ABSTRACT
Migration is a long-studied phenomenon in the social sciences, with scholars variously reflecting on the increasing intensities of international flows, changing government policies with regards to migrant streams, and the social impacts that migration precipitates. Yet, despite their contributions, these renderings have too often assumed migrant flows to be self-evident features of the modern world, without paying heed to the processes by which migration arises to be the principal manner by which international mobilities are organised today. In this chapter, we seek to trace anew what actually produces migrant mobilities. Using Asia as a backdrop, we are interested in the structural regimes that cause mobilities to become, and become meaningful, above and beyond staid ‘push-pull’ factors that are often cited as migration’s drivers. Through a three-part analysis on the role of the political economy, transport, and borders, we seek deeper insights into the rules, logics and norms that processually create and politicise ‘migration’.
