Transnational ties and ethnic identities in the parental homeland: second-generation Indian Americans in India

ABSTRACT

This article explores the ‘return’ migration of high-skilled, second-generation Indian-Americans from the United States to India. Based on interviews with fifty-six respondents, it asks: What transnational ties do second-generation Indian Americans maintain with India prior to return? Upon return, what are their ‘reverse’ transnational linkages to the United States? How do these linkages shape their ethnic identities, if at all? Findings suggest that respondents’ transnational ties to India prior to return reinforce their identities as Indian Americans. Once in India, they maintain affective and civic ties to the United States, the country where they were born or raised. Further, American-inflected social ideas and norms shape returnees’ interactions with domestic workers in India. As they grapple with the disparities between Western and Indian norms on the treatment of domestic help, respondents privilege ‘American’ identities. These findings highlight the transnational ties and identity construction and negotiation of second-generation returnees.     

Regrounding the ‘Ungrounded Empires’:localization as the geographical catalyst for transnationalism

The emerging literature on transnationalism has reshaped the study of immigration in the USA from ‘melting pot’ and later ‘salad bowl’, to ‘switching board’, which emphasizes the ability of migrants to forge and maintain ties to their home countries. Often under the heading of ‘transnationalism from below’, these studies highlight an alternative form of globalization, in which migrants act as active agents to initiate and structure global interactions. The role of geography, and in particular, localization in transnational spaces, is central to the transnationalism debate, but is yet to be well articulated. While it has been commonly claimed that transnationalism represents deterritorialized practices and organizations, we argue that it is in fact rooted in the territorial division of labour and local community networks in immigrant sending and receiving countries. We examine closely two business sectors engaged in by the Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles: high‐tech firms and accounting firms. Each illustrates, respectively, the close ties of Chinese transnational activities with the economic base of the Los Angeles region, and the contribution of local‐based, low‐wage, small ethnic businesses to the transnational practices. We conclude that deeper localization is the geographical catalyst for transnational networks and practices.     

Free floating in the cosmopolis? Exploring the identity‐belonging of transnational knowledge workers

In this article I explore what I call the ‘identity‐belonging’ of transnational knowledge workers, a diverse group of serially migrating career professionals who have spent extended periods of time in at least three countries, usually following career opportunities. Unlike most recent writing on transnationalism, which focuses on enduring connections of migrants with their ‘home’ countries/places, here I explore a transnationalism that may transcend the national, and generally the territorial, principle, with repercussions for identity‐belonging. In this context, how transnational knowledge workers position themselves towards belonging to a nation and towards the idea of cosmopolitanism is of particular interest. From data collected through in‐depth interviews in Australia and Indonesia, I conclude that their globally recognized profession forms the central axis of their identity‐belonging, alongside a weak identification with their nation of origin. The feeling of belonging to and identifying with particular locales and local communities was articulated flexibly and instrumentally in association with professional and wider social networks, while no primordial territorial attachments could be identified.     

Educational ties,social capital and the translocal (re)production of MBA alumni networks

Research on elite, transnational networks has identified social and cultural capital associated with particular academic credentials as being an important element in network formation. How and why such networks are reproduced after graduation, however, has received less attention. In response, in this article I combine work on social capital and personal networks to explore the reproduction of MBA alumni networks in London's financial services district that were created in leading business schools in the USA and UK. My analysis documents the ways in which business schools and individual alumni combine forms of virtual and corporeal co‐presence to reproduce translocal educational ties. I then argue that the motivation for sustaining these educational ties lies in the potential to convert the social and cultural capital of MBA alumni networks into different types of value ranging from enhanced career progression to increased alumni donations. In doing so, I develop debates on the intersections between social capital, academic credentials and the reproduction of elite networks.     

Mapping homelands through virtual spaces: transnational embodiment and Iranian diaspora bloggers

In this article I examine Iranian diaspora blogs in an attempt to understand how Iranian bloggers outside Iran create and occupy online transnational spaces. Although it is acknowledged that the internet does not make offline borders and bodies redundant, there is a need to understand how the awareness of bodily presence in offline locations and situations continually informs and shapes online expressions. Through content analysis of English language blogs by Iranians based in the USA and Canada, as well as interviews with diaspora Iranians who read and write these blogs, I advance a concept of ‘transnational embodiment’. The importance of physical travel to, proximity to, and sensory impressions of particular places within two bounded, politically distinct nation‐states shows that diasporas rely heavily on embodied experience in constructing transnational spaces and not only on psychic ties and recalled memories. Members of the second‐generation Iranian diaspora reveal unique types of embodied ties to a diaspora ‘home’ through their apparent search for authenticity.     

