Professions and the migration of expert labour: Towards an intersectional analysis of transnational mobility patterns and integration pathways of health professionals

Whereas internationally mobile professionals find many more opportunities than in the past, the migration of professionals across countries is not in itself a new phenomenon. Indeed, the esoteric nature of professional knowledge is such that it can transcend national boundaries, at least theoretically. What is new is the number of countries participating in the transnational migratory movements of professionals, the rapid increase in the pace of the movement of professionals internationally, the impermanency of their migration decisions, and the growing politicization of migration (Castles and Miller, 2003). These new dynamics are transforming not only the lives of the internationally mobile professionals but the overall composition of the professional workforce and its social organization. In this chapter we use the concept ‘mobilities’ in parallel to migration to denote how the numerous new patterns of spatial mobility of professionals are transforming the social organization of professions, in ways that disrupt the very idea of professions as nationally bounded social phenomena. Indeed, we argue that a better understanding of professional mobilities has implications for all future theorizing about professions in the era of transnational globalization.