Статті в журналах з теми "Migrant workers' hostels"

The purpose of this article is to examine the impact of migration from Asian countries on the rural areas of the Russian region using the example of the Chelyabinsk region. Addressing this problem allowed us to answer the following questions: what objects in rural areas are labeled as “migrant” and what are the assessments of this phenomenon by the public? Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, natural population decline is growing. Restricting international migration has shown that migrants are very important for the Russian agricultural sector. The decline in the population in rural areas of Russia, the deterioration of the ecological situation in the Central Asian region shows the need for research on migration to the countryside. There is a high probability that after the removal of several restrictions, we will see an increase in the migration flow to some areas of the countryside (greenhouses, workers' hostels, empty villages). For this study, we applied a set of ethnographic and ethno-sociological methods: participatory observation, in-depth interviews, and massive ethno-sociological survey conducted within the framework of the RFBR and Chelyabinsk region project “Asian vector of migration to the Chelyabinsk region: historical retrospective, forecasts and risks”. In total, during the project, 150 hours of included observation were implemented. In 2021, 49 in-depth interviews were collected with residents of the Chelyabinsk region and 37 with migrants from Central Asia. The sample of objects for observation and establishment of contacts with informants included: greenhouses for growing vegetables, garden associations, settlements in the study areas, rural shops, etc. The focus of xenophobic sentiments may shift from large cities to suburbs and villages, where new objects are being built, labeled as “migrants” (greenhouses, dormitories for migrants). "Chinese" greenhouses are no longer perceived as objects directly related to the presence of the Chinese, but are associated with migrants in general. Greenhouse complexes, where the main contingent is made up of migrants from the Central Asia, seem to be perceived as "Chinese" by inertia. All negative characteristics and parameters that were attributed to them are automatically extended to all greenhouses where there are “others”.

This letter is regarding tackling the highly infectious coronavirus disease (COVID-19).Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread across the globe, causing a worldwide pandemic. The total number of cases across the globe is about 11.6 million with over 5 lakh deaths. The number of individuals detected is always less than the actual number of infected, in nearly all respiratory viral pandemics. Rapid Point-of-Care Antigen detection test can detect SARS-CoV-2 early in the field setting. It has moderate sensitivity and high specificity yet limited availability. This test can be employed in the hospitals and containment zones and would aid in contact tracing, isolation of the affected individuals, localized containment and directing quarantine measures. IgG antibodies usually appear after one week of onset of infection and may last for several months. Serosurveys that detect these antibodies using Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) help in the assessment of asymptomatic infection in close contacts, enhance the current understanding of the spread of disease, individual’s immune status and in identifying potential plasma donors. Case fatality rate is positively associated with SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence as was demonstrated in the survey conducted in the Spanish population. Immuno-compromised patients, healthcare workers, relatively young working population comprising of bankers, media persons, individuals working at airports, overseas operations and industries, staff in municipal bodies, shopkeepers, vendors, courier services, telecommunication offices, drivers of hospital ambulances, hearse vans, buses, auto-rickshaw, taxies; bus conductors, farmers, electricity workers, migrant labourers who have travelled back from urban and peri-urban areas to rural/tribal; inhabitants of hard to reach areas, prisoners, densely populated regions of the country as well as natives after coming in contact with returned migrant; police and security personnel, those staying in institutional settings and hostels and inhabitants of containment zones should all be tested for the presence of antibodies against the virus.

The Department of Architecture at the University of Pretoria is working in the South African housing context while gaining knowledge of such issues worldwide. Various innovations are being carried out in terms of housing design and delivery methods in South Africa. Through a methodical approach to design, it is believed that future architects will be able to answer to contextual needs without compromising the high standard of design expected by the Department. This paper evaluates an exercise in open building principles, carried out in 2003, with post−graduate architecture and interior architecture students at the University. The focus was the application of open building principles from the urban design level to that of the building and the residential units. It involved the design of social housing and the upgrading of existing workers’ hostels into family units as well as the provision of social amenities. Students were to design various types of housing, showing alternative ways of ‘living’ and study housing in the area. The project involved close interaction with community representatives. The area of study was located in Soshanguve, a township with predominantly black inhabitants, situated to the northwest of Pretoria. The previous political dispensation designated specific areas on the outskirts of the city as locations for black migrant workers, known as townships. Subsequently these townships have become cities in themselves, housing a large portion of the total population of Pretoria. It is here that there is a need for urban development and social housing. Soshanguve offered an excellent opportunity for learning and the dissemination of good design principles in housing design. A debate on the relevance of open building to South Africa has been initiated. It is concluded that open building systems are an effective tool to achieve diversity and can accommodate for wider sectors of the population.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the life stories of migrant workers in Israel by analyzing different aspects of the information behavior that emerged from their narratives through a transitional perspective.Design/methodology/approachNarratives are a human way of communication that focuses on the stories people tell about themselves, their inner thoughts, their states of mind and how they perceive their own reality. In total, 20 Spanish-speaking domestic migrant workers were interviewed. The data collected form the narratives were study draws from the transitional theory.FindingsThe holistic phase of the content analysis revealed that participants experienced information poverty based on socioeconomic factors and perceptions of social exclusion, vulnerability and hostile surroundings. The content analysis yielded a theory of transitional information behavior that reflects the three stages of the migration process: ending of a new reality, a period of confusion and a sense of belonging. The theory encompasses four elements: process, disconnectedness, perceptions and patterns of response.Originality/valueThe study proposes an innovative look at information behavior of migrants by integrating a transitional perspective into the life stories of participants.

In this article, we examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labor conditions of domestic workers in the epicenter of the United States. We focus our analysis on the symbolic categorization of domestic work as “essential labor.” While domestic workers are lauded as heroes in public discourse, we argue that this symbolic recognition does not extend to material remuneration. Instead, we find that labor conditions better fit their categorization as expendable essential workers, meaning those whose essential labor is magnified during the pandemic but whose work remains materially undervalued. Data used in this article draw from observations of more than 30 hours of virtual town hall meetings on the pandemic hosted by migrant domestic worker advocacy groups in Los Angeles and New York.

The article is devoted to an urgent criminological problem connected with the insufficiently controlled and illegal external labor migration into the Russian Federation, which poses a considerable threat to its national interests and public safety. The author presents and analyzes new statistical data regarding the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of crimes committed by labor migrants in Russia as well as their other criminologically relevant characteristics, he singles out and describes economic, psychological, legal and socio-political prerequisites and factors of crimes committed by labor migrants in Russia. It is noted that modern Russian society is characterized by worsening criminogenic situation and processes that lead to hostile and aggressive behavior and intolerance towards labor migrants, which exacerbates both the criminal situation and the interethnic and interfaith conflicts and increases the manifestations of everyday xenophobia, migrant phobia, and nationalism from the locals. The author draws attention to the fact that criminogenic factors in the labor migrants’ environment are mainly connected with a low degree of social adaptation, acculturation and integration of labor migrants into the Russian social and cultural environment due to their poor knowledge of the Russian language, history and culture, the basics of Russian legislation, traditions and customs of social interaction, the absence of a substantial and constant intercultural dialogue or productive information exchange, comprehensive and resourced state and municipal projects and programs aimed at the socialization, successful integration, and social support of labor migrants. In this connection, the author suggests new, effective and optimal anti-criminogenic directions and formats of integration and adaptation work with labor migrants living and working in the Russian Federation that could improve their law abidance, general and legal culture, responsible attitude to social norms; the author also outlines prospective measures of general and special prevention of crimes committed by external migrants.

In response to the increase in international migration to Europe over recent years, questions have arisen on how social work practice can respond to the safeguarding risks in migrant camps at borders and to those within the UK who are denied or have restricted access to services. Social Workers Without Borders (SWWB) is a group of volunteers using their professional skills in this context. A qualitative study into the motivations of some of these social workers sought to better understand and theorise the group’s work. The research found that practitioners identified strongly with values of social justice, driving their practice within SWWB and elsewhere. Social work as a profession was conceived of as essentially political, having a role to play in making change on a societal level, along with supporting individuals. SWWB was found to provide an opportunity for participants to practice in a way which they felt was in accordance with their personal values and was effective with migrants. The organisation is described as offering an important critical space for contemporary social work practice with migrants and as a vehicle for a collective professional voice. Several participants placed their work with SWWB in the context of social work as an international profession, whose shared values have the potential to respond to the pressures of hostile immigration policies of national governments.

Marine fisheries are undeniably important to Taiwan in terms of economic development and industrial strategies. In the past 10 years, Taiwan’s fishery GDP accounted for 14% to 21% of all agriculture, forestry, fishery, and animal husbandry, which is higher than both animal husbandry and forestry. Since the domestic population structure of Taiwan has changed, the domestic fishery industrial labor force has gradually been replaced by migrant fishing workers. The issue of migrant fishing workers’ protection has received attention from non-governmental organizations, and cross-national recruitment administration has become the greatest challenge faced by Taiwan’s authority. Therefore, this paper describes the necessary protection of the labor conditions and interests of migrant fishermen by analyzing their status and human rights protection in the historical development of Taiwan's marine fisheries. In addition, considering the well-being of migrant fishing workers, this paper conducts a feasibility assessment on the operation of the " Nan-Fang-Ao Fishermen's Hostel" at the Nan-Fang-Ao Fishing Harbor and illustrates the urgent need to re-examine the migrant fishing workers’ protection. This paper suggests that the government agencies should actively advise employers to accept migrant fishermen's requests for better living environments onshore and guarantee basic living conditions.

This article examines the organizing practices of indie unions – the emerging grassroots unions co-led by precarious migrant workers. It draws on an embedded actor-centred approach involving extensive multi-sited ethnography. The article shows how workers normally considered un-organizable by the established unions can build lasting solidarity and associational power and obtain material and non-material rewards in the context of precarity, scarce economic resources and a hostile environment. Here, I argue that the organization of workers into ‘communities of struggle’ geared towards mobilization facilitates their empowerment, effectiveness and social integration. The article contributes to labour mobilization theory by redefining the concept of organizing in inclusionary terms, so that the collective industrial agency of precarious and migrant workers organizing outside the established unions can be adequately recognized and accounted for.

