Search results

Various factors that affect the transnational experiences of immigrant & second-generation populations are examined. It is contended that contemporary understandings of transnationalism are primarily concerned with cultural practices; however, it is argued that historical determinants must be contemplated since the experiences of first-generation immigrant populations are shaping the lives of second-generation ethnic groups. Research is subsequently urged to dedicate more attention to the impact of immigration on the receiving countries. Although future studies are encouraged to continue examining the emergence of anti-immigrant sentiment in receiving countries, it is stressed that scholarship must also acknowledge programs within host societies that facilitate or promote multiculturalism. Scholars are implored to investigate differences in the effects that state ideologies have had upon first- & second-generation ethnic populations. 2 References. J. W. Parker

The first part of the thesis consists in a review of the literature and a conceptual discussion about the concept of immigrant transnationalism and immigrant political transnationalism. This discussion shows that a series of gaps currently exists in the research on the links between the emigrants and the home country. Two of such gaps are underlined in the thesis. On the one hand, it remains difficult to determine why states decide to extend political citizenship to their citizens abroad. On the other hand, the influence of the state on its emigrant community seems neglected for the benefit of a post-national vision of citizenship. These are the gaps that this thesis is trying to address. The second part of the thesis presents in three case studies the results of the empirical research conducted in Italy, Belgium and Mexico. Some elements of migration history introduce each case and is then followed by an extensive analysis of the debate on the extension of political citizenship (especially the right to vote from abroad). A special focus is put on the role of internal actors (political parties, administrations.) and external actors (migrants, associations.). In the third part of the thesis, the author conducts a comparative analysis of the three cases. By doing so, the reasons why states extend political citizenship to citizens residing abroad appears clearly. It also leads to reject the post-national vision of citizenship supported by some scholars. After the presentation of the four variables pushing to act as they do in the field of external political citizenship, the thesis concludes by opening up new research tracks in the field of political transnationalism. ; La première partie consiste en une revue de la littérature et une discussion conceptuelle sur les concepts de transnationalisme et de transnationalisme politique dans le champ des études migratoires. Cet exercice met en lumière une série de lacunes dans la recherche actuelle sur les liens entre les émigrés et le pays d'origine. Deux de ces lacunes sont particulièrement mises en évidence. D'une part, il a y la difficulté de dégager les raisons poussant différents états à travers le monde à étendre la citoyenneté politique à leurs citoyens établis à l'étranger, et cela, en raison du faible nombre de projets de recherches comparatifs. D'autre part, le rôle de l'Etat semble négligé dans la littérature existante en raison de la prégnance d'une vision post-nationale de la citoyenneté dans nombre d'études sur les liens entre pays d'origine et émigrés. La deuxième partie est constituée de la restitution des données empiriques collectées dans trois pays: Belgique, Italie, Mexique. Chacun des cas d'étude est introduit pas une brève introduction au profil migratoire du pays. Ensuite, il est procédé à une analyse du débat sur l'extension de la citoyenneté politique entre acteurs internes (partis, administrations, pouvoir judiciaire…) et externes (migrants, associations…). La troisième partie consiste en une analyse comparative des trois cas d'étude. Il ressort de cette analyse que quatre variables poussent les états à étendre la citoyenneté politique externe. Chacune d'entre elles est examinée dans une dimension comparative. Le travail de thèse conclut en soulignant l'apport de la dissertation au champ de la recherche sur le transnationalisme dans les études migratoires et ouvre une série de pistes pour des recherches futures.

Diaspora and transnationalism are widely used concepts in academic as well as political discourses. Although originally referring to quite different phenomena, they increasingly overlap today. Such inflation of meanings goes hand in hand with a danger of essentialising collective identities. This book therefore analyses diaspora and transnationalism as research perspectives rather than as characteristics of particular social groups. The contributions focus on conceptual uses, theoretical challenges and methodological innovations in the study of social ties that transcend nation and state boundaries. This volume brings together authors from a wide range of fields and approaches in the social sciences, as studying border-crossing affiliations also requires a crossing of disciplinary boundaries.

This article identifies and analyses links between conceptualisations of trans-gender and trans-national, and aims for a critical redefinition of political agency. Through an examination of theories on transing, passing and performativity in queer-, trans- and transnational feminist knowledge production—illustrated by discursive examples from transgender communities and Romanian migrant communities—I call for a conceptualisation of entangled power relations that does not rely on fixed, pre-established categories, but defines subjectivity through risk in political struggle. I suggest that 'transing' the nation and 'transing' gender could be thought as critical moves for a radical deconstruction of gendered and national belonging. Rather than provide a static definition of the term 'transnationalism', the article explores potentials and limits of going beyond 'the national' and 'gender', and intervenes in forms of minority nationalism that reproduce racism, sexism, heteronormativity and gender binary as the norm of Western national belonging. In particular, building on Jasbir Puar's (2007) conceptualisation of homonationalism, the article shows how forms of nationalism in Western transgender and migrant communities rely on a combination of heteronormative binary gendering and the exertion of racism. While a conventionalised approach to transnationalism defines the term as a political strategy based on transnational politics, I play with suggesting different dimensions of transnationalism: it could mean 'transgender nationalism'; the 'assimilation of transgendered persons to the Western nation'; or 'cross-border-nationalism', a form of nationalism often established in migrant communities that constructs the diaspora as a nationalist extension of the homeland. My focus, therefore, is on analysing privilegings, contradictions and ambivalences in gendering, racialising and nationalising ascriptions of (non)belonging. Overall, and as an alternative to romanticised knowledge productions of crossing national and gendered borders, I suggest a power-sensitive epistemological and methodological shift in thinking entangled power relations, belonging and subjectivity in transnational feminist knowledge productions.

Providing a critical overview of transnationalism as a concept, this Handbook looks at its growing influence in an era of high-speed, globalised interconnectivity. It offers crucial insights on how approaches to transnationalism have altered how we think about social life from the family to the nation-state, whilst also challenging the predominance of methodologically nationalist analyses.