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Dreaming inside a Walled City: Imagination, Gender and the Roots of Immigration

Focusing on the phase before immigration occurs, this paper examines the social and cultural embeddedness, as well as gendered nature, of migration decisions. Based upon focus groups and interviews with recent immigrants from the People's Republic of China in Vancouver, Canada, I explore migrants' deeply personal and multi-layered reasons for departure, challenging economistic views that tend to overvalorize the desire for improving human capital. I also consider the phenomenon of the “adventuring wife” and her “agreeing husband” through a gender lens. The paper demonstrates the significance of context, and reveals the active role of the imagination in initiating migration.