아세아문제연구소에서는 2015년 3월 25일 학문후속세대 세미나로 본 연구소의 방문학자를 초청해 강연을 듣고, 이에 대해 토론을 하였다. 강연은 Francis Collins(University of Auckland)께서 “Migration and Desire: rethinking the times, spaces and politics of Southeast Asian migrant lives in South Korea”에 대하여 발표하였다. 아연의 부소장인 윤인진 교수가 사회를 맡았으며, 아연의 행정조교와 연구조교들 및 많은 연구교수들이 참석하여 활발한 논의를 하였다. 특히 한국의 이민자들을 주제로 한 다문화연구를 그들의 "desire"관점에서 새롭게 접근했다는 점에서 흥미롭다는 평가들이 많았다.

Migration and Desire: rethinking the times, spaces and politics of Southeast Asian migrantlives in South Korea

Francis L. Collins

f.collins@auckland.ac.nz

Abstract:

This paper explores the potential of desire as a conceptual lens to enliven scholarly understandings of migrant mobilities through an examination of the narratives of Southeast Asian migrants in South Korea. Desire and more broadly questions of human aspiration draw our attention to the generative potential of migration, not only the myriad political and economic forces that make migration possible but also the transformative possibilities for the subjects and spaces involved.By focusing on desire and aspiration, then, it becomes possible to reconceptualise migration as an ongoing process of spatio-temporal differentiation rather than as a univalent and knowable phenomenon. As this paper demonstrates, migrants do not set out with a fully formed sense of themselves or their futures but rather undergo ongoing transformations in subjectivity as they migrate across and spend time in different places. The paper draws attention to three issues of desire and aspiration that emerge in the narratives of labour migrants from Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam in South Korea. Firstly, I explore the different times that migrants inhabit through migration – in terms of their sense of their own lifetime, their presence in South Korea and their future potential. Secondly, I focus on the ways in which desire and aspiration is involved in the different spaces of migration, as migrants move between national and international territories. Lastly, I examine the politics of migration that is generated between the Korean nation-state’s desire for migrants as workers and migrants’ own desire for becoming through migration. Cumulatively these issues demonstrate the significance of desire and aspirations as key drivers of migration, not simply in the initial ‘decisions’ that instigate migration but rather as part of an ongoing process of transformation for both migrants and the places they travel through.

Presenter

Dr. Francis L. Collins

Bio:

Francis Collins is a Senior Lecturer in Geography at the University of Auckland and also currently a Visiting Fellow at the Asiatic Research Institute (Korea University) supported by a Korea Foundation Field Research Fellowship. His research focuses on international migration and cities with a particular emphasis on the experiences, mobility patterns and government regulation of temporary migrants in urban contexts. Francis has published widely on these topics including: on international students and urban transformation in Auckland; higher education and the globalization of cities; labour migration and marginalization; and social networks and aspirations amongst international students in East Asia. Methodologically and analytically, Francis prioritises qualitative first-hand accounts of individual experiences and an emphasis on the role of government and non-government actors in shaping the possibilities for mobility and aspiration through migration. Francis is currently preparing a book manuscript on Global-Asian-City:migration, aspiration, and urban change in 21^st Century Seoul, which explores the lives and aspirations of labour migrants, English teachers and international students in the Seoul Metropolitan Region.