The would-be migrant: post-socialist primitive accumulation, potential transnational mobility, and the displacement of the present in northeast China

Journal article

This article argues that ‘would-be migrants’ – people who prepare for migrating overseas to the extent that their present lives are significantly changed – should become a central figure in migration studies. There are many more would-be migrants than actual migrants, and they also have deeper impacts on migration processes and local societies. Instead of treating the would-be migrant as a derivative of the category of ‘migrant’, this article establishes it as the primary figure, and argues that migration is a contingent outcome of being a ‘would-be’. In order to do so this article delves into the living conditions of would-be migrants in northeast China, with a focus on two aspects that concern them the most: the exorbitant intermediary fees and the high risks involved. The would-be migrants' experiences suggest that the prevalent pattern of unskilled outmigration since the 1990s should be understood as a result of developments inside of China, particularly a condition that I call the ‘displacement of the present’. The figure of would-be migrant is not only methodologically revealing for migration studies, but also urges us to rethink how we may engage with rapid social changes.

Authors: Xiang, B

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Journal: TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 183-199
• Publication date: 2014-06-26
• Acceptance date: 2014-01-01
• DOI: 10.1017/trn.2014.3
• EISSN: 2051-3658
• ISSN: 2051-364X
• Keywords: displacement of the present; risk; temporal anxiety; China; SBTMR; would-be migrant; shame