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.     

“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.     

“Grateful” subjects: class and capital at the border in Philippine–Canada migration

This paper considers how Philippine migrants prepare themselves and are prepared by others for emigration to Canada. In particular, it emphasizes how class-differentiated migrants are rendered socially homogenous as they are encouraged to be “grateful” transnational citizen subjects throughout their migration trajectories, commencing with initial decisions to migrate. Preparations for migration include individual decisions to increase marketability by acquiring particular kinds of skill sets matched to one of a variety of immigration streams. Despite such individual projects, the inequalities associated with gendered and racialized characteristics of Philippine migration trajectories and class dynamics are enduring for many migrants, though not all. Historical structural processes shaping the contours of global migration in the example of Philippine–Canada migration are compounded by the contradictory practices and outcomes associated with various preparations for migration. Current reforms to Canada’s immigration system to a “just-in-time” model promise to cause major disruptions to long-held migrant plans. Meanwhile, migrants are preconditioned to accept uncritically the multiple forms of subordination encouraged through the policies of multiple states and to accommodate themselves to new immigrant/citizen social identities which are devalued in a multiplicity of ways. This paper shows how, through the collusion of agents that migrants encounter in multiple sites, the disciplining of mobile citizens becomes more formalized and the contradictions between migrant ambition and neoliberal imperatives more visible.     

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.     

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.     

Negotiating belonging beyond rootedness: unsettling the sedentary bias in the Dutch culturalist discourse

In the era of late or “liquid modernity”, we can observe the re-emergence of solid categories in the form of nationalistic sentiments and cultural contrasts. The growing culturalist discourse in most European societies is an example of the reification of cultural difference. Within this discourse, it is posited that the most “natural” link for migrants is to their countries of origin. This discourse suggests that generations of migrants living inside the nation are constructed as not belonging to it. This “sedentary bias” produces dichotomies of rootedness in the places of origin and uprootedness in countries where generations of migrants presently live. When normalized, this positioning limits differentiated, multi-layered, and multi-sited possibilities of belonging. By comparing two sets of empirical data on diverse women in the Netherlands, this article shows how the inclusion of interpretations and negotiations of everyday interactions can enable alternative forms of positioning and belonging.     

Pushing away from their own nation? South Korean women married to migrant husbands from developing countries

This study expands a currently limited body of knowledge on South Korean women married to migrant husbands from developing countries living in South Korea. It presents the findings obtained from a series of semi-structured interviews in order to see how marriage to a migrant husband from a developing country impacts a woman’s sense of belonging over the course of her married life. These women experienced a significant change in status within their own ethnic community, which eventually impacted their hope that their children will forge a sense of transnational belonging or find a sense of belonging within a religious community.     

Killing pigs and talking to nonna: “wog” versus “cosmopolitan” Italianitá among second-generation Italian-Australians and the role of family

This paper extends the literature on second-generation migrants by examining the construction of ethnicity (Italianitá) over time. We compare two cohorts of second-generation Italian-Australians: the post-World War II cohort and the post-1980s cohort. Ethnographic data for this research were collected with second-generation Italian-Australians in Perth over a thirty-year period. Our findings highlight important differences between these two groups based on socio-historical context and transnational experiences. Informants draw on these differences to distinguish between “wog” vs. “cosmopolitan” forms of Italianitá. While these contrasting identities highlight cultural discontinuities between cohorts, both groups construct their ethnicity through the trope of the Italian migrant family. Employing the theoretical notions of “intimate culture” and “familial habitus” we theorize family as integral to conceptualizations of ethnic field and show how it has been overlooked and devalued in analyses of diaspora politics and identity.     

The value of culturedness: Bosnian and Hungarian migrants' experiences of belonging in Australia

In this paper we investigate how the values of respect and dignity inform the ways migrants from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hungary in Australia locate themselves in relation to local, national and transnational identities. Drawing upon ethnographic insights, we discuss how the concept of culturedness is implicated in these migrant claims for dignified belonging. Determinants of culturedness are informed by influential narratives of ‘East versus West’, ‘Balkan versus Europe’, the ‘New World (Australia) versus the Old World’ (Europe). Implicit within these discourses are attempts to demarcate civilisational distinctions. We argue that dignified belonging for people from these migrant communities in Australia involves negotiating identification with culturedness and positioning themselves on the right side of the civilised/primitive divide. This collaboration draws attention to the significance of ontological security through respect within the shared discourses and experiences of belonging for members of these two migrant groups in Australia.     

