{"title":"Transnational networks and border-crossing activities of young refugees","authors":"Janine Schmittgen, S. Köngeter, Maren Zeller","doi":"10.1080/21931674.2016.1277859","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21931674.2016.1277859","url":null,"abstract":"The burgeoning research and literature on transnationalism in different academic disciplines was initiated by insights into new patterns of migration discovered by anthropologists in the early 1990s (Appadurai, 1991; Glick Schiller, Basch, & Blanc-Szanton, 1992). While many studies on transnational migration focus on voluntary and economic migration, little is known about the transnational ways of being and belonging of refugees and forced migrants (cf. also the research report of Yolanda Weima (2017)). The literature on the transnational situation of refugees is concentrated on political activities of adult migrants who are recognized as refugees and, particularly, on those with a specific cultural or national background, e.g., from Eritrea, Bosnia, or Burundi (cf. Al-Ali, Black, & Koser, 2001; Mascini, Fermin, & Snick, 2012). There is still a significant dearth of research on the meaning of transnational practices among (recognized) refugees and how this situation affects their cross-border activities. This research report takes up this lack of knowledge on refugee transnationalism and focuses particularly on unaccompanied minor refugees1 as a specific group of refugees and refugee claimants. For many young people, it is characteristic that adult relatives are living in their countries of origin, still facing difficult or life-threatening situations. Furthermore, their life stage as youth transitioning to adulthood differs from those of adult refugees, e.g., in terms of their permission to work, or schooling, housing, legal rights, and obligations, but also with regard to their life course as emerging adults (Arnett, 2000). Many unaccompanied young people under the age of 18 are arriving in Germany as forced migrants.2 Those who are between the ages of 16 and 18 have little time to prepare for their transition to adulthood (Andernach & Tavanger, 2014). In Germany, refugee youth are treated differently than their adult fellows who will be accommodated in a refugee shelter until they are transferred to the receiving community. Unaccompanied minor refugees3 however, fall under the legal framework of the Child and Youth Care Act (Social Code Book VIII). In contrast to German youth in care, they often stay in care only for a short period of time. Although there are no official numbers yet, many of them have to leave their accommodation in residential care when they turn 18. While young people in care in Germany have the right to stay in care until the age of 21 if necessary, this option is used to a lesser extent for young refugees. Therefore, young refugees face the challenge to establish local support networks, find school or vocational training, learn German, and live independently in an unfamiliar cultural area within a short time frame.","PeriodicalId":413830,"journal":{"name":"Transnational Social Review","volume":"88 11 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130770701","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Older people and the use of ICTs to communicate with children and grandchildren","authors":"Loredana Ivan, M. Fernández-Ardèvol","doi":"10.1080/21931674.2016.1277861","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21931674.2016.1277861","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In this research we explore older people’s incentives to use Internet services to communicate with their children and grandchildren, and the factors that make older individuals stop using (or even reject) Internet-mediated communications. We apply the uses and gratifications theory, and the gratification niche of medium concept to understand the way people return to less sophisticated tools of communication once the marginal utility is lost. Our analysis is based on empirical evidence the two authors gathered in a set of case studies. We conducted semi-structured interviews with people aged 60 and over in Barcelona, Romania (Bucharest and rural areas), Toronto, Los Angeles, Montevideo, and Lima. The results show that communicating with children and grandchildren when families get separated is an important motivator that “pushes” the elderly to learn more about the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). We emphasize the fact that once motivation is lost (i.e. when family members are back home) the interest in using a particular technology to communicate is diminished, therefore older people might stop using it. We argue for a more dynamic model of technology appropriation for this age group that includes successive stages: ignoring, appropriation, rejection, and re-appropriation.","PeriodicalId":413830,"journal":{"name":"Transnational Social Review","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125253109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Transnational aging among older Turkish and Moroccan migrants in the Netherlands: Determinants of transnational behavior and transnational belonging","authors":"J. Klok, T. G. Tilburg, B. Suanet, T. Fokkema","doi":"10.1080/21931674.2016.1277656","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21931674.2016.1277656","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study investigates how resources and constraints (location of family, gender, income, cultural distance to society of settlement, and health) impact the experience of two interrelated dimensions of transnational aging: transnational behavior and transnational belonging. We specify transnational behavior by visitation of the country of origin and transnational belonging by emotional attachment to the country of origin and consideration of return migration. Data come from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam with interviews held between 2013 and 2014 with 264 Turkish migrants and 205 Moroccan migrants, aged 55–66. Regression analyses reveal that transnational belonging and behavior are explained by different factors. Family-in-laws’ location and gender only play a role in explaining transnational belonging, while cultural distance and self-rated health affect both dimensions, and subjective income only impacts transnational behavior. Results from the stratified analysis show that for Turkish migrants, family location, cultural distance, and health are important in considering return migration, whereas for Moroccan migrants, only cultural distance plays a role. We conclude that the distinction between transnational belonging and behavior is useful in understanding transnational aging and that our resources and constraints approach extends our view on older migrants.","PeriodicalId":413830,"journal":{"name":"Transnational Social Review","volume":"95 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132538623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“The screen has