Transnational Communities- not your grandfather’s diaspora -

Boston CollegeAlvaro Lima, July 2012

AGENDA:

I.Globalization – A Different Perspective

II.Immigration Studies – A Brief Background

III. What is “Immigrant Transnationalism” Anyway?

IV.Traditional versus Transnational Lenses

V.Measuring Transnationalism

VI.Some Implications of Transnationalism

VII.Transnational Entrepreneurship and its Implications

Globalisation as Annihilation of Space/Shrinking of the World

“compression of our spatialand temporal worlds” (D. Harvey)

“constraints of Geography recede” (M. Waters)

NationStates

FeudalEmpires

Tribes

Globalisation

Dialectics of globalisation and localisation - glocalisation, global cities - “space ... not only homogenised (and global), but always fragmented as well. ... has not simply shrunk, but ... been transformed” (S. Kirsch)

Globalization – A Different Perspective

”Globalization [...] as the intensification of world-wide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa.” (Giddens 1990, p. 64)

Traditionally migration studies have been concerned with understanding the origins and the impact of cross-borer flows;

These flows have been understood mostly as a one way movement from sending countries to receiving countries;

Immigration policies have been almost entirely focused on procedures and prohibitions governing admissions (who? how many? and what kind of immigrants should be admitted?).

Immigration Studies – A Brief Background

There is a widespread belief that migration is caused by poverty, economic stagnation, and overpopulation in the countries of origin unrelated to receiving countries’ foreign policies, economic needs and broader international economic conditions;

While overpopulation, poverty, and economic stagnation all create pressures for migration, there are systematic, structural relations between receiving countries’ policies and migration flows with worldwide evidence of a considerable patterning in the geography of migrations.

poverty

stagnation

overpopulation

etc…

CountryTotal

Population (millions)

Population from

Developing Countries (millions)

Percent of Total

Population

Top Five Source

Countries (percent of

total)

Top Five Source Countries

United States

Spain

France

UK

Netherlands

Portugal

Japan

281.4

40.8

58.5

58.8

16.0

10.4

127

28.4

1.5

3.7

3.0

1.2

0.5

1.2

10.1

3.7

6.4

5.1

7.6

4.5

1.0

45.2

44.2

20.4

30.1

48.6

62.8

69.6

Mexico, Philippines, Puerto Rico, India, China

Morocco, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela

Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Vietnam

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Jamaica, South Africa

Suriname, Turkey, Indonesia, Morocco, Netherlands Antilles

Angola, Mozambique, Brazil, Cape Verde, Venezuela

North Korea, South Korea, China, Brazil, Philippines

Foreign-Born Population of Rich OECD Countries from Developing Countries

Source: Let Their People Come, Lant Pritchett, 2006

Immigrant integration policies (education, training, placement, ESOL, health care, entrepreneurship, citizenship, etc..) are skeletal, ad hoc, under-funded and dominated by the ideology of assimilation – the great melting pot of nations;

labor market

language acquisition

housingeducation

etc…

As Nathan Glazer puts it, “the settlement, adaptation, and progress, or lack of it, of immigrants is largely, in the U.S. context, up to them.”

Re-integration policies for those returning are generally inexistent making the re-settlement process prone to failure feeding back emigration:

labor market

housing

education

etc…

Transnationalism is “the process by which immigrants forge and sustain multi-stranded social relations that link together their societies of origin and settlement… (they) take actions, make decisions, and develop subjectivities and identities embedded in networks of relationships thatconnect them simultaneously to two or more nation states” (Mandaville 2001:45)

What is “Immigrant Transnationalism” Anyway?

