ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book investigates the actual asylum-seeking processes from individuals’ homelands to either Hong Kong or Bangkok. It explores the social, political, economic, and psychological processes involved in “becoming” or “being” a refugee. The book illustrates the actual events of the asylum-seeking process, from home to destination, and their embodied encounters. It aims to connect refugees’ physical journeys to their inner-world journeys, making it possible to recognise and assess the differential values of the people and things entangled in the social space of circulation and exchange, as well as the influence of the actions and perceptions of refugees across time and space. The book provides an outline of programmes of action assembled by refugees, wherein the material world and refugees collide during the asylum-seeking process, thereby generating new circumstances, experiences, and meanings.
