Imagining the Future of Migration and Families in Asia

This paper attempts to outline observed changes in Asian families (particularly in East and Southeast Asia) in the past thirty years, reviews research-based findings on the links between international migration and the family, and identifies emerging family-related issues vis-à-vis emerging trends in international migration. Among the notable changes in Asian families during this period are the shift towards smaller families, the shift to longer family life course, and the emerging transnational configuration of families. The last one has been brought about by increasing population mobility. Despite the policy to keep migration temporary, some limited form of settlement is taking place in the region. Among others, this raises questions and policy dilemmas concerning the nature of migration in the future, the treatment of foreigners in receiving societies, and human rights issues affecting women and children. The past thirty years have been described as a period of rapid, major, and unprecedented social and economic changes in Asia. Before the crisis of 1997, commentaries presaged the significant role that Asia could play in the world in the 21st century: “In the 1990s, Asia came of age. And as we move toward the year 2000, Asia will become the dominant region of the world: economically, politically and culturally. We are on the threshold of the Asian Renaissance ” (Naisbitt, 1997:10). These sweeping changes have affected various aspects of social life in the region, including the family. In Southeast Asia, for example, the changes in the past three decades have been posited to impact on the family in the same way that the industrial revolution resulted in major reorganization in family structure an