3317464

From Immigrant to Transmigrant: Theorizing Transnational Migration
Author(s): Nina Glick Schiller, Linda Basch and Cristina Szanton Blanc
Source: Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 68, No. 1 (Jan., 1995), pp. 48-63
Published by: George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research
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FROM IMMIGRANTTO TRANSMIGRANT:THEORIZING

TRANSNATIONALMIGRATION
NINA GLICKSCHILLER
Universityof New Hampshire
LINDA BASCH
WagnerCollege
CRISTINA SZANTON BLANC
ColumbiaUniversity
Contemporaryimmigrantscan not be characterizedas the "uprooted."Many are transmigrants,becomingfirmly rooted in their new countrybut maintainingmultiplelinkages
to their homeland.In the UnitedStates anthropologistsare engagedin buildinga transnational anthropologyand rethinkingtheir data on immigration.Migrationproves to be an
importanttransnationalprocess that reflectsand contributesto the currentpolitical configurationsof the emergingglobal economy.In this articlewe use our studies of migration
from St. Vincent,Grenada,the Philippines,and Haiti to the U.S. to delineatesome of the
parametersof an ethnographyof transnationalmigrationand explorethe reasonsfor and
the implicationsof transnationalmigrations.We concludethat the transnationalconnections of immigrantsprovidea subtextof the public debatesin the U.S. aboutthe meritsof
immigration.[transnationalism,immigration,nation-state,nationalism,identity]
In the United States several generationsof reing a new processof migration,scholarsof transnationalmigrationemphasizethe ongoingandcontinsearchershave viewed immigrantsas personswho
uprootthemselves,leave behindhomeand country, uing ways in which current-day immigrants
into a
and face the painfulprocessof incorporation
constructand reconstitutetheir simultaneousemdifferentsocietyand culture(Handlin1973[1951]; beddednessin more than one society.The purpose
Takaki 1993). A new conceptof transnationalmiof this articleis to delineatethe parametersof an
this
that
is
however,
questions
emerging,
gration
ethnographyof transnationalmigrationand use
this anthropologyto explorethe ways in whichthe
long-held conceptualizationof immigrants,suggestingthat in both the U.S. and Europe,increas- currentdebateon immigrationin the U.S. can be
ing numbersof immigrantsare best understoodas
readas a nation-statebuildingprojectthat delimits
"transmigrants."Transmigrantsare immigrants and constrainsthe allegiances and loyalties of
whose daily lives dependon multipleand constant transmigrants.
Oncewe reframethe conceptof iminterconnectionsacross internationalbordersand
migrant and examine the political factors which
whose public identitiesare configuredin relation- have
shapedthe image of immigrantsas the upship to more than one nation-state(Glick Schiller rooted,a wholenew approachto understanding
imet al. 1992a;Basch et al. 1994). They are not soandthe currentdebateaboutimmigration
migrants
journersbecause they settle and become incorpo- becomespossible.
rated in the economyand politicalinstitutions,loThreevignettesof discontinuitieswe have obcalities, and patternsof daily life of the countryin
served
betweenthe transnational
practicesof immiwhichthey reside.However,at the very same time,
aboutimmigrants
and
common
in
sense
that
grants
assumptions
they
they are engagedelsewhere the
maintain connections,build institutions,conduct made by scholars,membersof the public,the metransactions, and influence local and national dia and publicofficialsexpertsillustratethe myopic
eventsin the countriesfromwhichthey emigrated. view of immigrantsdemonstratedin much public
debate.The vignettespointto the need to redefine
Transnationalmigration is the process by
which immigrantsforge and sustain simultaneous our terminologyand reformulatesomeof our basic
multi-strandedsocial relations that link together conceptualizationsof the current immigrant
their societiesof originand settlement.In identify- experience.
48
FROMIMMIGRANTTO TRANSMIGRANT
49
Towardsa TransnationalAnthropology
A large numberof Filipinohouseholdsare transnational
with individuals,resources,goods, and services moving back
and forth betweenthe U.S., the Philippines,and other countries. Decisionsthat affectthe daily lives of householdmembers
are made across national borders.Yet Szanton Blanc noted,
while participatingwith census organizersand Filipinoimmigrantsliving in New York in discussionsthat precededthe administrationof the 1990 U.S. Census, that census questions
about householdsdid not reflectthe transnationalismof these
populations.1The questionsassumedthat all Filipinosresided
in the U.S. permanently,havingcut their ties with their countries of origin. The partial characterof many of the Filipino
householdslocated in the U.S. that participatedin the census
interviewwas not recognized.The frequencyof travelbetween
the two countries,the ongoingrelationshipsbetweenhousehold
membersliving in both locations marked by a constant exchange of funds and resources,and the organizationof activities acrossborderswere not examined.Hence, officialsof governmentaland civic institutionsoften formulatepolicies and
programsbased on census data that inadequatelycapturethe
structureand mode of operationof many contemporaryimmigrant households.
At a dinnerrecentlyGlick Schillerlistenedwhile internationaldevelopmentexpertsdebatedthe degreeto whichland in

the Haitiancountrysidewas cultivatedby squatters.Thesespecialistsdid not consultwith the only Haitianat the table. They
did not expect him to be familiarwith questionsof land tenure
in Haiti because he was an authorityon Haitian cosmology
who had been livingin the U.S. since he was a teenager.What
they did not consider was that the Haitian scholar and his
brotherownedland in Haiti and that the two brothershad negotiateda workingrelationshipwith the squatterswho livedon
that land. Like so many Haitians in the U.S., the Haitian
scholarrelatesto Haiti throughdiverseand ongoingsocial and
class relationshipsthat influencehis stance towardsdevelopment in Haiti. Expertson Haiti routinelyignorethe impactof
transnationalmigrationon all aspects of Haitian society, including Haiti's relationshipto the U.S.
At Expo 1993, a tradeand culturalfair in Brooklynsponsoredby the CaribbeanAmericanChamberof Commercethat

