SMU Associate Professor of Sociology Dr Yasmin Ortiga spoke about her book Stuck at Home: Pandemic Immobilities in the Nation of Emigration, which explores the experiences of nurses and cruise ship workers, each representing distinct forms of immobility. She also examined the structural and institutional barriers that delay the migration process. Assoc Prof Ortiga emphasised that immobility constitutes a significant, yet often overlooked, aspect of migration, as attention tends to focus predominantly on movement. Through her book, she seeks to highlight how immobility not only shapes the migration journey but also reveals the underlying politics and the uneven, conditional nature of labels such as the "migrant hero."