Migration is the main challenge of the 21st century. With 272 million people migrating in 2019, of whom 80 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide, their security and the security of those living in the destination countries or regions is a major concern. One of the decisive factors in protection and security is the planning and management of the camps where millions of refugees and internally displaced people are hosted, in several cases, for many years. Well planned and well-organized camps do not only provide assistance and ensure the dignity to those displaced, help the effective work of the aid workers, but can also contribute to reducing crime and gender-based violence, furthermore decrease security threats and concerns. This paper examines how migrant settlement options, especially camps can be a tool for upholding the dignity of those in the camp whether they are refugees, internally displaced persons or different kinds of migrants, but at the same time how they can provide the safety and security for both the hosted population and the hosting community. For this very reason, the purpose of a shelter, the advantages and disadvantages of camps, furthermore setting and planning of camps will be discussed.

Medium-term employment trends highlight increasing labour market disadvantage for people with no/low qualifications. Consequently, established local populations with no/low qualifications have been reported as being hostile to ‘new arrivals’ filling local jobs, on the basis that they are perceived as taking employment opportunities away from them. Drawing on a local study of migrant and student employment on opportunities for people with no/low formal qualifications in the UK city of Coventry, this paper shows how labour market restructuring in the context of neoliberalism has resulted in an increasingly compartmentalised labour market, in which some types of employment have become undesirable and often not feasible for some local workers, but attractive (or at least acceptable) for other groups, including migrant workers and students. The outcome is reduced labour market opportunities for local people with no/low qualifications, because the more flexible migrant workers and students allow employers to restructure their workforces and develop jobs that fit with the ‘frames of reference’ of these groups but match the requirements of some established local people less well.

Economic migration create opportunities as well as humanitarian challenge. People travel across national boundary looking for work in the country destination. They would benefit their hosted as well as sending high amount of remittance for home. However, those dream were not applicable to all economic migrant when some of them fall victim into human trafficking. This research would investigate the strategy as well as challenges by Indonesia government and NGOs to promote protection of Indonesian migrant worker. It is imperative to evaluate state policies, state diplomacy, transnational advocacy network, and the nature of companies as agent of service provider. It would show how current practices and law has loopholes that create challenges for public private partnership to provide adequate support for Indonesian migrant worker. Investigation is conducted through interview, observation and literature review. The struggle to end modern slavery shall be one among priority in protecting civilian abroad, if the government is serious to minimize economic inequality and to change itself into welfare nation.

This article asks two questions: for immigrants, how is an exploitative labor market constituted, and how do immigrant employees and employers understand exploitation involving co-ethnics? Taking ethnic Chinese immigrants (PRC-Chinese, Taiwanese, Hong Kongese) as an example, this article examines employer hiring strategies, employee economic rationales, cultural perceptions, and the work experiences of ethnic Chinese migrant workers who find work in the informal sector in Australia. This article argues that language barriers, relatively higher earnings than home countries, the flexibility of cash-in-hand jobs, and the low expectation that job-seekers have of co-ethnic employers increase the willingness of ethnic Chinese migrants to work in the cash economy. On the other hand, employers look for an ‘obedient’ employee and create the image of a ‘good boss’ to decrease the expression of hostile emotions from their employees. Considering how economic factors and mutual cultural perceptions are embedded and reflected in the informal labor market, this article concludes that co-ethnic exploitation is formulated and justified by both employers and employees in Australia.

Domestic workers face increased risk for sexual harassment and assault in the workplace but are often reluctant to disclose abuse or seek retribution. We report on a study looking at migrant domestic workers’ responses to sexual violence, reasons behind their responses, and factors enhancing or diminishing vulnerability to abuse. We carried out qualitative, in-depth, individual and group interviews with 15 female domestic workers from the Philippines and Sri Lanka working in the Republic of Cyprus. Descriptive thematic analysis was used to analyse data using QSR NVivo 10.0. Sexual violence against migrant domestic workers was reported to be rampant, particularly among women living with their employer. Perpetrators took advantage of women’s precarious legal, social, and economic circumstances to coerce women into a sexual relationship. All participants reported taking action to stop attacks despite the significant barriers they faced: racism and discrimination, social isolation, and hostile legal, labour, and immigration systems. Fear of losing their job, being deported, and facing racism and discrimination from the police were the biggest barriers to seeking retribution. Access to informational, e.g., legal, practical, and emotional support, facilitated positive outcomes following abuse, such as finding a new employer. Systemic racism, hostile labour and immigration systems, and lack of support increase risk of sexual violence and place barriers against accessing safe working spaces, protection, and justice. Women need to be informed of the risks involved in domestic work and empowered to identify abuse and access help and support when needed.

Domestic Workers in India face the plight of low wages, insecure employment, exploitation and hostile working conditions. Most of them, being migrant workers, become ineligible to avail benefits of state-specific schemes governed by the labour department. Even otherwise, the social security benefits for domestic workers in India are minimal, both in the public as well as private sector. It becomes necessary to identify the loopholes in existing governance mechanism to direct domestic work towards formalization, similar to the work in construction or transportation sector. Also,standards for minimum wage rate and adequate working conditions must be set for domestic workers to protect them from being at the mercy of the employer.

A discussion on the challenges facing trade union activists in the light of the government's determination to create a hostile environment for trade unionists as well as people of colour - including the ways in which intersectionalities of race and class play out in the workplace and the labour movement. Topics discussed include: how and why people get involved in unions - and how to maintain their interest in the face of sometimes outdated practices; organising with the United Voices of the World (UVW) and larger trade unions; the relationship between students and university staff/academics in the University and College Lecturers (UCU) strike; migrant justice; cross-sector organising; activism versus bureaucracy; the effects of restrictive legislation on trade union activities, especially for workplaces where the union is not recognised or has limited resources; organising with the most precarious workers; the current increase in activism. There is also discussion of anti-migrant rhetoric within the Labour Party and trade union movement, but also recognition of the many examples of solidarity, including trade union solidarity with the Muhammad Idrish campaign.

INTRODUCTION: Dissent is currently under political and ideological assault in the UK and immigration has long been a target for those looking to quell dissenting practices. At the same time, dissent appears increasingly out of place in the contemporary social work context in England. Yet, as the authors argue, dissent is codified within the professional and ethical standards that social workers in England must adhere to. APPROACH: This article introduces the work of a small UK Charity, Together with Migrant Children, and applies to it key facets of the theoretical basis for dissent through case study and practice-based reflections on challenges in immigration policy and opportunities for dissenting practice. IMPLICATIONS: The authors set out the challenges and opportunities for dissent in practice in statutory, non-statutory and wider community development settings, illustrating how dissent can bring individual ‘success’ that is located within a cumulative structural and tactical change that points to dissent and its practice as a necessary feature of democracy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted lives globally, and many have been “stranded” overseas with little if any support in getting home. The stranded include migrant workers whose remittances bolster their household income and home country’s national GDP, and who are often overlooked in COVID-19 responses. This paper focuses on Nepalese women employed in the domestic work sector but last on repatriation flight lists and returnee policies and programmes. The pandemic has made an already precarious working life even more difficult. The study focuses on how women employed in Lebanon in in normal times have been able to exercise their agency in a complex socio‑political environment and how this has been disrupted by COVID-19 and the hostile political and social environment, both at home and abroad. This research is based on literature, contemporary newspaper reports, and key informants’ interviews with people working on migration issues in Nepal.

John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath(1939) exposes the desperate conditions that surrounded the migratory farm families in America during the year of the Great Depression from the Naturalistic point of view. It combines his adoration of the land and his simple hatred of the corruption resulting from Materialism and his faith in common to overcome his hostile environment. It attempts to present the problem of the workers of the lower classes, and exposes the unusual family, conditions under which the Joads, the migratory farm family, was forced to live during these years. The progress the government intended to spread on the Oklahoma fields and ranches sheltered families a part and reduced the migrants to beggars suffering from deprivation and hunger. His California novels attack the counterfeited image of paradise that people held when they set their migration to California.

Abstract. Adult stakeholders who work with separated child migrants (SCMs) face a substantial challenge to their capacity or remit to care amid increasingly hostile immigration environments. This paper explores a diverse range of adult stakeholders' understandings of the care of SCMs, filling an important gap in understanding how care is conceptualized by those working in often complex and contradictory positions. Drawing on the care literature, this study focuses on 15 qualitative semistructured interviews with state and nonstate adult stakeholders in England (e.g., social work, law, police, and NGO workers). We argue that stringent immigration practices, policies, and bureaucratic and structural challenges undoubtedly present personal tensions and professional constraints for those whose role is meant to foreground “care.” Importantly, when taking into account a range of different perspectives, roles, and responsibilities across professions and sectors, our respondents were constrained in varying ways or had varying room to maneuver within their institutional contexts. Our analysis suggests that amid a hostile immigration environment, care connections with and between SCMs are treated with mistrust and are unstable over space and time. We argue that how care is conceptualized and experienced is mutually constituted by hostile policies and procedures, adult stakeholders' roles within or out-with those systems, and their personal values and perspectives. It is within this space where constraints, enablers, and resistances play out. Care is subjectively experienced, and care relationships are open to potential (dis)connection across space and time.