such sharp edges to hug”: The relational consequences of emigration in transnational South African emigrant families","authors":"M. Marchetti-Mercer","doi":"10.1080/21931674.2016.1277650","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21931674.2016.1277650","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In our increasingly globalized world, families have become more transnational. This requires us to think differently about family relationships, including those between the elderly and other family members. Advances in communication technology now allow people to stay connected in new ways after migration, but families who emigrate and those they leave behind still have to deal with physical absence, and have to re-create emotional connection across a distance. They also have to reconsider caregiving relationships, especially with regard to those elderly family members excluded from the migratory nucleus and left behind in the country of origin. This article considers relevant data from two qualitative research projects examining the impact of emigration on South African family life, especially on the elderly left behind, to illustrate how transnational relationships may be impacted and how family roles are affected. The results suggest that although communication technology is an important means for families to maintain relational ties across continents, the intimacy of physical closeness and touch cannot be easily replaced by the use of technology. The article proposes viewing “home” as a relational concept rather than as a fixed physical space, and that this should guide our understanding of transnational families.","PeriodicalId":413830,"journal":{"name":"Transnational Social Review","volume":"57 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126547915","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Situating transnational activities: Peruvian migrants’ family visits in a comparative perspective","authors":"Vincent Horn","doi":"10.1080/21931674.2016.1261585","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21931674.2016.1261585","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Migrants’ transnational activities have become a core matter in migration and transnational family care research. Among these, migrants’ visits in the country of origin are of particular interest due to their (presumably) positive effects on cohesion and relationships of transnational families. So far, research on the scope and structuring features of migrants’ family visits has compared different migrant populations residing in the same host society, suggesting that different factors act upon their travel propensity. However, no study has considered the impact of different host societies on the transnational involvement of migrants from the same country of origin. This study bridges this gap by comparing the frequency and determinants of Peruvian migrants’ travels to their country of origin from five destination countries. Drawing on the framework of capacity and desire, it is expected that geographic distance, human capital, and transnational ties are strong predictors for frequent travels. Yet, geographic distance does not explain engagement in this transnational activity. Moreover, using regression analysis, findings show that factors play out differently in each country, suggesting that migrants’ family visits are structured by time and context-specific circumstances including migration histories and policies as well as patterns of migration.","PeriodicalId":413830,"journal":{"name":"Transnational Social Review","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116923613","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Transnational social support from a postcolonial perspective","authors":"Alia Herz-Jakoby, F. Petermann","doi":"10.1080/21931674.2016.1277858","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21931674.2016.1277858","url":null,"abstract":"In researching current transnational phenomena and processes, Glick Schiller (2005) states that it is important to look at global inequalities and consider dimensions of power relations in order to inform a “new theory of society” (p. 439). Focusing on social support in a transnational context, we argue that a postcolonial perspective offers adequate theoretical tools in this respect. When speaking of transnational social support, we refer to a research focus on social processes that protect and support people in coping with a variety of difficult or burdensome situations that are not limited to national boundaries or local contexts (Chambon, Schröer, & Schweppe, 2012, p. 1). Since the perspective on transnational social support emerged from and is intertwined with research on social work in transnational settings, 1we refer to selected contributions from social work for our argument. To date, postcolonial perspectives have been rarely used in the analysis of power imbalances and inequalities inherent in social support across national boundaries. Castro Varela and Dhawan (2005) point out a difficulty with postcolonial theory: “Despite all attempts at clarification, the term ‘postcolonial’ remains imprecise and highly debated” (translated by authors) (p. 23). Therefore, we will define central aspects of postcolonial theory that we use in order to illustrate its benefits for research on transnational social support. Postcolonial scholars do not consider colonialism as a process that can be ascribed only to the past, but focus on both continuities and discontinuities of colonialism as policy and practice that continue today. Postcolonial studies include historical and current forms of colonialism and neo-colonialism, as well as different forms of resistance to colonialism and processes of decolonization (Abrahamsen, 2003; Castro Varela & Dhawan, 2005, p. 24; 2010). Historical legacies are viewed quite differently from a postcolonial rather than from a transnational perspective. Within postcolonial perspectives a historical sensitivity is always implicit; however, that does not mean that research is focused on historical analyses. Scholars claim to acknowledge that historical processes impact current processes or discourses and still influence current power imbalances. Within research on transnationalism as well as on transnational social support, historical perspectives have tended to be limited to historical analyses. We suggest applying a postcolonial perspective within research on transnational social support, to identify, describe, and explain persisting power relations and thus throw light on the relevant historical contexts of current transnational phenomena.","PeriodicalId":413830,"journal":{"name":"Transnational Social Review","volume":"140 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123326399","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“A lo lejos” – Aging in place and transnational care in the case of transnational migration between Cuba and