The Social Construction of Skill in International LaborMigration: Perspectives from Asia

You are warmly invited to the lecture “The Social Construction of Skill in International Labor Migration: Perspectives from Asia” delivered by Prof. Gracia Liu-Farrer, a member of the Link4Skills Advisory Board. This event is part of the ongoing exploration of skill development for a resilient Europe within the framework of the Link4Skills project (hIps://link4skills.eu/), funded by the European Union (Horizon 2023).

Abstract:
Skill-based selective migration policies are a dominant contemporary form of migration governance in labor receiving countries. Researchers have critiqued these policies, noting discrepancies between their intended goals and the actual labor market outcomes for immigrants. The social construction of skill offers a sociological interpretation of this migration phenomenon, emphasizing that skills and their categorization in international migration are intrinsically political. Skills are socially constructed by actors in specific local, national, transnational and global contexts. This presentation reviews scholarship that explores these dynamics from Asian perspectives. It identifies the various positions countries in Asia occupy in skill mobility, highlights the critical issues related to both outbound and inbound skill migration in this region, as well as intra-regional mobilties. It cautions against a reproduction of skill hierarchy in social science research and advocates a social construction approach to analyzing skill mobilities in different world regions.
Discussants:
TBA

Gracia Liu-Farrer is Professor of sociology at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, and Director of Institute of Asian Migration at Waseda University, Japan. Her research examines immigration into Japan, transnational labor and student mobilities in East Asia as well as between Asia and Europe. She hopes to bring Asian experiences to migration and mobility theorization. Her recent books include Handbook of Asian Migrations (with Brenda Yeoh, Routledge, 2018), Immigrant Japan: Mobility and Belonging in an Ethno-nationalist Society (Cornell University Press, 2020), Tangled Mobilities: Places, Affects, and Personhood across Social Spheres in Asian Migration (with Asuncion Fresnoza-Flot, Berghahn Books, 2022), and The Question of Skill in Cross-border Labour Mobilities (with Brenda Yeoh and Michele Baas, Taylor & Francis, 2023). She has published journal articles and book chapters on migrants ranging from Chinese students, Nepali restaurant workers to Syrian refugees.

Event Details:

Project website: https://link4skills.eu
Date and Time: May 12, 2025
Location: Online
Registration open until May 10: Forms
❗𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐓: The meeting link will be sent to registered participants after the registration
closes.

LinkedIn event details: HERE
Facebook event details: HERE