Refugees and Asylum Seekers in East Asia

This edited volume fills a gap in current research on asylum seekers and refugees. By focusing on two East Asian countries, Japan and Taiwan, this volume offers material for comparison and reflection on an area of the world in which this theme is still relatively underdeveloped. By approaching the theme through the different perspectives of human rights, social construction through media representation and public opinion, and lived experiences, the book offers a multifaceted and sophisticated analysis of the phenomenon. The main aim of this collection is to expand current scholarship on refugee studies and offer policy recommendations on the timely topic of refugee and asylum seekers in East Asia.

This is an open access book.

Dr Lara Momesso is Senior Lecturer in Asia Pacific Studies at the School of Psychology and Humanities at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). She is Co-Director of the Northern Institute of Taiwan Studies at UCLan and Co-Deputy Director of the Centre for Migration, Diaspora and Exile at UCLan. She has an extensive track record on her main research theme, marriage migration between China and Taiwan, and more recently she has turned her attention towards refugees in East Asia and Chinese diaspora in the UK. She is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Asia Pacific Viewpoint.

Dr Polina Ivanova is Senior Researcher at the Asia-Japan Research Institute of Ritsumeikan University, Japan. She holds a PhD in International Relations from Ritsumeikan University. Her research interests lie in the areas of migration and migrant integration, including international students, refugees and asylum seekers and highly skilled migrants. Her research primarily centres on Japan, with comparative analyses extending to Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Her recent book is "Civil society and international students in Japan: The making of social capital" (Routledge, 2023).