Changing forms of transnationalism

This paper looks at second-generation immigrants and the effects of ‘inevitable’ assimilation on their transnational ties. The dominant concept of transnationalism is strongly influenced by the experience of transmigrants moving back and forth between the sending and receiving countries or by immigrants involved in transnational activities. Research on second-generation Hindustanis in the Netherlands shows that their transnational ties are strong due to the ethnification of their community. However, their transnational ties are changing. The second-generation Hindustanis have a source culture and are developing new ties, while loosening relations with their parents’ country. Thus, transnationalism is assuming new forms, calling for a typology of different forms of transnational relations.     

The legacy of transnational lives: Beyond the first generation of Lebanese in Senegal

Definitions of transnationalism are modelled after first generation migrant communities in the west. Through presenting ethnographic detail on the Lebanese community in Senegal, this article applies the concept of transnationalism to the case of a historic South-South migrant community. Second and later generation ethnic groups maintain transnational ties through notions of self-identity and definitions by others, the importance given to the homeland, and political and religious ideologies. Race, geographic location, and changes in the structure of labour markets are factors that encourage continued ties with the country of origin. Furthermore, transnationalism cannot be limited only to sending and receiving countries. Colonial and former colonial powers can determine the destination of migrants, establish economic hierarchies, and offer a tertiary citizenship to transnational migrants in addition to the dual citizenship of country of origin and destination.     

Beyond ‘transnationalism’: Mexican hometown politics at an American labour union

The controversial notion of “transnationalism” has generated new insights into international migrants’ on-going ties with their communities of origin, but its problematic conceptualization and vague usage in empirical studies needlessly inhibit the transnational perspective’s utility. Understanding the political and economic incorporation of migrants in both their communities of origin and destination is facilitated by disaggregating the types of political borders, types of nationalism, and levels of identification that have been conflated in the framework of “transnationalism”. I demonstrate the analytic value of these distinctions by using them to interpret evidence from a six-month ethnographic case study of an immigrant labour union in Southern California. A theoretically coherent typology applicable to both the case study and other migration settings provides a framework for explaining how institutions assimilate migrants into U.S. and local politics while simultaneously promoting cross-border ties.     

“I should not forget!”: qualitative evidence of social and cultural transnationalism among refugees who are disconnected from home

Adding to the growing body of literature exploring the ways in which forced migrant populations engage in transnationalism, we operationalize transnational cultural reference points within a refugee community in an agricultural US mountain-west town. We present qualitative evidence of ways in which refugees retain strong symbolic ties to their homeland while also integrating into the new host culture. Data drawn from interviews and field observations with recently resettled Karen and Karenni refugees yield evidence of cultural transnationalism in self-identification, native language use, clothing, and other symbolic ties to home. The transnational optic as applied in this study reveals the broadening application of the theory to include transnational cultural reference points among migrants who are disconnected from their origin cultures.     

A family affair: how and why second-generation Filipino-Americans engage in transnational social and economic connections

In this article, I argue that second-generation migrants can engage in cross-border ties as a result of first-generation migrants mediating relationships between their children and those abroad. This paper draws on interviews with second-generation Filipino-Americans to demonstrate how and why respondents engage in mediated social and economic cross-border ties collectively with first-generation migrant parents. Second-generation Filipino-Americans feel an obligation, not necessarily to those in the Philippines, but to parents who request that their children engage in transnational social and economic ties. Just as parents serve as the means and reasoning for why these transnational connections persist among their children, parents play a role in why ties fail to manifest. By looking into why some engage in social and economic cross-border ties while others do not, I provide insight into how the children of migrants participate in the transnational social field.     

Home Visits: Transnationalism among Australian Migrants

As a perspective developed primarily in anthropology, ‘transnationalism’ has until recently been dominated by ethnographic and textual analyses. While not problematic for any particular study, the overwhelming dominance of these methodologies has created two major theoretical shortcomings; a tendency to inflate the prevalence of transnational models of living, and the attribution of an egalitarian or emancipatory character to transnationalism, generally in the absence of systematic evidence. In this article we attempt to remedy these problems by examining the frequency and determinants of one tangible indicator of transnational activity in migrants to Australia: visits home. Our results suggest three important conclusions: 1) not all migrants visit home at all, and only about 11 per cent do so on a regular basis; 2) there are major between-group differences in migrants’ capacity to visit home; and 3) the earlier concepts of assimilation and migration order are of substantial significance in understanding transnationalism.     

Entrapped transnationalism: West Bank and Israeli Palestinians between closeness and distance

Studies of transnationalism typically frame it in opposition to the entrapping effects of borders. Yet, for many people, transnationalism is negotiated in contexts marked by forced separation and differential mobility. Drawing on long-term fieldwork among West Bank and Israeli Palestinians, this article explores transnational ties and orientations in relation, not in opposition, to the entrapping effects of borders. Specifically, I examine the two-way traffic in emotions and perceptions that marks family, social and symbolic relationships between West Bank and Israeli Palestinians. I show how entrapping and transnational processes combine to generate a tense interplay between closeness and distance, solidarity and estrangement. The paper calls attention to complex transnational formations among people prone to entrapment such as detained and deported migrants, refugees and minorities divided by rigid borders, and it suggests that a focus on emotions and perceptions is critical if we are to understand such formations.     

