New Theoretical Dialogues on Migration in China

This edited book emerges from the observation that the current literatures on migration in China are constrained by a series of shortfalls, including a relative topical homogeneity centred on domestic labour migration; relatively narrowly conceived and institutionalist conceptions of migration and migrants, without adequate attention paid to the identities, agencies and everyday experiences of migrants; and finally a lack of engagement with theoretical models and paradigms in the broad discipline of migration studies. Assembling eight fine-grained research works engaging with a broad variety of migratory trajectories and experiences, this book addresses these shortfalls by: (1) investigating diverse forms of domestic and transnational migration in and to China; (2) problematising, rethinking and innovating well-established analytical tools and categories to move beyond their epistemological fixity and highlight their socially and dynamically constructed nature; and (3) underscoring the centrality of identity, subjectivity and everyday experiences, rather than mechanical causality between institutions and migration outcomes, to theoretical understandings of migration in China. It will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of Sociology, Politics, Human Geography, Social Work and Urban Studies. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

Hong Zhu is Distinguished Professor and Director of South China Centre for Human Geography and Urban Development at Guangzhou University and Guangdong Provincial Research Institute of Urban and Migration, China. He is a leading Social and Cultural Geographer in China and serves as the Vice-Chair of Cultural Geography Commission, Chinese Geographical Society.

Junxi Qian is Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China. His current research interests include religion, indigenous development, cultural economic geography and urban theory of China.