produced by language in intergenerational relationships.     

The social order of transnational migration markets

The ‘infrastructural turn’ in labour migration studies has shifted attention away from the experiences of migrants to the role of public authorities and private actors in facilitating migrant mobilities. As part of a broader turn towards studying transnational mobilities rather than immigration and settlement, this research shows that the formalization of transnational labour migration has made mobility both freer and more difficult. In this article, I reinterpret mobility infrastructures from a market sociological perspective. Transnational labour migration, I argue, is more clearly conceptualized as the organized ‘making’ of cross‐border labour markets. Moreover, from a market sociological perspective the construction of cross‐border labour exchanges is at the same time a question of how the uncertainties inherent in market exchanges are coordinated by market actors. In its focus on how exchanges across borders are possible at all, a market sociological perspective makes note of the conflicting interests, power imbalances and uncertainties that must be handled for a social order of transnational migration markets to emerge. An important question concerns whether alternatives to the less regulated neo‐liberal market order that is evident in most migration corridors are possible and under what conditions. With reference to the challenges facing the regulation of cross‐border labour markets, in my conclusion, I map an agenda for future research.     

Visits to the country of origin: how second‐generation British Pakistanis shape transnational identity and maintain power asymmetries

In this article, I identify the need for more nuanced approaches to transnational emotional attachment, especially with regard to the second generation. Interviewing second‐generation British Pakistanis while on their holidays in Pakistan and comparing the findings with data collected in the UK provides a more realistic exploration of the phenomenon than would have been possible with only narratives collected before and after the trips. In contrast to current utopian views of egalitarian transnationalism negotiated at a personal level, known in the literature as transnationalism from below, I argue that the visits of second‐generation British Pakistanis perpetuate global power asymmetries. Furthermore, such visits may help British Pakistanis redefine their identity in relation to Pakistan, the UK and Islam, thus contributing to the formation of a new transnational identity. In the conclusion, I suggest that leisure visits can still carry the potential for important political and economic relations for Pakistan in times of need.     

Transnational networks and transcultural belonging: a study of the Spanish second generation in Switzerland

Migration scholars often assume a close association between transnational social practices and transcultural forms of belonging. Nonetheless, we argue that the distinction of both concepts is analytically important and helpful in understanding the transnational lives of second‐generation migrants. To analyse the biographical accounts and network maps of second‐generation Spaniards living in Switzerland, we draw a theoretical distinction between social practice (transnational networks) and forms of belonging (transcultural belonging). Our analysis shows second‐generation migrants maintaining social networks over time, interrupting them, or reconnecting with them. Their sense of belonging may either endure or fade. Although the interconnection between social networks and the sense of belonging is neither straightforward nor causal, we can nevertheless identify five types of network/belonging combinations. These types describe the various ways in which second‐generation migrants are likely to articulate transnational networks and transcultural belonging in their lives.     

Limits to expansion: transnational corporations and territorial embeddedness in the Japanese temporary staffing market

Recent changes to employment legislation have combined with shifting macro‐economic conditions to drive dramatic growth in Japan's temporary staffing industry. Leading transnational staffing agencies have sought to capitalize on this growth as part of their wider globalization strategies but have faced substantial challenges both in entering the market and in their subsequent attempts at expansion. In this article, we explore the ways in which the particularities of the Japanese host market regulatory and institutional environment combine with the inherent characteristics of the temporary staffing business model to challenge the expansionary strategies of these firms. We argue that while transnational firms have sought to adapt their business practices and strategies to the Japanese case, the attributes of the Japanese staffing market mean they have been unable to make significant inroads into the dominant market shares held by their domestic rivals.     

Institutional legacies in TNCs and their management through training academies: the case of transnational law firms in Italy

In this article we highlight the effects of heterogeneous institutional contexts on transnational professional service firms, a relatively poorly studied issue. Specifically, we provide empirical analysis of how the specificities of the Italian institutional context affect the activities of English legal professional service firms in Milan. This reveals the intimate connection between a variety of capitalism, place specific workplace cultures and practices, and the institution‐related challenges transnational professional service firms and all transnational corporations (TNCs) face. We also reveal the way institutionally generated differences at the level of work practices are managed in transnational law firms through worldwide training programmes designed to ‘govern’ the practices of workers in different parts of the TNC's network. This emphasizes the importance of studying attempts to manage institutional heterogeneity at the level of workplace practices, something often missed in existing mesoscale studies of TNC governance structures. Consequently, we highlight detailed empirical archaeologies that explore the direct links between institutions and practices as an important component of future research on the effects of institutions on TNCs.