Reconciling transnational mobility and national social security: what say the welfare state bureaucrats?

The welfare state was constructed to ensure the well-being of a sedentary population, consisting of citizens living within the territorial boundaries of the nation. However, mobility patterns change, and more people lead lives that criss-cross national borders while drawing on different sources of transnational social protection – the welfare state included. Now, the daily work of bureaucrats involves delivering national social security benefits to transnationally mobile recipients. Through encounters and casework processes, these welfare state bureaucrats observe how ‘transnationals’ deal with complex regulations and make use of the social security system. This article explores bureaucrats’ perceptions of individuals’ agency and behaviour as they reconcile their transnational mobility with national social security. It builds on data collected during ethnographic fieldwork in the Norwegian welfare administration, including 36 interviews, participant observation and informal conversations. The analysis identifies an institutional perspective of transnationals’ agency as shaped by their level of regulatory awareness and compliance. The bureaucrats observe some types of transnational behaviour to be more prevalent than others. As the article concludes, these bureaucratic perspectives have major implications for transnational social security delivery and how the welfare state accommodates transnational mobility.     

Caste,kinship and the realisation of ‘American Dream’: high-skilled Telugu migrants in the U.S.A.

ABSTRACT

Literature on the Indian diaspora domiciled in the U.S.A. largely portrays the group as educated, highly skilled migrants in pursuit of their American Dream, without critically engaging with the regionally particularised migration trajectories that predispose only certain groups to become skilled migrants from the global South to the North. Migration studies bracket skilled migrants as those who make rational choices and choose formal routes to migrate whereas unskilled migrants often rely on informal channels of kinship or ethnicity to migrate. Unsettling this proposition, in this article, based on an ethnographic study of the high-skilled Telugu professionals in the U.S.A. and their families living in Coastal Andhra, India, I show how aspirational and topographical migration pathways from Coastal Andhra to the U.S.A. are created and sustained through networks of kinship, caste and endogamous transnational marriage alliances. These high-skilled migrants (doctors, engineers and scientists) from the dominant castes have successfully manoeuvred spatial mobility and social upward mobility by utilising ‘caste capital’ within a transnational social field. Moreover, decades of migration from the dominant castes have shaped a caste-inflected transnational habitus among its members who see migration of their youth to the U.S.A. as desirable, and at times, also inevitable.     

The Diffusion and Innovation of Muslim Organizations in Denmark

Since 1965, the latest immigration to Denmark has not only brought new groups to the country but also resulted in new organizations, associations and movements established by people with Muslim background. In order to understand this extension and renewal of Danish civil society I distinguish between forms of organizations and forms of diffusion. The outcome of the analysis reveals four distinct clusters of Muslim organizations in Denmark: The first generation of Muslim associations was characterized by centralized state sponsored organizations, governed and financed by Arab countries and Turkey. The second generation of Muslim organizations took the form of transnational social movements and were often set up as a counterpart to the state sponsored organizations. The third wave of organization building, the so-called homegrown organizations, tried to unite Muslims in Denmark and worked for a dialog with the Danish majority. Most of the Muslim youth organizations belong to this category. However, some political Islamic youth organizations and networks have chosen an alternative strategy that challenges mainstream Danish institutions and values. The reaction of the government has been to tone down cooperation with representatives from the immigrant population and especially representatives from the Muslim minority.     

