Description
Book SynopsisEric J. Pido examines the complicated relationship between the Philippine economy, Manila’s urban development, and Filipino migrants visiting or returning to their homeland, showing migration to be a multidirectional, layered, and continuous process with varied and often fraught outcomes.
Trade Review“An insightful and timely account of Filipino Americans and their newfound role as key players in the Philippines' bourgeoning retirement and real estate industries.” -- Paul Nadal * Journal of Asian American Studies *
"Dense and carefully argued ...
Migrant Returns captures the multiple dimensions associated with return migration and serves as a valuable resource for those interested in transnationalism, globalization, and migration scholarship." -- Armand Gutierrez * International Migration Review *
"A rich ethnographic account of homing. . . .
Migrant Returns is a paradigmatic illumination of the multiple landscapes—personal, familial, social, and cultural—created by re/settlement, representation, and ultimately return that are emblematic of any relocation ideology. . . . By articulating the multiple logics of global economies and local social geographies, [Pido] has given us a nuanced ethnographic plunge into the multidirectional complexities and paradoxical positions of the current global diasporic moment." -- Anastasia Christou * American Ethnologist *
"Overall, this book usefully troubles the labels of returnee and retiree within migration studies.… Pido's ability to incorporate an analysis of the role of the Philippine state and transnational real estate brokers in exploiting but also perpetuating this tension, makes
Migrant Returns a valuable addition to Philippine and diaspora studies." -- Anjy Mary Paul * Journal of Southeast Asian Studies *
Table of ContentsAbbreviations vii
Preface ix
Introduction. An Ethnography of Return 1
Part I: Departures
1. The Balikbayan Economy: Filipino Americans and the Contemporary Transformation of Manila 29
2. The Foreign Local: Balikbayans, Overseas Filipino Workers,and the Return Economy 49
3. Transnational Real Estate: Selling the American Dream in the Philippines 72
Part II. Returns
4. The Balikbayan Hotel: Touristic Performance in Manila and the Anxiety of Return 115
5. The Balikbayan House: The Precarity of Return Migrant Homes 131
6. Domestic Affects: The Philippine Retirement Authority, Retiree Visas, and the National Discourse of Homecoming 148
Conclusion: Retirement Landscapes and the Geography of Exception 163
Epilogue 179
Notes 187
References 197
Index 209