“Whoever decides for you without you,s/he is against you!”: immigrant activism and the role of the Left in political racialization

Much of the migration literature neglects the questions of why and how “native” allies obstruct activism by immigrants and ethnic minorities. Left-wing organizations in particular are often assumed to be supportive of inclusion, and little research exists on the ways they have prevented the migrant population from having a voice in the political arena and from taking part in society as equals. Drawing on the critical theory literature, I introduce the concept of political racialization. This concept refers to mechanisms whereby political actors, in order to legitimize their work on immigration, have partially included immigrants in the political sphere, but in a relationship of “ethnic” or “racial” subordination. Through the analysis of 57 in-depth interviews with immigrant activists, I show how political racialization works within the Italian Left and how it contributes to marginalize the migrant population. I further explain how immigrant activists have challenged political racialization through their activism.     

Do Migrants Degrade Coastal Environments? Migration,Natural Resource Extraction and Poverty in North Sulawesi,Indonesia

Recent literature on migration and the environment has identified key mediating variables such as how migrants extract resources from the environment for their livelihoods, the rate and efficiency of extraction, and the social and economic context within which their extraction occurs. This paper investigates these variables in a new ecological setting using data from coastal fishing villages in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. We do not find as many differences between migrant and non-migrant families regarding destructive fishing behavior, technology, and investment as might have been expected from earlier theories. Instead, the context and timing of migrant assimilation seems to be more important in explaining apparent associations of migration and environmental impacts than simply migrants themselves. This finding fits well with recent literature in the field of international migration and immigrant incorporation.     

Liminality and racial hazing of Muslim migrants: media framing of Albanians in Shepparton,Australia, 1930–1955

This article is a historical empirical study of the Albanian Muslim migrant community of Shepparton. Through analysing newspaper reports, the authors discuss how these migrants were portrayed as liminal between their first arrival and acceptance as Australians a generation later. This is characteristic of a practice which the authors term “migrant hazing”, where a migrant group is demonized as a threat to the society during the liminal phase. Migrant hazing occurs in public discourse, particularly the media, and ceases with the replacement of the group by newer migrants, who are subjected to the same process. Furthermore, migrant hazing remains present in contemporary depictions of Australian Muslims. In this longitudinal study, media reports on Albanian Muslims revolved around three persistent themes: their supposed criminality, the wrongful use of land and the threat of dual-loyalty. These three items constituted the main weapons of the media in hazing the first, liminal generation.     

Compelling culture: The rhetoric of assimilation among Samoan migrants in the United States

Studies of assimilation tend to focus on whether or not members of a migrant group are adjusting to their new surroundings. This article inverts this focus, asking not how migrant groups adjust, but rather how migrant groups use the language of assimilation to explain generation gaps and other exigencies of migration. This inversion sheds light on the ways a migrant group's epistemological assumptions underlie their understandings of cultural identity, and shape how they might respond to dilemmas caused by migration. Building upon ethnographic fieldwork among Samoan migrants in the United States, the article explores how and why community workers use the rhetoric of assimilation to teach Samoan parents how to raise children in the US context.     

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.     

How marginality leads to inclusion: insights from mobilizations of Chinese female migrants in Paris

ABSTRACT

This article examines the collective actions undertaken by two groups of Chinese female migrants in Paris: sex workers who opposed a new law on prostitution, and manicurists who joined trade unions and went on strike. These women share similar geographical origins and migration projects; many came to France alone, and thus have much weaker social capital than other Chinese migrants in Paris, which pushed them to choose professional sectors viewed as marginal or even stigmatized. Despite their precarious situation, their marginal position has created conditions for collective action, enabling them to develop strong sense of collective belonging and receive support from organizations outside the community. These findings show how a marginal position in an ethnic community can be a triggering factor for migrants’ inclusion and political engagement in the host society.     

