Fechter, Anne-Meike and Walsh, Katie (2010) Introduction to Special Issue: "Examining 'expatriate' continuities: postcolonial approaches to mobile professionals". Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 36 (8). pp. 1197-1210. ISSN 1369-183X

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Abstract

In recent years, the inter-disciplinary fields of colonial and postcolonial studies have been enriched by nuanced analyses of the ways in which racialised colonial identities (cross-cut by gender, class and sexuality) have been enacted in particular settings. Nevertheless, the quantity and quality of knowledge about the lives of European colonials and settlers can be held in stark contrast with the relative scarcity of studies of those who might be regarded as their modern-day equivalents: contemporary expatriates, or citizens of Western nation-states who are involved in temporary migration processes to destinations outside the West. These contemporary expatriates are rarely, at least explicitly, considered through a postcolonial framework. As a corrective, this Special Issue draws together eight articles, each of which explicitly engages in different ways with this theoretical concern. In introducing the articles here, we argue for the significance of the past in shaping contemporary expatriate mobilities and note postcolonial continuities in relation to people, practices and imaginations. While discussing the resonances across the various geographical sites represented in the articles, we emphasise the need to also consider the particularity of postcolonial contexts. Finally, we suggest that it is also necessary to broaden the current, somewhat myopic focus on Western expatriates, to understand them in relation to other groups of migrants, particularly in globalising cities, and to include the perspectives of locals.

Item Type:	Article
Schools and Departments:	School of Global Studies > Geography
Depositing User:	Anne-Meike Fechter
Date Deposited:	06 Feb 2012 15:16
Last Modified:	16 Apr 2013 15:16
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/11388

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