This article concerns a dilemma that can be observed world-wide: nation-states are seeking to maximize the opportunities from economic globalization processes and transnational cooperation, and are simultaneously closing their doors to the forms of migration that these economic shifts have stimulated. In Malaysia, for example, migrant workers have contributed to the remarkable economic success, but are hardly ever mentioned in analyses of this “miracle economy”. Due to economic restructuring and the economic downturns, migrants are increasingly treated as scapegoats for all kinds of problems Malaysia is facing. By analyzing the “Othering” of the Bangladeshi migrant community in Malaysia within this transformation process, it will be shown how through the interlocking aspects of movement and industrial growth concepts like national identity, citizenship and culture are getting challenged and renegotiated. © 2005 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden.

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Southeast Asia World Acculturation Eurasia Asian immigrant Malaysia ethnicity cultural change citizenship Eastern Hemisphere globalization migrant worker Asia