Several studies discussed attitudes towards migrants; some of the issues pointed out are integration that requires interaction between migrants and the host society. Homogenous social groupings produce stronger communities. As the conflict in Syria entered its fifth year, Jordan hosted about 1.4 million registered Syrians, of whom 646,700 are informal refugees. Eighty-five percent of the refugees live outside camps in some of the poorest areas of Jordan. Consequently, new household’s typologies pressured the supply side. Such non-camp refugees’ migration patterns and housing market conditions formed ethnic homogeneous enclaves in different locations in Amman. Accordingly, non-camp refugees occupied and rented the upper floors of mixed used commercial buildings in downtown Amman.The present study investigated social acceptance of Syrian migrants residing in upper floors of commercial mixed used buildings located in the city center of Amman. The primary purpose of this research is to study how social acceptance of Syrian migrants is influenced by social gating. The hypothesis of the present study states that social acceptance of Syrian migrants in downtown Amman is influenced by sense of merchants’ sense of social gating. The significance of the study stems from that the development of downtown Amman with such rich social context can be informative and useful for strategic planners, local governments, NGO’s, social workers, and psychologists. This paper offers such an opportunity to reflect on an unfolding crisis that is of major social concern with changing urban demographics.The study was conducted using a quantitative and qualitative research strategy; an embedded research design was used. The quantitative method was conducted using a survey with downtown merchants, in addition to supportive qualitative methods of face-to-face interviews. The study was conducted in the central part of Amman, known locally as Wast Al-balad, which is considered the old commercial area that dates back to the second quarter of the twentieth century. Some of these secondary residential units became spaces (enclaves) for migrants that formed ethnic low-income enclaves. In the last five years, low-income Syrian migrants started to rent these units in Amman’s urban center. Outcomes indicated that social cohesion is the strongest motivator for acceptance of outsiders by the local merchants to reside in the upper floors of the commercial buildings of Downtown Amman area.

This article examines the relationship in the UK between asylum-seeking and the labour market. Since 2002, asylum-seekers have not been allowed to work unless they have waited over twelve months for an initial decision on their asylum claim. This policy change occurred as employment was considered a ‘pull factor’ encouraging unfounded asylum claims. Despite not having the right to work, asylum-seekers – and especially those whose applications for refugee status have been refused by the UK government – interact with the labour market in manifold ways. Drawing on an ESRC-funded study in the UK's Yorkshire and Humber region and related studies, this article argues that both asylum-seekers and refused asylum-seekers form a hyper-exploitable pool of ‘illegalised’ and unprotected workers. As a vital part of their survival terrain, work is largely experienced as for-cash labouring in low-paid labour market sectors where the spectre of exploitation and even ‘modern slavery’ are perpetual threats. Recent policy shifts are deepening such threats through creating increasingly ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘hostile’ environments for certain categories of migrants.

The experiences of past hosts to mega sporting events like the Olympics, or FIFA World Cup games show that there are numerous ways in which countries can be both empowered or disempowered through their pursuit of soft power. Through a selective literature review, this paper uses the relevant soft power experiences of six countries who have hosted either the World Cup or Olympic Games from 2008. The cases include China (Beijing 2008 Olympics), South Africa (2010 World Cup), United Kingdom (London 2012 Olympics), Brazil (2014 World Cup and Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics), Russia (Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, and 2018 World Cup), and Japan (Tokyo 2020 Olympics). The paper then considers Qatar’s 2022 World Cup with an angle on applying and adapting the experiences of past hosts to understand the soft empowerment or disempowerment that Qatar will likely face as a result of hosting the games. The numerous international concerns over the situation with migrant workers in Qatar, and the Islamic and cultural norms that are alien to Western audiences, will continue to challenge Qatar’s image management and branding measures. Nevertheless, the commitment to holding the most eco-friendly event, continuous presence on international soccer fields through sponsorships, ownerships, and winning championships, in addition to actively seeking to enhance and alleviate the status of the country on the global stage will help Doha in its soft empowerment endeavors in the period before and during the event. Its pledge and dedication to keeping a long-lasting legacy after December 2022 will also help the State in the post-event phase of soft empowerment.

During and following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, approximately 200,000 people fled the country, the majority of them to Austria and others to Yugoslavia. After the suppression of the Revolution, the Hungarian authorities targeted the refugees with two simultaneous measures: on the one hand, they sought to persuade those who were willing and those whom the official propaganda considered as “misguided” to repatriate; and on the other hand, the said authorities did everything in their power to compromise “hostile” emigrant circles and persons, thereby weakening their influence among the refugees. In order to encourage and facilitate the repatriation, Hungary proclaimed amnesty and established a Hungarian–Yugoslav joint committee as well as a repatriation office in Vienna; however, the widespread repatriation propaganda of the Hungarian government was largely unsuccessful. Moreover, those returning after 31 March 1957 were meticulously screened and many repatriation requests were rejected, mostly for fear that Western intelligence might have planted spies among the applicants and repatriates. Initially, Hungarian leaders regarded the emigration of 1956 as a threat for fear that Western propaganda might use the migrants to influence Western public opinion and the foreign policy of other governments towards Hungary; they only changed their stance in the summer of 1958, when the Political Committee of the Central Committee of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party established a commission in charge of emigration affairs, which was to pay particular attention to financially supporting the repatriation of certain categories of 1956 emigrants. In 1960, “consular passports” were introduced to enable the relatives of “dissidents” to go abroad for family visits, and under certain conditions, “dissidents” were also allowed to visit Hungary. In 1963, the Hungarian repatriation policy reached a turning point with János Kádár’s proclamation of a general amnesty. From that period onward, maintaining relations with Hungarian emigration became an integral part of government policy, and the political system made concessions with regard to the perception and treatment of emigration circles, which were also showing signs of division.

Introduction: Linking general primary care, health and social services with non-profit organisations dedicated to vulnerable groups is the aim of an ongoing concertation process hosted by Brusano, the regional organisation aimed at fostering person-centred health and social-integrated services in Brussels. In the Belgian Capital, the most vulnerable people are often attended to by non-profit organisations dedicated to a specific target group or problem. These organisations are often overwhelmed, with people not moving towards general services as intended at some point. General primary care and social services remain insufficiently accessible to vulnerable people. Considering the integrated health and social policy reforms currently taking place at national and regional levels, health and social professionals felt the need to better understand each other and build common ground in order to work together and participate in the reform process. Targeted population and stakeholders: The targeted population is care providers from all levels of care, home helpers and social workers in all kinds of settings. End beneficiaries are vulnerable groups - e.g. migrants, sex workers, people with addictions, prisoners and former inmates, isolated persons, homeless people... - and people who are at a high risk of exclusion when facing problems mixing health and social situations – low income, precarious housing, language barriers... The premise is that if services can include such vulnerable groups, they might achieve broader accessibility for all. Participants: The concertation gathers professionals from multiple health sector disciplines- primary care, hospital, mental health - as well as from the social sector and dedicated non-profits. Nearly 150 professionals participate, with a mean attendance of 30 per meeting. Description of the initiative: In 2021-2022, the concertation resulted in an online publication, co-written by two partners, reviewed by 5 others, presented and discussed in 3 meetings, then further adjusted accordingly. The paper provides an overview of the organisation of the health and social systems, as well as a set of definitions. It acknowledges that different levels of care operate as first contact and often lack the means and skills to be fully inclusive and accessible to vulnerable groups. Results / Impact: Stakeholders coined a new phrase - “inclusive practices” - to fully capture the expertise of the dedicated non-profits and to bring about inclusivity in different settings through collaborations. The definitions were included in the glossary used as a reference for the upcoming Regional Health and Social Policy Plan. Learning for the international audience: Building a common language for health and social professionals, while fully recognizing the expertise of non-profits dedicated to vulnerable groups bridges the gap between health and social services. It is a step towards better integration of health and social organisations, which is a major challenge to integrated care. Next steps: In the coming months, the concertation process will continue identifying and supporting inclusive practices whatever the service or level of care. It will be fully part of the Regional Health and Social Integrated Plan. It develops as a model where a specific expertise supports services to the general population.

Background:The prevalence of limited health literacy (i.e. cognitive and social resources of individuals to access, understand and apply health information to promote and maintain good health) in the Netherlands is estimated to be over 36% [1]. Access to and outcomes of rheumatological care may be compromised by limited patient health literacy, yet little is known about how to address this, thus action is required. As influencing individual patients’ health literacy in the rheumatology context is often unrealistic, it is paramount for the health system to be tailored to the health literacy needs of its patients. The OPtimising HEalth LIteracy and Access (Ophelia) process offers a method to inform system change [2].Objectives:Following the Ophelia approach:a. Identify health literacy profiles reflecting strengths and weaknesses of outpatients with RA, SpA and gout.b. Use the health literacy profiles to facilitate discussions on challenges for patients and professionals in rheumatological care and identify possible solutions the health system could offer to address these challenges.Methods:Patients with RA, SpA and gout attending outpatient clinics in three centres in the Netherlands completed the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) and questions on socio-demographic and health-related characteristics. Hierarchical cluster analysis using Ward’s method identified clusters based on the nine HLQ domains. Three researchers jointly examined 24 cluster solutions for meaningfulness by interpreting HLQ domain scores and patient characteristics. Meaningful clusters were translated into health literacy profiles using HLQ patterns and demographic data. A patient research partner confirmed the identified profiles. Patient vignettes were designed by combining cluster analyses results with qualitative patient interviews. The vignettes were used in two two-hour co-design workshops with rheumatologists and nurses to discuss their perspective on health literacy-related challenges for patients and professionals, and generate ideas on how to address these challenges.Results:In total, 895 patients participated: 49% female, mean age 61 years (±13.0), 25% lived alone, 18% had a migrant background, 6.6% did not speak Dutch at home and 51% had low levels of education. Figure 1 shows a heat map of identified health literacy profiles, displaying the score distribution per profile across nine health literacy domains. Figure 2 shows an excerpt of a patient vignette, describing challenges for a patient with profile number 9. The workshops were attended by 7 and 14 nurses and rheumatologists. Proposed solutions included health literacy communication training for professionals, developing and improving (visual) patient information materials, peer support for patients through patient associations or group consultations, a clear referral system for patients who need additional guidance by a nurse, social worker, lifestyle coach, pharmacist or family doctor, and more time with rheumatology nurses for target populations. Moreover, several system adaptations to the clinic, such as a central desk for all patient appointments, were proposed.Conclusion:This study identified several distinct health literacy profiles of patients with rheumatic conditions. Engaging with health professionals in co-design workshops led to numerous bottom-up ideas to improve care. Next steps include co-design workshops with patients, followed by prioritising and testing proposed interventions.References:[1]Heijmans M. et al. Health Literacy in the Netherlands. Utrecht: Nivel 2018[2]Batterham R. et al. BMC Public Health 2014, 14:694Disclosure of Interests:Mark Bakker: None declared, Polina Putrik: None declared, Jany Rademakers Speakers bureau: In March 2017, Prof. Dr. Rademakers was invited to speak about health literacy at the “Heuvellanddagen” Conference, hosted by Janssen-Cilag., Mart van de Laar Consultant of: Sanofi Genzyme, Speakers bureau: Sanofi Genzyme, Harald Vonkeman: None declared, Marc R Kok Grant/research support from: BMS and Novartis, Consultant of: Novartis and Galapagos, Hanneke Voorneveld: None declared, Sofia Ramiro Grant/research support from: MSD, Consultant of: Abbvie, Lilly, Novartis, Sanofi Genzyme, Speakers bureau: Lilly, MSD, Novartis, Maarten de Wit Grant/research support from: Dr. de Wit reports personal fees from Ely Lilly, 2019, personal fees from Celgene, 2019, personal fees from Pfizer, 2019, personal fees from Janssen-Cilag, 2017, outside the submitted work., Consultant of: Dr. de Wit reports personal fees from Ely Lilly, 2019, personal fees from Celgene, 2019, personal fees from Pfizer, 2019, personal fees from Janssen-Cilag, 2017, outside the submitted work., Speakers bureau: Dr. de Wit reports personal fees from Ely Lilly, 2019, personal fees from Celgene, 2019, personal fees from Pfizer, 2019, personal fees from Janssen-Cilag, 2017, outside the submitted work., Richard Osborne Consultant of: Prof. Osborne is a paid consultant for pharma in the field of influenza and related infectious diseases., Roy Batterham: None declared, Rachelle Buchbinder: None declared, Annelies Boonen Grant/research support from: AbbVie, Consultant of: Galapagos, Lilly (all paid to the department)

