PhD thesis final - Royal Holloway, University of London

Chapter 2- Conceptual framework(material configurations) and institutional practices in Taiwanese IT firms. In so doing,this research not only identifies the effect of the physical structures and material cultureof the workplace on expatriate workers‘ emotional experiences, but also advances theunderstanding of the formation of transnational social space within TNCs as a distinctspace of belonging.2.4. Embodied practices, place and belongingIn addition to material culture, migrants‘ practices in constituting belonging also includea series of spectacular and routine activities. As Westwood and Phizacklea (2000)suggest, the collective activities of national day celebrations or festivals are importantoccasions for migrants to develop a national sense of belonging, as they are oftenencouraged to remember and/or think of home/homeland in these events. The collectiveand social belonging can also be fulfilled by the binding power of a variety oforganisational activities or gatherings (i.e. political, economic, cultural and religiousassociations), whereby in becoming a member migrants can feel acceptance (see, forexample, Jazeel 2006; Madsen and van Naerssen 2003; Rivera-Sanchez 2002; vanNaerssen 2007; Willis and Yeoh 2002). As Jazeel (2006) indicates in his study on the SriLanka Women‘s Association in London, social participation allows migrants not only tonetwork and gain emotional support, but also to perform their ethnicity and identitiesthrough a series of cultural practices, thereby encouraging a sense of social belonging.This empirical research also implies that migrants‘ practices of belonging are associatedwith the citing or reproduction of traditions, conventions or cultural norms that canremind them and link them back to their homelands or important places elsewhere. Thisis also reflected in Fortier‘s (2000) research on Italian immigrants in London, in whichshe indicates that the adoption of norms of homeland religious practices in ritualised47