Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
2-2013
Abstract
In the context of the academic interest shown in the enduring transnation-alism of contemporary migrants and in the modes of transitions to adulthood in different global settings, in this article we examine the transnational lives of adolescents moving between Vancouver (Canada) and Hong Kong. While there is a lot of literature on the parents’ political and economic calculations, there is very little on how adolescents in these situations articulate their geographical sensibilities. We draw on three periods of fieldwork undertaken in 2002, 2008 and 2010 during which we employed a transnational methodology to interview young people in Vancouver and Hong Kong. We argue that becoming an adult involves a process in which, in their discussions about the geographical and emotional distance between themselves and their families, young people articulate their own complex emotions towards specific places in their transnational social field. Their families sporadically interrupt the adolescents’ otherwise independent lives with fragmented modes of supervision. By examining the complex intentions and emotions behind circular migration from the perspective of transnational youth in a community of split families, we advance the discussion on transnational geographies, particularly of the family in the context of a flexible global economy.
Keywords
Transnationalism, Family, Transnational Families, Migration, Circular Migration, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Emotional Geographies, Youth, Transitions to Adulthood, Age
Discipline
Family, Life Course, and Society | Geography
Research Areas
Humanities
Publication
Global Networks
Volume
13
Issue
4
First Page
535
Last Page
550
ISSN
1470-2266
Identifier
10.1111/glob.12014
Publisher
Wiley: 24 months
Citation
TSE, Justin Kh, & WATERS, Johanna L..(2013). Transnational youth transitions: Becoming adults between Vancouver and Hong Kong. Global Networks, 13(4), 535-550.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3135
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12014