Worker hostels or dormitories are common in labour-intensive industries staffed largely by migrant labour, and have long been associated with exploitative practices. More recently, hostels have come under scrutiny because of accusations that they are used to restrict workers’ freedom in ways that are tantamount to modern slavery. Drawing on a qualitative study of a garment hub in South India where such claims have frequently arisen, we explore the conditions of freedom and unfreedom in worker hostels and how suppliers who run such hostels respond to competing expectations about worker freedom. Our findings show that hostels perform three interrelated functions: restriction, protection, and liberation, which together constitute a complex mix of freedom and unfreedom for migrant women workers that we term hybrid (un)freedom. As a result, we problematize the binary understandings of freedom and unfreedom that predominate in the modern slavery literature. We also develop a new way forward for examining freedom in the context of hostels that considers the system of relationships, traditions, and socio-economic arrangements that workers and employers are locked into and that prevent meaningful improvements in the freedom of women workers.

The COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia drew attention to the extremely poor living conditions of the country’s approximately 2.5 million migrants from South and Southeast Asia working in manufacturing, construction, services, and agriculture. International media reports throughout 2020 and 2021 highlighted the overcrowded, unsanitary, and unsafe accommodations provided by employers, including cramped hostels, stacked containers, and rented apartments. This article addresses how migrant worker accommodation in Malaysia is utilised by the state and by employers as a spatial mechanism of control to regulate migrant labour. This case study draws on over a hundred in-depth interviews with Nepali migrant workers, recruitment agents, employers, and policy officials in Malaysia. We detail how the Malaysian government’s requirement for migrants to live in employer-provided housing forms part of intensified immigration controls implemented by the federal government. This policy effectively transforms employers into ‘landlords’, bringing migrants’ ‘private space’ under their control, thereby enabling employers’ increased surveillance of their activities. We found that employers utilised the opportunity to discipline their workforces and intensify work regimes. We therefore argue that housing has become a double-layered regulatory tool to deepen labour control among migrant populations, perpetuate a state of temporariness, and reinforce visible boundaries between citizens and non-citizens. In the process, migrants’ living quarters (spaces of social reproduction) have been subsumed into the organisation of production, serving the demands of the low-wage, highly-controlled, political economy of Malaysia.

The worldwide expansion of digital labour platforms has a transformative impact on labour markets, reconfiguring employment relations and labour management both on a local and global scale. Lately, the growing literature on digital labour platforms is increasingly documenting how platform workers around the world are to a great extent migrants. Our article draws on data from empirical research on digital platforms providing housecleaning in Denmark, to emphasise how the intersection of migrant work, digital technologies, labour market regulations and migration law exacerbate inequalities and institutionalise precarious working conditions. We analyse platform housecleaning in Denmark through the lens of the “institutionalisation of precarity” and “Autonomy of Migration” concepts, to highlight that it is a phenomenon simultaneously co-constructed by migrants’ agency and structural factors. We conclude that critical studies on platform labour and future research should engage deeper with the intersecting realities (legal, social, gendered etc.) that shape migrant workers’ precarious lives, and migrants’ own strategies to navigate the shortcomings of exclusive and hostile labour market environments.

Abstract The survey of the Gulf Cooperation Council states reviews some key legislative and executive measures of particularly the governments of Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the year 2023 (largely between December 2022–2023). It focuses mainly on the rights of the migrant workers. Further, and in less detail, it also notes some of the developments pertinent to the rights of women. More generally, these rights are less relevant to women who are not national citizens. The GCC comprises six member countries in the Arab-Gulf region: Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, the UAE (it is a federal state comprising seven emirates namely, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Dubai, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah), Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. These oil-producing countries have a significant proportion of foreign workforce in the population. At 88.1 per cent, the UAE has the highest proportion of migrants in its population among the GCC members (UN DESA, 2020). Foreign workers work mostly in the private sector and are also residents in the host countries. Therefore, a broader spectrum of governments’ measures relating to the issues like labour, entry and residence, and ownership of property or business touch the lives of the foreign/migrant workers or expatriates in the Gulf country. Governments’ initiatives targeting domestic workers are relevant also for women because they comprise the majority in this group. Apparently, the most prolific among the GCC countries in governmental initiatives during the surveyed period is the UAE, both concerning migrant workers and women. The Gulf states appear to have showed more responsiveness to their public image as a few important global events have happened in the region in the past year or discussion was in progress. For instance, the FIFA World Cup 2022 was hosted in Doha, Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022. The 28th United Nations Climate Change conference or COP28 was hosted in Dubai, the UAE from 30 November to 12 December 2023. Announced at the conclusion of the competitive bidding process in November 2023, Saudi Arabia has won the bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Riyadh from October 2030 to March 2031.

This article draws on data from interviews with sex workers in Welsh massage parlours and individuals involved in the provision of support to migrant sex workers in Wales and England. Drawing on concepts of xeno-racism and ‘everyday ordering’, it illustrates the ways in which policies and state institutions enable violence against sex workers in a way that is increasingly mediated and compounded by race and immigration status. It argues that an awareness of regular and hostile policing practices, coupled with fears of deportation, among a sample of primarily Romanian migrant sex workers is exposing them to increased risks of harm and exploitation.

Abstract Background Many health systems have responded to growing population needs and expanded long-term care services for older people (LTC). However, no country managed to adequately increase the human resources for health. A large group of transnationally mobile migrant carers fill the gaps and mitigate policy failure. This study aims to explore the connections between health labour markets, migrant care workers and populism and to reveal blind spots in the governance of the LTC workforce. Methods An explorative comparative approach was applied, which draws on a rapid review of the literature, public statistics and document analysis. A novel analytical framework was developed, which is informed by transsectoral governance and combines four major dimensions: LTC system (e.g. cash benefits, public responsibility), health labour market situation (supply-demand) in the LTC sector, labour migration policies relevant for LTC, and the role of populist parties. Five EU countries were selected which represent different conditions in LTC: Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy and Poland. Results Typologies of sending and receiving countries are no longer sustainable, but transnational mobility flows still impact differently in healthcare systems and national labour markets. Undersupply coupled with cash-benefits and a culture of family responsibility are predicting high inflows of migrant carers, who are channelled in low-level positions or in the informal care sector. These conditions can often be observed in countries with strong populist movements. Conclusions Health labour markets, LTC systems, culture and political factors combine to create a double jeopardy for migrant carers, exploited as labour market subjects and exposed to hostile social environments as individual citizens. Action has to be taken to improve public health advocacy for migrant carers and to establish effective European health labour market regulation and transnational health workforce governance.

With this article we present European Union (EU) and non-EU nurses’ lived experiences of feeling ‘unwelcomed’ and ‘unsettled’ in a heightened xenophobic environment, in the workplace and elsewhere, following the 2016 EU Referendum. Brexit has exposed long-standing structural inequalities which oppress and disempower the NHS migrant labour force. Migrant nurses, a highly mobile and skilled workforce, were feeling increasingly disenfranchised and insecure in their employment. Drawing on notions such as tolerated citizenship and the contested political boundaries of belonging, and taking a situated intersectionality approach, we examine everyday bordering practices in the UK where the cultivation of a hostile environment is becoming increasingly prevalent. We contribute to the debates on forms of othering in post-Brexit Britain and question the instrumentality of policy interventions, closely connected to the ‘dangerous politics of immigration control’, which have far-reaching implications for long-term settlement of migrant nurses and other healthcare migrant workers.

What does the overdependence on electronic and electrical appliances in the US have to do with migrant workers in West Africa? What is the relevance and role of Human Factors and Ergonomics (HF/E) research and practice in this context? This discussion panel will: (i) explore the nexus between electrical and electronic appliance waste (e-waste) – of which the US and other developed countries are a major contributor – and the disproportionate environmental and occupational health burden placed on emerging countries such as Ghana, and (ii) examine how corporations are responding by intentional paradigm shifts in sustainability, circularity, supply chain transparency, and product life-cycle management spanning raw material sourcing to recycling and reuse. This panel will be a social impact discussion hosted by the HFES Environmental Design Technical Group in collaboration with the HFES Sustainability Task Force and the IEA Technical Committee on Informal Work, with panelists from academia and industry.

