Becoming labor: The reproduction work of international migrant student labor

• In Event: 20862 - Section on International Migration Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 16: Immigration Integration (1)

Abstract

International migrant student workers have long been ignored in discussions of labor and migrant labor. Indeed, they are students, but they are also workers. Furthermore, they also have a third identity, migrants. This triple identity gives them a special status. In this research, I focus on the reproduction of migrant student labor. Through interviews with the international migrant graduate student workers in the US, I make two arguments about the reproduction of their work. First, migrant student labor not only involves renewal but also maintenance both of which are externalized to an alternate economy and/or state. Migrant student workers are different from other migrant workers. They experience inequality harsher than other kinds of labor. Second, the triple identity of migrant student labor calls for the externalization of reproduction work to be rationalized. Student identity and migrant identity trump labor identity. The externalization of the reproduction of migrant student labor seems reasonable, and resources gradually flow from periphery and semi-periphery countries to core countries through this self-reproduction process. Through studying international, graduate student workers in the United States, I hope this research stimulates greater interest in international migrant student labor.

Author

• SHUHAO CHANG, CUNY-Graduate Center