Understanding international immobility through internal migration: ‘Left behind’ nurses in the Philippines
Migration scholars have tended to portray internal mobility as a step toward
broader cross-border movement, reinforcing the notion of ongoing progress
toward international migration. This article argues for a need to recognize
how internal mobility can also explain
international immobility, or why people do not move
across national borders. Using the case of Filipino nurses, we argue that
while internal migration does allow aspiring migrants to build the potential
ability to emigrate, individual trajectories are much more diverse and
multi-directional, often prolonging or reinforcing their international
immobility. As a result, and in our case study, the costs and burdens of
constant internal movement can also alter nurses’ migration aspirations,
prompting them to either alter their original goals or acquiesce to their
inability to leave their origin countries. This article calls for migration
scholarship to address not only a “mobility bias” within the field but also
the over-focus on international migration, rather than internal mobility, as
a subject of study. |