Talent mobility and the shifting geographies of Latourian knowledge hubs

This paper outlines how the mobility of academic talent as a significant dimension of highly skilled migration has impacted on the formation and shifting of global knowledge centres. By conceptualising talent mobility as an integral part of multifold mobilisation processes in Latourian centres of calculation, the paper aims to contribute to an ongoing development of the theoretical resources underpinning migration studies. Using Latour's concept, it examines two case studies on the global circulation of researchers and academics in the 20th century to discuss what their insights imply for future geographies of knowledge production. The analysis shows how academic mobility from and to Europe has contributed to the emergence and reinforcement of an Anglo-American hegemony in science and higher education since the early 20th century. Based on these historical experiences, it is argued that the recent increase in transnational academic mobility from and to Asia-Pacific indicates future changes in the global geographies of knowledge production by shifting the emphasis from transatlantic to transpacific knowledge flows. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.