Panel 19 (Lücking, Missbach, Stange)

Working, worshipping, studying, and escaping: Mixed migration and mobilities to and from Southeast Asia

Panel organizers

Dr. Mirjam Lücking (The Martin Buber Society of Fellows, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
Prof. Dr. Antje Missbach (Bielefeld University)
Dr. Gunnar Stange (Humboldt-Universität Berlin)

Contributors

Antje Missbach:
Juvenile refugees and their intimate relationships with ‘aunties’ in Indonesia

Gunnar Stange:
(Un)conditional solidarity in times of crisis – Responses to forced migration movements in Malaysia and Indonesia during the COVID-19 pandemic

Wayne Palmer:
Stateless Rohingya on the move: Enforcement of anti-trafficking and anti-smuggling law in Aceh, Indonesia

Mirjam Lücking:
Pilgrimage, education and labor migration from Indonesia in the Middle East

Panel abstract

Migration – past and present – has been a crucial part of peoples’ social realities in Southeast Asia. For some ethnic communities, like the Minangkabau, domestic migration (merantau) has been a way of life for generations, while for other people, migration is a more recent necessity. Through trade, environmental changes, pilgrimage, and scholarly migration, but also through colonization, forced displacement, relocation and resettlement programs, labor migration, human trafficking and asylum, Southeast Asians have been and continue to be highly mobile within and beyond the region.

In as much as experiences of migration trigger the diversification of culture and enhance intercultural exchange, they also inform the manifestation of socio-cultural boundaries and socio-political inequalities. Interestingly, several forms and experiences of migration cannot be easily categorized and are in fact mixed, as for instance the combination of working and studying abroad or ‘labor migration’ in the context socio-economic crises. Moreover, migrants sometimes become residents, and invest in personal emotional relationships. The social reality of migrants often differs significantly from government policies, which lack to accommodate peoples’ needs for citizenship rights, labor, health and educational rights, security, and welfare. This panel explores different types of migration and mobilities with a focus on discussing the concept of “mixed migration” from and within Southeast Asia in order to uncover conditions, experiences and effects of migration past and present.

Paper submission

This panel is already closed for paper submission.