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AuthorRahman, Md Mizanur
AuthorLuna, Sabnam Sarmin
AuthorRaj, Pranav
Available date2024-02-28T10:59:57Z
Publication Date2023-11-23
Publication NameJournal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Identifierhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2024.2268987
CitationRahman, M. M., Luna, S. S., & Raj, P. (2023). Disgraceful return: Gulf migration and shifting national narratives amid COVID-19. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 49(20), 5238-5258.
ISSN1369-183X
URIhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85177568434&origin=inward
URIhttp://hdl.handle.net/10576/52371
AbstractSeveral Asian countries that encourage international migration of labour call their emigrants ‘national heroes and heroines’ because of their contributions to foreign currency reserves and subsequent national development. However, the massive involuntary return amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the health risk associated with returning from virus-affected regions, such as the Gulf states, call the development narratives of migrants and migrant remittances into question. This study examines the experiences of Gulf return migrants in Bangladesh, focusing on their arrivals at the airport, their travels home, their receptions at the origin communities, their financial hardship upon return and the shifting development narratives in the origin country. The paper draws on primary data, collected through interviews of Gulf returnees in Bangladesh between 2020 and 2021. This study finds that the image of migrants as ‘national heroes’ is not only challenged during the pandemic but replaced almost overnight by a new one, such as ‘COVID-19 super-spreaders’. This research reports that migrants confront with unpleasant circumstances during their return migration process that render their return to their country of origin disgraceful. The paper stresses developing policy measures to protect involuntary returnees from victimisation and disgraceful circumstances.
Languageen
PublisherTaylor & Francis
SubjectBangladeshi migrants
Gulf region
Involuntary return migration
TitleDisgraceful return: Gulf migration and shifting national narratives amid COVID-19
TypeArticle
Pagination5238-5258
Issue Number20
Volume Number49
ESSN1469-9451


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