Baschattended,one of the panelsexploredthe extent to which
the curriculumin New York City schoolsgives voice to African-Caribbeanand African-Americanexperiences.It soon became clear that manyimmigrantfamiliesopt to send theirchildren to privateWest Indian schools in New York where the
curriculumreflectsboth Caribbeanand U.S. experiences,preparingchildrento live a transnationalexistence.Indeed,many
West Indianyoungstersare sent home to the West Indies for
part of their educations.However,public officialsengaged in
curriculumdevelopmentoften do not recognizethat the socialization of many transmigrantchildrentakes place in an interconnected social space encompassingboth the immigrants'
West Indianhome societiesand the U.S.
In the 1960s the word"transnational"

was widely
used by studentsof economicprocessesto referto
the establishmentof corporatestructureswith established organizationalbases in more than one
state (Martinelli1982). In a separateintellectual
traditionseveralgenerationsof scholarshad been
using the adjective"transnational"to signal an
abatementof nationalboundariesand the development of ideas or politicalinstitutionsthat spanned
nationalborders;it is this usage that can be found
in standarddictionaries.For example, Webster's
Third New InternationalDictionary,definingthe
term as "extending or going beyond national
boundaries"(1976: 2430), providestwo examples.
The firstfrom the New Republicmagazinespeaks
of the "abatementof nationalismand the creation
of transnationalinstitutions which will render
boundariesof minorimportance."In the secondcitation EdwardSapir reportsthat "by the diffusion
of culturallyimportantwordstransnational
vocabularies have grownup."
The recentuse of the adjective"transnational"
in the socialsciencesandculturalstudiesdrawstogetherthe variousmeaningsof the wordso that the
of capitalgloballyis seen as linkedto
restructuring
the diminishedsignificanceof nationalboundaries
in the productionand distributionof objects,ideas,
and people. Transnationalprocessesare increasingly seen as part of a broaderphenomenonof
globalization,markedby the demiseof the nationstate and the growthof worldcities that serve as
commukey nodesof flexiblecapitalaccumulation,
nication,andcontrol(Knox1994;Knightand Gapthere has been a repert 1989). In anthropology2
newed interest in the flows of culture and
populationacross nationalborders,reviving,in a
new globalandtheoreticalcontext,past interestsin
culturaldiffusion.3Manycontributors
to this scholarly trendsee it as part of an effortto reconfigure
anthropological
thinkingso that it will reflectcurrent transformations
in the way in whichtime and
space is experiencedand represented(Appadurai
1990, 1991; Gupta and Ferguson1992; Kearney
1991a, 1991b; Hannerz 1989, 1990). Appadurai
has stated that ethnographynow has the task of
determining "the nature of locality, as lived experience, in a globalized, deterritorialized world"
(1991: 196). He has further argued that there is a
need to reconceptualize the "landscapes of group
identity," a need that flows from the current world
50
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
conjuncturein which "groupsare no longertightly

territorialized,spatially bounded,historicallyunselfconscious, or culturally homogeneous" (p.
191).'
Migration is one of the important means
throughwhich bordersand boundariesare being
contestedand transgressed(Kearney1991a;Rouse
1991, 1992). Anthropologistswho work with migrantshave much to contributeto our understanding of a new paradox:that the growthand intensification of global interconnectionof economic
processes,people, and ideas is accompaniedby a
resurgencein the politicsof differentiation.When
we study migrationrather than abstractcultural
we see that transnational
flows or representations,
processesare locatedwithin the life experienceof
individualsand families,makingup the warp and
woof of daily activities, concerns, fears, and
achievements.
Reasons for Transnational Migration
Threeconjoiningpotentforcesin the currentglobal

economylead presentday immigrantsto settle in
countriesthat are centersof global capitalismbut
to live transnationallives: (1) a global restructuring of capital based on changingforms of capital
accumulationhas lead to deterioratingsocial and
economicconditionsin both labor sendingand labor receivingcountrieswith no location a secure
terrainof settlement;(2) racism in both the U.S.
and Europecontributesto the economicand political insecurityof the newcomersand their descendants; and (3) the nation buildingprojectsof both
home and host society build political loyalties
among immigrantsto each nation-statein which
they maintainsocial ties.
Capitalismfromits beginningshas been a system of productiondependenton globalinterconnections betweenthe people of the world. Today we
are facing a reconstitutionof the structureof accumulationso that not only are profitsaccumulated
globally,but all partsof the worldhavebeenincorporatedinto a single system of production,investment, communication,coordination,staffing,production, and distribution(Sassen 1994). In this
globalcontextthereis less incentiveto investin entire nationaleconomies.It has becomemoreprofitable to base global operationsin certaincities and
regionsthat are emergingas centersof communication and organization(Sassen 1991). Capital is
beingchanneledinto key sectorsand regionswhile
the infrastructureof transportation,education,

healthservicesare strippedaway fromthose countries, and sectionsof countriesand cities,definedas
superfluousto the newly definedcircuitsof wealth
and power.Attackson the infrastructure
take the
form of structuraladjustmentprogramsin debtor
countriesand calls for reducedtaxes and public
spendingin capitalexportingcountriessuch as the
U.S.
The conditionsfor migrationin a myriadof
economicallyperipheralstates havebeenset by the
intensive penetrationof foreign capital into the
economyand politicalprocessesof "post-colonial"
countriesin the 1960s and 1970s, and the subsequent massive growth of indebtednessand economicretrenchment.Facedwith wide-spreaddeteriorationin their standardsof living,professionals,
skilledworkers,unskilledworkers,merchants,and
agriculturalproducersall have fled to globalcities
or to countriessuch as the U.S. that still play central rolesin capitalaccumulation.However,oncein
these countries,immigrantsconfronta deepening
economiccrisis that often limits the economicpossibilities and security many are able to obtain.
Moreover,those sectorsof the currentimmigrant
populationwho find themselvesracializedas "Hispanic,""Asian,"or "Black"find that even if they
obtaina secureposition,they face dailydiscrimination in the pursuitof their life activities.
Observingthe permeabilityof borders and
boundariessignaled by this form of migration,
some observershave begunto speakof the demise
of the nation-state'sability to form and discipline
its subjects(Kearney1991a). However,the task of
creating capitalist subjects,and the task of governingpopulationswho will workin and acceptthe
worldof vastlyincreasedinequalitiesof wealthand
power, continuesto reside primarilyin different
and unequalstates.Financialinterestsandtransnational conglomeratescontinueto rely on the legitimacy and legal, fiscal, and policingstructuresof
the nation-state.'Thereare, however,changesprecipitatedby this emergingform of migration.We
are enteringan era in whichstates that can claim
dispersed populations construct themselves as
"deterritorializednation-states" (Basch et al.
1994); states that continueto be bases of capital
ratherthan the homelandof migrantsrespondin
ways that tightenratherthan transgressterritorial
boundaries.The hegemonicpolitical ethic of the
U.S. continuesto demandthat citizens,bothnative
bornand naturalized,swearallegianceonly to the
FROM IMMIGRANTTO TRANSMIGRANT

U.S. and define their political identity within its
borders.Meanwhile,dominantforcesin laborsending states imagine their states to exist wherever
their emigrantshave been incorporated.
Memoriesof Things Past: The Issue of History
and Memoryin ImmigrationStudies
It is useful to recall the socially and historically
constructednatureof the conceptof nation-stateto
understandthis aspect of transnationalmigration.
Recent scholarshiphas made it clear that nationstates are relativelynew inventionsthat can be
linkedto the developmentof capitalismand to the
type of politicaland economicloyaltiesthat serve
the needs of dominantclasses and strata within
modern centralized states (Hobsbawm 1990;
Gellner 1983). Nation-stateswere constructedas
classesand elite strata,strivingto maintainor contend for state power, popularizedmemoriesof a
sharedpast and usedthis historicalnarrativeto authenticateand validate a commonalityof purpose
and nationalinterests(Anderson1991[1983]). This
process of constructing and shaping collective
memoriescan be called nation-statebuilding.Key
to nation-statebuildingas a politicalprocesshas
been the constructionof a myth that each nationstate containedwithinit a single peopledefinedby
their residencein a commonterritory,their undivided loyalty to a commongovernment,and their
shared cultural heritage. In the past immigrants
wereforcedto abandon,forget,or denytheirties to
home and in subsequentgenerationsmemoriesof
transnationalconnectionswere erased.
There is evidencethat in variousways and to
different degrees, dispersed populationswhether
they werediasporasof Jews (Clifford1994), Palestinians (Gonzalez 1992), or "old world" immigrants to the U.S. (Portes and Rumbaut 1990),
maintainednetworksof interconnection.
Many immigrantsfromEuropewho settledin the late nineteenth and early twentieth century maintained
familyties, sendingboth lettersand money(Metzker 1971; Thomas and Znaniecki 1927). Italians
returnedhome to land purchasedthrough labor
abroad (di Leonardi 1984). The Czechs and
Slovacks (Witke 1940), Hungarians (Vassady
1982), and Irish (Highamand Brooks1978) were
among the many immigratingpopulationswho
built strongnationalistmovementsin Europefrom
a base in the U.S.
These ties were discountedand obscuredby
51
the narrativesof nation that were prevalentuntil

the current period of globalization.Assumptions
about the uprootednessof immigrantsfilteredthe
way in which immigranthistorywas recorded,inAt the heart of the
terpreted,and remembered.6
metaphorof "Americathe melting pot" was a
model of immigrantsettlement in which immigrantseschewedthe nationalidentityas well as the
customsand languageof their birth.However,the
ruptureof home ties or their transformationinto
sentimentratherthan connectionis also a central
aspect of pluralistand multiculturalimaginingsof
America in which immigrant groups are encouraged to preservetheir culture, custom, and
identityyet be fully embeddedin an Americanmosaic (Glazer and Moynihan 1970[1963]; Takaki
1989, 1993). Whetherthe imageryhas beenone of
assimilationinto a newly emergentAmericanculture, or incorporationinto a culturally diverse
America,in the U.S. the forgingof an American
nationalityhas beenand continuesto be the underlying concernthat unitedall discourseaboutimmigration.7Whathas beenuniformlydefinedas unacceptable was a migrationin which immigrants
settled permanentlyin their new country while
maintainingties to countries they still saw as
homelands.And yet this is an emergingpattern
amongmany immigrantpopulationscurrentlysettling in the U.S.'
A brief recountingof the Americanization
studiescommissionedby the CarnegieCorporation
in 1918 can serve to illustrateboth the types of
transnationalpoliticalconnectionsthat were maintained by previousgenerationsof immigrantssettled in the U.S. and the processesby which these
connectionswere discountedand historicallyobliterated. The studies were commissionedduring
World War I becausethe home ties and political
engagementof large numbersof immigrantsfrom
Europeraisedquestionsabout the allegianceand
loyalty of immigrants.' Researcherswere surroundedby and reportedevidenceof transnational
engagementof immigrantswith their home societies. Forexample,RobertPark,whosenameis usually linked to the Carnegiestudies, only became
head of the entireprojectwhen HerbertAdolphus
Miller,who had been leadingthe studies,and who
was Chairof the SociologyDepartmentat Oberlin
College in Ohio, resignedin orderto devotemore
time to organizingthe Leagueof CentralEuropean
Nations (Rausenbush1979). Yet transnational
ties
wereonly notedin passingand negativelyvaluedin
52
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
the publishedstudies.The studiesdescribedand assessedthe progressmadetowardsincorporating

