Multidirectional migration brings attention to how simultaneity and interconnections characterise emigration, immigration and/or re-migration flows, rather than studying them as compartmentalised migration trends (Ho, 2019; Abdelhady and Norocel, 2023; Zhou, 2024). The approach of multidirectional migration emphasises how migration links multiple sites trans-territorially through not only individual migrants’ journeys but also global events. As migrants navigate inclusion and difference across nation-states, they carve out ongoing trajectories that shape citizenship, belonging and personhood (e.g. Ong, 1999; Ley and Kobayashi, 2005; Waters, 2006). Their multidirectional movements are framed not simply as economically motivated but as deeply tied to aspirations, transnational householding, social reproduction, and political belonging (e.g. Liao, 2020; De Silva, 2023; Zani, 2025; Barabantseva, 2026). Contemporary migration could involve multiple hubs, loops, and detours. Taking multidirectional migration as a vantage point challenges approaches that analyse migration through systems theory, traditional “sending/destination” categories or as one-directional and sequential movements (Schapendonk and Steel, 2014; Bal et al, 2020).
Multidirectional migration starting from or taking place in Asia manifests through overlapping regional corridors, serial labour flows, and transitions within trans-territorial circuits. A country may simultaneously function as an origin, destination, and transit hub, and in this context, its social cohesion is shaped by the interplay of simultaneous inflows, outflows, and return movements. Or different countries in a regional corridor or trans-territorial circuit can take on the role of origin, destination or transit hubs as migrants make pit-stops during criss-crossing journeys over the life-course.
Treating migration as a one-off event (or a single decision) no longer fits in such scenarios; instead, decisions and identities unfold over time and across several sites. Migrants who undertake multidirectional migrations navigate migration regimes, nationality laws and cultural differences in ways that chart multi-jurisdictional “citizenship constellations” (Bauböck, 2010) which connect individuals by legal membership or lived ties to multiple nation-states.
This workshop aims to unpack the architecture of directionality in migration studies by foregrounding the non‑linear, multi‑sited, and provisional nature of contemporary cross-border movements. We welcome papers that critically interrogate vocabularies of directionality in migration studies—and their underlying temporal assumptions such as by:
- Investigating the role of states in shaping diaspora mobilisation and/or immigration controls and national identity politics as they intersect in migration hubs, regional corridors or trans-territorial circuits
- Foregrounding the multiple belongings, transnational sojourning and citizenship constellations which migrants experience and states seek to manage during multidirectional migrations
- Examining the intersectionality of migration with class, race, gender and nationhood in intimate and cultural domains during multidirectional migrations
Capturing multi‑directional flows requires tracking people and their ties across different locations and time periods, which strains traditional single‑case, single‑site fieldwork and census‑based sampling. We are also open towards papers that foreground innovative methodological interventions for studying multidirectional migrations.
WORKSHOP CONVENORS
Prof Elaine Lynn-Ee HO
Asia Research Institute & Department of Geography, National University of Singapore
Prof Elena BARABANTSEVA
Department of Politics, The University of Manchester
Dr Jin L. LI
Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore
