Hybrid transnational social protection: The role of religious institutions and networks

Abstract

More and more people live, study, work, and retire in countries where they are not full citizens. How do they protect and provide for themselves and their families when they live for extended periods outside the places where they have citizenship rights? In this talk, I offer a framework for understanding hybrid transnational social protection developed in a forthcoming book with my colleagues Erica Dobbs, Ken Sun, and Ruxandra Paul. We argue that mobile people create resource environments that span national borders with supports they purchase through the market, obtain from the public sector, from communities, and from their social networks. I focus here on the role of religious institutions and networks as transnational social welfare providers. I draw, in particular, on research conducted with Breda Gray on the role of the Catholic Church in Italy, Mexico, and the Philippines.