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Transnational studies are a newcomer in the landscape of migration studies. They are now regarded as the third pillar of migration studies, next to the study of integration in the receiving countries and of migration and development in the sending countries. This strand of research addresses the various forms of practices and socialities that migrants maintain across national boarders. As a political geographer, I am primarily interested in the intersection between transnational practices, power relations and state policies. How can we characterise migrants' transnational space-time compared to state territoriality? To what extent state policies shape or constrain the transnational engagements of migrants? Are the material (of people, goods and money) and immaterial (ideas, norms and symbols) flows induced by migrant transnationalism a chance or a challenge for state sovereignty?

Transnational studies are a newcomer in the landscape of migration studies. They are now regarded as the third pillar of migration studies, next to the study of integration in the receiving countries and of migration and development in the sending countries. This strand of research addresses the various forms of practices and socialities that migrants maintain across national boarders. As a political geographer, I am primarily interested in the intersection between transnational practices, power relations and state policies. How can we characterise migrants' transnational space-time compared to state territoriality? To what extent state policies shape or constrain the transnational engagements of migrants? Are the material (of people, goods and money) and immaterial (ideas, norms and symbols) flows induced by migrant transnationalism a chance or a challenge for state sovereignty?

This article offers an introduction to the essays in the theme issue, an overview of the reasons behind the recent resurgence of interest in transnationalist phenomena and a consideration of what the term means. Its places the topic in the different fields of international, world, regional, local and national history. The essay argues that transnationalism is best understood not as fostering bounded networks, but as creating honeycombs, a structure that sustains and gives shapes to the identities of nation-states, international and local institutions, and particular social and geographic spaces. A honeycomb binds, but it also contains hollowed-out spaces where organisations, individuals and ideas can wither away to be replaced by new groups, people and innovations.

This chapter examines transnationalism in migration studies. First, we investigate the initial conceptualizations of the transnational perspective on migration and efforts at systematization. Second, we evaluate the discussions around contentious issues regarding past vs. present transnationalism, the extent of transnationalism among migrants, and transnationalism, globalization, states and politics. We outline a typology of transnationalism in which transnational social spaces are differentiated according to the internal characteristics of group organization and the extent of common or shared values and symbols. Third, we examine methodological notes on transnational research where we assess the term transnationality. We identify multiple research techniques used in transnational studies and conclude that nowadays mixed methods research is on the rise. Finally, we offer some venues for further research through a transnational optic where the focus should be on changing boundaries as social spaces are composed of dynamic processes.