Germany","authors":"R. Brandhorst","doi":"10.1080/21931674.2016.1277855","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21931674.2016.1277855","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article analyzes family care and aging in place in transnational families between Cuba and Germany. It draws on the results of a longitudinal multi-sited research on transnational families, based on reconstructive analysis of participant observations and biographical-narrative interviews with Cuban migrants in Germany and their relatives in Cuba. Adopting a case level of family histories enables me to see how the exchange of care is negotiated across generations. In this article, two case studies will provide a detailed description of transnational care and aging between Cuba and Germany. Originating from a transnational migration studies background, this article addresses the implications of the transnationalization of life worlds and the possibility to maintain contact via information and communication technologies for the concept of aging in place. Furthermore, it discusses the influence of structural constraints (like restrictions of travel and ICTs access) on aging in a transnational place. The restrictions in the Cuban case highlight the impediments of transnational caregiving through national migration, healthcare, and other policies. Immediate communication through ICTs cannot be generalized. Thus, this article explores the importance of an imagined sense of belonging to a transnational family as an emotional resource for aging in a transnational place.","PeriodicalId":413830,"journal":{"name":"Transnational Social Review","volume":"118 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124152343","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"“People live in their heads a lot”: Polymedia, life course, and meanings of home among Melbourne’s older Irish community","authors":"G. Ballantyne, L. Burke","doi":"10.1080/21931674.2016.1277856","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21931674.2016.1277856","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Research across a number of disciplines demonstrates that digital technologies have intensified migrants’ connections to both old and new homelands. Yet to be explored, however, is how this interconnectedness intersects with shifting conceptions of “home” over the life course. The research presented here helps fill this gap by drawing on surveys and semi-structured qualitative interviews conducted with Irish immigrants to Australia, now in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, who left Ireland prior to the emergence of new media. The article charts a trajectory across three phases of the migrant life course: “leaving home,” characterized by feelings of dislocation from Ireland and an involvement in the local Irish “ethnic village”; “at home,” characterized by withdrawal from ethnic community involvements under the pressure of family and work responsibilities; and “going home,” characterized by a desire to reconnect with origins, both locally and transnationally. Our findings suggest that age-related social circumstances and existential concerns have played an important role in shaping older migrants’ use of new media to stay “connected.”","PeriodicalId":413830,"journal":{"name":"Transnational Social Review","volume":"157 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127365054","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Refugee repatriation and ongoing transnationalisms","authors":"Yolanda Weima","doi":"10.1080/21931674.2016.1277857","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21931674.2016.1277857","url":null,"abstract":"Transnationalism has proven to be a productive lens with which to engage a wide variety of interconnected factors and outcomes of border-crossing – from the economic to the affective – in an increasingly interconnected world. While the focus in many studies of transnationalism has largely been on voluntary and/or economic migrants, or even on transnational corporations or elite capitalist classes, even cursory attention to world news over the past few years makes it clear that many, many other people are on the move for diverse reasons. While the distinction between voluntary and forced migration is contested and unclear in many contexts, it is not disputed that many people are compelled to move across borders for reasons related directly to survival (Betts, 2013). The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has called the current state of forced displacement “unprecedented” in scope and scale, including the number of people it classifies as “refugees” (UNHCR, 2015). As migrant journeys receive more media coverage, increasing attention is also being paid to the ways refugees stay in touch with those who have not yet left, or cannot leave, the places they themselves have left behind. Such ties across borders continue when some refugees are, finally, able to return “home,” but little attention has yet explored the trajectories of transnationalisms of refugees and migrants who return or are repatriated to their “countries of origin.” The transnationalism of refugees has not gone unremarked by geographers and other social scientists theorizing transnationalism, even before the current media attention, and in recent years scholars have proposed and taken up transnationalism as a useful conceptual tool for theorizing the cross-border movements and ties of forced migrants (Bailey, Wright, Mountz, & Miyares, 2002; Hyndman, 2010; Nolin, 2006). The application of such a transnational lens to the study of the experience of refugees has productively shed light on transnationalisms marked not only by flows, movement, and connections but also by ruptures and sutures, waiting and immobilities. Both research on migrant transnationalisms and emerging research focusing specifically on refugee transnationalisms have tended to focus on diasporic communities, and the transnational networks and practices of those who have left their countries of origin, with close connections to both migration studies and refugee studies respectively (Dwyer, 2001). A significant gap in this literature is due to its continued assumption that refugee mobilities are unidirectional, and across long distances. Only a few scholars are attentive to the ongoing transnationalisms of refugees who return to their countries of origin (Bakewell, 2000; Fresia, 2014; Olivier-Mensah & Scholl-Schneider, 2016).","PeriodicalId":413830,"journal":{"name":"Transnational Social Review","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123938492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Red skin, white masks: Rejecting the colonial politics of recognition","authors":"Patrick Nickleson","doi":"10.1080/21931674.2016.1180884","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/21931674.2016.1180884","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":413830,"journal":{"name":"Transnational Social Review","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122282834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}