Abstract Background It is estimated that since 2014, approximately 7.3 million Venezuelan migrants/refugees have left the country. Although both male and female migrants/refugees are vulnerable, female migrants/refugees are more likely to face discrimination, emotional, physical, and sexual violence. Currently there is a lack of literature that explores the experiences of pregnant Venezuelan migrants/refugees. Our aim is to better understand the experience of this vulnerable population to inform programming. Methods In the parent study, Spryng.io’s sensemaking tool was used to gain insight into the gendered migration experiences of Venezuelan women/girls. A total of 9339 micronarratives were collected from 9116 unique participants in Peru, Ecuador and Brazil from January to April 2022. For the purpose of this analysis, two independent reviewers screened 817 micronarratives which were identified by the participant as being about someone who was pregnant, ultimately including 231 as part of the thematic analysis. This was an exploratory study and an open thematic analysis of the narratives was performed. Results The mean age and standard deviation of our population was 25.77 ± 6.73. The majority of women in the sample already had at least 1 child (62%), were married at the time of migration (53%) and identified as low socio-economic status (59%). The qualitative analysis revealed the following main themes among pregnant Venezuelan migrants/refugees: xenophobia in the forms of racial slurs and hostile treatment from health-care workers while accessing pregnancy care; sexual, physical, and verbal violence experienced during migration; lack of shelter, resources and financial support; and travelling with the hopes of a better future. Conclusion Pregnant Venezuelan migrants/refugees are a vulnerable population that encounter complex gender-based and societal issues that are rarely sufficiently reported. The findings of this study can inform governments, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations to improve support systems for pregnant migrants/refugees. Based on the results of our study we recommend addressing xenophobia in health-care centres and the lack of shelter and food in host countries at various levels, creating support spaces for pregnant women who experience trauma or violence, and connecting women with reliable employment opportunities and maternal healthcare.

Abstract Background Tuberculosis in the UK is more prevalent in people with social risk factors– e.g. previous incarceration, homelessness - and in migrants from TB endemic countries. The management of TB infection is part of TB elimination strategies, but is challenging to provide to socially excluded groups and the evidence base for effective interventions is small. Methods We evaluated a TB infection screening and treatment programme provided by a peer-led service (Find&Treat) working in inclusion health settings (e.g. homeless hostels) in London. IGRA (interferon-gamma release assay) testing and TB infection treatment were offered to eligible adults using a community-based model. The primary outcome was successful progression through the cascade of care. We also evaluated socio-demographic characteristics associated with a positive IGRA. Results 42/312 (13.5%) participants had a positive IGRA and no one had evidence of active TB. 35/42 completed a medical evaluation; 22 started treatment, and 17 completed treatment. Having a positive IGRA was associated with previous incarceration and being born outside of the UK. Discussion Provision of TB infection diagnosis and management to this socially excluded population has several challenges including maintaining people in care and drug-drug interactions. Peer-support workers provided this service safely and effectively with appropriate support. Further work to generate data to inform risks and benefits of treatment for TB infection in this group is needed to facilitate joint decision making.

This study uses a historically informed lens of coloniality, bordering, and intersectionality to analyze maritime bordering discourses and practices that target seafarers recruited from the Global South who embody the border in their everyday lives. In seeking to explain the current context exemplified by the sacking of P&O Ferry workers and the recruitment of “foreign agency” crews in March 2022, the study foregrounds 19th- and 20th-century maritime bordering legislation on ships and onshore, focusing on public-/private-bordering partnerships between governments, shipping companies, and unions. Archival research on British Indian seafarers employed by P&O a century ago and analysis of contemporary media and political discourses relating to “foreign agency crews” are drawn on to consider the implications of earlier bordering discourses and practices for 21st-century British citizenship and belonging. Attending to imperial bordering regulations that created the racialized and class-defined labor category of lascars explains the “common sense” designations of seafarers recruited in the Global South and their families as potential “illegal migrants,” and in doing so, it constitutes the long history of the public/private partnerships that constitute the UK's “hostile environment” immigration policies.