immigrantsinto U.S. society. These studies contributed to the publicperceptionthat such populations
were in fact immigrants;meanwhile,the public
campaignsto insure that these immigrantswere
loyalto the U.S. also soughtto diminishthe continuation of home ties. In subsequentgenerations
these connectionsgenerallywere not remembered
or reportedby social scienceresearchers.It is only
now,and in the contextof the successfulincorporation of past generationsof immigrants,that a revisionisthistoryin the U.S. is rememberingpersisting transnationalconnectionsof past generationsof
immigrants. (See, for example, Portes and
Rumbaut1990.)
And yet we arguethat the currentconnections
of immigrantsare of a differentorderthan past immigrant linkages to home societies. The current
processesof restructuringand reconfiguringglobal
capital have affected both internationalmigration
and nation-statebuildingin significantways. The
new circuitsof capitalprovidethe contextin which
migrantsand the descendantsof migrants,often
fully incorporatedin the countriesof settlement
such as the U.S., maintainor constructanewtransnationalinterconnections
that differin their intenand
from
the hometies maintained
significance
sity
by past migrations(Basch et al. 1994). They also
providethe context in which these linkages are
again becomingvisible.Much researchremainsto
be done, but it wouldseem that the currentforms
of capital accumulationand concomitantalterations in the formationof all classes and strata interpenetratethe politicaland economicprocessesof
nation-statesthroughoutthe world.The increasein
density,multiplicity,and importanceof the transof immigrantsis certainly
nationalinterconnections
made possibleand sustainedby transformations
in
the technologiesof transportation
and communication. Jet planes,telephones,faxes, and internetcertainly facilitate maintainingclose and immediate
ties to home. However,the tendency of today's
transmigrantsto maintain, build, and reinforce
multiple linkages with their countries of origin
seemsto be facilitatedratherthan producedby the
possibilityof technologicallyabridgingtime and
is best
space. Rather, immigranttransnationalism
understoodas a responseto the fact that in a
globaleconomycontemporarymigrantshave found
full incorporationin the countries within which
they resettleeithernot possibleor not desirable.At
the same time parties,factions,and leaderswithin

many countrieswhichcan claim dispersedpopulations have lookedto their diasporasas a globalresourceand constituency.Althoughthey seemingly
rupture boundaries and borders, contemporary
transnationalculturalprocessesand movementsof
people, ideas, and capital have been accompanied
by an increasein an identitypoliticsthat is a celebrationof a nation.We are witnessingthe simultaneousgrowthof globalizingprocessesand the preeminence of exclusive, bounded, essentialized
nationalisms(Appadurai 1993; Anderson 1992).
This is a momentin which large numbersof people, no longerrootedin a single place, go to great
lengths to revitalize,reconstruct,or reinventnot
only their traditionsbut their political claims to
territoryand historiesfrom which they have been
displaced.Moreoverthese "longdistancenationalists" (Anderson1992: 12) insist that their collective claims to ancestralland bear witnessto their
identityas ancient,homogenous,peoples.Transnational processesseem to be accompaniedby the
of identityonto the territoryof the
"re-inscription"
homeland(Gupta 1992). The Portuguesegovernment, for example,has declaredPortugalto be a
global nation (Feldman-Bianco1992, 1994). Its
emigrantsand the descendantsof the emigrantsare
part of Portugal even as they live within other
countries. Similarly, Haitians, Vincentians,
Grenedians,and Filipinosmay residepermanently
abroadbut be seen as constituentsof their home
country.
The differencebetweenthe relationshipof past
sending societies towardstheir diasporasand the
currenteffortsof both immigrantsand states with
dispersedpopulationsto constructa deterritorialized nation-statethat encompassesa diasporicpopulation within its domain can be understood
throughexaminingthe trajectoryof Greekmigration. Greeceis one of the manycases in whichdispersed populationshave been engaged in nationstate building over several centuries. Merchants
and intellectualsof Greekoriginsettledin Western
Europewere importantactors in the politicaland
culturalprocessesof the late eighteenthand early
nineteenthcenturiesthat resultedin the modern
Greek state (Jusdanis1991).1 Crucialintegrative
institutionssuch as local schools,and libraries,the
university,academy,polytechnic,and stadiumwere
built, in large part,by contributionsfromthe diasilliterate
pora.Thereis evidencethat impoverished,
peasants,as well as wealthy families,contributed
53
est descriptionsof transnationalprocessesare of

