Reverse migration: this might be bigger than we thought
My partner recently shared a link with me to an article talking about a Vietnamese girl wanting to go back to Vietnam to "learn her roots".
Of course, her grandmother is worried about her child not being born in the US and getting an American citizenship.
However, this young woman is not alone.
I know that even I've had a "calling" to give back to my ancestral homelands.
It started with my cultural animation work back in the 2010s, and more recently led to my initial #blockchain work with the Tuvalu government (crossing fingers we still get to complete it as we await approval for Phase 2).
But even just yesterday, I received an email from someone sharing how they appreciated me opening up about my cultural heritage, "ancestral wisdoms", and even spirituality - despite being in the business/tech world.
My hunch is that this has to do with post-pandemic effects, the mass move to remote work, and rapid interest in "decentralized" technologies.
In the past, we had to move to large cities for better opportunities. Now, thanks to technology, an increasing number of people can actually make a living working from wherever they want.
This means we could tap into global markets, without falling prey to the negative impacts of globalization.
I suspect that, in the near future, more and more of the next generation are going to want to: (1) learn more about their roots; (2) work from wherever they want; and (3) dive deeper into their own identities as physical-to-digital realities start to blur (e.g. XR/AR/VR/Metaverse).
What do you think? Do you see this type of "reverse-migration" happening as well?