57. Asia-Australia Migration and Everyday Time

Dallas and Shanthi discuss Shanthi’s fresh take on 21st-century migratory experiences and temporality from her innovative study of young Asian migrants’ lives in Australia’s cities and regions. The book shows how migration has reshaped lived experiences of time and place for middle-class young people moving between Asia and the West for work, study and lifestyle opportunities. Through a new conceptual framework of ‘chronomobilities,’ which looks at ‘time-regimes’ and ‘time-logics’, Robertson demonstrates how migratory pathways can profoundly affect the temporalities of everyday life, from the timelines of career trajectories to the tempos of urban living. Drawing on extensive ethnographic material, Robertson deepens our understanding of the multifaceted relationship between migration, place and time. Shanthi and Dallas also talk about Exit West in this conversation, a book by Mohsin Hamid. Shanthi calls Hamid’s book ‘almost speculative fiction’, that follows a young couple who escape civil unrest in their unnamed city through magical doors that begin to appear, allowing people to move instantly to different cities around the world. Exit West follows these characters as they emerge into an alien and uncertain future, struggling to hold on to each other, to their past, to the very sense of who they are. Shanthi says this book is ‘only lightly speculative’ and can be read as a powerful commentary on contemporary migration and borders. And if you like this discussion, Dallas also talked with Shanthi on ABC Radio National’s The Philosopher’s Zone, see Chronomobilities. Join us for a series of fascinating conversations about some of the most interesting books about cities and urban life. Author Bio Dr Shanthi Robertson is an Associate Professor at the School of Humanities and Communication Arts and an Institute Fellow at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University. Host Fenella Kernebone, Head of Programming, Sydney Ideas at the University of Sydney Interviewed by Dallas Rogers, Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney.