In Migrant Returns Eric J. Pido examines the complicated relationship among the Philippine economy, Manila’s urban development, and balikbayans—Filipino migrants visiting or returning to their homeland—to reconceptualize migration as a process of connectivity. Focusing on the experiences of balikbayans returning to Manila from California, Pido shows how Philippine economic and labor policies have created an economy reliant upon property speculation, financial remittances, and the affective labor of Filipinos living abroad. As the initial generation of post-1965 Filipino migrants begin to age, they are encouraged to retire in their homeland through various state-sponsored incentives. Yet, once they arrive, balikbayans often find themselves in the paradoxical position of being neither foreign nor local. They must reconcile their memories of their Filipino upbringing with American conceptions of security, sociality, modernity, and class as their homecoming comes into collision with the Philippines’ deep economic and social inequality. Tracing the complexity of balikbayan migration, Pido shows that rather than being a unidirectional event marking the end of a journey, migration is a multidirectional and continuous process that results in ambivalence, anxiety, relief, and difficulty.

"“An insightful and timely account of Filipino Americans and their newfound role as key players in the Philippines' bourgeoning retirement and real estate industries.”" - Journal of Asian American Studies

"Dense and carefully argued ... Migrant Returns captures the multiple dimensions associated with return migration and serves as a valuable resource for those interested in transnationalism, globalization, and migration scholarship." - International Migration Review

"A rich ethnographic account of homing. . . . Migrant Returns is a paradigmatic illumination of the multiple landscapes—personal, familial, social, and cultural—created by re/settlement, representation, and ultimately return that are emblematic of any relocation ideology. . . . By articulating the multiple logics of global economies and local social geographies, [Pido] has given us a nuanced ethnographic plunge into the multidirectional complexities and paradoxical positions of the current global diasporic moment." - American Ethnologist

"Overall, this book usefully troubles the labels of returnee and retiree within migration studies.… Pido's ability to incorporate an analysis of the role of the Philippine state and transnational real estate brokers in exploiting but also perpetuating this tension, makes Migrant Returns a valuable addition to Philippine and diaspora studies." - Journal of Southeast Asian Studies