Ambiguities of global and transnational collective identities

As traditional categories of collective identity are in decline and brought into question, the process of defining shared perceptions of ‘us’ and ‘them’ by new markers and new mechanisms seems more important than ever. In the article, I summarize basic aspects of collective identity formation in the ongoing processes of globalization and transnationalization and discuss the basic challenges of collective identity in the twenty‐first century. I present different ideal types of border‐crossing collective identities in terms of the patterns of their spatial reach. Two of these types of collective identity –‘global humanism’ and ‘transnational collective identities’– are discussed in more detail, especially concerning their ambiguities of universal and/or particularistic character. I conclude that the global collective identity of ‘humanism’ is not as global as it appears at first glance, and that transnational collective identities usually refer to the authority of a stated global collective identity. Given these genuine interrelations between global humanism and transnational (and other spatial patterns of) collective identities, the future seems destined to be shaped by an intertwined ‘as‐well‐as’ relation rather than an ‘either–or’ relation between the different types of collective identities.     

Development,the state,and transnational political connections: state and subject formations in Latin America

Focusing on the processes of making and sustaining transnational political ties between actors, international actors and states, this paper reviews recent work from a number of disciplines on globalization and politics, and outlines an agenda for future research. Rather than seeing transnational political linkages merely as forerunners to the loss of local sovereignty, the paper argues for a wider conceptualization of transnational connections, embedded within processes of state formation in Latin America. Using a variety of examples, it is argued that transnational networks are associated with a wide range of meanings and a variety of responses by diverse actors. Drawing on recent work in political science, post‐structuralism and anthropology, it is suggested that geographical concepts ‐ related to scale, process and networks ‐ offer a means through which to analyze and ‘map out’ these transnational political processes.     

The transnational work of kinship and caring: Bengali–British marriages in historical perspective

Abstract In this article, based on ongoing research carried out in Bangladesh since the mid‐1980s and field‐work in London in the late 1990s, I take a historical approach to the analysis of transnational Sylheti marriages. By showing how the form of these marriages has changed since the mid‐twentieth century, I argue that transnational migration is itself highly fluid. The role of wives in maintaining transnational links is central to the account. I focus in particular on the wives of ‘first‐generation’ migrant men who came to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s, and whose families were generally reunited in Britain by the 1980s. By describing the household and caring work of these wives both in Sylhet and London, I demonstrate that rather than being ‘dependants’ of their migrant husbands, women have been central to the success of migrant households. The rewards of transnational connectedness have, however, come at a cost — long‐term separation from loved ones. Isolation and loneliness have been hallmarks of the experiences of these earlier generations of women.     

‘Roundabout routes and sanctuary schools’: the role of situated educational practices and habitus in the creation of transnational professionals

In this article, I examine the role of ‘education’ in the formation of transnational professionals in contemporary Hong Kong. A significant body of work has been devoted to considering the ways in which knowledge within particular global financial centres is embodied through the practices of a transnational capitalist class (TNCC). Yet, very few researchers have discussed how this TNCC is actually created. In this article, I highlight the importance of one faction of the TNCC ‐‘overseas‐educated locals’‐ and describe the sense of common identity and mutual recognition that binds them. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Hong Kong and Vancouver between 2000 and 2003, I demonstrate the salience of embedded and spatialized practices of education in the creation of the TNCC. In particular, I look at the role of inculcation within a school/university and home environment, as well as the significance of a distinctive habitus, and conclude that these situated processes are indeed crucial to the development of an exclusive class of transnational professionals.     

Permanent migrants and temporary citizens: multinational Chinese mobilities in the Americas

In this article, I examine the multinational mobility and citizenship practices of ethnic Chinese who moved to Chile after living in another Latin American country. Despite being permanent residents or Chilean citizens, some hope to return to a previous country of residence in Latin America. Based on 18 semi‐structured interviews conducted between October 2016 and August 2018, their experiences illuminate two aspects of multinational migrations. First, unlike pre‐planned serial migrations of global elites or ‘step‐wise’ migrant workers, these multinational mobilities are nonlinear and open‐ended, due to their contingence on volatile and racialized political economies. Second, unlike transnational migrants who typically maintain links to ‘origin’ countries, they seldom visit China or Taiwan, and instead visit other countries in the Americas, due to business, familial, and affective ties. I discuss the main factors shaping the contingent nature of their mobilities and attachments to Chile, which influences the multiple onward pathways possible in their futures.     