Drivers of Transnationalism

Developments in the means of transportation and communications have changed the relations between people and places (costs);

International migrations have become crucial to the demographic future of many developed countries;

Global political transformations and new international legal regimes weakened the state as the only legitimate source of rights;

Fostered by global consumption, global production, and immigration, cultural hybridization are substituting folkloric romanticism and political nationalism enshrined as essences of national cultures;

Contexts of exit and modes of incorporation facilitate or impede, foster or discourage, demand or preclude some or all cross-border activities:

Contexts of Exit and Incorporation

Context of Incorporation:Inclusion & Exclusion Structures

Alien versus Citizenship Rights

Government & Other Support Systems

Race and Ethnicity Structures

etc.

Context of Exit:Education Level

Race & Ethnicity

Family Wealth

Urban versus Rural Origin

Government & Other Support Systems

etc.

12

Traditional Lenses:

immigration conceptualized as a bipolar relation between sending and receiving countries (moving from there to here)

emigration is the result of individual search for economic opportunity, political freedom, etc.

migrants are assumed to be the poorest of the poor

immigrants occupy low-skilled jobs in agriculture, construction, and manufacturing

Immigrants steadily shift their contextual focus, economic and social activities to receiving country

immigration should not bring about significant change in the receiving society

Transnational Lenses:

immigration conceptualized as flows of cross-border economic, political and social-cultural activities (being here and there)

emigration is the result of geopolitical interests, global linkages, and economic globalization

migrants are not the poorest of the poor nor do they come from the poorest nations

growth in the service and technology-based jobs create opportunities for low as well as high skilled migrants

After the initial movement, migrants continue to maintain ties with their country of origin

immigration creates hybrid societies with a richer cultural milieu

Traditional versus Transnational Lenses

$875

$398

$331

$218

$-

$100

$200

$300

$400

$500

$600

$700

$800

$900

Brazil

EcuadorMéxico

Guatemala

Guyana

Dominican R.

Colombia

Nicaragua

El Salvador

HondurasCuba

Monthly Remittance by Nationality

$278 $274

$192 $188 $185 $177

$113

ABOVE AVERAGE

BELOW AVERAGE

AVERAGE = $294

45.4%

20.5%17.8%

5.1% 4.9% 3.7%1.6% 0.8% 0.2%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0%

50.0%

Foods and spices

Videos, DVDs, C

Ds

Clothing

Newspapers/magazines

Books

Alcohol

Cigarettes

Craft Items

Others

Purchasing of Nostalgic Products Among Brazilians

37.6%

28.9%26.0%

5.5%

1.6%0.3%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

Does nothave / NR

Checkingaccount

Savingsaccount

Credit card Investmentaccount

Foreigncurrencysavings

Financial Accounts in Country of Origin - Brazil

MEASURING TRANSNATIONALIS

M

46.6%

36.80%

27.0%

22.7%20.0%

15.3%14.0%

10.3% 9.1%

5.7%3.7%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

40.0%

45.0%

50.0%

GuyanaBrazil

Ecuador

Honduras

Colombia

Nicaragua

Dominican R.

MéxicoCuba

El Salvador

Guatemala

Help Beyond Remittances

AVERAGE = 19.2%

ABOVE AVERAGE

BELOW AVERAGE

14

26.3%

12.4%

10.0%

6.7%5.0%

4.0% 3.5% 3.3% 2.8% 2.4%

0.0%0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

GuyanaBrazil

Ecuador

Honduras

Colombia

Nicaragua

Mexico

Dominican R.

Guatemala

El Salvador

Cuba

Support of Hometown Associations

AVERAGE = 6.7%

ABOVE AVERAGE

BELOW AVERAGE

MEASURING TRANSNATIONALIS

M

MEASURING TRANSNATIONALIS

M

Some Implications of Transnationalism

Portability becomes crucial for transnational migrants – education and certification processes; investment and retirement schemes, health insurance, etc.;

The concept of “community,” “society,” as well as “the local,” must be redefined as space of flows (relationships), pluri-local and nation-state-boarder spanning, instead of bounded geographic places – geographic and social container spaces;

Transnational immigrant entrepreneurs’ contributions to the economy have to be recognized as such and not as just “ethnic;”

Nation-state ideals of identity in both sending and receiving countries are challenged by transnational practices – double citizenship.

