Wang, Ju-Han Zoe, and Connell, John (2026) Rural dreams and constrained cosmopolitanism: Taiwanese working holiday makers in rural and regional Australia. Australian Geographer, 57 (2). pp. 251-268.

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Abstract

Taiwanese Working Holiday Makers (WHMs) are one of the largest WHM cohorts in Australia. While mainstream media and public discourse often portray them as exploited labourers in precarious rural employment, this paper challenges such portrayals by highlighting the agency and diverse experiences of Taiwanese WHMs. Driven by their perceptions of a ‘rural idyll,’ many Taiwanese youth actively choose to work and live in rural and regional areas beyond merely fulfilling visa requirements. Taiwanese WHMs also seek to embrace a version of rural cosmopolitanism and cultural diversity. Despite structural constraints imposed by precarious employment and tied accommodation, and a labour regime that discourages social interaction, WHMs actively shape their transnational experiences rather than being solely passive workers. This paper thus contributes to a nuanced understanding of how rural spaces are imagined and experienced by temporary migrants in a globalised labour regime.

Item ID:	92564
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	0004-9182
Copyright Information:	© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Funders:	Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange (CCKF)
Date Deposited:	10 Aug 2026 02:38
FoR Codes:	44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4406 Human geography > 440609 Rural and regional geography @ 90% 44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4404 Development studies > 440403 Labour, migration and development @ 10%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280123 Expanding knowledge in human society @ 100%
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