Modes of incorporation and transnational Zimbabwean migration to Britain

In the last decade, the phenomenal growth of Zimbabwean congregations in Britain, responding to conditions in both the hostland and homeland, has received little scholarly attention. This article, drawing from an in-depth study of Zimbabwean Christians and the modes-of-incorporation framework, examines the ways in which the context of reception in the hostland shape, alter and influence the development of religious transnationalism among migrants. As this article will argue, Zimbabweans' mode of incorporation into Britain was mediated by a hostile reception from authorities, considerable prejudice and hostility from the host society and a weak pre-existing co-ethnic community. These conditions in the hostland reinforce migrants' transnational religious ties to the homeland. In addition, the article illustrates the contradictory ways in which respondents reproduce, contest and construct their transnational gendered identities.     

The human dynamics of migrant transnationalism

Abstract

How is migrant transnationalism shaped by the human dynamics of relationships between migrants and non-migrants? This question is addressed through an analysis of asymmetries between migrants and non-migrants in three spheres of transnational life: the moralities of transnationalism, information and imagination in transnational relations, and transnational resource inequalities. Understanding transnational practices such as sending remittances and facilitating migration, it is argued, requires attention to the dynamics of the relationships between individuals. Fieldwork material from Cape Verde and the Netherlands is combined with secondary literature from other parts of the world in order to develop an analytical framework for comparative research.     

Growing old in a transnational social field: belonging,mobility and identity among Italian migrants

This article focuses on ageing in transnationalism. Drawing on the experiences of Italians in the UK as a paradigmatic example of settled European migrants, it explores the lived experiences of this group of older migrants. Using Levitt and Glick Schiller's framework, it concentrates first on migrants' ways of being and then on their ways of belonging. The article argues that a transnational lens is necessary to understand the experiences of older migrants and that a focus on older people needs to be incorporated into studies of transnationalism. Through a discussion of their narratives and experiences, the article offers a long view on the migration process and brings attention to the significance of gender, time and the life course to understand both migrants' transnationalism and their integration.     

Shifting perspectives on transnationalism: analysing Dutch political discourse on Moroccan migrants' transnational ties, 1960–2010

Abstract

This article examines the Dutch state's shifting perspectives on migrants' ties with their country of origin. In the academic literature transnationalism was introduced as a neutral term. In political debates the term transnationalism is hardly used, but the ties of migrants with their country of origin (to which the term transnationalism relates) are given a strong negative connotation. They are seen as the main course of failed integration policy. In the past fifty years a dramatic shift has occurred in how these ties are perceived. First, they were regarded positively and were believed to facilitate an easy return of the guest workers. Later they continued to be portrayed positively, but were also considered to be a springboard for integration into Dutch society. Recently they have been portrayed negatively and as the main obstacle to integration. This article explores why this dramatic shift in connotation has occurred.     

Migrant warriors and transnational lives: constructing a Gurkha diaspora

The Nepalese Gurkhas have often been regarded as brave warriors in the scheme of British military recruitment since the 1800s. Today, their descendants have settled in various parts of South East and South Asia. How can one conceive of a Gurkha diaspora, and what are the Gurkhas and their families’ experiences of belonging in relation to varied migratory routes? This paper locates Gurkhas as migrants by deliberating upon the connection between military service and migration paths. I employ the lens of methodological transnationalism to elucidate how the Gurkha diaspora is both constructed and experienced. Diasporic consciousness and formation undergo modification alongside subsequent cycles of migration for different members of a diaspora. The article thus evaluates the transnational lives of migrants, and how these are connected to re-territorialized dimensions of identity and belonging.     

Transnationalism or assimilation? Patterns of sociopolitical adaptation among Canadian business immigrants

This study analyses patterns of sociopolitical incorporation among immigrant entrepreneurs in Ontario who entered Canada under the auspices of the federal Business Immigration Program [BIP] between 1984 and 1994. The analysis focuses specifically on issues of transnationalism, adaptation to mainstream social and political institutions, and citizenship. In-depth interviews of a sample of BIP entrepreneurs reveal that, over a period of eight to eighteen years, respondents generally achieved a high level of political awareness, maintained weak transnational ties, and naturalized at an extraordinarily high rate. In the process of sociopolitical integration, respondents relied primarily on human forms of capital, especially English language proficiency and business skills, rather than on the social capital that inheres in ethnic communities and networks.     

Transnational social spaces

This book sets out to challenge what it calls ‘transnationalism’ by pointing out the crucial role of national states, introduces a bipolar model of emigration and immigration contexts, and raises interesting and worthwhile questions about societal overlap between states – giving particular attention to conflicts between migrants and those left behind in the countries of emigration. As such, the book is a welcome addition to the by now voluminous literature on transnationalism. It is doubtful, however, whether the author has sufficiently engaged with the existing transnationally oriented literature to reorient transnational studies. Ultimately, it remains to be seen whether this reorientation will yield new insights in future studies.     