This paper seeks to explore environmental, social and governance issues arising from investment in special economic zones (SEZs) in the mainland Southeast Asian region through a mixture of thick analytical description and multiple case study approach. All the states studied here have embraced the SEZ approach as it offers rapid economic development without any implications for the political settlement, which is considered beneficial by current administrations. Particular emphasis is placed on environmental, social and governance issues in the region covered and some complex issues that have emerged. It is shown that the situation is complex and continually evolving and that there are limited constraints on the actions of corporations. Consequently, there is an opportunity for investors to set precedents and protocols on a progressive basis. Keywords Economic development; environmental, social and governance issues; mainland Southeast Asia; special economic zones References [1] Anderson, Benedict, “Murder and Progress in Modern Siam,” New Left Review. 181 (1990) 33-48.[2] Ando, “About Ando”. www.ando-kyo.co.jp/english/about/history.html/, 2016.[3] Apisitniran, Lamonphet, “Latest SEZ Land Proposal Fizzles out,” Bangkok Post, Business B2, June 19th, 2015.[4] Aung, Noe Noe, “Workers Strike over Wage Demands”, Myanmar Times. http:// www.mmtimes.com/national-news/yangon/7150-thousands-of-workers-protest-in-hlaing-tharyar.html/, November 12th, 2017. [5] Baissac, Claude, “Brief History of SEZs and Overview of Policy Debates,” in Thomas Farole, ed., Special Economic Zones in Africa: Company Performance and Learning from Global Experience (Washington, DC: World Bank. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/2341/638440PUB0Exto00Box0361527B0PUBLIC0.pdf/, 2011. [6] Beerlao, “Lao Brewery” (n.d.). http://www.beerlao.la/products/.[7] Champasak Province, “Investment Opportunities in Laos: Champasak Province”. http://www.poweringprogress.org/new/images/PDF/Champassak_10/Champassak_10.pdf/, 2009.[8] Chang, Ha-Joon, Ilene Grabel, Reclaiming Development: An Alternative Economic Policy Manual, London: Zedbooks, 2014.[9] Chintraruck, Alin and John Walsh, “Bangkok and the Floods of 2011: Urban Governance and the Struggle for Democratisation,” in Miller, M. and M. Douglass (eds.), Disaster Governance in Urbanising Asia, Singapore: Springer, 2016, pp.195-209.[10] David, Sen, “Garment Factory Employees Protest Short-Term Contracts,” Phnom Penh Post. http:// www.phnompenhpost.com/national/garment-factory-employees-protest-short-term-contracts/, 2016.[11] Embassy of Japan in the Lao PDR, “Remarks by H.E. Hiroyuki Kishino, Ambassador of Japan to the Lao PDR, at the Inauguration Ceremony of the New Ando Factory in Pakse. http://www.la.emb-japan.go.jp/content_japan_laos_relations/ambassador_speech/Ando.html/, 2013 (Champasak Province on 03 December, 2013”). [12] M. Eisenbruch, “Mass Fainting in Garment Factories in Cambodia”, Transcultural Psychiatry. 54 (2017) 155-78.[13] Gopalakrishnan, Raju, “China-Vietnam Dispute: “More than 20 Killed” in Anti-China Riots,” Independent. http:// www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-vietnam-dispute-more-than-20-killed-in-anti-china-riots-9375887.html/, 2014 (May 15th, 2014). [14] Guardian Staff, Agencies, “Aung San Suu Kyi Denies Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar,” The Guardian. http:// www.theguardia.com/world/2017/apr/05/myanmar-aung-san-suu-kyi-ethnic-cleansing/, 2017 (April 5th, 2017). [15] Hance, Jeremy, “High-End Laos Resort Serves up Illegal Wildlife for Chinese Tourists”, The Guardian.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/radical-conservation/2015/mar/19/high-end-laos-resort-serves-up-illegal-wildlife-for-chinese-tourists/, 2015 (March 19th, 2015). [16] HKTDC, “Myanmar Rising: Industrial and Special Economic Zones”. http://economists-pick-research.hktdc.com/business-news/article/Research-Articles/Myanmar-Rising-Industrial-and-Special-Economic-Zones/rp/en/1/1X000000/1X0A72FF.htm/, 2016. [17] Inclusive Development International, “Cambodia: Boeung Kak Lake Evictions” (n.d.). http:// www.inclusivedevelopment.net/campaign/cambodia-boeung-kak-lake-evictions/. [18] International Rivers, “The World Bank and Dams”. http://www.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/attached-files/world-bank-and-dams-fact-sheet.pdf/, 2015 (April, 2015). [19] Jacobsen, Trudy, Lost Goddesses: The Denial of Female Power in Cambodian History (Copenhagen: NIAS Press, 2008).[20] Kongkirati, Prajak, “Murder without Progress in Siam: From Hired Gunmen to Men in Uniform,” Kyoto University Center for Southeast Asia Studies. http://kyotoreview.org/issue-21/murder-without-progress-siam/, 2017. [21] Ku, Samuel, “China’s Expanding Influence in Laos,” East Asia Forum. http:// www.eastasiforum.org/2016/02/26/chinas-expanding-influence-in-laos/, 2016 (February 26th, 2016).[22] Kurlantzick, Joshua, “Cambodia Draws Closer to Outright Authoritarianism,” Council on Foreign Relations. http://www.cfr.org/blog/cambodia-draws-closer-outright-authoritarianism/, 2017 (October 10th, 2017). [23] Kyozuki, Tamaki, “Laos OKs Economic Zone for Smaller Japanese Companies,” Nikkei Asian Review. http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Economy/Laos-OKs-economic-zone-for-smaller-Japanese-companies/, 2015 (September 18th, 2015).[24] Larsson, Naomi, “Human Rights in Thailand: Andy Hall’s Legal Battle to Defend Migrant Workers,” The Guardian. http:// www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2016/jan/22/human-rights-thailand-andy-hall-legal-battle-migrant-workers/, 2016 (January 22nd, 2016). [25] Le Coz, Clothilde, “Blood Sugar”. http://www.ruom.net/portfolio-item/blood-sugar/, 2013. [26] LNC, “Nishimatsu Capitalized on Pakse-Japan SME SEZ Development”. http://laonishimatsu.com/?lang=en&module=news&idz=7/, 2016.[27] T.G. McGee, The Southeast Asian City: a Social Geography of the Primate Cities of Southeast Asia (London: G. Bell and Sons, 1967), 1967.[28] McGrath, Cam, “Sihanoukville Zone Prospers on China Links,” The Phnom Penh Post. https:// www.phnompenhpost.com/business/sihanoukville-zone-prospers-china-links/, 2017 (June 12th, 2017). [29] Mills, Mary Beth, “From Nimble Fingers to Raised Fists: Women and Labor Activism in Globalizing Thailand,” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 31 (2005) 117-44.[30] Minami, Ryoshin and Xinxin Ma, “The Lewis Turning Point of Chinese Economy: Comparison with Japanese Economy,” China Economic Journal. 3 (2010) 163-79.[31] Mingaladon Industrial Park, “Internal Infrastructure”. https://www.mingaladon.com/infrastructure-services.htm/, 2017a. [32] Mingaladon Industrial Park (2017b), “Investment Incentives,” http:// www.mingaladon.com/investment-incentives.htm.[33] Myanmar Industries, “Main Activities”. https:// myanmarindustries.org/index.php/main-activities-2/, 2017b. [34] Myanmar Industries, “Background”. https://myanmarindustries.org/index.php/background-2/, 2017a. [35] Nikon, “Establishment of a New Factory in Laos”. https://www.nikon.com/news/2013/0321_01.htm/,2013. [36] Nolintha, Vanthana, “Cities, SEZs and Connectivity in Major Provinces of Laos,” in Masami Ishida, ed., Intra- and Inter-City Connectivity in the Mekong Region, BRC Research Report No.6 (Bangkok: IDE-JETRO Bangkok Research Centre, 2011). http://www.ide.go.jp/library/English/Publish/Download/Brc/pdf/06_chapter4.pdf/, 2011.[37] Paing, Yan, “Chinese Developer to Invest US$390m in Mandalay Project,” Eleven Myanmar (13th, October, 2017), http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/local/11966/, 2017 (13th, October, 2017). [38] Phnom Penh SEZ, ‘Facilities and Services,’ Phnom Penh SEZ, available at: www.ppsez.com/en/the-zone/phnom-penh-sez/facilities/, 2017. [39] Pinyochatchinda, Supaporn and John Walsh, “Pollution Management and Industrial Estates: Perceptions of Residents in the Vicinity of Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate,” Information Management and Business Review. 6 (2014) 42-8.http://bua.rmutr.ac.th/wpcontent/uploads/2016/09/WY-13-56.pdf. [40] Poupon, Roland, The Thai Food Complex: From the Rice Fields to Industrial and Organic Foods (Bangkok: White Lotus Press, 2013), 2013.[41] QTSP, “Who We Are”, available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20110501200030/http://www.quangtrungsoft.com.vn:80/index.php/en/about-qtsc/who-we-are?start=3/, 2011. [42] Rentsbuy, “Govt Approves New SEZ in Champasak”. https:// www.rentsbuy.com/project/economic-zone/pakxe-japan-sme-specific-economic-zone.html/, 2015 (August 10th, 2015).[43] Reporters without Borders, “2017 World Press Freedom Index”. https://rsf.org/en/ranking/, 2017.[44] Scott, C. James, Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1985. [45] Sihanoukville SEZ, “Social Responsibility”. https:// ssez.com/en/social.asp#/, 2017. [46] Siu, Kaxton, “The Vietnam Strike Wave,” Asia Monitor Resource Centre. www.amrc.org.hk/content/vietnam-strike-wave/, 2011 (June 27th, 2011). [47] Stuart-Fox, Martin, “Historical and Cultural Constraints on Development in the Mekong Region,” paper prepared for the seminar “Accelerating Development in the Mekong Region: The Role of Economic Integration,” Siem Reap, Cambodia. http://www.imf.org/external/np/seminars/eng/2006/mekong/fox.pdf/, 2006 (June 26th-27th, 2006). [48] The Nation, “Laos-Japan Economic Zone to Benefit Local Community”. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Laos-Japan-economic-zone-to-benefit-local-communit-30276007.html/, 2016 (January 2nd, 2016).[49] The Nation, “Foreigners to Be Allowed to Set up Universities in Special Economic Zones,” The Nation. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/breakingnews/30315506/, 2017 (May 17th, 2017). [50] Thongnoi, Jitsinee, “Open for Business, If Anyone Wants to Come,” Bangkok Post, April 5th, 2015, pp. 6-9.[51] Thul, Prak Chan, “Cambodian Forces Open Fire as Factory Strikes Turn Violent,” Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cambodia-protest/cambodian-forces-open-fire-as-factory-strikes-turn-violent-idUSBREA0203H20140103/, 2014 (January 3rd, 2014).[52] Transparency International, “Country Analysis”. https://www.transparency.org/country/, 2016.[53] Trinh, Vo Thi Trung, Narumon Sriratanaviriyakul, Matthews Nkhoma and Hiep Pham, “Quang Trung Software City - The Largest Vietnamese Software Park,” Journal of Information Technology Education: Discussion Cases, Vol.2, Case No.6 (2013), http://www.jite.org/documents/DCVol02/v02-06-QuangTrung.pdf/, 2013. [54] UNCTAD, Investment and Enterprise Responsibility Review: Analysis of Investor and Enterprise Policies on Corporate Social Responsibility (New York, NY and Geneva: UNCTAD.http://unctad.org/en/Docs/diaeed20101_en.pdf/, 2011. [55] Vietnam Briefing, “IT Parks in Vietnam: Present and Future”. http://www.vietname-briefing.com/news/it-parks-in-vietnam-present-and-future7461.html/, 2017. [56] Vietnam.net, “More Software Parks to Go up”. https:// english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/science-it/116286/more-software-parks-to-go-up.html/, 2014 (November 13th, 2014a).[57] Vietnam Net, “China Attempts to Control Vietnam’s Mineral Industries”. https:// english.vietnamenet.vn/fms/business/94502/china-attempts-tocontrol-vietnam-s-mineral-industries.html/, 2014b (January 25th, 2014b). [58] Walsh, John, “Tesco Lotus Thailand: Managing Stakeholders in a Hostile Environment,” in B.S. Sahay, Tojo Thatchenkery and G.D. Sardana, Handbook on Management Cases (New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd., 2008, pp. 447-51.[59] Walsh, John, “The Development of Dawei Special Economic Zone,” The Myanmar Journal. 2 (2015) 9-26, [60] Walsh, John and Nittana Southiseng, “Vientiane - A Failure to Exert Power?” City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action. 13 (2009) 95-102.[61] Wancharoen, Supoj and Sirinya Wattanasukchai, “Urban Projects Gain Favour, Stoke Fury,” Bangkok Post (December 30th 2015), 2015. [62] Whitehead, Judith, “Intersectionality and Primary Accumulation: Caste and Gender in India under the Sign of Monopoly-finance Capital,” Monthly Review. 68 (2016) 37-52.[63] World Bank, “International Scorecard”. https://lpi.worldbank.org/international/scorecard/ 2016.[64] World Economic Forum (2016), Global Competitiveness Report, 2016, available at: reports.weforum.org/global-competititveness-report-2015-2016.[65] WTO, “Members and Observers”. https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatitis_e/tif_e/org6_3.htm/, 2016.

