Welcome to the new millennium of connectivity, synchronicity, and deterritoriality. A marked increase in the frequency, multidimensionality, and multidirectionality of population movements across the globe has prompted intellectual communities to reconsider established notions of citizenship, belonging, and territoriality. Studies associated with “transnationalism” have been at the forefront of many theoretical and methodological propositions. Elaine Ho's Citizens in Motion is a timely and welcome addition to this interdisciplinary scholarship.
The book draws attention to different cohorts of Chinese migrants traversing the borders of China (chapters 2 and 5), Canada (chapter 3), and Singapore (chapter 4). The research is based on more than a decade of ethnographic fieldwork in the three countries and integrated analysis of relevant archival, media, and visual sources.
Chapter 2 depicts the trials and tribulations of Southeast Asian Chinese refugees entering Mao's China. Forced out of their adopted countries by decolonization and Cold War politics, these displaced people...
