Rights statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: HUI, A. (2015), Networks of home, travel and use during Hong Kong return migration: thinking topologically about the spaces of human–material practices. Global Networks, 15: 536–552. doi: 10.1111/glob.12093, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/glob.12093. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
Accepted author manuscript, 99.7 KB, Word document
Available under license: CC BY-NC: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Networks of home, travel and use during Hong Kong return migration
T2 - thinking topologically about the spaces of human–material practices
AU - Hui, Allison
PY - 2015/10/1
Y1 - 2015/10/1
N2 - Despite acknowledgements that migration depends on human–material practices, research into migrant materialities has often focused on limited spatiotemporal frames and the relation of objects to (inter)personal concerns. Taking everyday interactions with materials as of inherent interest, I examine how thinking topologically about multiple spaces helps to trace migrants’ relationships to changing groups of objects. After introducing Mol and Law's concepts of regional, network and fluid space, I discuss three types of networks with diverse relations to them – networks of home, for travel, and of use. Though networks of home are important to migrants, and can remain intact while travelling across regions, they also demonstrate considerable fluidity when interacting with other networks, which themselves affect adaptation and everyday practices. Supported by examples from Hong Kong return migrants, I show how managing multiple material networks, each with multiple spatial relations, is central to being a migrant.
AB - Despite acknowledgements that migration depends on human–material practices, research into migrant materialities has often focused on limited spatiotemporal frames and the relation of objects to (inter)personal concerns. Taking everyday interactions with materials as of inherent interest, I examine how thinking topologically about multiple spaces helps to trace migrants’ relationships to changing groups of objects. After introducing Mol and Law's concepts of regional, network and fluid space, I discuss three types of networks with diverse relations to them – networks of home, for travel, and of use. Though networks of home are important to migrants, and can remain intact while travelling across regions, they also demonstrate considerable fluidity when interacting with other networks, which themselves affect adaptation and everyday practices. Supported by examples from Hong Kong return migrants, I show how managing multiple material networks, each with multiple spatial relations, is central to being a migrant.
KW - space
KW - materiality
KW - return migration
KW - home
KW - human-material networks
KW - Hong Kong
U2 - 10.1111/glob.12093
DO - 10.1111/glob.12093
M3 - Journal article
VL - 15
SP - 536
EP - 552
JO - Global Networks
JF - Global Networks
SN - 1470-2266
IS - 4
ER -