Transnationalism

Transnationalism denotes processes and practices through which contemporary international migrants forge and maintain ties across national borders to their countries and places of origin. The acceleration of economic globalization has enabled these migrants to create new transnational social and cultural spaces that span multiple polities and societies. Migrants create these new social spaces by, among others, sending money home to family members in the form of remittances; they influence the political lives and well-being of their home places through hometown associations, contribute to economic development projects in their countries of origin, or participate in religious and cultural organizations that span national borders. While these new social spaces are similarly facilitated by innovations in transportation and communication technologies, migrants’ “transnationalism from below” differs from globalization from ...