householdand family economiesrooted in both
sendingand receivingsocieties;fewer descriptions
are availableof transnational
organizationsand political processes.Rubenstein(1982) and ThomasHope (1985) in the 1980s and more recently
Gmelch (1992), in describing return migration
from England,Canada,and the U.S. to the island
nation-statesin the West Indies," have documentedthe interweaveof transnationalfamilyrelationshipsand economictransactionsthat reserveda
place for returnmigrantsat home,offsettingtheir
in this country . . . one's identity is not that of a
global vulnerability.These connectionshave enatransplantedGreek,but ratherthe sensibilityof an
bled immigrantsduringtheir yearsabroadto have
Americanethnic"(Moskos1989: 146, cited in Juschildrencared for by kin at home, to continueas
danis 1991: 216).
actors in key family decisions,to visit at regular
At present,a significantchange is underway. intervals, and to purchase property and build
Both the Greekgovernmentand personsof Greek homes and businessesin their countriesof origin,
origins settled in various countries around the
even as they have boughthomesand createdbusiworld are redefiningtheir relationshipto Greece. nessesin their countriesof settlement.
The direction of the change is signaled by the
Georges (1990) and Grasmuckand Pessar
adoptionby the Greek governmentof the term
have notedthat individualsand households
(1991)
"spodemoi"or "Greeksabroad"for all personsof
to maintaintheirclass positionsor to sestruggled
Greek ancestry.For a sectorof these people,"the
cure class mobilityin the DominicanRepublicby
unifyingforceof the Hellenicdiasporais no longer
working or setting up businessesin New York.
a place, the nation-state of Greece, but the
While such sojournsare sometimestemporary,reimagined transcendentalterritory of Greekness turnhomeis often
"fragile"(GrasmuckandPessar
whichgroupsof individualsmay appropriateto suit
1991:86), so that manyimmigrantsend up livinga
their own needs and interests" (Jusdanis 1991:
settledexistencein the U.S. but investingin prop217). It is in this new transnationalspace that the
businessesand socialstatusin the Dominican
Greek governmentis mobilizingpopularopinion erty,
Laguerre(1978) and Brown(1991) have
Republic.
for its currentoppositionto the newlyindependent
describedHaitiantransnationalfamilynetworksof
state of Macedonia.As they participatein the pourbanworking-classhouseholds.Even thoughthey
litical processof reimaginingthe historyof Northhad not fully developeda conceptof transnationalern Greece (Karakasidou1994; Danforth n.d.),
membersof these populations,many long settled, ism, a few scholarsof migrationrecognizedthat
the transnationallinkagesthat they wereobserving
are participatingin and definingthemselvesas a
had
for the immigrantsand their
part of the Greekpolitywhile they simultaneously homeimplications
and
host
societies
(Chaney1979). For examremain embeddedin the nation-statesin which
Gonzalez
notedthat manyGarifuna
(1988:
10)
ple,
they are settled.
have "become United States citizens, yet they
think of themselvesas membersof two (or more)
Evidenceof TransnationalProcesses
societies."'12
Scholars such as Takaki (1989) and Pido
In the remainingsectionsof this articlewe examine (1986), writingaboutAsianimmigrantpopulations
in the U.S., have been even more focusedon the
some of the similaritiesthat emerge from such
problemsof immigrantintegration,assimilation,
comparativestudy,illustratethemwith someof our
and belonging, than those writing about Latin
own field studies,and examinethe implicationsof
Americanand Caribbeanimmigrants.Nonetheless,
this anthropology
of transnationalmigrationfor the
debateon the meritsof immigration.A large body recentethnographicaccountscontainsomedescripof ethnographicdata on transnationalimmigrant tions of immigrantsfrom the Philippines,China,
networkshas been producedby researcherswork- and Koreacontinuingto maintainties back home
ing in the Caribbeanand LatinAmerica.The rich(Pido 1986;Wong 1982;Kim 1987).
to building national educational institutions (p.

213). However,and the point is critical,although
these nation-builders
engagedin multiple,overlapping transnationalactivitiesin ways that are similar to present-daytransmigrants,they did not
claim that their settlementsabroadwere part of
Greece.They were deeplycommittedto the struggle to constituteGreeceas a state with its own autonomousterritory.This separationof nation-state
from emigrant populationcan still be found in
statementsof Greek-Americans
writingon GreekAmericanidentity:for example,"amongthoseborn
54
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
Evidenceof transnationalpatternsof interconnectioncan be found in descriptionsof migrations

to the U.S. and WesternEuropefrommost regions
of the world.Some ethnographers
workingwith recent immigrantsin Italy, France, Holland, and
Spainhaveoccasionallyobservedevidenceof transnational linkages (Eintziger 1985; Carter 1994;
Neveu 1994; Jimenez Romero 1994). "Dollar"
houses recentlyhave been noted to transformthe
landscapeand inflatelocal land values in the Philippines and India as well as in the Caribbean,
Latin America,the Pacific,and Africa. However,
evenwhenthey havedocumentedthe circulationof
peopleand remittances(Ballard1987) or identified
the growthof transnationalculturaldiasporas(Cohen 1994; Hall 1990), a numberof scholarsworking in Europehaveyet to recognizethe significance
of these interconnectionsfor studies in migration
and culturalpolitics.A conceptof "transnationalism" wouldallow researchersto take into account
the fact that immigrantslive their lives acrossnational bordersand respondto the constraintsand
demandsof two or more states.
cial mobilityin contextsof vulnerabilityand subordination to world capitalismboth at home and

