Becoming mobile and growing up: A “generationed” perspective on borderland mobilities, youth, and the household

Abstract

Drawing on ethnographic research with Lao village youth in a Lao–Thai borderland, I argue that their involvement in cross‐border day labour illuminates the interplay between the dynamics of “becoming mobile” and “growing up.” Despite the autonomy Lao village youth displays in cross‐border day labour, the practice is shaped by, situated within, and at the same time reproduces structural relations of inequality constituting the borderland. The social organisation of the networks of cross‐border day labour skew the practice towards youth from ethnic Lao original households. This has repercussions on how youth from the more marginalised settler households become mobile and assert their youthfulness. The “generationed” perspective presented in this article contributes to the situating of young people's agency in borderland mobilities, understanding agency as shaped by, and shaping the intersection of gendered life course dynamics, household histories, and the sociocultural and politico‐economic dynamics constituting the borderland.

Introduction: Mobile Aspirations? Youth Im/Mobilities in the Asia-Pacific

“…At the same time that papers in this collection depict textured lives that are locally and regionally specific, the processes and forces that shape 'mobile aspirations' in this part of the world may resonate with those operating from afar, including the increasing precaritization among sections of youth worldwide amidst neoliberalizing geo-economic conditions that impact upon young people's mobility projects. It is also important to acknowledge that this collection alone does not encompass the diverse forms of mobility and immobility experienced by young people in this region, including 'unfree' migrations that are exploitative, illegal, or illicit (Huijsmans and Baker 2012); those occurring under violent geopolitical regimes which disrupt young lives and their families (Ball and Moselle 2016); or the everyday border-crossing practices that are the reality for many youths seeking livelihood sustenance (Huijsmans 2018). As such, the Special Issue represents a partial understanding of im/mobile young lives in the Asia-Pacific but at the same time hopes to begin a longer dialogue on the connections between youths and im/mobilities, as well as what these relationships can tell us about contemporary political, economic, and cultural change.…”

Under one roof? Left‐behind children's perspectives in negotiating relationships with absent and return‐migrant parents

“…Overall, a child-centred focus in migration studies helps move traditional depictions of children-whether migrants or left-behind members-as "baggage" to portraying them as effective migration agents with the ability to shape and influence their fellow family members' lives as well as offer support and help in the migration process (Chiu & Choi, 2018;Dobson, 2009;Huijsmans, 2018;Ní Laoire, Carpena-Méndez, Tyrrell, & White, 2010;Orellana, Thorne, Chee, & Lam, 2001). Given that children's agency develops largely through their interactions with their family members within a context affected by a "hybridisation" of global and local conditions (van Nijnatten, 2013;Vandenbroeck & Bouverne-de Bie, 2006), it is especially important to study children of migrant families-including those left behind by migrant parents-within the site of the family where their familial interactions may often be distant, intermittent, disrupted, and/or impeded and where their ensuing situated reactions may also be varied.…”

Frequent border‐crossing children and cultural membership

“…Between these two dominant categories of children being studied in migration research lies a third category of children who are neither stayers nor movers but transnational students or bordering youths whose lives are stretched across national boundaries between two nation states. Recognising the dearth of scholarship on this group of children, increasing attention has been paid to their bordering experiences (see Spyrou & Christou, 2016 for review and Huijsmans, 2018). So far, the major focus of these nascent studies has been on the legal vulnerability, such as human trafficking and forced migration, and the victimisation of these bordering youth (Hopkins & Hill, 2008), as seen in the recent work on undocumented labour (Huijsmans & Baker, 2012), refugees (Aitken, Swanson, & Kennedy, 2014;Ensor, 2014), criminals (Basu, 2014), and youths as targets of institutional violence during border inspection (Bejarano, 2010).…”