In a recent controversial article by The Guardian, the question is posed:
"Why are white people expats while the rest of us are immigrants?"
As someone who considers himself an expat, I was intrigued.
Before even reading the article, I started thinking back to my childhood, and to the people I viewed as immigrants: Haitian housekeepers, Brazilian construction workers, Mexican farmhands. I never really thought about people who moved from European countries because they were not stereotypically associated with any one profession. However, I suppose the Greek guys who owned the deli in my hometown, and even my own ancestors would have been considered immigrants in my mind.
So when did people start using the term “expat”? I never actually noticed the shift in vernacular until I suddenly became an “expat” myself. If someone called me an immigrant in Hong Kong, I would probably laugh at them because I consider my time there to be entirely temporary. To me, immigrants are working-class people who permanently relocate to another country to escape poverty and start a new life for themselves. I have professional friends in Hong Kong from all different racial backgrounds, and I would label them all as expatriates.
Oddly enough, I was recently talking to an Indian national who has been living in Dubai for 20 years. I asked him if he feels like a local, or if he still feels like an expatriate. The term “immigrant” did not even cross my mind, because his reason for living in Dubai is to work as a professional in my industry. When he retires, he will likely move back to his home country.
After reading the article, I thought it displayed a very bitter perspective by the author. He states that "top African professionals" in Europe are always considered immigrants, and uses his personal experience to claim that the term “expat” is reserved exclusively for western white people going to work abroad.
Ironically, he uses an example from Hong Kong to justify his theory – pointing to Filipino domestic helpers, who are labeled as “guests” rather than expats. I agree that domestic helpers are not thought of as expats. However, it is not because they are Filipino, but rather, because they truly are guests in the homes of their employers. They are not eligible for official Hong Kong residency, and they do not enjoy independent lives.
Based on my experience living, traveling, and working in over 50 countries, I am frustrated that the author's inferiority complex has caused him to proliferate the racial divide without much more than anecdotal evidence. I am not naïve enough to believe that everyone is blind to color, but I think the author has overstepped in his generalizations. For me, the distinction between "expat" and "immigrant" (or any other term that is used to describe people living in a foreign country) is not grounded in race. Instead, the distinction is about one's life situation and motivations.
What does this author hope to achieve from his article? In my opinion, it is nothing more than an empty grievance that fails to appreciate the complex nature of global migrations.
Before even reading the article, I started thinking back to my childhood, and to the people I viewed as immigrants: Haitian housekeepers, Brazilian construction workers, Mexican farmhands. I never really thought about people who moved from European countries because they were not stereotypically associated with any one profession. However, I suppose the Greek guys who owned the deli in my hometown, and even my own ancestors would have been considered immigrants in my mind.
So when did people start using the term “expat”? I never actually noticed the shift in vernacular until I suddenly became an “expat” myself. If someone called me an immigrant in Hong Kong, I would probably laugh at them because I consider my time there to be entirely temporary. To me, immigrants are working-class people who permanently relocate to another country to escape poverty and start a new life for themselves. I have professional friends in Hong Kong from all different racial backgrounds, and I would label them all as expatriates.
Oddly enough, I was recently talking to an Indian national who has been living in Dubai for 20 years. I asked him if he feels like a local, or if he still feels like an expatriate. The term “immigrant” did not even cross my mind, because his reason for living in Dubai is to work as a professional in my industry. When he retires, he will likely move back to his home country.
After reading the article, I thought it displayed a very bitter perspective by the author. He states that "top African professionals" in Europe are always considered immigrants, and uses his personal experience to claim that the term “expat” is reserved exclusively for western white people going to work abroad.
Ironically, he uses an example from Hong Kong to justify his theory – pointing to Filipino domestic helpers, who are labeled as “guests” rather than expats. I agree that domestic helpers are not thought of as expats. However, it is not because they are Filipino, but rather, because they truly are guests in the homes of their employers. They are not eligible for official Hong Kong residency, and they do not enjoy independent lives.
Based on my experience living, traveling, and working in over 50 countries, I am frustrated that the author's inferiority complex has caused him to proliferate the racial divide without much more than anecdotal evidence. I am not naïve enough to believe that everyone is blind to color, but I think the author has overstepped in his generalizations. For me, the distinction between "expat" and "immigrant" (or any other term that is used to describe people living in a foreign country) is not grounded in race. Instead, the distinction is about one's life situation and motivations.
What does this author hope to achieve from his article? In my opinion, it is nothing more than an empty grievance that fails to appreciate the complex nature of global migrations.
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