abroad.
Thesecollectivetransnational
familystrategies
also have importantimplicationsfor class production and reproduction
at bothendsof the migration
stream.They are helpfulin maintaining,and also
at times in enhancing,the social and economicpositionsof transmigrants'
familiesin class structures
at home where opportunitiesare often deteriorating. The Vincentianpeasant family of the Carringtonsis an apt exampleof the need to deploy
familymembersin severallocationsin orderto survive as a unit and retaina land base in St Vincent,
and the relativeadvantagethat comesfromsuch a
strategy.This familyownedtwo acres of land, the
produceof which the mothervendedin the local
market.Householdmemberslivedin a simpleclapboardhouseof two rooms,with no indoorplumbing
or electricity.Two daughters,who could not find
employmentin St. Vincent'sstagnanteconomy,despite the country'srecent political independence,
migratedto the U.S. as domesticworkersto gain
incomethat could help supportfamilymembersin
A ComparativeEthnographyof Caribbeanand
Saint Vincentand contributeto buildinga cement
block family home. Two brothers,who also could
Filipino Transnationalism
not find work locally, migratedto Trinidadas a
skilled automobile mechanic and construction
Among the Caribbeanand Filipinotransmigrants
with whomwe worked,the processesof settlement worker.The wife of one of the brotherslaterjoined
her husband'ssistersin New York, whereshe too
fosteredthe developmentof transnationalism.As
becamea live-indomesticworker.The motherrein
their
new
members
of
these
settled
homes,
they
mained
behindin St. Vincentto care for her son's
populationsdeveloped multiple social, economic,
two
childrenand overseethe constructionof
small
and politicalties that extendedacrossborders.Inthe
family home. At variousmomentsone of the
corporationin the U.S. accompaniedand contribin Trinidad,whenhe was laid off fromhis
brothers
uted to incorporationin the home society. Fundaworkin Trinidad,returnedto the family home in
mental to these multiple networks of
are networksof kin who are based St. Vincent;it was loans from his sisters in New
interconnection
York that enabledhim to returnto Trinidadwhen
in one or more households.Among all classes it
employment
opportunitiesthere increased.
takes some resourcesto migrateand, often, migraA middle-classFilipinocouple, severedfrom
tion and the establishmentof transnationalnetthe supportof their extendedfamily becauseof a
worksare strategiesto insure that a householdis
businessmisunderstanding,
able to retainwhat it has in termsof resourcesand
experienceddifficulties
social position.Flexible extendedfamily networks findingadequateemploymentand supportingtheir
have long been used in all these countriesto pro- children in school during the 1980s. Facing the
vide access to resources.By stretching,reconfigur- possibilityof a reducedclass position and social
ing, and activatingthese networksacross national status, they took a calculatedrisk and migrated
(first the wife and then the husbandand children)
boundaries,familiesare able to maximizethe utilization of labor and resourcesin multiplesettings to the U.S., eventhoughthey had to leavetwo chiland survivewithin situationsof economicuncer- drenbehindto finishschool.Followingtheirmigratainty and subordination.These family networks, tion, child rearingdecisionshave been made by
acrosspoliticaland economicborders,providethe
phoneand childrenhave movedbackand forthbein different
tweenschooland businessopportunities
possibilityfor individualsurvivaland at times soThis content downloaded from 161.53.28.4 on Fri, 04 Dec 2015 11:33:06 UTC

parts of the U.S. and the Philippines.After the
successfulweddingof their daughterto a Manila
dentist,which was financedby with dollarsearned
in the U.S., the familyis now buyingland to build
a housein the Philippines;it also is investingU.S.
savings in a small businessstartedby one of the
sons in Manila. The parentscontinueto live in a
small rentedapartmentin Queens.
Not everyonewithina familynetworkor even
withina householdmay benefitto the same degree
and tensionsaboundas men and women,those at
home and those abroad,define their interestsand
needs differently.'sFor example,a Haitiandoctor
living in Queensinvitedhis nieces from Haiti into
the household.His wife, who foundher doubleburden of work and houseworkcompoundedby the
presenceof her husband'skin, was bitteraboutthe
arrangement.Her anger was fueled by the fact
that she wanted room for her own siblings'children.In poorerHaitianfamiliestransmigrantsfeel
crushedby "billshere and there,"while those left
at homefeel that they are not beingadequatelyreimbursedfor the family resourcesthey have invested in sendingthe migrantabroad.Haitiansof
peasantbackgrounds,illiterateand with little access to phonesin Haiti, have developeda rhetoric
in the form of songs sent throughaudio cassettes
within which tensionsand fissureswithin transnational householdsand kin networksare communicated (Richman1992a). Women,who often shoulder the responsibility for their children's
upbringing,face particularpressuresto sendmoney
back home. A study of Haitian remittancesfrom
New YorkCity to Haiti indicatedthat womensent
larger amounts of money than men did, with
women who "headed households"sending the
greatestamount(DeWind 1987).
Migrantshave also createdbusinessactivities
that build upon, and also foster, transnationalsocial relationships.Studentsof immigrationin the
U.S. have devoteda great deal of energyto the investigationof enclave economies,postulatingthat
densely settled immigrantsare able to generate
their own internal market for culturallyspecific
cuisines, products, and objects (Sassen-Koob
1985). However,it is possibleto view such commercial transactionsas located within a transnational space that spans national borders,rather
than as confinedto territoriallybased enclaves.
Sometimes the commercial interconnections
are surreptitiousor so small scale they are barely
visible. This is certainlytrue of the transnational
55
economicnetworksmaintainedby many Haitians

