Workshop
International migration around the globe has accelerated in the past three decades. By the count of United Nations, 258 million people or 3.4 per cent of the world’s population were international migrants in 2015, compared with 154 million in 1990. Since the 1980s, many countries in the Pacific Rim have become major gateways, attracting various strands of immigration from China, India, and other countries in Asia. Our study seeks to understand new patterns of international migration that are being mediated by information and communication technologies (ICTs). Specifically, we examined migration patterns for the two largest immigrant groups, namely Chinese and Indians, in the context of three gateway cities in the Pacific Rim (Singapore, Vancouver, and Los Angeles). In view of a globalised Asia and diverse trends of mobility within the Pacific Rim region, this study collected information on experiences of discrimination, social integration, the use of ICTs, and transnational connections among immigrants through in-depth interviews and questionnaire surveys. We will report our preliminary findings in this seminar.