Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the intertwined relationships between home, work and migration in the everyday lives of Vietnamese people in East London. It describes the ways in which ideas of home might be constituted through spaces typically aligned with work or in public spaces in the city, particularly in contexts where housing is precarious or insecure. The book explains experiences of home, work and migration among Vietnamese communities, as well as points of connection across their diverse migration histories. It addresses participants’ narratives of future homes and possibilities of return to Vietnam. The book examines the ways in which migrants’ choices of mobility and settlement are interwoven with wider geopolitical structures, highlighting the impacts of changing immigration policies and their associated rhetoric upon participants’ senses of home, belonging and identity.