Transnationalism, Gender, and Civic Participation: Canadian Case Studies of Hong Kong Immigrants

Valerie Preston, Audrey Kobayashi and Guida Man
Additional contact information
Valerie Preston: Department of Geography, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
Audrey Kobayashi: Department of Geography, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada
Guida Man: School of Social Sciences, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada

Environment and Planning A, 2006, vol. 38, issue 9, 1633-1651

Abstract: It is widely claimed that recent migration trends show increasing levels of transnational activity, but there is a need for a more detailed understanding of the relationship between transnationalism and citizenship participation, particularly from a gendered perspective. A study of immigrants from Hong Kong to Vancouver and Toronto, the largest group of immigrants to Canada in the period 1989 to 1997, shows that, although migration occurred in a context of anticipated political instability around reunification with the People's Republic of China, the most significant justification for emigration was to further the interests of the family, particularly children's education. Gender differences are subtle, but women tend to focus more strongly on family considerations, whereas men are somewhat more concerned with economic and political issues. Transnational activities focus around ties of family and friendship, rather than around political or economic ties. Women and men both seek formal rights of citizenship, and are beginning to express a desire for more participation in Canadian society. Contrary to theories of hypermobility among Hong Kong emigrants, transnationalism and citizenship participation are seen as a basis for settlement. Gendered approaches to transnationalism need to understand how the concept of citizenship, and citizenship participation, develops as a result of wider social relations that are structured differently for women and men.

Date: 2006
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a37410 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envira:v:38:y:2006:i:9:p:1633-1651

DOI: 10.1068/a37410

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Environment and Planning A
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().