Policy Press

The EU Migrant Generation in Asia

Middle-Class Aspirations in Asian Global Cities

By Helena Hof

Published

Dec 1, 2022

Page count

264 pages

Browse the series

Global Migration and Social Change

ISBN

978-1529225006

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Dec 1, 2022

Page count

264 pages

Browse the series

Global Migration and Social Change

ISBN

978-1529225013

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press

Published

Dec 1, 2022

Page count

264 pages

Browse the series

Global Migration and Social Change

ISBN

978-1529225013

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Bristol University Press
The EU Migrant Generation in Asia

Drawing on an extensive study with young individuals who migrated to Singapore and Tokyo in the 2010s, this book sheds light on the friendships, emotions, hopes and fears involved in establishing life as Europeans in Asia.

It demonstrates how migration to Asian business centres has become a way of distinction and an alternative route of middle-class reproduction for young Europeans during that period. The perceived insecurities of life in the crisis-ridden EU result in these migrants’ onward migration or prolonged stays in Asia.

Capturing the changing roles of Singapore and Japan as migration destinations, this pioneering work makes the case for EU citizens’ aspired lifestyles and professional employment that is no longer only attainable in Europe or the West.

"This book makes a very welcome addition to our understanding of middle-class youth mobility in two global cities in Asia – Singapore and Tokyo. It combines an engaging and rich account of the career and social trajectories of young adult Europeans with an analysis of the complexity of their migrant incorporation in a period of exclusionary migration systems recently affected by COVID-19." Eleonore Kofman, Middlesex University

Helena Hof is Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer at the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, University of Zurich, and Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity.

Introduction

PART I: Spatial Mobility to Asia: Moving Ahead by Moving Out

1. The EU Generation and Their Migration Motivations

2. Destination Singapore: The Dream of a Cosmopolis

3. Global City Tokyo: Japan’s Diversification from Within

PART II: Organisational and Career Mobility: Seizing Security, Success and Self-Realisation

4. Singapore: Professionalising the Self

5. Tokyo: (Dis)Embedding in the Japanese Labour Market

6. Career Trajectories through an Intersectional Lens

PART III: (Im)Mobility through Differentiated Embedding: The Ties That Bind

7. Immobility and Emplacement: Making the City Home

8. Belonging through Romantic Relationships

Conclusion