Bus stops, triple wins and two steps: nurse migration in and out of Asia
Corresponding Author
MARGARET WALTON-ROBERTS
- mwaltonroberts@wlu.ca
- 519-8840710 X2967
Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Ave W., Waterloo, N2L 3C5 Canada
Work was conducted while affiliated to the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
MARGARET WALTON-ROBERTS
- mwaltonroberts@wlu.ca
- 519-8840710 X2967
Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Ave W., Waterloo, N2L 3C5 Canada
Work was conducted while affiliated to the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
The migration pathways in which nurses engage are increasingly heterogeneous. In this article, I contrast three types of nurse migration pathway from three country pairs – Vietnam to Germany ‘triple win’ bi-lateral migration (direct migration); India to Canada two-step study-work (multistage) pathway; and ‘bus stop’ multinational migration from the Philippines to Singapore and onwards to other sites. Each pathway is not exclusive to the country pair selected; rather, this occupational and pathway specific analysis permits a comparison of the structures and processes involved – the different kinds of hierarchies that underpin mobility; the migration and border-control infrastructure that channels mobility; and the differential incorporation of multi-nationally mobile lives and their gendered/racialized implications. The migration trajectories analysed in this article reveal how multinational and multistage migrations are produced (through state and non-state intermediaries and policy structures), and how they are productive of new subjectivities and imaginaries (shaped by what is possible and desirable).
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