Three is the magic number: A Cross-Centre Seminar on Global Migration and Exploitation

On March 21, three Cardiff University research entities – the Migration, Ethnicity, Race and Diversity (MEAD) Research Group, the Modern Slavery and Social Sustainability Research Group (MSSS RG) and the Centre for Adult Social Care (CARE) – came together to host a hybrid seminar focused on international labour migration in sbarc|spark.

Professor Sin Yi Cheung, MEAD’s Director, had organised an academic visit from Professor Hirohisa Takenoshita, Professor of Sociology, Keio University who presented on his research on ‘Transnational Migration and Labor Market Incorporation in Japan’.  Then followed four 5-minute lightning talks including:

• Yutaka Yoshida (Lecturer, SOCSI) on the Far-Right Movement in Japan: Racism, Historical Revisionism and ‘Actions’ – Following Professor Takenoshita’s discussion on immigration in Japan, Yutaka Yoshida presented findings from his fieldwork with far-right activists. Adopting a phenomenological perspective, he emphasised the significance of the streets as spaces where activists engage in rallies. Such activities, experienced as acts of self-expression, offer participants a sense of achieving a distinctive and more ‘authentic’ version of themselves, thereby sustaining their ongoing involvement in such activities.
• Natalie-Anne Hall (Lecturer, SOCSI) on her edited book on Migration, Ageing and Japan’s Sustainable Society – Natalie-Anne Hall introduced an edited collection to be published this summer by Routledge which tackles migration to Japan from the perspective of societal aging and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The book brings together case studies including the circular migration of Vietnamese trainees, the cultural contribution of the Indian and Chinese diasporas, and aged care for post-colonial minorities with roots in the Korean peninsula and occupied China. Hall shared that one of the aims of the book, which is co-edited by Professor Igor Saveliev of Nagoya University, is to provide a platform for Japan-based scholarship of migration and multiculturalism to be communicated to a global audience.
• Pearson Nkhoma (Senior Lecturer, Goldsmiths) joined us online to present his work on Ndi Ukapolo (It is Slavery)’: A Personal Account of a Child Domestic ‘Worker’. He discussed the extent of children’s exploitation in the context of domestic servitude and its links to poverty.
• Sofia Vougioukalou (Research Fellow, CARE) discussed the issues impacting migrant workers in adult social care in the UK and the continuum between labour abuse and modern slavery.

These presentations combined included varied research approaches and methods, different geographical and historical perspectives and stages along the ‘spectrum of exploitation’ with child domestic servitude and forced labour in social care settings at its extreme.  From Professor Takenoshita, we heard about the enabling role of brokering agencies in Japan, helping international migrants to network and access employment and from Sofia Vougioukalou, in the UK context, about newly established recruitment agencies misusing the UK Government’s Health and Care Worker visa scheme for the purpose of exploitation.

Anna Skeels, a Research Fellow in the SPARK Hub team chaired the discussion.  Her role includes helping to broker connections and convene such events in keeping with SPARK’s cross-cutting focus on collaboration, curiosity, creativity and innovation as well as research excellence.

Coming together via this event further demonstrated the interconnections and aligned areas of interest of MEAD, MSSS RG and CARE and showed the potential for further future collaboration of these three entities on other research-focused events.