Homeland origins and political identities among Chinese in Southern California

Abstract

This research project seeks to understand the scope and sources of ethnic and other political identities among US residents of Chinese descent whose families originated from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia. In what ways, to which extent and why do these individuals from various homeland origins identify themselves politically in the United States? Informed by past research on ethnic identity formation and political transnationalism, this research analyses a large-scale public opinion survey of Chinese in Southern California to report the contours and sources of political identities and their relationship to homeland origins, transnational ties and adaptation experiences in the Unites States, while controlling for the influence of sociodemographic factors. By separating out socialization contexts and types of transnational practices, the findings provide important modification to the scholarship on immigrant assimilation and transnationalism.     

Being a freshie is (not) cool: stigma,capital and disgust in British Pakistani stereotypes of new subcontinental migrants

Intra-ethnic discrimination, in the form of stereotyping of recent migrants by settled ethnic minorities, has been interpreted as internalized racism, displacing stigma and negotiation of local hierarchies of belonging. Stereotypes of ‘Fresh off the Boat’ migrants construct cultural boundaries and assertions of belonging, offering clues to processes of identity-making where ethnicity is complicated by ongoing migration. In British Pakistani portrayals of ‘freshies’, this assertion of difference coexists with familial ties and a high incidence of transnational marriage. Analysis of the figure of the ‘freshie’ in internet comedy videos, combined with qualitative research material, provides insight into dynamics of cultural and social capital, immigration and sexuality through manifestations of difference, similarity and disgust. Together these not only reveal the weakness of recent migrants’ positions in structures of socio-economic and symbolic power, but the blurring of social categories, and the continuing importance of transnational kinship in negotiations of identity amongst British Pakistanis.     

The first collective protest of black African migrants in postcolonial France (1960–1975): a struggle for housing and rights

The study of the political activism of black African diasporas in France after the independence era remains a neglected area of research. This paper fills a gap in the literature by exploring the first notable postcolonial protests in the country by sub-Saharan migrants. The struggle of black African workers against their dire housing conditions opened up a ‘cycle of collective action’ that led to the better-known Sonacotra migrant hostels (foyers) rent strike of 1975–1980. Even before the Sonacotra strike, however, black African workers had been able to call on the authorities from both their origin and residence countries and to mobilize transnational networks in order to support their demands. This article provides the first comprehensive historical study of this decisive period. It highlights how ethnic ties are intertwined with political and social ones, focusing on the solidarities that these migrants developed in political networks and in their neighbourhoods.     

Mirrored boundaries: how ongoing homeland–hostland contexts shape Bangladeshi immigrant collective identity formation

Largely overlooked in the international migration literature, migration from the Muslim world can reveal how the combination of globalization and ongoing homeland tensions shapes immigrants’ collective identity formation in the hostland. Using the case of Bangladeshi Muslims in Los Angeles, this article ethnographically traces how ongoing and historic homeland, hostland, and global political–religious contexts shape immigrants’ everyday struggles over identity categories through two distinct but overlapping processes: (1) the immigrants’ exposure to a more expanded, diverse range of people in the hostland; (2) their import of homeland cleavages to the receiving society. It argues that through international migration, migrants both produce and experience globalization, consequently both reiterating and reconstructing their identity categories in the hostland. It also shows how the immigrants’ cross-border ties to not only their homeland and hostland but also to nation-states beyond shape their identity-work, thus revealing conceptual ambiguities about transnationalism and diaspora.     

Migrants’ connections within and beyond borders: insights from the comparison of three categories of migrants in France

ABSTRACT

Since the mid-1990s, the concept of transnationalism has been increasingly used and discussed. Some authors have contested its novelty, arguing that all types of migrants, including internal ones, tend to remain connected to their home place. In this paper, we provide new quantitative evidence to show that migration, be it internal or international, entails a similar sort of connectedness between places. Using a nationally representative survey carried out in France (TeO, N?=?21,761), we systematically compare the transterritorial connections of international migrants, French migrants born abroad and French migrants born in overseas territories. Our findings show that all migrants maintain transborder ties, with particular intensity among French overseas migrants. Owing to border effects, oversenas migrants exhibit higher levels of sociopolitical and “re-migration” connections and are less engaged in economic relations. The results also show that transterritorial connections are affected by similar determinants across the three categories of migrants.     

Our time,their time,world time: The transformation of temporal modes*

This article discusses Protestant movements in a village in the Peruvian Andes. It tries to explain why villagers either reject or are attracted to Protestantism. The argument is that explanations traditionally proposed by anthropologists fail to account for the segmentation into competing denominations, the problem of relapse to Catholicism, and second‐ and third‐time conversion, and that new approaches are required to understand the nature of contemporary Protestant movements in Latin America. The article concludes that we enlarge our framework to include urban migrants and focus on the ties which link these migrants to their native village.