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            Karen Liao is a Contributor on a PRIO project or a publication with a PRIO person, and is otherwise not associated with PRIO.

            Karen Liao

            Karen Liao

            Email: karlia@prio.org

            Twitter: karliao

            Research Interests

            Migration and im/mobilities, labor migration governance, migration and development, social and cultural geography, Asia, the Philippines

            Karen Liao
            This profile contains centre-specific content. View the full profile at PRIO.org.

            Multimedia

            Monday, 24 Mar 2025

            Manila animation MigrationRhythms. Illustration: PRIO/PositiveNegatives

            Tita Nurse and the Balikbayan box (Filipino)

            An individuals journey of international migration can become an entire family’s pathway for upward social mobility. This story features a Filipino nurse who has worked abroad providing for her family back home, and the challenges and hopes that can entail.

            Multimedia

            Monday, 24 Mar 2025

            04:09

            Winged wishes for my daughter (English)

            Moving for different opportunities can build confidence and independence. Prioritising happiness is important, and can impact social mobility. This story from Hanoi centres on a woman now in her 60’s, and the life of herself, her daughter, and grandchild.

            Multimedia

            Monday, 24 Mar 2025

            Karachi animation MigrationRhythms. PRIO/PositiveNegatives

            Paths to where we are (Urdu)

            How people live their lives today can in some ways be traced back through their family story, including in relation to inheriting homes. Human lives can be impacted across generations: grandparents to parents to oneself – as this animation from Karachi shows.

            Multimedia

            Monday, 24 Mar 2025

            Mumbai MigrationRhythms animation. Illustration: PRIO/PositiveNegatives

            Rahul, Varsha, Shankar and the City of Opportunity (Hindi)

            Rural to urban migration is contributing to improved living standards and realising life aspirations for many across Asia. This animation tells multiple migration stories across generations, to Mumbai. Watch in Hindi or English, or read the comic in either.

            News

            Wednesday, 26 Feb 2025

            MigrationRhythms project animation. Illustration: PositiveNegatives (Renren Galeno)

            Moving and Staying: the Path to Middle Class Life in Asia

            A Filipino nurse with family in Manila, three intertwined lives in Mumbai, a ‘self-made’ man in Karachi and the journey of a woman in Hanoi. Through four animations, the MigrationRhythms project explores how migration shapes social mobility across generations.

            PRIO Paper

            2024

            Cover - Middle Classes, Moving and Staying in Mumbai. PRIO

            Middle Classes, Moving and Staying in Mumbai

            PRIO Paper

            News

            Wednesday, 25 Sep 2024

            A busy street in the City of Manila. Photo: Karen Liao

            Call for Papers: Theorizing Migration and Social Mobility in Asia and Beyond

            Focusing on the Asian context, we seek to explore the interactions between multiple forms of migrations and processes of social mobility, whether upward, downward, or sideways. The Call for Papers is open till 15 October 2024.

            Journal article

            2024

            The Grey Window of Temporary Reintegration: The Involuntary Return and Crisis-Induced Immobility of Filipino Migrant Workers

            Journal article in International Migration Review

            Multimedia

            Monday, 24 Mar 2025

            04:04

            Tita Nurse and the Balikbayan box (English)

            An individuals journey of international migration can become an entire family’s pathway for upward social mobility. This story features a Filipino nurse who has worked abroad providing for her family back home, and the challenges and hopes that can entail.

            Multimedia

            Monday, 24 Mar 2025

            MigrationRhythms Hanoi animation. Illustration: PRIO/PositiveNegatives

            Winged wishes for my daughter (Vietnamese)

            Moving for different opportunities can build confidence and independence. Prioritising happiness is important, and can impact social mobility. This story from Hanoi centres on a woman now in her 60’s, and the life of herself, her daughter, and grandchild.

            Multimedia

            Monday, 24 Mar 2025

            05:17

            Paths to where we are (English)

            How people live their lives today can in some ways be traced back through their family story, including in relation to inheriting homes. Human lives can be impacted across generations: grandparents to parents to oneself – as this animation from Karachi shows.

            Multimedia

            Monday, 24 Mar 2025

            06:31

            Rahul, Varsha, Shankar and the City of Opportunity (English)

            Rural to urban migration is contributing to improved living standards and realising life aspirations for many across Asia. This animation tells multiple migration stories around education, work or love, enabling social mobility across generations, to Mumbai.

            News

            Wednesday, 11 Dec 2024

            Karachi (photo from MigrationRhythms fieldwork, Marta Bivand Erdal). Photo: n/a

            The urban middle classes in Asia are growing: Does migration matter?

            The urban middle classes in Asia are growing. What characterizes urban Asian middle-class families and their processes of becoming middle-class? And does migration matter for families’ social mobility?

            PRIO Paper

            2024

            Middle Classes, Moving and Staying in Karachi. PRIO

            Middle Classes, Moving and Staying in Karachi

            PRIO Paper

            PRIO Paper

            2024

            PRIO Paper Middle Classes Hanoi. PRIO

            Middle Classes, Moving and Staying in Hanoi

            PRIO Paper

            Recorded event

            Tuesday, 21 May 2024 16:30–18:30 UTC+02

            A busy street in the City of Manila. Photo: Karen Liao
            01:44:48

            Becoming Middle Class in Metro Manila: Does Migration Matter?

            Asian cities, such as Metro Manila, are witnessing a rise in middle class populations amid rapid urbanization. What do residents think about being and becoming middle class?

            Current projects

            Project

            May 2021 – Apr 2026

            Hanoi, Vietnam. Florian Wehde/Unsplash

            Migration Rhythms in Trajectories of Upward Social Mobility in Asia

            Led by Marta Bivand Erdal. Funder: European Research Council.
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