This paper explores the mobilities and structural moorings of Thai labour migrants in Singapore from a translocal perspective. We argue that combining the mobilities paradigm with the concept of translocality offers a fruitful avenue of investigation not only of the production of translocal spaces, but also of their temporality and mutability. Through a multi-sited research approach we shed light on the genesis as well as the decay of translocal connections. This paper shows that translocal structures are important moorings of migration, and raises the question of what happens to translocal spaces when migration flows dissolve.

In recent years there has been a renewed enthusiasm about the role of migration in development, as well as the importance of remittances. However, there is also a danger of rehashing previous debates with an overemphasis on economic remittances, while relegating the transfer of social remittances, such as new ideas, knowledge, skills, practices, and social capital, to a secondary role. Though literature on social remittances has increased over the last decade, the debate tends to emphasise the positive relation between migration, remittances, and development. In this paper we scrutinise this relation. Based on eight months of multi-sited empirical research in Thailand (origin) and Singapore (destination), the aim of this paper is to enhance our understanding of the process of transfer of social remittances to the place of origin, and their effect on social resilience. This paper examines current and returned migrants and hypothesises that the translocal settingincluding both occupational engagement at the destination and local conditions at the place of originand time decisively influence how social remittances can be used back home.

No abstract

<p>For the last decade there has been a lively debate on urban arrival spaces. Saunders’ (2011) widely received book <em>Arrival Cities</em> can be seen as catalyst of this debate. Taking a hitherto largely unexplored comparative approach, based on two empirical research studies on migrant workers and highly-skilled migrants in Singapore, this study debates the notion of arrival cities and spaces and argues for a differentiated perspective on the complex and interdependent processes of spatially and socially arriving. By comparing how the politics of mobilities, migration management and differential inclusion influence the migration trajectories of workers and professionals we argue that the concept of transient spaces might be a more fruitful approach for understanding the differentiated processes of arriving and (not) becoming socio-spatially embedded. In order to educe the relevance of a processual perspective, and for a systematic comparison, we apply four analytical dimensions that shed light on the process of migrating, arriving, and passing through. These four dimensions comprise (1) arriving, (2) settling, (3) mingling locally and translocally, and (4) planning ahead for future mobilities. We argue that the scholarship on politics of mobilities needs to take note of the combined effects of states’ and companies’ neoliberal politics of mobility throughout the migration process, and of the increasing relevance of socio-technological orderings, which imprint migrants’ socio-spatial embedding.</p>