‘Dad says I'm tied to a shooting star!’ Grounding (research on) British expatriate belonging

Abstract

This paper analyses one British woman's everyday practices of belonging as she negotiates expatriate life in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In doing so, it responds to widespread calls to ground research on processes of transnationalism and diaspora by drawing on 18 months of ethnographic research and adopting a three-stranded analytical framework to reflect on the significance of domesticity, intimacy and foreignness in expatriate belonging. The author focuses on a single research subject to draw attention to a particular British expatriate experience otherwise neglected in migration research and the paper resonates with theoretical literatures aiming to challenge the binary divisions of geographies of belonging, including attachment/ detachment.

Reflections on Doing the Expat Show: Performing the Global Mobility Industry

“…The small, but growing, amount of research that looks at this type of mobility focuses on how expatriate's lives play out in place. This Cite as: Cranston S, 2014, "Reflections on doing the Expat Show: performing the Global Mobility Industry" Environment and Planning A 46(5) 1124 -1138, doi:10.1068/a4624 Cite as: Cranston S, 2014, "Reflections on doing the Expat Show: performing the Global Mobility Industry" Environment and Planning A 46(5) 1124 -1138, doi:10.1068/a4624 6 research focuses on both the everyday negotiations of attachment and belonging (see for example Walsh, 2006) and the operation of expatriates as conduits of globalisation, as part of global flows and global cities (for example Beaverstock, 2002;Faulconbridge, 2010). This second area of research on expatriates looks at knowledge accumulation and dissemination and the effect of this on the transnational organisation and economy.…”

Producing migrant encounter: Learning to be a British expatriate in Singapore through the Global Mobility Industry

“…This builds upon previous research on expatriates that looks at how identity is characterised by a difference between the migrant and local population (see, for example, Fechter, 2007;Knowles and Harper, 2009). Within this, there is often a goal, either implicitly or explicitly, to expose the ways in which notions of privilege are reproduced for the expatriate, for example, in terms of lifestyle or race (Conway and Leonard, 2014;Fechter, 2007;Fechter and Walsh, 2010;Knowles and Harper, 2009;Leonard, 2010;Walsh, 2006).…”

“…As suggested above, within this literature on expatriates, the migrants' encounter is the focus of analysis, where the reaction to difference is felt and produced in the 'contact zone' as an expatriate identity. The ways in which a migrant experiences difference then is seen to be the way in which migrants negotiate their place -and identity -in their new surroundings (Fechter, 2007;Knowles and Harper, 2009;Walsh, 2006Walsh, , 2011. For the expatriate, their identity would be constructed as a reaction to cultural difference primarily in two ways.…”

Labour market experiences of skilled British migrants in Vancouver

“…In both cases, it was the respect of their qualifications and skills in the UK, as well as the trust instilled in their social skills which resulted in them being given more responsibility. This links to Walsh's (2006) Table 2). Douglas Cameron, Manager of a transport company, had a very similar attitude to his income as most respondents: "Everyone would like to have more.…”

“…Despite the positive impression that governments and organisations provide about the value they place on highly skilled migrants, the academic literature suggests that the experiences of this group can often be problematic (Kofman, 2000;Purkayastha, 2005;Walsh, 2006). The purpose of this paper is to expand on the workplace experiences of highly skilled migrants in host countries through analysing the labour market experiences of British expatriates in Vancouver, Canada.…”