New Zealanders returning from overseas: how their experiences of xenophobia could help us respond to superdiversity |
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Authors: | Louise Humpage |
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Affiliation: | 1. Sociology, School of Social Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealandl.humpage@auckland.ac.nz |
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Abstract: | ABSTRACTThis article draws on qualitative interview data with 42 New Zealanders returning to New Zealand after living overseas, finding they feel more like a ‘migrant’ than someone coming ‘home’. This is in part because New Zealand people and institutions demonstrate an intolerance to difference, theorised here as a form of xenophobia that inhibits the economic, social and political integration of participants. However, the same experiences and ideas that lead many New Zealanders to frame returnees as an ‘out-group’ can be regarded as a national resource. The article concludes that we should embrace – not ignore or disparage – returnees' awareness of integration issues, transnational networks and cross-cultural experiences as we attempt to maintain social cohesion in an increasingly superdiverse world. |
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Keywords: | Returnees reintegration New Zealand xenophobia superdiversity |
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