States must re-conceive immigration and adapt their policies and practices to accommodate transnational realities;

Transnational entrepreneurship “Keeping Feet in Both Worlds”

“…the many social connections and organizations that tie migrants and non-migrants to one another create a border-spanning arena that enables migrants, if they choose, to remain active in both worlds…”

Transnational entrepreneurs have played an important role in facilitating international trade, investment, and “diaspora tourism;”

There is a remarkable disparity between the dynamism of transnational enterprises and governmental misunderstanding or ignorance of the phenomenon;

Transnational entrepreneurs are a heterogeneous group coming from many countries, crossing ethnic, immigrant, and minority boundaries, and possessing different motivations and experiences:

The current market capitalization of publicly traded immigrant-founded venture-backed companies in the United States exceeds $500 billion, adding significant value to the American economy.

About 50% of Indian and Chinese entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley “have set up subsidiaries, joint ventures, subcontracting, or other operations in their native countries” (Saxenian, Mtoyama, & Quan, 2002:37);

For instance, 39% of the 289 companies located at the Hsinchu science-based industrial park near Taipei were started by U.S.-educated Taiwanese engineers with professional experience in Silicon Valley. Seventy of the firms maintain offices in Silicon Valley to obtain workers, technology, capital, and business opportunities;

Likewise, India’s technology-oriented diaspora stand behind much of the FDI in the country’s emerging technology hubs of Bangalore and Hyderabad;

About 60% of Hispanic immigrant entrepreneurs in the U.S. are transnational (Portes, Haller, & Guarnizo, 2002);

Migrant-founded venture-backed public companies today employ an estimated 220,000 people in the United States and over 400,000 people globally.

Preliminary research suggests 4 distinct types of immigrant transnational enterprises (Landolt et. al. 1999):

Circuit firms - involved in the transfer of goods and remittances across countries ranging from an array of informal international couriers to large formal firms;

Cultural enterprises - rely on their daily contacts with the home country and depend on the desire of immigrants to acquire and consume cultural goods from their country such as shows, CDs, newspapers, videos, etc.;

Ethnic Enterprises - are small retail firms catering to the immigrant community which depend on a steady supply of imported goods, such as foodstuffs and clothing from the home country;

Return migrant enterprises - are firms established by returnees that rely on their contacts in the United States. They include restaurants, video stores, auto sales and repairs, office supplies, etc.;

Transnational entrepreneurs do better economically than their waged co-ethnics and pure local immigrant entrepreneurs (Portes and Zhou 1999; Logan, Alba, and McNulty 1994; Wilson and Martin 1982):

Activities Linking Immigrants to Their Home Countries by Type of Economic Adaptation

Activity

Employee/ Wage Worker

%

Ethnic Entrepreneur

%

Transnational Entrepreneur

%

Imports Goods from Abroad 8.2 9.9 31.9 Exports Goods 6.5 8.9 18.1

Invests in Business in Home Country 5.9 11.7 26.4

Invests in Real Estate in Home Country 20.7 28.2 41.9

Has Been an International Courier 10.1 8.3 23.6

Hires at Least One Employee in Home Country 0 30.8 42.2

Frequency of Business Travel Abroad:

At least twice per year 7.1 17.3 28.4 Six times or more per year 0.9 6.1 14.6 Source: CIEP, 1998

Source: The Comparative Immigrant Entrepreneurship Project (CIEP); Center for Migration and Development (CMD); Princeton University.

Ethnic Entrepreneur (% )

Transnational Entrepreneur (% )

Some Implications of Transnational Entrepreneurship:

Transnational entrepreneurship is a promising form of integration;

Transnational integration and transnational entrepreneurship are highly relevant to modern workings of global and gateway cities;

Transnational integration and transnational entrepreneurship provide opportunities for business, social entrepreneurs, and governments;

Finally, the model presented can be generalized to include ethnic and non-ethnic forms of social settlement and connections spanning multiple borders.