Gateways and gatekeepers: Walking through everyday international relations.

摘要

This research project is based on the increasing importance states like Canada and Singapore give to their gateway initiatives, marketing cities like Singapore and Vancouver, as bridges between the East -- mainly understood as the People's Republic of China -- and the West. I am interested in the everyday life changes developing in Singapore and Vancouver as a result of these gateway initiatives in the business and education sectors, notably when it comes to catering to international students and young professionals.;It is my contention that both gateway projects in Singapore and Vancouver, Canada are based on neo-liberal assumptions with respect to profiting economically from a specific international context in which the economic rise of China is marketed to the West. The stories of community associations and individuals are giving to these projects specific nuances and goals that reflect both broader trends in the international political economy, such as the use of international education to migrate to Western countries, and smaller perspectives, such as transnational survival strategies of families.;In this dissertation, I examine more thoroughly the structural limitations neo-liberal assumptions of these gateway projects create on: who is seen as a desirable migrant for/at the gateway, how community associations ought to adapt to stay relevant within these gateways and how exclusions are created along identity lines and privilege assumed within a neo-liberal framework.;In trying to understand how gateways between East and West are experienced in everyday life, I argue that these initiatives take meaning through the everyday actions of individuals and community associations embodying these gateways. More specifically, I am interested in the actions of what I call gatekeepers: Chinese community associations well established in Singapore and Vancouver that have to adapt, influence and appropriate these gateway initiatives.