Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012. xii, 293 pp. US$34.90, paper. ISBN 978-981-4380-47-8.
In recent years, East Asian countries have been experiencing another boon in population mobility and increasing diversity. In this edited volume, Lai Ah Eng, Francis L. Collins and Brenda S.A. Yeoh provide a comprehensive understanding of this recent trend by exploring developments in communities and cities in heterogeneous societies of Southeast Asia and homogeneous societies of Northeast Asia. They observe that growing diversity in homogeneous societies has led to greater demarcation between “temporary” and “permanent” residents. The marriage migration of women and an emerging generation of children with multi-ethnic identities further problematize state-centered citizenship models in these countries. However, advocacy by civil society groups and alternative modes of incorporation at local governments play an important role in restructuring a country’s inclusion policy as it becomes more diversified.
This volume brings together a combination of well-established and upcoming migration scholars, who are mostly based in Asia Pacific countries. It is divided into three parts: “migration, multiculturalism and governance in Asia” (5 chapters), “identities” (2 chapters) and “practices” (3 chapters). In the first part, Maruja M.B. Asis and Graziano Batistella review the meaning of citizenship and how migration has redefined citizenship in Asian countries. They provocatively claim that “migration has had a modest impact in modifying the legal framework of citizenship in countries of destination…” (36). Because Asia lacks a strong human rights tradition, this has led to widespread abuses against labor migrants and has promoted civil society groups to advocate for the protection of migrants’ rights rather than the larger issue of citizenship.
Stephen Robert Nagy then looks at the ways in which certain municipal governments and ethnic communities in Tokyo have contributed to the formation of local integration practices. Nagy finds that an effective multicultural coexistence in these local communities is defined in terms of minimizing the burden on the municipal government and Japanese residents. Japanese residents see foreign residents as “a separate group…that exists with the local community” (76). In the following chapter, Fred C.M. Ong and Brenda S.A. Yeoh discuss the concept of “cosmopolitanism” and how the notion has been appropriated by the Singapore state. They argue that natives in Singapore do not negotiate differences but navigate away from differences. In the next chapter, Nora Hui-Jung Kim examines Korea’s efforts at the incorporation of ethnic communities, including potential immigrants, guestworkers, ethnic Chinese settlers, and mixed race Koreans and marriage migrants. She finds: “Marriage migrants and mixed race Koreans are incorporated into the sphere of reproduction, while ethnic Chinese residents are incorporated into the economic sphere and partially into the political sphere. Guestworkers are incorporated into only the economic sphere” (124).
Hsia Hsiao-Chuan’s chapter on multiculturalism in Taiwan, which combines theoretical thinking with her own activism at the Alliance for Human Rights Legislation for Immigrants and Migrants (AHRLIM), is my favorite in the book. She examines a highly contested concept of multicultural citizenship from a perspective of social movements. She argues that “multiculturalism can…be co-opted without changing the substantive rights or even formal rights of citizenship for the immigrants” (154). She traces the emergence of the concept of multiculturalism in Taiwan to the country’s nation-building experiences and processes during the late 1980s and 1990s, when the original concept was limited to indigenous peoples and excluded immigrants and migrants. Activism by the AHRLIM, an organization she co-founded, has contributed much to broaden the concept to include marriage migrants and migrant workers and to the changes in major immigration laws and policies. For example, the AHRLIM spearheaded the amendments of the Immigration Act in 2007 that allowed marriage migrants who have been the victims of domestic violence to remain in Taiwan even if they are divorced and ensuring rights to assemble and rally for im/migrants.
In the second part, which focuses on “identities,” Kayoko Ishii finds that Japanese mixed-children with a Western parent prefer to identify themselves as Western while those without a Western parent as Japanese. Only Japanese mixed-children who are raised by foreign (e.g. Thai) single mothers in Japan chose a multi-ethnic identity. Jozon A. Lorenzana then explores what being an Indian in Manila means and the role of media as agents of inclusion and exclusion. Class, gender, and race matter in Manila’s ethnic identities.
In the third part, which looks at “practices,” Lai Ah Eng offers a fun examination on the evolution of Singapore’s multiculturalism through the kopitiam (coffee shops). Kopitiam, Lai explains, is a place where individuals, groups and families eat, socialize, and idle; thereby, providing a sense of social intimacy and community. She describes the people who run and visit the place and keenly observes that “clientele and community in the kopitiam…display multicultural dimensions and dynamics of the migration-diversity narrative in Singapore” (227). Doyoung Song follows with a chapter on Islamic food in Seoul. He notes that Koreans tend to link taste and image of foods with certain concepts of their cultural identity. Robbie B.H. Goh ends the volume with an examination of foreign-born athletes in Singapore (such as China-born table tennis players who have been winning gold medals for Singapore in Southeast Asian Games) and how they provide flexibility on the construction of national and community identities.
Although the book is a welcoming addition to comparative migration studies, it is not intended as a systematic and disciplined comparison and does not make much theoretical advancement. Instead, it is a thematic exploration of what happens to diversity in local communities and cities of Asia with increasing migration.
Apichai W. Shipper
Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA
pp. 115-117