Previously limited and somewhat neglected as a focus of academic scrutiny, interest in home and domesticity is now growing apace across the humanities and social sciences (Mallett; Blunt, “Cultural Geographies of Home”; Blunt and Dowling). This is evidenced in the recent publication of a range of books on home from various disciplines (Chapman and Hockey; Cieraad; Miller; Chapman; Pink; Blunt and Dowling), the advent in 2004 of a new journal, Home Cultures, focused specifically on the subject of home and domesticity, as well as similar recent special issues in several other journals, including Antipode, Cultural Geographies, Signs and Housing, Theory and Society. This increased interest in the home as a site of social and cultural inquiry reflects a renewed fascination with home and domesticity in the media, popular culture and everyday life. Domestic life is explicitly central to the plot and setting of many popular and/or critically-acclaimed television programs, especially suburban dramas like Neighbours [Australia], Coronation Street [UK], Desperate Housewives [US] and The Secret Life of Us [Australia]. The deeply-held value of home – as a place that must be saved or found – is also keenly represented in films such as The Castle [Australia], Floating Life [Australia], Rabbit-Proof Fence [Australia], House of Sand and Fog [US], My Life as a House [US] and Under the Tuscan Sun [US]. But the prominence of home in popular media imaginaries of Australia and other Western societies runs deeper than as a mere backdrop for entertainment. Perhaps most telling of all is the rise and ratings success of a range of reality and/or lifestyle television programs which provide their audiences with key information on buying, building, renovating, designing and decorating home. In Australia, these include Backyard Blitz , Renovation Rescue, The Block, Changing Rooms, DIY Rescue, Location, Location and Our House. Likewise, popular magazines like Better Homes and Gardens and Australian Vogue Living tell us how to make our homes more beautiful and functional. Other reality programs, meanwhile, focus on how we might secure the borders of our suburban homes (Crimewatch [UK]) and our homeland (Border Security [Australia]). Home is also a strong theme in other media forms and debates, including life writing, novels, art and public dialogue about immigration and national values (see Blunt and Dowling). Indeed, notions of home increasingly frame ‘real world’ experiences, “especially for the historically unprecedented number of people migrating across countries”, where movement and resettlement are often configured through processes of leaving and establishing home (Blunt and Dowling 2). In this issue of M/C Journal we contribute to these critical voices and popular debates, seeking to further untangle the intricate and multi-layered connections between home and everyday life in the contemporary world. Before introducing the articles comprising this issue, we want to extend some of the key themes that weave through academic and popular discussions of home and domesticity, and which are taken up and extended here by the subsequent articles. Home is powerful, emotive and multi-faceted. As a basic desire for many, home is saturated with the meanings, memories, emotions, experiences and relationships of everyday life. The idea and place of home is perhaps typically configured through a positive sense of attachment, as a place of belonging, intimacy, security, relationship and selfhood. Indeed, many reinforce their sense of self, their identity, through an investment in their home, whether as house, hometown or homeland. But at the same time, home is not always a well-spring of succour and goodness; others experience alienation, rejection, hostility, danger and fear ‘at home’. Home can be a site of domestic violence or ‘house arrest’; young gay men and lesbians may feel alienated in the family home; asylum seekers are banished from their homelands; indigenous peoples are often dispossessed of their homelands; refugees might be isolated from a sense of belonging in their new home(land)s. But while this may seriously mitigate the affirmative experience of home, many still yearn for places, both figurative and material, to call ‘home’ – places of support, nourishment and belonging. The experience of violence, loss, marginalisation or dispossession can trigger, in Michael Brown’s words, “the search for a new place to call home”: “it means having to relocate oneself, to leave home and reconfigure it elsewhere” (50). Home, in this sense, understood as an ambiguous site of both belonging and alienation, is not a fixed and static location which ‘grounds’ an essential and unchanging sense of self. Rather, home is a process. If home enfolds and carries some sense of desire for positive feelings of attachment – and the papers in this special issue certainly suggest so, most quite explicitly – then equally this is a relationship that requires ongoing maintenance. Blunt and Dowling call these processes ‘homemaking practices’, and point to how home must be understood as a lived space which is “continually created and recreated through everyday practices” (23). In this way, home is posited as relational – the ever-changing outcome of the ongoing and mediated interaction between self, others and place. What stands out in much of the above discussion is the deep inter-connection between home, identity and self. Across the humanities and social sciences, home has been keenly explored as a crucial site “for the construction and reconstruction of one’s self” (Young 153). Indeed, Blunt and Dowling contend that “home as a place and an imaginary constitutes identities – people’s sense of themselves are related to and produced through lived and imaginative experiences of home” (24). Thus, through various homemaking practices, individuals generate a sense of self (and social groups produce a sense of collective identity) while they create a place called home. Moreover, as a relational entity, neither home nor identity are fixed, but mutually and ongoingly co-constituted. Homemaking enables changing and cumulative identities to be materialised in and supported by the home (Blunt and Dowling). Unfolding identities are progressively embedded and reflected in the home through both everyday practices and routines (Wise; Young), and accumulating and arranging personally meaningful objects (Marcoux; Noble, “Accumulating Being”). Consequently, as one ‘makes home’, one accumulates a sense of self. Given these intimate material and affective links between home, self and identity, it is perhaps not surprising that writing about a place called home has often been approached autobiographically (Blunt and Dowling). Emphasising the importance of autobiographical accounts for understanding home, Blunt argues that “through their accounts of personal memories and everyday experiences, life stories provide a particularly rich source for studying home and identity” (“Home and Identity”, 73). We draw attention to the importance of autobiographical accounts of home because this approach is prominent across the papers comprising this issue of M/C Journal. The authors have used autobiographical reflections to consider the meanings of home and processes of homemaking operating at various scales. Three papers – by Brett Mills, Lisa Slater and Nahid Kabir – are explicitly autobiographical, weaving scholarly arguments through deeply personal experiences, and thus providing evocative first-hand accounts of the power of home in the contemporary world. At the same time, several other authors – including Melissa Gregg, Gilbert Caluya and Jennifer Gamble – use personal experiences about home, belonging and exclusion to introduce or illustrate their scholarly contentions about home, self and identity. As this discussion suggests, home is relational in another way, too: it is the outcome of a relationship between material and imaginative qualities. Home is somewhere – it is situated, located, emplaced. But it is also much more than a location – as suggested by the saying, ‘A house is not a home’. Rather, a house becomes a home when it is imbued with a range of meanings, feelings and experiences by its occupants. Home, thus, is a fusion of the imaginative and affective – what we envision and desire home to be – intertwined with the material and physical – an actual location which can embody and realise our need for belonging, affirmation and sustenance. Blunt and Dowling capture this relationship between emplacement and emotion – the material and the imaginative – with their powerful assertion of home as a spatial imaginary, where “home is neither the dwelling nor the feeling, but the relation between the two” (22). Moreover, they demonstrate that this conceptualisation also detaches ‘home’ from ‘dwelling’ per se, and invokes the creation of home – as a space and feeling of belonging – at sites and scales beyond the domestic house. Instead, as a spatial imaginary, home takes form as “a set of intersecting and variable ideas and feelings, which are related to context, and which construct places, extend across spaces and scales, and connects places” (Blunt and Dowling 2). The concept of home, then, entails complex scalarity: indeed, it is a multi-scalar spatial imaginary. Put quite simply, scale is a geographical concept which draws attention to the layered arenas of everyday life – body, house, neighbourhood, city, region, nation and globe, for instance – and this terminology can help extend our understanding of home. Certainly, for many, house and home are conflated, so that a sense of home is coterminous with a physical dwelling structure (e.g. Dupuis and Thorns). For others, however, home is signified by intimate familial or community relationships which extend beyond the residence and stretch across a neighbourhood (e.g. Moss). And moreover, without contradiction, we can speak of hometowns and homelands, so that home can be felt at the scale of the town, city, region or nation (e.g. Blunt, Domicile and Diaspora). For others – international migrants and refugees, global workers, communities of mixed descent – home can be stretched into transnational belongings (e.g. Blunt, “Cultural Geographies of Home”). But this notion of home as a multi-scalar spatial imaginary is yet more complicated. While the above arenas (house, neighbourhood, nation, globe, etc.) are often simply posited as discrete territories, they also intersect and interact in complex ways (Massey; Marston). Extending this perspective, we can grasp the possibility of personal and collective homemaking processes operating across multiple scales simultaneously. For instance, making a house into a home invariably involves generating a sense of home and familiarity in a wider neighbourhood or nation-state. Indeed, Greg Noble points out that homemaking at the scale of the dwelling can be inflected by broader social and national values which are reflected materially in the house, in “the furniture of everyday life” (“Comfortable and Relaxed”, 55) – landscape paintings and national flags and ornaments, for example. He demonstrates that “homes articulate domestic spaces to national experience” (54). For others – those moving internationally between nation-states – domestic practices in dwelling structures are informed by cultural values and social ideals which extend well beyond the nation of settlement. Everyday domestic practices from one’s ‘land of origin’ are integral for ‘making home’ in a new house, neighbourhood and country at the same time (Hage). Many of the papers in this issue reflect upon the multi-scalarity of homemaking processes, showing how home must be generated across the multiple intersecting arenas of everyday life simultaneously. Indeed, given this prominence across the papers, we have chosen to use the scale of home as our organising principle for this issue. We begin with the links between the body – the geography closest to our skin (McDowell) – the home, and other scales, and then wind our way out through evocations of home at the intersecting scales of the house, the neighbourhood, the city, the nation and the diasporic. The rhetoric of home and belonging not only suggests which types of places can be posited as home (e.g. houses, neighbourhoods, nations), but also valorises some social relations and embodied identities as homely and others as unhomely (Blunt and Dowling; Gorman-Murray). The dominant ideology of home in the Anglophonic West revolves around the imaginary ‘ideal’ of white, middle-class, heterosexual nuclear family households in suburban dwellings (Blunt and Dowling). In our lead paper, Melissa Gregg explores how the ongoing normalisation of this particular conception of home in Australian politico-cultural discourse affects two marginalised social groups – sexual minorities and indigenous Australians. Her analysis is timely, responding to recent political attention to the domestic lives of both groups. Scrutinising the disciplinary power of ‘normal homes’, Gregg explores how unhomely (queer and indigenous) subjects and relationships unsettle the links between homely bodies, ideal household forms and national belonging in politico-cultural rhetoric. Importantly, she draws attention to the common experiences of these marginalised groups, urging “queer and black activists to join forces against wider tendencies that affect both communities”. Our first few papers then continue to investigate intersections between bodies, houses and neighbourhoods. Moving to the American context – but quite recognisable in Australia – Lisa Roney examines the connection between bodies and houses on the US lifestyle program, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, in which families with disabled members are over-represented as subjects in need of home renovations. Like Gregg, Roney demonstrates that the rhetoric of home is haunted by the issue of ‘normalisation’ – in this case, EMHE ‘corrects’ and normalises disabled bodies through providing ‘ideal’ houses. In doing so, there is often a disjuncture between the homely ideal and what would be most helpful for the everyday domestic lives of these subjects. From an architectural perspective, Marian Macken also considers the disjuncture between bodily practices, inhabitation and ideal houses. While traditional documentation of house designs in working drawings capture “the house at an ideal moment in time”, Macken argues for post factum documentation of the house, a more dynamic form of architectural recording produced ‘after-the-event’ which interprets ‘the existing’ rather than the ideal. This type of documentation responds to the needs of the body in the inhabited space of domestic architecture, representing the flurry of occupancy, “the changes and traces the inhabitants make upon” the space of the house. Gilbert Caluya also explores the links between bodies and ideal houses, but from a different viewpoint – that of the perceived need for heightened home security in contemporary suburban Australia. With the rise of electronic home security systems, our houses have become extensions of our bodies – ‘architectural nervous systems’ which extend our eyes, ears and senses through modern security technologies. The desire for home security is predicated on controlling the interplay between the house and wider scales – the need to create a private and secure defensible space in hostile suburbia. But at the same time, heightened home security measures ironically connect the mediated home into a global network of electronic grids and military technologies. Thus, new forms of electronic home security stretch home from the body to the globe. Irmi Karl also considers the connections between technologies and subjectivities in domestic space. Her UK-based ethnographic analysis of lesbians’ techo-practices at home also considers, like Gregg, tactics of resistance to the normalisation of the heterosexual nuclear family home. Karl focuses on the TV set as a ‘straightening device’ – both through its presence as a key marker of ‘family homes’ and through the heteronormative content of programming – while at the same time investigating how her lesbian respondents renegotiated the domestic through practices which resisted the hetero-regulation of the TV – through watching certain videos, for instance, or even hiding the TV set away. Susan Thompson employs a similar ethnographic approach to understanding domestic practices which challenge normative meanings of home, but her subject is quite different. In an Australian-based study, Thompson explores meanings of home in the wake of relationship breakdown of heterosexual couples. For her respondents, their houses embodied their relationships in profoundly symbolic and physical ways. The deterioration and end of their relationships was mirrored in the material state of the house. The end of a relationship also affected homely, familiar connections to the wider neighbourhood. But there was also hope: new houses became sources of empowerment for former partners, and new meanings of home were created in the transition to a new life. Brett Mills also explores meanings of home at different scales – the house, neighbourhood and city – but returns to the focus on television and media technologies. His is a personal, but scholarly, response to seeing his own home on the television program Torchwood, filmed in Cardiff, UK. Mills thus puts a new twist on autobiographical narratives of home and identity: he uses this approach to examine the link between home and media portrayals, and how personal reactions to “seeing your home on television” change everyday perceptions of home at the scales of the house, neighbourhood and city. His reflection on “what happens when your home is on television” is solidly but unobtrusively interwoven with scholarly work on home and media, and speaks to the productive tension of home as material and imaginative. As the above suggests, especially with Mills’s paper, we have begun to move from the homely connections between bodies and houses to focus on those between houses, neighbourhoods and beyond. The next few papers extend these wider connections. Peter Pugsley provides a critical analysis of the meaning of domestic settings in three highly-successful Singaporean sitcoms. He argues that the domestic setting in these sitcoms has a crucial function in the Singaporean nation-state, linking the domestic home and national homeland: it is “a valuable site for national identities to be played out” in terms of the dominant modes of culture and language. Thus, in these domestic spaces, national values are normalised and disseminated – including the valorisation of multiculturalism, the dominance of Chinese cultural norms, benign patriarchy, and ‘proper’ educated English. Donna Lee Brien, Leonie Rutherford and Rosemary Williamson also demonstrate the interplay between ‘private’ and ‘public’ spaces and values in their case studies of the domestic sphere in cyberspace, examining three online communities which revolve around normatively domestic activities – pet-keeping, crafting and cooking. Their compelling case studies provide new ways to understand the space of the home. Home can be ‘stretched’ across public and private, virtual and physical spaces, so that “online communities can be seen to be domesticated, but, equally … the activities and relationships that have traditionally defined the home are not limited to the physical space of the house”. Furthermore, as they contend in their conclusion, these extra-domestic networks “can significantly modify practices and routines in the physical home”. Jennifer Gamble also considers the interplay of the virtual and the physical, and how home is not confined to the physical house. Indeed, the domestic is almost completely absent from the new configurations of home she offers: she conceptualises home as a ‘holding environment’ which services our needs and provides care, support and ontological security. Gamble speculates on the possibility of a holding environment which spans the real and virtual worlds, encompassing email, chatrooms and digital social networks. Importantly, she also considers what happens when there are ruptures and breaks in the holding environment, and how physical or virtual dimensions can compensate for these instances. Also rescaling home beyond the domestic, Alexandra Ludewig investigates concepts of home at the scale of the nation-state or ‘homeland’. She focuses on the example of Germany since World War II, and especially since re-unification, and provides an engaging discussion of the articulation between home and the German concept of ‘Heimat’. She shows how Heimat is ambivalent – it is hard to grasp the sense of longing for homeland until it is gone. Thus, Heimat is something that must be constantly reconfigured and maintained. Taken up in a critical manner, it also attains positive values, and Ludewig suggests how Heimat can be employed to address the Australian context of homeland (in)security and questions of indigenous belonging in the contemporary nation-state. Indeed, the next couple of papers focus on the vexed issue of building a sense home and belonging at the scale of the nation-state for non-indigenous Australians. Lisa Slater’s powerful autobiographical reflection considers how non-indigenous Australians might find a sense of home and belonging while recognising prior indigenous ownership of the land. She critically reflects upon “how non-indigenous subjects are positioned in relation to the original owners not through migrancy but through possession”. Slater urges us to “know our place” – we need not despair, but use such remorse in a productive manner to remake our sense of home in Australia – a sense of home sensitive to and respectful of indigenous rights. Nahid Kabir also provides an evocative and powerful autobiographical narrative about finding a sense of home and belonging in Australia for another group ‘beyond the pale’ – Muslim Australians. Hers is a first-hand account of learning to ‘feel at home’ in Australia. She asks some tough questions of both Muslim and non-Muslim Australians about how to accommodate difference in this country. Moreover, her account shows the homing processes of diasporic subjects – transnational homemaking practices which span several countries, and which enable individuals and social groups to generate senses of belonging which cross multiple borders simultaneously. Our final paper also contemplates the homing desires of diasporic subjects and the call of homelands – at the same time bringing our attention back to home at the scales of the house, neighbourhood, city and nation. As such, Wendy Varney’s paper brings us full circle, lucidly invoking home as a multi-scalar spatial imaginary by exploring the diverse and complex themes of home in popular music. Given the prevalence of yearnings about home in music, it is surprising so little work has explored the powerful conceptions of home disseminated in and through this widespread and highly mobile media form. Varney’s analysis thus makes an important contribution to our understandings of home presented in media discourses in the contemporary world, and its multi-scalar range is a fitting way to bring this issue to a close. Finally, we want to draw attention to the cover art by Rohan Tate that opens our issue. A Sydney-based photographer, Tate is interested in the design of house, home and the domestic form, both in terms of exteriors and interiors. This image from suburban Sydney captures the shifting styles of home in suburban Australia, giving us a crisp juxtaposition between modern and (re-valued) traditional housing forms. Bringing this issue together has been quite a task. We received 60 high quality submissions, and selecting the final 14 papers was a difficult process. Due to limits on the size of the issue, several good papers were left out. We thank the reviewers for taking the time to provide such thorough and useful reports, and encourage those authors who did not make it into this issue to keep seeking outlets for their work. The number of excellent submissions shows that home continues to be a growing and engaging theme in social and cultural inquiry. As editors, we hope that this issue of M/C Journal will make a vital contribution to this important range of scholarship, bringing together 14 new and innovative perspectives on the experience, location, creation and meaning of home in the contemporary world. References Blunt, Alison. “Home and Identity: Life Stories in Text and in Person.” Cultural Geography in Practice. Eds. Alison Blunt, Pyrs Gruffudd, Jon May, Miles Ogborn, and David Pinder. London: Arnold, 2003. 71-87. ———. Domicile and Diaspora: Anglo-Indian Women and the Spatial Politics of Home. Malden: Blackwell, 2005. ———. “Cultural Geographies of Home.” Progress in Human Geography 29.4 (2005): 505-515. ———, and Robyn Dowling. Home. London: Routledge, 2006. Brown, Michael. Closet Space: Geographies of Metaphor from the Body to the Globe. London: Routledge, 2000. Chapman, Tony. Gender and Domestic Life: Changing Practices in Families and Households. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. ———, and Jenny Hockey, eds. Ideal Homes? Social Change and Domestic Life. London: Routledge, 1999. Cieraad, Irene, ed. At Home: An Anthropology of Domestic Space. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1999. Dupuis, Ann, and David Thorns. “Home, Home Ownership and the Search for Ontological Security.” The Sociological Review 46.1 (1998): 24-47. Gorman-Murray, Andrew. “Homeboys: Uses of Home by Gay Australian Men.” Social and Cultural Geography 7.1 (2006): 53-69. Hage, Ghassan. “At Home in the Entrails of the West: Multiculturalism, Ethnic Food and Migrant Home-Building.” Home/world: Space, Community and Marginality in Sydney’s West. Eds. Helen Grace, Ghassan Hage, Lesley Johnson, Julie Langsworth and Michael Symonds. Annandale: Pluto, 1997. 99-153. Mallett, Shelley. “Understanding Home: A Critical Review of the Literature.” The Sociological Review 52.1 (2004): 62-88. Marcoux, Jean-Sébastien. “The Refurbishment of Memory.” Home Possessions: Material Culture Behind Closed Doors. Ed. Daniel Miller. Oxford: Berg, 2001. 69-86. Marston, Sally. “A Long Way From Home: Domesticating the Social Production of Scale.” Scale and Geographic Inquiry: Nature, Society and Method. Eds. Eric Sheppard and Robert McMaster. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. 170-191. Massey, Doreen. “A Place Called Home.” New Formations 17 (1992): 3-15. McDowell, Linda. Gender, Identity and Place: Understanding Feminist Geographies. Cambridge: Polity, 1999. Miller, Daniel, ed. Home Possessions: Material Culture Behind Closed Doors. Oxford: Berg, 2001. Moss, Pamela. “Negotiating Space in Home Environments: Older Women Living with Arthritis.” Social Science and Medicine 45.1 (1997): 23-33. Noble, Greg. “Comfortable and Relaxed: Furnishing the Home and Nation.” Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 16.1 (2002): 53-66. ———. “Accumulating Being.” International Journal of Cultural Studies 7.2 (2004): 233-256. Pink, Sarah. Home Truths: Gender, Domestic Objects and Everyday Life. Oxford: Berg, 2004. Wise, J. Macgregor. “Home: Territory and Identity.” Cultural Studies 14.2 (2000): 295-310. Young, Iris Marion. “House and Home: Feminist Variations on a Theme.” On Female Body Experience: ‘Throwing Like a Girl’ and Other Essays. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. 123-154. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Gorman-Murray, Andrew, and Robyn Dowling. "Home." M/C Journal 10.4 (2007). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0708/01-editorial.php>. APA Style Gorman-Murray, A., and R. Dowling. (Aug. 2007) "Home," M/C Journal, 10(4). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0708/01-editorial.php>.