who use familyvisitsbetweenHaitiand the U.S. to
restock small stores and businessesin Haiti with
items brought into Haiti in personal luggage.
Whenshe comesfor periodicvisits to obtainmedical treatmentthroughU.S. Medicareto whichshe
is entitledafter long years of workin the U.S., as
well as throughvisits to relativesin Montreal,Yolandeand her husbandrestocktheirsmallgift shop
in Port-au-Prince.Immacula,visiting her sister,
bringsbleachand othersuppliesfor her sister'sfuneral parlor.Many mambosand houngon(priests
and priestesseswho lead Haitian voodoo gatherings) importritualobjectsfromHaiti for theirceremoniesin the U.S.
Often the most successfulmigrantbusinesses
arise in the very intersticescreatedby transnationalism-for example,shippingand air cargocompanies, import-exportfirms, labor contractors,and
moneytransferhouses.At the same time the businessesfacilitatethe deepeningof transnationalsocial relations.A shippingcompanystartedby two
brothersfrom St. Vincentis such an undertaking.
Carl Hilaire,usingthe savingshe accruedfromhis
job as a bankclerkin New York,starteda business
shippingbarrelsof goodsbetweenmigrantsin New
York and their kin in St. Vincent.His brotherin
St. Vincent receivedand deliveredthe goods as
they arrivedin St. Vincent. The success of the
brothers'shippingcompanywas in part relatedto
their activeinvolvementsin socialserviceactivities
both in St. Vincentand the immigrantcommunity
in New York,whereeach was well known.
Despitethe wideuse madeof this companyby
transmigrantfamiliesand businessesin New York
and St. Vincent,the limitedcapitalavailablein the
eastern Caribbean immigrant community has
servedas a brakeon the growthof this company.
Employedprimarilyas clerksand juniorlevel administratorsin service sector companies,Vincentian immigrants,includingCarl,havelimitedfunds
availablefor investmentpurposes,and limitedconnectionsto peoplewith capital,to enablethis business to expandinto relatedactivitiesor to be extendedto other West Indianislands.
However,it is possiblefor businessesthat facilitate transnationalconnectionsto generatelarge
amountsof capital. When by 1987 annualremittances to Haiti grew to an estimated to be
U.S.$99.5 milliona year fromthe New Yorkmetropolitanarea, Citibankinvestigatedthe possibility
of competingwith the profitableHaitian money
56
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
transferbusinessesthat had developedin the U.S.

(DeWind1987). Becauseof their largerpopulation
size and resourcebase, Filipinoshave been able to
develop large scale transmigrantbusinesseswith
multiplebranchesacrossnationalbordersby using
the intersticescreatedby the ongoingtransnational
lives of the new immigrants.For example,starting
with the sale of rice and vegetables to Filipino
nurses from a small delivery truck as a second
source of income, a Filipino accountantprogressivelygraduatedto the bulk air shipmentof transmigrants'balikbayan("homecomers")boxes. Ten
years later he had offices in New York, Manila,
and six other Philippinecities, a fleet of some 100
couriers picking up and deliveringthe packages
door to door,and a specialagreementwith certain
airlines.The once part-timebusinesshas becomea
largeinvestmentand a full time occupationfor him
and other membersof his family. The growthof
these businessesis a testimonyto multipleties that
extendbetweenhome and host countries.
Transnationalpracticesextend beyondhousehold and family networksto includeorganizations
that link the homecountrywith one or moresocieties in which its populationhas settled. Immigrant
"voluntaryassociations"haveoften been studiedas
institutionsthat assist in the adaptationof newcomersto a new location (Mangin 1965). On the
otherhand,researcherswho have lookedfor explanationsfor culturalpersistencein the midst of assimilativepressureshave argued that immigrants
build organizationsto preservetheir practicesand
values,even as they assist in adaptation(Jenkinset
al. 1985). Social programsorientedtowardsthe incorporationof immigrantsinto their new society
often use these organizationsas cultural brokers.
Most recentlyin the U.S. immigrantorganizations
of ethniccommuhavebeenseen as representatives
nities that contributeto a nation'sculturaldiversity. None of these approacheshas examinedthe
contribution these organizations make to the
growthof social and politicalspaces and cultural
practicesthat go beyondthe boundariesof the nation-state.Also not exploredby scholarsor policy
makersare the implicationsof transnationalorganizationalconnectionsfor programmaticeffortsto
use immigrantorganizationsas agentsof the social
and politicalincorporationof immigrantsinto the
receivingsociety.
Each of the four immigrantpopulationswith
whichwe workedhad developedorganizationsthat
builda densenetworkof transnationalinterconnec-
tions.They organizednot just nostalgicimaginings