Making the transnational move: deliberation,negotiation, and disjunctures among overseas Chinese returnees in China

As Chinese cities compete aggressively for foreign-educated Chinese labour from afar and offer enticing recruitment packages, little is known about how targeted foreign-educated Chinese navigate these programmes across transnational space. This article explores the relationship between the talent recruitment programmes the Chinese state fiercely promote and the experiences of U.S.-educated Chinese returnees. Drawing upon the literature on neoliberal globalisation, skilled return migration, and Chinese diaspora engagement, I argue that transnationally connected and mobile migrants do not subscribe to the nationalistic development agenda of a particular state but move across transnational spaces by strategically utilising different forms of capital at their disposal. Based on qualitative data collected in China between 2014 and 2016, this article demonstrates that despite strong push from the Chinese state towards patriotism, foreign-educated Chinese returnees do not subscribe to the inherently place-based, nationalistic development agenda. Rather, they utilise different forms of capital that these initiatives provide in ways the Chinese state has not intended: to enhance mobility across national borders and flexibility to organise their careers and detach themselves from particular places. More work is called for to further theorise the experiences of these transnational elites and the new subjectivities emerging from these processes.     

Inventing a city: cultural citizenship in ‘Słubfurt’

This article is an in-depth exploration of local efforts to build a transnational sense of cultural citizenship in the border cities of Frankfurt(Oder), Germany and S?ubice, Poland. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2004 and 2006, this article focuses on the various strategies and activities of ‘S?ubfurt’, a community-based NGO with the goal of redefining S?ubice and Frankfurt(Oder) as a unified social space. In pursuing this goal, S?ubfurt engages with European Union-wide social and political dynamics aimed at enhancing international cooperation and integration by de-emphasizing national borders and promoting a transnational sense of ‘European’ identity. This article therefore addresses the interplay between local cultural politics and the tactics and techniques of supranational forms of governmentality, and examines attempts to establish new symbols, events, practices and traditions that support the development of a cross-border community identity and cultural citizenship within the two cities.     

Social remittances and intra-EU mobility: non-financial transfers between U.K. and Poland

The massive rise in intra-European Union (EU) mobility in recent decades has spawned several important social and cultural phenomena that are still not covered by academic research. Social remittances – the transfer of ideas, practices, codes of behaviours, values and norms between the place of origin and destination are an important aspect of social change and modernity and they are still to be explored and documented. However, not all migrants acquire, transfer and implement them in the same way. Ongoing acts of resistance, imitation and innovation are involved, so that some migrants become ‘ordinary agents of change’ in their local microcosms, while others may contest that change. Tracing these processes in a transnational perspective through a three-year transnational multi-sited qualitative longitudinal research, this article offers an in-depth look at the consequences of human mobility within the enlarged EU.     

Moving citizens: citizenship practices among Polish migrants in Norway and the United Kingdom

ABSTRACT

Following post-EU-accession migration, Poles currently form the largest group of foreign nationals in Norway and the second largest group of foreign born residents in the United Kingdom. Given the considerable volume of new arrivals, there is a growing literature on Polish migration to both countries; however, there is little comparative research on Polish migration across different European settings. By exploring how Polish migrants reflect on the possibilities of settlement or return, this paper comparatively examines the effects that permanent and ‘normalised’ mobility has on Polish migrants’ self-perception as citizens in four different cities. In addition to classic citizenship studies, which highlight the influence of a nation-state based institutionalised citizenship regime, we find that transnational exchanges, local provisions and inter-personal relationships shape Polish migrants’ practices of citizenship. The resulting understanding of integration is processual and sees integration as constituted by negotiated transnational balancing acts that respond to (and sometimes contradict) cultural, economic and political demands and commitments. The research is based on semi-structured interviews and focus groups with a total of 80 respondents, conducted in two British and two Norwegian cities that experienced significant Polish immigration, Oslo, Bergen, Bristol and Sheffield.     

Rethinking global sports migration and forms of transnational,cosmopolitan and diasporic belonging: a case study of international yachtsman Sir Peter Blake

The increasingly global dispersion of elite athletes pursuing sporting careers is an important aspect of the global flow of sport-capital. Such sport migration lends itself to theorising that considers questions about attachment to place, particularly in relation to citizenship, identity and nationalism. Yet only recently have theoretically valuable concepts such as transnationalism, cosmopolitanism and diaspora been foregrounded in studies of sporting migrants. Based on an analysis of British and New Zealand media coverage of international yachtsman Sir Peter Blake's death, we analyse the overlapping forms of identity attributed to this apparently model transnational citizen. We conclude that this case study raises important questions about the multiplicity of identities in a globalised world and expands our understandings of diaspora beyond the classic focus on forced dispersal and non-dominant racial groups.     

