(SOM4c) Sociology of Migration: Transnationalism

This session illuminates various dimensions and themes found in the transnationalism literature. Identity formation and negotiation, using Alevi immigrants from Turkey as a case study is one theme while what is perceived as emigrants’ right to politically participation by voting and running for office in the country of origin is another. International migration for international education also an aspect of transnationalism where parental and familial perceptions of educational benefits for their children are important. Finally, social media sampling advertising by Meta is assessed as a potential source of data on hard to reach migrant populations. Tags: Migration and Immigration, Policy

Organizers: Lisa Kaida, McMaster University, Lori Wilkinson, University of Manitoba, Monica Boyd, University of Toronto; Chair: Shirin Khayambashi, Toronto Metropolitan University

Presentations

Thomas Soehl, McGill University

Who should vote? Attitudes towards expatriate political participation in the Nigerian Diaspora

Migration is a profoundly political act and in turn has political consequence: the decision to leave is in many ways a vote of no confidence in the home state. As observed by Santamaria Gomez– one of the deepest sentiments of Mexican migrants to the US, one of the quintessential labor migrations, is that “with a ‘good government’ they would not have had to leave their country” (Santamaria Gomez 1994:165). At the same time emigration profoundly re-shapes political relationships. As immigrants they are outsiders in the polities of their host societies (at least initially) but as emigrants they retain political membership in their home state – notably citizenship. But should they retain all the rights and privileges that come with citizenship? A key question is emigrant’s right to political participation in the country of origin – the right to vote and the right to run for political office. While a significant amount of research has examined the normative implications, and the factors that contribute to the rapid spread of expatriate voting rights, a lot less is known about the opinions of emigrants who gain the right to participate and those who did not migrate but have to share the franchise with emigrants. The key data source for our project is a unique survey that combined a sample of Nigerians in Nigeria (N~1500) with a samples of Nigerian emigrants in 10 countries around the world (~400 in each country, total N~3500). We used targeted social media advertising to recruit respondents to take a 15 minutes survey that featured questions on migration biography and political attitudes in addition to basic socio-demographics. We assess the quality of the data in a separate paper which we also submit for presentation to PAA.  The key dependent variable is respondent’s attitude towards expatriate political participation. We ask respondents whether or not Nigerians who are living abroad should be able to a) vote in federal elections, b) vote in local elections and c) run for elected office. Our key independent variables are respondent’s evaluation of the quality of democracy in Nigeria and their assessment of free speech. We control for political interest and a set of socio-economic and demographic variables. PRELIMINARY FINDINGS: Attitudes towards expatriate political participation: After matching emigrants to those at home on observable background characteristics we find that NIGERIANS AT HOME ARE MORE LIKELY TO SUPPORT EXPATRIATE POLITICAL PARTICIPATION THAN NIGERIAN EMIGRANTS. This gap is mainly driven by differing views on running for office. Those abroad are ten percentage points less likely than those at home to think they should be able to run for office. In other words, Nigerians at home want their compatriots overseas to be allowed the right to run for office more than their compatriots overseas want this right. Correlates of attitudes towards expatriate political participation: Our preliminary analysis focusses on the correlation between evaluation of democracy and free speech and support for our measures of expatriate political participation. Here we observe distinct patterns for Nigerian emigrants and our sample of Nigerians in Nigeria. Among expatriates those more satisfied with democracy are actually less supportive of their own right to vote. In contrast satisfaction with democracy does not seem to matter for assessment of expatriate voting rights for Nigerians in Nigeria. In contrast among those abroad we see that is satisfaction with the state of free speech that is associated with less support for expatriate political participation. Or looking at it the other way – those who feel limited in their ability to freely speak their mind are more supportive of expatriate political rights – possibly in the hope that the members of the diaspora that do not have to fear repercussions from the state can speak on behalf of those who do have to fear consequences for their speech.

---

Non-presenting author: Aaron Erlich, McGill University

Hiroki Igarashi, Chiba University

Onward lifestyle migration via the Global South: The interplay of lifestyle and educational aspirations of Japanese families in Malaysia

