2021/10/13 by Nathalie Rita, Marina Karides · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Emotional Labor in Professions #Migration and Labor Dynamics #Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy
paper · doi:10.1080/01419870.2021.1981965
openalex publication_date 2021/10/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/03/27
Immigration policies in the Global North often prioritize migrants based on professional qualifications, leading to a reliance on the labour of “highly-skilled migrants” (HSM), especially in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Yet, the workplace experiences of HSM have been understudied, including in higher education. Based on 50 interviews with STEM faculty in Hawai‘i, we identified that HSM faculty held distinct ways of negotiating employment circumstances that were categorically different than Hawai‘i or U.S.-born faculty. While some HSM expressed feelings of inclusion in their multi-ethnic workplace, others shared stories of bias and discrimination. To untangle this divergence, we conceptualize the professional workplace in Hawai‘i as one shaped by histories of occupation and migration. Using “ethnic embodiment” (Retsikas) and Hill-Collins’ “outsider within”, our analysis contributes to scholarship on the career pathways of HSM, as we consider how histories of place can influence perceptions of ethnic and racial belongingness.