Patterns of im/mobility,conflict and the re/making of identity narratives*

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses the interrelationship between patterns of im/mobility on the one hand and the reconstitution of social collective identities and the related emergence or settlement of conflicts on the other. The main arguments are (1) that the im/mobility of a social or cultural group has major impact on how identity narratives, a sense of belonging and relationships to ‘others’ are shaped, and vice versa, and (2) that these dynamics are closely interlinked with mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion between groups and power structures that involve a broad variety of actors. Mainly looking at patterns of internal mobility such as ‘traditional’ or strategic mobilities and mobilities enforced by crisis, conflict or governmental programmes and regimes, the contribution provides the conceptual background for a special issue that aims to go beyond currently predominant issues of transnational migration. Established or emerging dynamics of (non-)integration and belonging, caused by im/mobility, are analysed on a cultural and political level, which involves questions of representation, indigeneity/autochthony, political rights and access to land and other resources. Conflict situations in contexts of mobility involve changes in the social understanding and renegotiation, reconstruction or reproduction of group identities and narratives with reference to certain socio-political and historical patterns. The legitimation of rights and access to various forms of citizenship and mobility need to be understood against the backdrop of emerging or established mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion between groups, which trigger or settle conflicts and make social identities to be constantly renegotiated.     

Conceptualising youth mobility trajectories: thinking beyond conventional categories

Research has shown that migration impacts youth outcomes, including educational performance and mental and physical health. It is, however, unknown whether differing patterns of mobility affect young people differently. This is because scholarship and policy-making on youth and migration simplify youth mobility by conceptualising youth either as immobile (when they ‘stay behind’ while their parents migrate) or as moving only once (when they follow parents or migrate independently). Between these extremes is the possibly more common phenomenon of youth who engage in sustained mobility patterns prior to, during, and after their first international move. This paper explores how youth mobility can be conceptualised to include the often-complex mobility patterns exhibited by youth in today’s global cities. Through an analysis of detailed mobility data collected using mixed methods among young Ghanaians growing up in and between the Netherlands and Ghana, we propose a typology of their mobility trajectories that highlights the variety of mobility patterns that youth engage in. Such a typology helps move research beyond the ethnic lens and rigid dichotomies between internal and international migration. We argue that the diversity of youth mobilities needs to be taken into account in order to understand how migration affects youth.     

Practising transnational citizenship: dual nationality and simultaneous political involvement among emigrants

Acceptance of dual citizenship allows migrants to naturalise in the country of residence (CoR) without giving up their former citizenship. For migrant sending countries the question emerges whether emigrants who acquire another citizenship are less attached to and politically active in the country of origin than those who do not. This would be the assumption of traditional perspectives on migration and citizenship. However, according to the transnational perspective neither multiple nationalities, nor participation in and identification with the CoR, preclude ongoing ties and participation back home. We test these perspectives with survey data on Swiss citizens residing in France, Germany, Italy and the US. Our results suggest that Swiss dual citizens abroad are not significantly less attached to and active in Switzerland than their mono national counterparts. Our data further supports the transnational perspective by showing not only simultaneity, but a mutually reinforcing relationship when transnational citizenship is practised. Identification with, and political participation in, the CoR positively relates to equivalent feelings and activities in the country of origin. Since dual citizenship sets the legal foundation for simultaneous involvement in two countries, it correctly assumes a central place in the study of transnational citizenship.     

