Recent years have witnessed the large number of Chinese immigrants in Canada. However, talk about the return migration of Chinese immigrants is circulating within the Canada's Chinese communities, especially among Chinese immigrants who have obtained Canadian academic credentials. This inquiry explores ten Chinese immigrants' perceptions about their immigration and living experiences in Canada. My goal is to understand, from a social-cultural-historical context, the phenomenon of Chinese-Canadian return migration among recent Chinese immigrants in Canada. The theoretical framework is derived primarily from Bourdieu's capital theory and his critical approach to the concept of habitus . Drawing on an interpretative, qualitative approach, I examine social, cultural, historical forces that influence the ways these Chinese immigrants perceive, negotiate and reposition themselves in facing various challenges and struggles. Traditionally, research on return migration of Chinese immigrants in Canada has focused on the economic and social integration of immigrants in the host country. I argue that "Chinese cultural habitus", such as the profound influence of Confucianism and Taoism that Chinese immigrants inherited, played critical roles in their actions, attitudes and decision-making about their return migration. I collected the participants' narratives for a one and half year period from August 2006 to March 2008 primarily through open-ended interviews, and various documentation such as field notes, reflexive notes and Canadian Statistics. Analyses of the data suggest that the unrecognized foreign credentials and the limited social capital of Chinese immigrants are the primary factors that disadvantage their social mobility. Chinese cultural values and beliefs have great impact on Chinese immigrants' perceptions and behaviors during their journey of crossing different social spaces, assuming different positionings and negotiating among their multiple identities.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2006. / Title from title screen (viewed 30 May 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of Modern Greek, Faculty of Arts. Degree awarded 2006; thesis submitted 2005. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Göttingen, 1981. / At head of title: Institute for Rural Development of the University of Göttingen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-253).

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-168).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-168). Also available in print.

No description available.

In this thesis, I examine the ideas of home among Irish-born return migrants who left the Republic of Ireland in the late-1980s/early-1990s for the United States, and then came back at the beginning of the 2000s. Drawing on an analysis of intensive interviews, I elucidate the ways in which my research participants articulate and use the concept of home to negotiate their (re)settlement experiences. The overarching argument of the thesis is that participants’ interpretations represent an alternative to fixed, bounded and exclusionary understandings of home, without necessarily downplaying the longing for a discreet, foundational and originary home. This is important because their accounts of home begin to challenge narrow readings of locality and stable definitions of identity. Moreover, their narratives of home force researchers to address awkward questions about who belongs to particular places, and on what basis claims to membership are made. I develop this argument throughout the thesis by analyzing participants’ descriptions of (re)settlement in the old/new places they inhabit. I show that the majority of participants conventionally justify the return decision as the restoration of a settled sense of home. The actual experience of (re)settlement, however, requires many participants to redefine home upon return. The anxieties associated with the return experience means that home can be simultaneously a space of both homecoming and leavetaking, blurring distinctions between ‘here’ and ‘there’, home and away. In effect, what participants’ narratives draw attention to is the often-overlooked tension between home’s dual meaning: its lived and longed-for aspects. While the reality of return revises the expectations surrounding homecoming, opening out home to broader sets of connections does not necessarily mitigate the longing to belong ‘at home’, to anchor the elusive aspects of home. Participants’ accounts of (re)settlement point towards an accommodation of both grounded and uprooted homes simultaneously: translocally lived, yet longed-for as discreetly-defined. These findings are significant, as they foreground the moored and mobile moments of home as complementary and co-existing rather than conflicting and contending. Return migrants’ (re)settlement experiences offer a productive entry point into investigating this paradoxical nature of home in contemporary societies.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

This study analyses the composition of outmigration flows regarding migrants’ characteristics such as family situation, educational attainment and labour market situation. To expand our research, out-migrants are separated into return and onward migrants. Results indicate that the labour market situation of immigrants (unemployment and uptake of social benefits) in the destination country is an important determinant in the decision to out-migrate. However, the effect varies among countries due to the political situation in the source country, the migration costs and the extensive welfare benefits in Sweden. Labour immigrants are more likely to return to their country of origin whereas refugee immigrants are more likely to move to another country. Other findings demonstrate that emigrants are negatively selected regarding educational attainment. High-educated individuals have a higher probability of returning home than moving to a third country. The likelihood of emigration also depends on other characteristics such as the family situation of immigrants and the duration of residence in the destination country. All in all, labour market outcomes are the most important factors in the decision of out-migration.

The ecology of human development has been shown to be different for different cultures and sub-cultures within a particular culture, and to play a significant part in shaping the outcome traits or character profile exhibited by individuals who experience a given ecology. This is the case for members of that sub-culture of children who spend childhood years abroad; who expect to eventually repatriate to their passport country. Those who experience the phenomenon have been called Third Culture Kids or TCKs, and the outcome profile for those with a North American background has been identified. However, no literature on children in the Australasian context exists. A progressive naturalistic study, using both qualitative and quantitative methodology, was undertaken providing foundational data on the experience of adult Australasians (Australians and New Zealanders) who had experienced such a childhood ecology. The Australasian self-reported reflections were compared with descriptions of the North American and international experience presented in existing literature. Further, accepted models of human development were merged and adapted to produce a TCK-specific model of human development. This model was a significant product of this research project. Components of particular importance to development that nurtured the outcome profile traits were identified and represented in the model. The study incorporated three phases: phase 1 involved the in-depth interview of 3 respondents who had experienced the TCK ecology on three different continents, phase 2 involved data collection on the demographics of the broader Australasian TCK population asking questions about family choices, education, and career trajectories (N=50), and phase 3 collected in-depth descriptions of the childhood TCK ecology through voluntary response to an extensive written survey and asked for comparison with the imagined alternative ecology had respondents remained in their passport country (N=45). In both phases 1 and 3 respondents were asked to describe character traits they believed they manifested as a direct result of immersion in the TCK ecology and then suggest traits they might otherwise have manifested had the imagined alternative ecology been the nurturing environment. Tabulation of the emerging data allowed comparison and contrast with the North American outcome profile traits that have been described in literature. In both tabulations many outcome profile traits were identified as being in polar contrast with each other; the TCK could manifest either or both of the apparently opposing traits. Manifestation was dependent upon the immediate context within which the TCK was functioning. There was shown to be a significant overlap in the outcome profile for Australasians and North Americans. However, in this study Australasians presented stronger in their self-report of altered relational patterns and traits related to resourcefulness and practical abilities than was described in the North American literature. In comparing outcome profile traits of the real TCK ecology and those that were associated with the imagined alternative ecology respondents reported that they would have been more confident and more socially competent, but less tolerant and less globally aware had they been raised in the passport country. The self-reported outcome traits or profile were linked to the developmental ecology by exploring the processes and tensions that were at work. It was shown that dynamic tensions emerged and increased in valence as the individual gradually developed polarised traits that manifested according to engagement in the multiple contexts the TCK was required to manage. The results of this study have implications for those who deploy families abroad, as well as those who educate, and nurture the social potential of TCKs. This study has served to extend understanding of the phenomenon at the international level and laid a foundation for specific understanding of the Australasian context.