Wardlow Friesen

Spiced-up sandringham: Indian transnationalism and new suburban spaces in Auckland, New Zealand

Aucklands ethnic composition has diversified rapidly since the introduction of a new immigration policy in 1987. The policy targets migrants with skills and investment capital, and while it has attracted many asset-rich migrants, it has also resulted in the immigration of many with relatively little wealth, from a range of countries. Thus, much of the media attention which once focused on disadvantaged migrant groups shifted its attention to apparently wealthier groups such as the Chinese from Hong Kong and Taiwan. At the same time, the transformation of suburbs with high average socio-economic status was conspicuous, but other suburbs considered less prestigious have also been transformed. This paper considers the situation of the Indian transnational group in New Zealand which is in the ‘middle’ socio-economically. Further we consider the emerging transnational spaces in one of the suburbs within Auckland which is also in the ‘middle’ in terms of its historical transformation and the (re)construction of place which has taken place there.

Making the Most of Diversity? The Intercultural City Project and a Rescaled Version of Diversity in Auckland, New Zealand

Contemporary policy approaches to ‘cultural diversity’ are increasingly focusing on ‘the urban’, marking a considerable departure from configurations like biculturalism and multiculturalism in which the space of the nation was viewed as the key arena for the making of diverse and cohesive societies. In this context, this paper analyses the Intercultural City Project (ICP), a multicity planning initiative developed by the private consultancy Comedia, focusing on the ICP’s deployment in Auckland, New Zealand, where it was used to rethink issues surrounding diversity and urban planning. The analysis focuses on three key issues that emerge in the ICP: the targeting of cultural diversity and interaction; the rescaled ‘urban’ version of diversity; and the connections between this model of diversity and neo-liberal urban policies.

The Evolution of ‘Indian’ Identity and Transnationalism in New Zealand

Abstract Indian migrants have been arriving in New Zealand for more than a century, although large numbers of migrants are a phenomenon mainly of the last two decades. This paper considers the history of Indian settlement and identities in New Zealand and then outlines the ways in which recent migration streams have accelerated transnational phenomena of the past and introduced some new elements. This paper is based on a series of interviews and presents the views of key informants within the Indian community. At the personal level, connections operate not only between India and New Zealand but also within the broader global Indian diaspora. At more institutional levels the media serve both national and transnational functions, as do ethnic associations. The latter also illustrate the great diversity within a heterogeneous ‘Indian diaspora’ in New Zealand. The paper also asks whether there is a ‘pan-Indian’ identity, and the ways in which this relates to other aspects of identity.

Our family comes first: migrants’ perspectives on remittances in disaster

A growing number of studies recognize the importance of remittances in time of disaster. Yet, very little research focuses on migrants’ perspectives. The paper explores the role of Samoan households living in New Zealand who supported their community of origin during and after the 2009 tsunami. It investigates the main determinants guiding remitters’ behaviour and examines the impacts that remitting had on them. The article challenges New Economics of Labour Migration’s co-insurance hypothesis, the dominant conceptual understanding of remittances behaviour. It is found that migrants remitted because of (1) a sense of obligation/responsibility to assist their family, (2) a consciousness of the economic struggles experienced in Samoa and (3) religious ethics. Furthermore, while remitting in the disaster context could imply severe economic impacts on migrants, it also reinforced the social ties they had with the affected community, contributed to their wellbeing and may have increased the community’s resilience to face natural hazards.

Brain chains: managing and mediating knowledge migration

Knowledge constitutes a critical vector in processes and outcomes of migration, in the evolution of economies and societies, and in national policy-making. This is apparent in the growing emphasis on managing migration and the infrastructure of intermediaries involved in facilitating and channeling flows of migrants, but also finance, ideas and objects generated through diaspora communities. Scholars have captured these movements through vocabulary around ‘brain circulation’, or brain ‘drain’ and ‘gain’. While these concepts are useful for describing patterns and outcomes, sometimes in narrow cost-benefit terms, they do not provide tools to explore the constitution of knowledge flows in migration. This paper proposes a more nuanced construction of brain circulation which we call’brain chains’ to acknowledge the complex linkages comprising knowledge migration, between individuals, families, diasporic communities, private and public agents, and nation states. The rationalities of migration management and mediation are expressed at all levels, but perhaps most visibly at the level of national (im)migration policy. The concept of brain chains is illustrated through a case study of the relatively small country of New Zealand. This country is an apposite example because of its high levels of immigration, its changing ethnic composition, and its relatively large national diaspora. Further, it provides a clear example of changing regimes of migration management based on neoliberal assumptions related to human capital and the roles of migrants. A focus on brain chains provides a foundation to develop more theoretically substantive explorations of the production, circulation and mediation of knowledge in contemporary migration.

Food fights: irritating for social change among Auckland's alternative food initiatives

ABSTRACT This article explores alternative food initiatives (AFI) and their performances of benign transgression. Through collaborative activist-and-academic-storytelling we tease apart the divergent practices of AFIs to question what mediates these performances in the grey area between conventional and alternative practice. Grounded examples of AFIs performing alternative economy and related acts of ‘irritant’ civil disobedience show how subverting normative practices of power and authority can catalyse social reproduction of difference, and tangibly alter the conventional food system.

Diaspora, Brain Circulation and Indian Development

It is increasingly claimed that knowledge is the most important commodity affecting the development of nations in a globalising world. This chapter considers the role of brain circulation of international students, professionals and other skilled workers, and migrants returning to their country of origin, for either a short term or permanently. For any particular country each of these types of diasporic mobility has the potential to make significant contributions to knowledge exchange and development. The chapter will focus on the two migrant settlement countries of Australia and New Zealand and their Indian migrant populations. For both countries, the Indian population is diverse in terms of language, religion and region of origin in India, and the linkages between these countries of settlement and the Indian homeland are also diverse. This chapter draws together a variety of data to illustrate these linkages and suggests potential outcomes for development in India. Sources of information include census data, immigration data, studies of Indian migrant populations in both Australia and New Zealand and media accounts. These will be analysed in the context of theoretical perspectives such as diaspora, brain circulation and knowledge exchange, as well as in the context of the evolving immigration policies of Australia and New Zealand.