Filipino Migration, Transnationalism and Class Identity
35 Pages Posted: 19 Dec 2008
Date Written: June 1, 2007
Abstract
Contemporary understandings of class provide diverse interpretations of the concept. This paper proposes a four-part typology to make sense of this diversity, with class rendered as 'position', 'process', 'performance' and 'politics'. Each highlights a distinct dimension of class, but all are closely related. The paper then examines the ways in which class as position/process/performance/politics is complicated in the context of migration, and the transnational spaces thereby created. Using qualitative and quantitative data on migration from the Philippines to Canada, the paper argues that class analysis must form a part of understanding the migration process, but when viewed from the perspective of migrants themselves, class becomes articulated in unexpected and sometimes contradictory ways. It is only when migration and class are viewed in a transnational frame that the concepts of class adopted by migrants can be adequately understood.
Keywords: class, migration, Philippines, Canada, transnationalism
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