Job Discussion Forums

nomadder · Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 5:36 pm Post subject: Permanent Ex-Pats

Do you consider yourself a permanent ex-pat?
Why or why not?

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

I believe in order to be an ex-pat permanence is implied.

I am an ex-pat, definitely. When I left the US more than 10 years ago I was striding TOWARDS a new creative life in a culture where I felt much more comfortable.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

Two kinds of permance are implied in being an ex-pat.
The first is that you are permanently living away from your homeland.
The second is that the homeland you will never go back to is permanently your homeland.

Why is it that when English speakers go to a non-English speaking country they become expats, but when other nationalities leave their homeland they become immigrants?

denise · Joined: 23 Apr 2003 Posts: 3419 Location: finally home-ish

Nope. I plan to head back to the States in a few years, when I think I can find a decent job. Why? Because, despite all of its social/political/etc. problems, I always manage to find my niche. I rarely feel out of place because I know where to go & who to talk to. Sometimes my habits and beliefs make me an outsider there (especially when I leave my little bubble-world), but it's my home, so for me it's a much more superficial feeling than, for example, being an outsider in Japan. I have chosen to be different from the mainstream in the States; here, I think other people will categorize me as different no matter how long I stay or what I do.

I, too, have wondered about the different labels--ex-pat vs. immigrant. I'd rather not share my theories, though, because I'm sure they/I will just be attacked.

d

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Didn't we have a thread ages ago about expat or immigrant on one of the ME forums? ( I might be guilty of starting it)

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

Ex-pat somehow manages to conjure up an image of someone who is not primarily going to another country for economic or political reasons, whereas immigrant usually conjures up the image of someone who has to go to another country in order to have political freedom or economic stability.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

Don't English teachers go to the Gulf to get Economic stability? I did but I didn't consider myself an immigrant

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

Depends--are you still there?

yodetta · Joined: 29 Aug 2004 Posts: 68 Location: California, USA

this is interesting. theoretically and practically. i've rarely felt at home here in the U.S., and have lived in several different cities. (and yes, i'm functional Smile

so, an Expat is one who leaves the USA on her own volition for personal reasons, whereas an immigrant leaves her homeland out of necessity for economic/political reasons.....is that the gist? Quite a privileged lot, these Expats;-)
My impression was that Expat meant leaving home for political reasons, as a way of relinquishing your national identity...hence you're an "ex-patriot".???

It strikes me that the process of labelling national statuses has been very hegemonic. I mean, why wouldn't I become an emmigrant/immigrant? Don't Americans emmigrate, or do only "foreigners" emmigrate TO the U.S.? [implicit is the assumption that people only want to come TO the U.S.; why would anyone ever want to leave? Idea

]

Pico Iyer has written quite a bit about this subject, along with the growing literature on nomadology and trans-citizenship. I'd like to think of myself as "joinging the global diaspora"...and am very keen on the privilege that confers.

Y

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

Sure can--immigrants normally stay--that's why they are called immigrants.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

In the Qatar the (racist term coming up) jinglies would often stay for say ten years then go back to their home country and start up a business.
the words expat and immigrant are racist. If you are Western then you are an expat but if you are TCN then you are an immigrant

AsiaTraveller · Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2004 10:25 pm Post subject:

In the U.S., there are definitely people who are referred to as British, French, Indian, and Japanese expats. They refer to themselves in this way, and so do their friends and colleagues.

from Merriam-Webster:

expatriate [derived from Latin expatriare: to leave one's own country]

transitive verb:
***To withdraw (oneself) from residence in or allegiance to one's native country
***To banish or exile

intransitive verb:
***To leave one's native country to live elsewhere
***To renounce allegiance to one's native country

adjective:
***living in a foreign land

expat [chiefly British, 1962], also expatriate
noun:
***an expatriate person

moonraven · Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 3094

Is there a point you would like to make?

foster · Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Posts: 485 Location: Honkers, SARS

I have no intention of returning to Canada. I went there this summer for 5 weeks and MAN...was I sorry. I miss my family. I miss my friends. I do not miss their narrow minds, their pettiness (which I know people suffer from everywhere) and just small town crap. I was miserable. I love where I am and what I do. I love what I have here and I love how I feel being here. It is all good.