Transnational mobility among early-career academics: gendered aspects of negotiations and arrangements within heterosexual couples

ABSTRACT

Today, transnational mobility is often presented as indispensable for a successful academic career. This institutionalisation of transnational mobility for young academics has important effects in (re)producing or transforming gender inequalities. Building on the results of a qualitative study conducted at three universities – Zurich (Switzerland), UCLA (U.S.A), and Cambridge (UK) – this paper examines the mobility experiences of early-career academics and their partners and seeks to understand the gendered mechanisms underlying mobility patterns. Drawing on three case studies, this paper focuses on the negotiations and arrangements of mobile couples. Each case study represents a different ideal-typical pattern of how gender is entangled with mobility. We show how gender is ‘done’ and ‘undone’ by the academics and their partners throughout these mobility trajectories, and how these couples’ negotiations and practices are closely entangled with gender representations that are structurally anchored in labour markets and discursively expressed within the wider social environment. As such, this paper questions the dichotomy between economic men and social and cultural women sometimes reproduced in studies on highly skilled migration. Furthermore, the findings challenge earlier studies that suggest a causal link between mobility and the leaky pipeline by showing that important transformations with regard to gender relations are occurring.     

Real Buddhas Don't Laugh: Attitudes towards Humour and Laughter in Ancient India and China

The unjust internment of Japanese and Japanese Americans and the detainment of Arabs and Muslims are representative of larger structures of racism in the United States. The state's task is to manage, maintain and, at times, sustain the racial other. As the racial other becomes viewed as outside the nation, the state can enact harsh measures of punishment, control, and surveillance with the support of the public. 9/11 reconfigured the racial hierarchy of the United States, which allowed the nation-state to dictate the behavior of its communities of color, informing communities about the proper ways of racialized citizenship. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, those perceived to belong to Arab and Muslim communities became transformed into an ideological, racial subject and are placed outside the concept of formal citizenship. Those who are construed as outside formal membership have their ability to perform citizenship reduced and the state sees it as its responsibility to detain the foreign insider/outsider.     

Seeking refuge in Europe: spaces of transit and the violence of migration management

ABSTRACT

In the past few years, spaces of transit have become prominent sites for people seeking refuge in Europe. From railway stations and parks in European cities, to informal settlements around Calais, to the hotspots in Italy and Greece, the movements of people and the techniques that govern them are at the heart of what has been misnamed the ‘European refugee crisis’. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork, this article takes spaces of transit as a vantage point for interrogating the relationship between mobility, migration management and violence, focusing on the fracturing of journeys due to forced and obstructed mobility both outside and within the EU. We develop the notion of ‘politics of exhaustion’ to highlight the impact and protracted character of these forms of migration management – its accumulated effects over time and across spaces – yet without reducing people seeking refuge to passive victims. Struggles for mobility are closely related to the existence and continued adaptation of migration management practices. The notion of fracturing can thus be employed not only to make sense of the violent effects of migration management but also the ways in which conventional conceptions of state and citizenship are challenged by the emergence of alternative living spaces, communities and politics.     

Practices of active citizenship among migrant youth: beyond conventionalities

This paper discusses the empirical manifestations of the notion of active citizenship in the context of the experiences of migrant youth. It focuses on the practices of active citizenship through involvement in social networks and creative civic engagement. In doing so, the article examines the complex and multi-faceted nature of social networking among migrant youth and the extent to which their approach to engagement is dependent on the specificities of the local environment, the type of social issues involved, and the cultural norms of one's own cultural heritage. Key empirical insights are derived from quantitative and qualitative research conducted among migrant youth of African, Arabic-speaking and Pacific Island backgrounds in Australia. These empirical insights are used to examine the changing perceptions of active citizenship among migrant youth, and the possibilities offered through non-traditional networks to engender civic engagement and social participation.     

