Australia: Saji's Story

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Questions and Answers

What was the primary initial motivation for young migrants, like Saji, to come to Australia?

  • To obtain a tertiary qualification that would lead to social mobility and financial security. (correct)
  • To explore different cultures and travel around the world.
  • To find romantic partners and settle down in a new country.
  • To escape familial obligations and societal pressures.

Which factor ultimately played a significant role in Saji's mobility decisions, leading to a shift from his initial plans?

  • Pressure from his family to return to India.
  • A romantic relationship he formed with an Australian woman. (correct)
  • The availability of better job opportunities in Australia.
  • Concerns about the high cost of living in Melbourne.

What challenge did Saji initially face upon arriving in Australia?

  • Language barrier and cultural misunderstandings.
  • Discrimination from local Australians.
  • Homesickness and loneliness. (correct)
  • Difficulty finding suitable employment.

How did Saji and Victoria's map symbolize their relationship?

<p>It was a shared project that reflected their shared experiences and future plans. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What concern did Saji have regarding pursuing a relationship with Victoria, initially?

<p>He was planning to return to India after finishing his course, making a long-term relationship seem impossible. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How did Saji and Victoria solidify their commitment to each other despite initial uncertainties?

<p>By arranging to meet up again in Singapore, which cemented their desire to build a life together. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which factors were key in Saji and Victoria's concrete planning for their future together?

<p>Relative present security and future opportunities that each were facing as young graduates. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Why was Saji concerned about following the partner visa path?

<p>He was concerned about how their relationship might be perceived by outsiders, particularly regarding visa sponsorship. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What issue created tension in Saji and Victoria's relationship regarding his parents?

<p>Saji's delay in telling his parents about the true nature of his relationship with Victoria. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What cultural difference did Saji explain to Victoria regarding relationships in India?

<p>Directly announcing a girlfriend or boyfriend was uncommon and required a gradual approach with parents. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes the resolution of Saji and Victoria's story, as mentioned in the text?

<p>They got engaged with his parents' blessing and planned two weddings. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is a key insight regarding migrants' motivations to move?

<p>Intimate relationships are one of the most significant yet often unacknowledged factors in migrants' motivations. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What do Saji's experiences reflect about youthful mobilities?

<p>They reflect the intersections of youthful mobilities with the intimate transitions of becoming an adult. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How do proximity, distance, and transience affect intimate partnerships, according to the text?

<p>They complicate the processes and temporalities of intimate partnerships. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

According to the author, what role do intimate relationships play in the decisions and experiences of mobility for young migrants?

<p>They play a pivotal role in their decisions and experiences of mobility. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How do intimate relationships become intertwined with im/mobility, according to the text?

<p>They unfold alongside and become intertwined in complex ways, influencing decisions about when to move or stay. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What does the text suggest regarding the transformations of intimate partnerships due to mobility?

<p>Mobility transforms intimate partnerships under the time-regimes of hegemonic flexibility and the transification of migration. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What aspect of intimate life has received relatively less attention in sociological literature on migration?

<p>The specifically temporal dimensions of intimate life, such as timelines and rhythms. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How do relationship timings and timelines affect mobility decisions?

<p>They affect mobility decisions, particularly decisions about when to stay and when to leave. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What does mobility often enable or enforce regarding transitions towards marriage and family formation?

<p>A suspension or delay of culturally normative transitions. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

The text mentions 'zones of suspension'. What do they allow in the context of intimate relationships of migrants?

<p>A liminal space-time to delay marriage and family formation, and rescript norms of intimate behaviors. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

According to Colleen, how has living in Australia impacted timelines related to marriage, compared to friends and peers back in China?

<p>Allowed for a rupture from normative timelines for marriage, providing a chance to delay before the cultural expectations kick in. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

According to the text what factors influence a family's opinion when a migrant seeks a partner visa?

<p>Anchoring the partners security ties into the family may create indebtedness and obligation, thus shaping the relationship. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Why was Abigail 'reluctant' to be formally implicated in immigration bureaucracy with her boyfriend?

<p>She was concerned he felt obligated to her. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Why did Kun Woo's partner encourage him to re-think the temporality of settling down?

<p>Because their uncertain future could still give them hope as a married couple (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What was required of Anik's fiance to get the marriage blessed by his parents?

<p>To conduct symbolic duties. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How did Saji demonstrate his transition to adulthood by hosting and facilitating the visitors?

<p>By allowing his family to be part of both worlds. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

For middling migrants, what do partners visa allow from governance structures?

<p>They allow relationships to achieve intimate and migratory goals (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What does Saji's experience show?

<p>It shows intimacy and time helps shape relationships. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

According to the article what does mobility often create?

<p>Creates synchronic changes. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

For those that have student visas which are not initially eligible for a temporary graduate visa, what can they do?

<p>They can accelerate commitments and discuss for a partner visa. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

According to Camilla, what is difficult about immigrating after her student visa?

<p>Being only 24, and committing for a partner. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Why did Camilla decide to "give it a try"?

