Abstract This article examines a largely forgotten international congress on migration, held in Paris in 1889 during the World Fair, which predated by several decades the events usually considered foundational for international migration governance. Bringing together French colonial, commercial, and statistical elites, as well as Latin American representatives, the congress articulated a liberal and providential vision of migration as both a moral imperative and an economic resource. Its proceedings reveal early attempts to conceptualise migration as an international issue, while its limited impact underscores the structural constraints imposed by imperial hierarchies and global power relations at the end of the nineteenth century. Revisiting this congress enriches our understanding of the geography, chronology, and ideological diversity of early international migration debates.
Abstract Chinese publishing in France was born at the beginning of the twentieth century, established by a group of intellectuals from China. There were six Chinese publications published from 1907 to 1920. In this period, Chinese publishers forged close ties with French anarchists. They leveraged the global network of Chinese diaspora publishers to establish their institutions, while discussions consistently centred on the anarchist movement, Chinese workers in France, and the Work-Study movement. This article aims to explore the early Chinese publishing industry and publisher group in the context of freedom of publication in France from 1881, and to introduce the content, influence and transmutation of early Chinese publications in France, using La Novaj Tempoj , European Travel Magazine and Chinese Worker Magazine as examples.
Abstract This article compares the geographic backgrounds and socio-economic characteristics of formally admitted, tolerated but not admitted, and expelled migrants in nineteenth-century Amsterdam. The city authorities developed a dual system of migration regulation that enabled them to adapt to the city’s changing labour market from the 1870s onwards. This system made it possible to register and control migrants who were necessary for economic or entertainment purposes, without formally admitting them. Considerations about who was worthy to be formally admitted were highly gendered and linked to differences in occupational background. This article shows that authorities were flexible to adapt regulations according to economic circumstances that went beyond simple repulsion or attraction. Conversely, the economic considerations of Amsterdam’s authorities only played one part in the decision-making process regarding expulsions: the agency of migrants themselves also played an important role.
Abstract Although the transatlantic journey has been considered a transformative experience as part of mass migration from the Mediterranean in the early twentieth century, the journey itself has hitherto received little attention. Tracing a Greek migrant’s journey, this article explores the historical processes and experiences of migration from the Mediterranean during this period. Drawing upon the diary found in this migrant’s personal archive, this study investigates key elements involved in the journey, including the function of migratory networks, the role of transit ports, and institutional control. Moreover, it demonstrates the significance of ports and ocean liners as transnational contact zones and spaces of both mobility and immobility. Focusing on the transit experience itself, this article contributes to the historiography of transatlantic migration by demonstrating the role of networks and technological innovation in fostering global interconnectedness and facilitating migration journeys.
Abstract The article examines Chinese women’s migration to Singapore from 1880 to 1942. By tracing the origins of Chinese women’s migration in both domestic and global contexts, it explores the vital role of gender in shaping women’s decisions to emigrate, the types of labour they performed, and the homosocial and heterosexual domestic spaces they reproduced for themselves and their male clients and employers. An investigation of such reproductions of domestic spaces far from their homeland showcases these women’s agency in shaping the contours of their lives and the dynamics of gender and family relations beyond the borders of China.