‘Felons are also our family’: citizenship and solidarity in the undocumented youth movement in the United States

The undocumented youth movement began in the United States in the mid-2000s. Drawing on qualitative research with undocumented young organisers in California, this article explores how relationships between undocumented youth, the wider undocumented population, and legal citizens have been understood in narratives of citizenship in the movement over time. It is argued that, paradoxically, the movement’s retreat from prioritising a pathway to legal citizenship for the most ‘eligible’, made visible historic and contemporary ties to the United States and its peoples that are obscured in hegemonic narratives of contemporary citizenship. In becoming more inclusive of the wider undocumented population, positions of solidarity with marginalised US citizens have also emerged. In the context of attacks on some racialised and other marginalised social groups during Trump’s presidency, such solidarity is even more vital.     

西南边境跨国婚姻子女的国家认同——以广西大新县隘江村为例

西南边境地区跨国婚姻子女的国家认同具有一定的特殊性.在国家归属方面,他们认同自己是中国人,但也为自己的母亲难以加入中国籍而遗憾;在政治认同方面,他们比同龄人冷漠;在法律认同方面,他们也面临一些迷茫.对于西南边境跨国婚姻所生子女在国家认同过程中遇到的特殊情况,需要给予更多的关注和研究.     

Incongruent migration categorisations and competing citizenship claims: ‘return’ and hypermigration in transnational migration circuits

ABSTRACT

Recent scholarly interventions propose that the principle of jus nexi (effective connections) or jus domicile (domicile) should replace birthright or birthplace considerations when assigning citizenship status and political membership. Nonetheless, both views privilege notions of territorial presence and the ideal of political community. This paper focuses on Mainland Chinese return migration from Canada to metropolitan cities in China. The dual citizenship restriction enforced by China means those that naturalised in Canada have relinquished their right to Chinese citizenship. Should they be considered returnees, immigrants or transnational sojourners in their ancestral homeland? It is this incongruence in migration categorisations compared to migrant life-worlds that this paper aims to examine. The paper also highlights the interface of competing claims to citizenship in the context of Chinese internal migration and new (African) immigration in China, as well as the returnees’ own transnational migration across the lifecourse. It argues that the ordering mechanisms that characterise normative conceptions of citizenship focus on isolated types of migration trends whereas what confronts us more urgently are intersecting migration configurations that underline the incongruence of migration categorisations and the complexity of competing citizenship claims spatially and temporally.     

The Khachchara of Kathmandu – mobility,situatedness and ethnic identification

This paper investigates the role of mobility and settlement in reworking ethnic identification among the Khachchara in Kathmandu, Nepal. The Khachchara are a small group of around 350 families, the descendants of Tibetan mothers and Newar fathers, who predominantly worked and lived as traders in Tibet. After the Chinese occupation of Tibet, the Khachchara had the option of obtaining citizenship, yet many returned to Nepal with their spouses and children. On relocating to Nepal, caste considerations of purity came into play for the descendants of mixed marriages, forcing the Khachcharas to re-evaluate their ethnic identities as well as their place in Nepali society. Exploring Khachchara genesis through their history, mobility stories and their present hybrid affiliations shows how mobility disembeds identity and engages elective belonging. In this paper, the paradox of Khachchara ethnicity negotiating common ground in terms of their distinctiveness as a group, particularly through self-help organisations such as the skyid sdug (Tib.), and their assimilation into other ethnicities, is set in a discussion of translocal and transnational geographies, addressing both situatedness and de-territorialisation.     

汇款与情感:当代朝鲜族跨国家庭关系动力学

本文以朝鲜族一位普通移民女性的汇款经历及其家庭关系的变化,试图说明跨国汇款是在情感与经济上维持跨国家庭的重要模式,并充满了情爱、义务和怨恨。事实上,尽管汇款对维持家庭关系和为跨国生活不稳定提供相应缓冲发挥了重要作用,但同时也伴随着额外的情感压力。当代朝鲜族跨国家庭的生活经历揭示了汇款实践对维持跨国家庭关系的象征意义和情感意义、对朝鲜族跨国家庭归属方面带来的变化,以及由此造成的跨国家庭模式的复杂性。