<![CDATA[International labor migration has become a central livelihood strategy for rural Indonesian households where local employment is scarce. This study examines migrant-worker households in Donomulyo District, a karst area on the southern periphery of Malang Regency with limited agricultural capacity. It compares households with members working in Hong Kong and Taiwan in their socio-economic characteristics, remittances, and attainment of migration expectations. A comparative descriptive quantitative design was applied to 146 of 230 households, selected by proportional random sampling. Data from structured interviews, field observation, and documentation were analyzed using percentages and cross-tabulation. Expectations were measured with seven indicators from the value-expectancy model of migration: status, prosperity, comfort, stimulation, autonomy, affiliation, and morality. The two corridors drew on different segments of the labor force: nearly half of Hong Kong migrants had only primary schooling (49.51%), whereas most Taiwan migrants had completed senior high school (65.12%). Yet average monthly remittances were almost identical (IDR 2,964,563 and IDR 3,008,139), and similar shares of households reported achieved expectations (79.61% and 74.42%). Prosperity was the least fully met expectation. Remittances cushioned households against economic insecurity but went mainly to consumption rather than productive local investment. Donomulyo thus illustrates how the constraints of a peripheral place push households into distant labor markets while limiting what migration earnings can build at home. For geography education, the district offers a place-based case for teaching human–environment interaction, interconnection across scales, and uneven development through students' own landscapes.]]>
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