“Pensando Mucho” (“Thinking Too Much”): Embodied Distress Among Grandmothers in Nicaraguan Transnational Families

In this paper, I describe an embodied form of emotional distress expressed by Nicaraguan grandmothers caring for children of migrant mothers, “pensando mucho” (“thinking too much”). I draw on ethnographic fieldwork and semi-structured exploratory interviews about pensando mucho conducted with grandmother heads-of-household to show the cultural significance of this complaint within the context of women’s social roles as caregivers in transnational families. Adopting an interpretive and meaning-centered approach, I analyze the cultural significance of pensando mucho as expressed through women’s narratives about the impacts of mother outmigration on their personal and family lives. I show how women use pensando mucho to express the moral ambivalence of economic remittances and the uncertainty surrounding migration, particularly given cultural values for “unity” and “solidarity” in Nicaraguan family life. I also discuss the relationship between pensando mucho and dolor de cerebro (“brainache”) as a way of documenting the relationship between body/mind, emotional distress, and somatic suffering. The findings presented here suggest that further research on “thinking too much” is needed to assess whether this idiom is used by women of the grandmother generation in other cultural contexts to express embodied distress in relation to broader social transformations.     

Transnational families and the subjective well-being of migrant parents: Angolan and Nigerian parents in the Netherlands

Studies on transnational families argue that the subjective well-being of migrant parents is negatively affected by living separated from their children. Most studies employ qualitative methods without a control group and hence are not able to distinguish whether the effects found are associated with separation only or with other factors. This paper investigates the association between parental subjective well-being and parent–child separation by comparing migrant parents who have at least one child in their country of origin with those who live with all their children in the Netherlands. The paper further investigates whether the same associations are found between migrant groups from Angola and Nigeria. Results indicate that transnational parents indeed report lower subjective well-being, as measured by happiness, life satisfaction and mental health for both groups and additionally, self-assessed health for Angolans. However, legal status, socio-economic status and the quality of the parent–child relationship are found to be important mediators.     

Transnational migration: a view from Colombia

This article presents the preliminary results of an ongoing research project on US-bound Colombian migration from the cities of Cali and Pereira. The project identified a dense web of economic, political, and socio-cultural transnational relations connecting migrants and their places of origin. These relations are heterogeneous and differentiated; what some scholars refer to as transnational communities are, in fact, fragmented by class, regionalism, ethnic cleavages and dominant stereotypes of Colombians as drug traffickers. We observed a complex transnational field of action, but not the formation of a transnational community.     

Tilling sand: contradictions of “Social Economy” in a Chinese movement for alternative rural development

New Rural Reconstruction is an ongoing alternative development movement in China, with ties to transnational movements for “social economy,” “fair trade,” and “food sovereignty.” It consists of a diverse network of organizations and projects loosely united by the goals of reversing the rural-to-urban flow of resources and (re)constructing sustainable, self-sufficient communities based on cooperation among peasant households, supported by agroecological skill-sharing and alternative marketing. This article examines four peasant organizations in this movement, focusing on their efforts to negotiate the contradictions between their ideals and their relation to capitalism. I argue that, under present conditions, “success” at reversing the flow of resources through commercial means tends to require further integration into capitalist processes, both increasing vulnerability to global economic forces and undermining “alternative” ideals such as equality, sustainability, and participatory democracy. I thus engage critically with the interdisciplinary literature on “social economy” and cooperatives, considering how cooperative experiments might move beyond the limits of alternativism to play a role in the transformation of their socioeconomic context.     

“Sending so much more than money”: exploring social remittances and transnational mobility

Based on 324 in-depth interviews with Indian, Moroccan, Ukrainian, Bosnian and Filipino migrants based in four EU countries (Austria, Italy, Spain and the UK), our paper explores the relationship between social remittances and transnational mobility. We develop a new typology of social remittances as based on the principle of mobility. We argue that the degree to which transnational mobility is present in social remittances depends on the agency of the sender and on the nature of the receiving community. We further elaborate on such mobility-related concepts as “transnational re-scaling” (in reference to directionality of social remittances) and “translocal celebrity” (in reference to sender’s role in cultural production). Based on a large qualitative dataset, this study also contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between the local and the global.