<p>She wanted the relationship to be a good choice. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Is family life easy for Camilla?

<p>She thinks it is difficult because their cultural and religious practices vary. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What does migration depend on for migrants of today?

<p>All mobilities that can begin and end based on emotions. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Can intimate timings be implicated with how parents are introduced?

<p>It is just a gradual negotiation over time. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

According to Saji's parents how was he living?

<p>They thought he was living with all of the ideal combo mix for the relationship and family. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is important about what middling mobility often comprises?

<p>It comprises of oscillation in all lives. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Flashcards

Sponsored Love

Intimate relationships influence the temporal experience of romantic encounters, especially with migration uncertainties.

Proving a Relationship

The requirement to prove the relationship is genuine for immigration can impact the couple and other relationships.

Partner Visa Realities

Partner visas can only be a 'last resort' if other options to stay don't work out.

Revealing Relationships

Revealing the relationship to someone's parents is viewed as a gradual negotiation over time.

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Mobility disruptions

Migration can cause a disruption to traditions and/or expected timelines for those with mobile lives.

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Intimate Transitions

Migrants navigate intimate transitions with precarities and opportunities of mobility.

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Intimate Relationships

Intimate relationships are key in migrants' motivations to move and narratives of their belonging.

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Mobility and Intimacy

Mobility enables suspension or premarital intimacies but creates anxieties for men.

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Reproductive Sphere

It is not only production in the reproductive sphere.

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Mobility & Relationships

Staying or leaving depends on relationships for some migrants.

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Break-up Effects

Relationship breakdowns can affect tempo of daily routine.

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Mobility v Timelines

Mobility can challenge timelines of intimate relationships.

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Intimacy & Mobility

Intimate relationships are co-constitutive of migrants' im/mobility desires.

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Singlehood

Migrants may be waiting or being late due to singlehood.

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Marriage Pressure

Moving to Australia suspends the pressure to marry at the right time.

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Time Apart

Australia offers zones of suspension, spaces to delay marriage/family.

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Social Acceleration

The goal is social acceleration and they are part of a transformative movement.

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What does Kun Woo show?

The difficulty to synchronize career security with appropriate marriage timings.

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The lack of relationship is not home

Being alone is not being home fully.

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Family Roles

Daughter-in-law roles require time.

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De facto Visa

Living together and joint household responsibility

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Why do visas matter?

They want to depend on you based on your visa.