Not necessarily a place: How mobile transnational online workers (digital nomads) construct and experience ‘home’

This article adds to current research on mobile transnational online workers (digital nomads) who travel the world in search of a holistic lifestyle that balances work and leisure. Using Kannisto's (2014) and D'Andrea's (2007) work on ‘global nomads’ as a theoretical lens and Nowicka's (2007) research on mobile professionals as a guide, I discuss the multiple meanings of ‘home’ for digital nomads who stayed in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2019. I will show that people feel at home when travelling with a loved one or by surrounding themselves with objects of emotional value. Furthermore, digital nomads create a feeling of being at home by connecting with their family via social media and video calling apps, while at the same time keeping them at a comfortable distance. Finally, some digital nomads envision an idealized ‘home base’ that is defined by social relations and not necessarily by the geography or amenities of a place.     

Between two families: the social meaning of remittances for Vietnamese marriage migrants in Singapore

Scholars who have applied transnational perspectives to studies of migration and remittances have called for a move beyond the developmentalist approach to accommodate an expanded understanding of the social meanings of remittances. Researchers working in Asia have begun to view the remittances of money, gifts and services that labour migrants send to their families as transnational ‘acts of recognition’, as an enactment of gendered roles and identities, and as a component of the social practices that create the ties that bind migrants to their ‘home’ countries. In this article, we depart from the more common focus on remittance behaviour among labour migrants and turn instead to examine how, as marriage migrants, Vietnamese women generate and confer meaning on the remittances they send. First, from the women's viewpoint, we discuss the extent to which expectations vested in being able to generate remittances for the natal family by marrying a Singaporean man not only translate into motivation for marriage migration but also shape the parameters of the marriage. Second, we show how sending remittances are significant to the women as ‘acts of recognition’ in the construction of gendered identities as filial daughters, and, through the ‘connecting’ and ‘disconnecting’ power of remittances, in the reimagining of the transnational family. Third, we discuss the strategies that women devise in negotiating between the conflicting demands and expectations of their natal and marital families and in securing their ‘place’ between two families. We base our findings on an analysis of interviews and ethnographic work with Vietnamese women and their Singaporean husbands through commercial matchmaking agencies.     

Becoming ‘Real’ Entrepreneurs: Women and the Gendered Normalization of ‘Work’

This article focuses on the way in which women entrepreneurs legitimate their place in a gendered economy by reifying a divide between ‘real work’ and ‘not‐real work’. Using ethnographic approaches to follow the everyday lives of several women who own and operate small businesses in the USA, our article documents three gendering practices the women use for ‘becoming real workers:’ embodied, spatial and temporal. The study shows that women entrepreneurs become ‘productive workers’ by recasting reproductive work as non‐productive or not‐real work. At the end, we explore two possible alternative conceptualizations of ‘work’ that could contribute to dissolving this gendered divide.     

Transnational lifestyles among Russian Israelis: a follow‐up study

Despite the expanding use of the transnational perspective, grounded qualitative research on everyday expressions of transnationalism has been scant. In this article, I explore the economic and social ties with former homelands among three categories of former Soviet immigrants of the 1990s in Israel, namely ethnically mixed families split by emigration; young professionals and entrepreneurs; and retirees who keep two homes – one in Israel and the other in Russia or Ukraine. To follow temporal changes in transnational lifestyles, I interviewed the same informants twice, in 2000 and 2010. The findings suggest that transnational activities reflect life‐course changes and can evolve in several possible directions. These are (1) an attrition of ties with former homelands with increasing integration in the host country; (2) a steady or ascending pace of transnational activities eventually leading to return migration; and (3) permanent low‐grade ties with former homelands and networking with co‐ethnics in other countries of the post‐Soviet diaspora. I conclude that relatively few migrants can sustain intense transnational lifestyle over many years; there are several critical life‐course points when most transnational migrants have to decide where their home is.     

