Risky investments : turning return migrants and national heroes into entrepreneurs in the Philippines
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Geography, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Banta, Vanessa l.
issued: 2020-10-28T21:22:08Z
issued: 2020
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: This dissertation “follows the policy” of return and reintegration for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to the Philippines. At once a global policy model and migration policy specific to and rooted in the very labor and economic conditions of the Philippines, the reintegration examined here is as socio-spatial process constituted and shaped by various actors, subjects and institutions. Specifically, it asks why and how reintegration policies are facilitated at this very conjuncture of Philippine labor export history through an investigation of interconnected sites. First, I outline the “return assemblage” composed of state agencies, non-governmental organizations and private institutions invested in the return migration of OFWs. Then, I conduct a close study of what “reintegration” means for a self-organized, volunteer group of middling migrants who conduct financial literacy and entrepreneurship training for OFWs. Lastly, I continue my ethnographic and interview-based research with farmworkers from Japan and Vancouver, BC to examine how small enterprise has become the newest form of “gambling” for life and survival in Benguet, a region north of the Philippines. This dissertation contends that reintegration as it stands today is primarily built on the neoliberal logic that return migrants must be transformed first into financial literate subjects, and then into “entrepreneurs” who will eventually invest in the Philippines. Thus, rather than ensure sustainable lives for migrant returnees, this study argues that reintegration functions as governance and development strategy that seeks to transforms OFWs into self-reliant subjects in the midst of the state’s withdrawal of any social welfare for its returning citizens. It suggests that questions of migrant reintegration today impel a theoretical and methodological return to the colonial and imperial legacies of neoliberal development policies such as entrepreneurship and livelihood programs in the Philippines.…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/76397
note: RISKY INVESTMENTS: TURNING RETURN MIGRANTS AND NATIONAL HEROES INTO ENTREPRENEURS IN THE PHILIPPINES by Vanessa L. Banta B.A., The University of the Philippines, 2005 M.A., Florida State University, 2010 M.A., New York University, 2012 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Geography) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) October 2020 © Vanessa L. Banta, 2020 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: Risky Investments: Turning Return Migrants and National Heroes into Entrepreneurs in the Philippines submitted by Vanessa Banta in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography Examining Committee: Dr. Geraldine Pratt, Department of Geography (UBC) Supervisor Dr. Jim Glassman, Department of Geography (UBC) Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Juanita Sundberg, Department of Geography (UBC) Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Jamie Peck, Department of Geography (UBC) University Examiner Dr. Nora Angeles, School of Community and Regional Planning (UBC) University Examiner iii Abstract This dissertation “follows the policy” of return and reintegration for returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to the Philippines. At once a global policy model and migration policy specific to and rooted in the very labor and economic conditions of the Philippines, the reintegration examined here is as socio-spatial process constituted and shaped by various actors, subjects and institutions. Specifically, it asks why and how reintegration policies are facilitated at this very conjuncture of Philippine labor export history through an investigation of interconnected sites. First, I outline the “return assemblage” composed of state agencies, non-governmental organizations and private institutions invested in…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2021-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0394847
language: eng
degree discipline: Geography
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/76397