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Study Notes

  • Saji, an outgoing character from India, had a world map in his Melbourne home marking places he and his girlfriend Victoria visited.
  • Victoria's pins outnumbered Saji's, but he planned to add more places.
  • Saji initially came to Australia at 17 for aviation school, driven by education for social mobility and financial security.
  • Saji viewed his journey as a "return on investment" due to his family's financial situation.
  • Saji's future mobility decisions were influenced by his relationship with an Australian woman, Victoria, whom he met at a fast-food franchise.
  • Initially, Saji felt homesick and lonely in Australia and the fast-food job helped him settle in.
  • Saji started going to pubs with workmates and became close friends with Victoria.
  • Despite romantic feelings, Saji hesitated to pursue a relationship with Victoria due to his plans to return to India and work as a pilot.
  • Saji and Victoria stayed in touch via email and Skype after he left Australia and when Victoria visited India, they spent time together in Hyderabad.
  • Saji still cared for Victoria and told her, grappling with his inexperience in romance and the challenges of a shared future and Victoria reciprocated.
  • They met in Singapore to find a way to live together and considered their relative security and opportunities as graduates.
  • Victoria was completing her engineering degree, while Saji had been underemployed back in India.
  • Victoria was willing to live in India.
  • Victoria’s graduate job near Melbourne made settling in Australia more sensical with Saji returning on a visitor visa to explore study options.
  • Saji and Victoria decided to pursue a partner visa with Victoria as his sponsor and despite work schedule conflicts, they were working towards a future together.
  • Saji was concerned about how their relationship might appear to outsiders due to the visa sponsorship.
  • Saji had not revealed his relationship to his parents, causing stress, and wondered when the right time to tell them would be.
  • Saji explained to Victoria that telling his parents in India about their pre-marital cohabitation would be difficult and needed to be done gradually.
  • Saji later reported that he and Victoria were engaged, with his parents' blessing, and planning two weddings.
  • Saji and Victoria's journey reflects how intimate relationships influence migrants' motivations and belonging.
  • Saji's experiences intersect youthful mobilities with becoming an adult and relationships complicate mobility and temporality
  • Intimate relationships play a crucial role in young migrants' decisions and experiences, influencing timelines and mobilities.
  • Relationships intertwine with im/mobility, affecting when to move, stay, and how to structure relationships across transnational space.
  • The chapter explores how intimate partnerships develop and transform through mobility, focusing on romantic relationships.
  • Romantic relationships are central to migrants' narratives of movement and embodied experience of time.
  • Transnational mobility can stretch the period of youth and delay adulthood and intimate lives intertwine with this "flexibilized" passaging.
  • Committed adult relationships, known as 'settling down', imply both an arrival at an endpoint and a transition to fixity in time and space.
  • "Settling into certain forms of committed intimate partnership" can constitute pathways to legal settlement through partner visas.
  • The chapter focuses on the reconfigurations of intimate timelines under transification and the implications of partner visas.
  • Intimate relationships, temporality, and mobility are linked, but this intersection is often sidelined in analyses of Asian middle-class transnationalism.
  • Migration studies often ignore complex emotional entanglements and personal relationships in experiences of being on the move.
  • Research on young middle-class migrants from Asia tends to focus on education, career aspirations, and family strategies.
  • Personal experiences of "intimate chronomobilities" exemplify wider sociological connection between temporality and intimate life.
  • The logics of sequence that shape progress through young adulthood are marked by "intimate" milestones
  • Under the time-regimes of hegemonic flexibility and transification, young adults navigate intimate transitions amid the precarities and opportunities of mobility.
  • People’s mobilities can transform and challenge familial and cultural norms of the timelines and timings of intimate relationships.
  • Intimate lives and loves of migrants have become emergent concerns of migration research because migrants' intimacies are often co-constitutive of their desires for im/mobility.
  • Literature on intimacy and mobility focuses on reconfiguring intimacy across space, but the temporal dimensions of intimate life receive less attention.
  • The chapter expands on recent work linking intimacy and im/mobility, using the chronomobilities framework.
  • Participants understood the timings of intimate lives – periods of singlehood, relationship formations and breakdowns, marriage – in relation to their mobility trajectories.
  • Relationship timings affect mobility decisions in reference to when to stay and when to leave and mobility often enables a suspension or delay of culturally normative transitions.
  • This delay enables new forms of autonomy but it also often creates anxieties about delays to reaching the 'arrival point' of secure intimate adult life.
  • "Settling down" and "settlement" are intertwined in migrants' understandings of their futures, and marriage places new demands on women's time for transnational care.
  • Abigail, from Malaysia, initially planned to return home after studying in Australia, but her timeline stretched when she decided to stay for a relationship.
  • The breakdown of this relationship temporarily suspended Abigail's decision making about her mobility.
  • The emotional stasis that followed her break-up affected the tempo of Abigail's daily routine and a risky ten-month suspension of her post-study transitions.
  • Abigail experienced that the timings of intimate partnerships have played a crucial role in mobility decisions.
  • For Abigail, emplacement within Australia for specific time periods—their immobility--was to create migration security.
  • The time-regime cannot synchronize with intimate lives, whether falling in and out of love, or parents getting sick and require care.
  • Despite relative well- resourcedness, each were able to pack up and go instantaneously if their circumstances changed.
  • Hyon-Woo, experienced her mother's cancer diagnosis coincided with the processing of her PR Visa forcing her to travel to Korea.
  • Relationship under the transified migration time-regime becomes a constant series of what ifs and touch woods.
  • Mobility also conversely transforms the possibilities of intimate timelines and most of the interlocuters become to Australia to becomes a suspension towards marriage.
  • For many of the middle-class Asian interlocutors such ‘re-doings' of intimate sequencing and transitions occurred only around the edges of relatively fixed senses of the 'acceptable' intimate life-course.
  • In this context many of the migrants felt that time spent in Australia offered in zones of suspension which in turn delay marriage and family.
  • Many young women met during the research were consciously reflective of how their cultural norms allowed for decelerations of tempo in the pathway towards the inevitably of married life.
  • Abigail for example sees the rerouting of her life as her lack of clarity but she believes she will eventually return to the prescribed path to returning to her home country and having kids.
  • Colleen and Vera both enjoyed their single lives in Australia because of distance and access to their peers.
  • Vera says “But most of [my friends in China] have already married or have kid, it will be different.” For these young women, being in Australia suspends the pressure to marry during the right time.
  • Unlike Hyon-Woo, all can still marry and their mobility has enabled a temporary rupture for the norm and a chance to get to extend their singlehood and a chance to live. As Martin and Ramdas have noted have noted about single men and women is that many such experience aren’t juts about the time they take off it’s about their experiences.
  • Many agreed such distance ameliated what we expected from them and others in life during the moment.
  • For many of my interlocuters like Shukti, the note was that the attitudes to pre-martial dating or cohabitation were already slowly changing and was a great transformation of social norms. The experience in Australia allows the speeding of the transition and the cushioning social effects. Increased autonomy was not the only outcome of the chronomobilites of suspending what could have been there.
  • This is when the several men I meet with mention their difficulties in synchronizing career security with appropriate marriage as part of their temporality.
  • Kun Woo who had been in relationship in high school, express the feeling the age limit for marriage and that they needed to get married.
  • It was the Kun Woo’s partner who encouraged him and his marriage.
  • Percy, whose career ups and down opened chapter feel pressured to get financial. It’s this delay in the career that made the single.

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