Globalization, International Migration and Transnationalism: Some Observations Based on the Central American Experience
The acceleration of globalization & international migration in recent years, & the potential impact on the course of human history, is accompanied by a surprising lacunae of exchanges among scholars working within the two fields. The few immigration scholars interested in understanding the effects of transnationalism a have called for a paradigm shift that recognizes the importance of globalization & a critical examination of traditional bipolar dichotomies utilizing a dialectical approach that entertains the possibility of contradictory processes occurring together. Analysis of the Guatemalan & Salvadoran migration to the US indicates how globalization stimulates international migration on one hand, & how migrants have shaped global processes on the other. The shaping of Central America by foreign countries throughout history is discussed in relation to resistance movements responding to oppression & exploitation throughout the region. The various scholarly debates on transnationalism & processes are examined in aspects of remittances, the creation & expansion of a supporting connected infrastructure, immigrant cross-border organizing, & immigrant related cross-border initiatives find non-immigrants. The author concludes that the relationship between globalization & international migration needs to be historically grounded to clarify the contest text of "transnational spaces", to question dichotomous & mutually exclusive categories, & to pay attention to the possibility of multiple, dialectical outcomes of international migration in relation to globalization. The attempt to understand the mutual impacts of globalization & international migration is a contestation of the notion of the hegemonic order to acknowledge that globalization is not neutral, but neither is it exclusively the domain of the powerful. References. J. Harwell
