Postscript: Infrastructuralization: Evolving Sociopolitical Dynamics in Labor Migration from Asia

This article explores the trend of “infrastructuralization” in state-sponsored programs of low- and semi-skilled labour migration from Asia. These programs increasingly focus on facilitating migration rather than generating actual opportunities for mobility and substantive development. While providing training to develop skills targeting specific jobs in specific countries, the programs generally leave complaints about actual working conditions and wages to be managed by the migrants themselves. In this process, labour migration programs are infrastructuralized, meaning that there is an ongoing expansion and intensification of the socio-technical platform that makes mobility possible, as facilitation becomes an end in itself. This trend is tied to changes in the general development paradigm, labour and state-citizen relations across Asia, as well as the increasing importance of brokers in facilitating connection. This article first probes a number of internal dynamics around which infrastructuralization unfolds in practice. We then highlight how commercial intermediaries and public institutions, the two key actors in infrastructuralization, shape migration by producing context-specific migrant subjectivities, making aspirational work a central element of infrastructuralization. In the conclusion, we explore research agendas that can be developed further.

后记

基础设施化：亚洲劳工国际流动中的新社会政治动态

关键词： 发展，政府劳务输出项目；培训； 期望； 基础设施，劳动力流动，亚洲。

本文探讨了由亚洲政府扶持的非技术性劳务输出项目的“基础设施化”趋势。 这些项目日益着重于协助移民，但是并不提供实质性的流动和发展机会；这些项目为要输出的劳工提供针对特定国家和特定工作的技能培训，让劳工能够更好地满足雇主需要，但是在实际工作条件和薪资方面的问题还是要劳工自己去设法解决。 在这个过程中， 劳工移民项目被“基础设施化”了， 即，它们不断扩张和强化辅助流动的社会-技术性平台，但是不一定增加流动和流动带来的机会。“协助”本身成为了一个目的。 这个趋势是和亚洲各国在发展范式上的变化、在劳工关系、国家与公民关系上的变化， 以及中介在社会生活各方面日益重要等变化联系在一起的。 本文首先勾画了在实践中驱动“基础设施化”的内部动力。我们然后凸显“基础设施化”中的两个重要行动者——商业性中介和公共机构——是怎样通过塑造特定语境下的流动者的主体性而来塑造流动的态势，这使得针对流动者的“期望工作”成为“基础设施化”的一个重要方面。在结论中我们探讨了未来的研究日程。

Translated from English by Li Guo