The existing literature on onward migration--"a spatial trajectory that involves extended stays in two or more destination countries" (Ahrens and King 2023, p4)--has discussed the patterns of mobilities of people from the Global South to the North (Paul 2017) and within the Global North (Della Puppa et al. 2020) and Global South (Jung 2023). This study examines an under-explored pattern of onward migration from the Global North to the South and beyond and how such a complex mobility pattern is generated. As a case study, I conducted 46 semi-structured interviews with middle- and higher-class Japanese families migrating to Malaysia with children from 2016 to 2023. The first part of this study discusses how the development of migration infrastructure has facilitated the mobilities of people for international education, retirement, residential, and property tourism from Japan to Malaysia. In particular, for the purpose of education, Malaysia was chosen as an alternative site for international education since the early 2010s aside from the English-speaking West because of the lower cost of living and education and an environment where children can study English and Chinese--the hegemonic languages of the 21st century. The second part of this paper examines how Japanese families make sense in choosing Malaysia. In particular, I focus on how they evaluate international education in Malaysia as "ideal" by referring to Japanese education and other Western destinations of educational migration. These Japanese families perceive Malaysia as a cosmopolitan environment where children can grow safely without much racial discrimination and acquire a cosmopolitan openness to prepare to live in Asia and the West. The last part discusses how they imagine and generate future transnational mobilities from Malaysia. My findings show that they envision various types of future mobilities--such as return, stepwise education, and stepwise lifestyle mobilities on regional and global scales. I summarize three points that generate the onward lifestyle migration from the Global North to the Global South and beyond. First, racial and language hurdles exist for international migration from Japan to the Global North because Japan is racially peripheral within the Global North nations. Since international schools in Malaysia offer an environment for Japanese children to study with other Asian students, Malaysia is recognized by Japanese families as a first step for their transnational journeys for both parents and children to study English and acquire mobility capital that makes them feel at ease to move to the Global North in the future possibly. Second, attending an international school attracts students to move to the English-speaking West for higher education, but the fact that Malaysian international schools also offer opportunities to learn Chinese stimulates Japanese families imagination for regional mobility to Chinese-speaking regions. Lastly, Since parents and childrens preferred future migration destinations do not always match, they strategically and flexibly generate split-household arrangements to realize and negotiate the lifestyle and educational aspirations of family members.

Senem Karaceper, York University

Negotiations of Identity Among Alevi Immigrants in the Post-9/11 Context: Transnational Perspectives

Rather than being fixed in time and space, identity is fluid and ever-changing, connecting historical experiences with present-day socio-political circumstances. However, in a world deeply entwined with societal issues such as racism, xenophobia, or Islamophobia – exacerbated particularly in a post-September 11th world towards minoritized communities from West Asia – there is an urgent need to cultivate a profound understanding of identity. Therefore, I am applying the concept of identity to Alevi immigrants from Turkey in various Western receiving nations such as Germany, England, and Canada. Alevism is a religious and cultural subset of Islam practiced by ethnic Turkish and Kurdish Alevi populations. This research employs theories of transnationalism and a framework of cultural identity as expressed by Stuart Hall to answer the following research question: How are Alevi immigrants negotiating their ethno-religious cultural identity in transnational communities? I explore the experiences of being a minority within a minority, historical experiences in the Ottoman Empire, and the Turkish Republic and identity formation in such transnational communities. This research also uncovers the ways in which Alevi communities associate, disassociate or reject characteristics typically associated with members of the Turkish and, more broadly, Muslim diasporas. This study aims to contribute to a nuanced understanding of identity negotiation in the post-9/11 era by situating Alevi immigrants in their rightful socio-political context.

Steffen Poetzschke, GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences

Magic bullet or questionable remedy? Discussing the use of social media advertisements to survey hard-to-find migrants

Despite a global pandemic and closed borders, the rise of nativism, and more restrictive migration policies the world has seen an increase in the absolute number of migrants. Migration creates both challenges and opportunities for countries that act as hubs for new migrants as well as destination countries that become refuges for them. To successfully navigate this situation, countries and organizations that support migrants need real-time information of good quality to help migrants on their journeys and, eventually, to integrate and succeed in their new homes. However, most traditional survey techniques miss migratory and hard to reach populations. It is thus important to consider new sampling approaches and the issues involved in employing them. This paper discusses the strengths and pitfalls of one promising avenue to reach migrants: sampling through social media sampling advertising. Among social media platforms, no other compares in user numbers to Facebook and the platforms run by its parent company Meta. The company’s platforms are increasingly employed to reach migrant survey respondents (e.g., Erlich, Soehl, and Chen 2021; Gawlewicz et al. 2023; Pötzschke and Weiß 2021). In this paper we discuss opportunities and challenges associated with using social media outlets of a company that faces, at times, harsh criticism for its data-ethics and privacy practices. We discuss the circumstances in which the application of this approach might (and might not) be appropriate, its methodological implications and which ethical aspects need to be considered; drawing on our own experience of sampling refugees for a survey in Canada and several similar research projects over the course of the last eight years.

---

Non-presenting author: Howard Ramos, Western University