Talking about culture in social work encounters: immigrant families and child welfare in Finland

This article aims at analysing the ways in which people talk about ‘culture’ in social work encounters involving child welfare in immigrant families. The empirical material includes conversations between immigrant clients, their social workers and co-operating professionals at six Finnish social service offices, as well as interviews with the persons participating in these meetings. The theoretical and methodological frames of reference are social constructionism and discourse analysis. The study suggests three ways in which the concept of ‘culture’ is used by social workers and their clients: firstly, as a means of explaining ‘the ordinary and normal ways’ of raising children; secondly, as ‘a difficulty’ in the interaction between social workers and clients; and thirdly, as ‘a methodical tool’ in creating dialogue with clients. As far as the practical implications for social work are concerned, it is emphasized that in order to avoid ethnocentric practice or ‘culturalization’ of problems, it is important for social workers to be conscious of the various meanings of ‘culture’ both in their own practice and in the ways their clients employ cultural symbolism.     

Captured by the Game: Might a Focus on the ‘Therapeutic Relationship’ Diminish the Attention We Give to the Client's Intimate Network?

A recent project sought to clarify how psychotherapists and mental health workers understand psychosocial health and pathology. In this enquiry, I paid particular attention to the client's interpersonal networks: did the professionals actively consider, and if so to what extent, ‘intimate social and family relationships’ in constructing their understanding of the presenting problem and in the process they used for goal setting. Twenty‐two semi‐structured interviews were undertaken, eleven with psychotherapists and eleven with mental health workers. Across both groups, interviewees tended not to see their clients as embedded, relational entities, but primarily, often quite exclusively, as autonomous beings. Second, interviewees accorded a high value to the importance of ‘the therapeutic relationship’. Is it possible that the emphasis practitioners place on ‘the therapeutic relationship’ has the effect of marginalising the attention that is given to the client's significant‐other network?     

‘Brain circulation’ and transnational knowledge networks: studying long‐term effects of academic mobility to Germany, 1954–2000

‘Brain circulation’ has become a buzzword for describing the increasingly networked character of highly skilled migration. In this article, the concept is linked to academics' work on circular mobility to explore the long‐term effects of their research stays in Germany during the second half of the twentieth century. Based on original survey data on more than 1800 former visiting academics from 93 countries, it is argued that this type of brain circulation launched a cumulative process of subsequent academic mobility and collaboration that contributed significantly to the reintegration of Germany into the international scientific community after the Second World War and enabled the country's rise to the most important source for international co‐authors of US scientists and engineers in the twenty‐first century. In this article I discuss regional and disciplinary specificities in the formation of transnational knowledge networks through circulating academics and suggest that the long‐term effects can be fruitfully conceptualized as accumulation processes in ‘centres of calculation’.     

Introduction to the special theme: theorizing transnational labour markets

In this introduction to the special themed section, ‘Theorizing transnational labour markets: economic‐sociological approaches’, I introduce the reader to the topic and give an overview of the four contributions. The terms ‘global labour market’ and ‘transnational labour market’ are broadly used to account for contemporary social phenomena as diverse as the ever‐closer integration of China or India, with their huge labour forces, into the world economy, the off‐shoring of specific operations of MNCs to countries with cheap labour, or cross‐border labour migration. In most of these cases, the existence of global or transnational labour markets is taken for granted by the media, consulting agencies and other economic actors. However, scholars in labour market research and cross‐border migration alike have largely ignored the categories of global or transnational labour markets. Thus far, it remains unclear what these terms really mean and how we should address them theoretically. The aim of this themed section, therefore, is to view cross‐border labour migration through an economic‐sociological lens and thus bring into dialogue migration and labour market scholarship. By introducing a transnational perspective into labour market research, we hope to make a useful contribution towards theorizing on cross‐border labour markets and thereby overcome the methodological nationalism that seems to have crept into this area of scholarship.     

‘La Lenin is my passport’: schooling,mobility and belonging in socialist Cuba and its diaspora

Based on an ethnographic study of transnational networks of alumni of an academically selective boarding school in Havana, this article explores the nexus between mobility, schooling and belonging in the context of socialist Cuba and its diaspora. Drawing on Goffman’s work, I argue that the boarding school experience was transformative; it facilitated or consolidated social mobility for its pupils, which later, for many, led to geographic mobility in the form of study and work outside Cuba. After graduating, alumni continue to identify with the school and to reproduce their alumni identities. The affective webs of belonging forged through family links and friendships fostered at the school constitute emotionally sustaining networks that also provide material support after migrating. I propose that the school represents a site of identification for a globally dispersed non-national diaspora and argue that migration scholars need to embed international migration within people’s lives more broadly.