Transnational Lives in Global Cities: A Multi-Sited Study of Chinese Singaporean Migrants

313 Pages·2018·3.24 MB·English

by  Caroline Plüss

Transnational Lives
in Global Cities
A Multi-Sited Study of Chinese
Singaporean Migrants
CAROLINE PLÜSS
Transnational Lives in Global Cities
Caroline Plüss
Transnational Lives
in Global Cities
A Multi-Sited Study of Chinese Singaporean
Migrants
Caroline Plüss
University of Liverpool
Singapore, Singapore
ISBN 978-3-319-96330-3 ISBN 978-3-319-96331-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96331-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018950052
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To Jeremy
Preface
This book is a rare multi-sited study—conducted between 2008 and
2010 in Hong Kong, London, New York, and in Singapore—of how
109 Chinese Singaporean transnational migrants, who lived and were
researched in one these four global cities, experienced their transnational
lives. This study answers the questions if, how and why living in one of
the four global citied differently impinged on the transnational lives of
the Chinese Singaporeans. These questions are rarely addressed in the
scholarship on transnational migrants or on global cities. The Chinese
Singaporeans studied were well-educated, middle-class, and often high-
ly-skilled. The majority of the participants—67 Chinese Singaporeans—
were repeat migrants: they are migrants who have lived in more than
two different societies, possibly in such societies multiple times, and are a
growing but understudied population.
It is my experience with having lived in four different societies—in
Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, and now in Singapore—
which sparked my interest in a multi-sited research on people whose
lives stretch across national boundaries. It is often by moving to places
with different characteristics that one more keenly becomes aware
of one’s past and present surroundings. Having myself moved from
Hong Kong to live and work in Singapore, prompted my interest in
Chinese Singaporeans. Since I already knew Hong Kong, London, and
New York, and realized that these cities are among the places to which
Singaporeans may move to in order to (temporarily) live abroad, I
decided to conduct a multi-sited study in all four global cites. This was
vii
viii PrEfACE
to understand if, how, and why transnational lives in global cities may
be differently affected by the characteristics of these cities. Also, I was
intrigued by the question of how one relates again to a society of origin
when one returns to live in this society, after having had lived elsewhere,
and when one has a transnational live. The Chinese Singaporeans stud-
ied were nearly all were Singaporean citizens and had family members in
Singapore, they all had lived in Singapore, and most of the participants
had grown up in Singapore. They had crossed national boundaries to live
elsewhere for work, education, and family, more rarely for friendships
and lifestyle, and also for combinations of these reasons.
Singapore Caroline Plüss
acknowledgements
This study was funded by the Academic research fund Tier 1
(rG99/07) of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and
by the School of Law and Social Justice of the University of Liverpool.
My thanks are to the Sociology undergraduate students of Nanyang
Technological University who helped me with transcribing the interview
recordings, and to my research Associates Ms. Sithi Hawa, Ms. Vivian
Woon, and Mr. Alex Ang for helping with coding these large-scale quali-
tative data, assisting with writing-up coded data and reviewing literature,
in addition conducting interviews in Hong Kong and Singapore. Special
thanks are to my editors at Palgrave Macmillan for their support. My
sincerest gratitude is to all the participants in this research, who made
the time in their often very busy schedules to contribute to generate this
knowledge by sharing their lives, and for providing me with much hos-
pitality. Thanks are due to Sage, and Springer, for enabling me to use
parts of a journal article, and a book chapter, which presented prelimi-
nary fndings of this research.
ix
contents
1 Accounting for Transnational Lives 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.1.1 Aims and Rationale of this Study 1
1.1.2 The Chinese Singaporean Transnational Migrants 7
1.2 Analytical Framework 11
1.3 Transnational Socialities 15
1.3.1 Forms Transnationality 15
1.3.2 Cosmopolitan Socialities 16
1.3.3 Hybrid Socialities 17
1.3.4 Incongruous Socialities 19
1.3.5 Homogenous Socialities 21
1.4 Chapters 23
References 24
2 (Dis)Embeddedness in Transnational Contexts 31
2.1 Transnational Contexts 31
2.1.1 Education and Friendships/Lifestyle Contexts 32
2.1.2 Work and Friendships/Lifestyle Contexts 34
2.1.3 Family and Friendships/Lifestyle Contexts 36
2.2 Global Cities 38
2.2.1 Researching Global Cities 38
2.2.2 Singapore 39
xi
xii CoNTENTS
2.2.3 Hong Kong 42
2.2.4 London 45
2.2.5 New York 47
2.3 Methods 49
2.3.1 Transnational Biographies 49
2.3.2 Multi-Sited Research 52
2.3.3 Sampling 53
References 54
3 Being Chinese in a Chinese Global City: Hong Kong 63
3.1 The Chinese Singaporeans in Hong Kong 63
3.2 Being Chinese and Different at Work 71
3.3 Homogenous Transnational Families in Hong Kong 79
3.4 Ethnicity and Transnational Friendships/Lifestyles 83
3.5 Relating to Singapore 87
References 90
4 In the East and in the West: London 95
4.1 The London Participants 95
4.2 Maneuvering Porous Education Contexts 98
4.3 Cosmopolitanism When Working in a Cosmopolitan City? 112
4.4 Negotiating Individualism in Transnational Families 118
4.5 East–West Friendships/Lifestyles 124
References 131
5 Incongruous Transnational Lives: New York 135
5.1 The Sample 135
5.2 Ruptures at American Universities 138
5.3 Disjunctures in Work Contexts in New York City 149
5.4 Incongruous Transnational Families 158
5.5 Clashing Transnational Friendships/Lifestyles 163
References 171
6 Gendered Transnationalism: Singapore 175
6.1 The Male and Female Participants 175
6.2 Gender in Transnational Education and Friendships/
Lifestyle Contexts 179