of the home countrybut active relationshipswith
it. These organizationalactivitiesprovideda base
upon which leaderswere able to validateor build
social and political capital in both societies.
Vincentiansand Grenadians,givena migrationhistory to the U.S. that spans the twentiethcentury,
and confrontingracialbarriersbothin the past and
into
presentthat preventedtheir full incorporation
the social and politicallife of the nation,have a
long history of using organizationsto maintain
transnationalinterconnections
(Basch 1992; Basch
et al. 1994;Toney 1986)." The increasingtransnationalactivitiesof Vincentianand Grenadianorganizationsfollowing1970demonstratethe important
impact self-ruleand politicalindependencein the
West Indies.combinedwith greatlyexpandedemigrationto the U.S., have had on the organizingof
a multi-strandedtransnationalsocial field."1
Filipinotransmigrantshave built a dense network of linkages with hundredsof organizations
that stage religious,cultural,and social events in
the Philippinesas well as in the U.S. Fiestas, for
example,in townsin the Philippineshave takenon
a grandscale with the participationof Filipinoorganizationsin the U.S. Some of the organizations
havedevelopednew formsof Filipinonationalidentity and political action and have mediatedrelationshipsbetweenthe U.S. and Philippinesgovernments (Basch et al. 1994).
A surveyof the leadersof Haitianorganizations in New YorkCity begunduringthe Duvalier
dictatorshipindicatedthe range of organizational
linkages that can grow up, even in a situation
wheretransnationalorganizationsare viewedwith
suspicionor activelyoppressedin the home country.16Not all Haitian organizationsin New York
were transnationalbut more than forty percent
were engagedin activitiesorientedat least in part
to Haiti and sixty percentsaw someof theiractivities in some way contributingto Haiti. The range
of organizationsthat operatedin a transnational
social field included Protestant and Catholic
churches,alumnaeorganizationsfromvarioushigh
schools, hometownassociations,Masonic lodges,
culturalassociations,17and organizationsthat saw
themselvesas a voiceof the "Haitiancommunityin
New York."These organizationssaw their membersas neithersolelypartof the U.S. nor Haiti but
ratheras connectedsimultaneouslyto both societies. To educate Haitian youth in the U.S. would
both contributeto their successas Americansand

of Haiti. After the fall
assist in the transformation
of the Duvalierregimemanyof these organizations
workedto developorganizationalbases in Haiti.
Transmigrantshave been partisansand participantsin strugglesagainstdictatorshipsin Haiti,
the Philippines,and Grenada and have charged
their respectivegovernmentsto be responsiblefor
making democracywork. Throughorganizations,
as well as on the basisof personaltransnationalrelationships,transmigrantshave been able to play a
role in politicalarenasin both the U.S. and their
homecountries.Key membersof the anti-Duvalier
movementin the U.S. returnedto Haiti in the
1980s and built supportfor politicaland social reform froma base both in Haiti and in the U.S. In
the yearsbetweenthe fall of the Duvalierregimein
1986 and the election of Aristide in 1990, candidates for the Haitian legislatureand Presidency
campaignedin the U.S., Canada,and Haiti. Several were long-timeresidentsof the U.S. Taking
the stance that they share a single destiny, Haitians demonstratedin New York, Washington,
Miami, Boston, Montreal,and Port-au-Princeto
demandpoliticalchangein Haiti, to protestthe labelingof Haitiansas carriersof AIDS, and for the
reinstatementof Aristideas Presidentof Haiti.
Vincentianand Grenadianimmigrants,have
workedclosely with, and sometimesas representatives of, their homegovernmentsto obtainU.S. economic support.Grenadiantransmigrants,for example, lobbiedthe U.S. governmentfor economic
assistancepromisedbut never deliveredafter the
U.S. invasion of their country and expected
throughthe CaribbeanBasin Initiative.Active in
efforts to develop agriculturaland industrialexports from their home countries,Grenadianand
Vincentianmigrantshave built organizationsthat
haveworkedcloselywith theirhomecountries'consulates in New York to obtain more favorable
termsof tradefor Caribbeanagriculturaland manufacturedproductsbeing importedinto the U.S.
They also have been part of effortsto obtainmore
lenientimmigrationquotas.
Filipinotransmigrantswere a majorforce in
developingoppositionto the Marcosgovernmentin
the wake of deterioratingeconomicconditionsat
home and in ensuring U.S. support in toppling
Marcos.Throughtransmigrantorganizing,discussion groups,speeches,and media exposure,a new
form of nationalism was created and fostered
amongtransmigrantsin the U.S. underthe leadership of opponentsto the Marcosgovernment.This
57
movementtook off after the Aquinoassassination.

It lobbiedfor a new governmentand a renewalof
democracyin the Philippinesand obtainedthe collaborationof key U.S. Senatorsand Representatives. Popularoutrage in both the U.S. and the
Philippinesat Marcos'manipulationof the Philippine nationalelections,confirmedby the personal
observationsof top U.S. politicians,and accompanied by the intenselobbyingof transmigrants,
ultimatelyforcedthe Reagangovernmentto changeits
policiestowardsMarcosand to help overthrowthe
Marcos regime.The personnelof the Filipinoregimes that have followed,beginningwith that of
CoryAquino,havebeenfilledwithpoliticalplayers
whosepersonaland politicalnetworkslink them to
both the U.S. and the Philippines.In the 1980sand
1990s increasedFilipinoeffortsto lobby the U.S.
Congressfor assistancefor the Philippinesreflecta
political terrain of dense transnational
interconnection.
These activitieshave all been spearheadedby
immigrantleaders in the U.S., acting in concert
with political actors in their home nation-states.
LamuelStanislaus,an informalleaderin the West
Indianimmigrantcommunityin Brooklyn,is an example of how immigrantsare able to participate
in-and have an impacton-political strugglesin
both Grenadaand the U.S. A dentistto the West
Indian and African American populations in
Brooklyn,StanislausemigratedfromGrenadaover
forty-fiveyearsago to studyat HowardUniversity.
In the mid-1980she becamea key organizerof a
supportgroup comprisedof West Indian immigrantsin New York to re-electMayorKoch.The
membersof this organizationfelt that the thenmayorwas cognizantof and wouldbe responsiveto
West Indianinterestsin New York.Stanislaushad
takenpartin severalmeetingswith Koch,at which
he lobbiedfor West Indianinterests.At the same
time Stanislaus, who during the last years of
Bishop'sgovernmenthad been vocal in his opposition to what he consideredto be that government's
antidemocraticpractices,headeda supportgroup
of Grenadians,locatedbothin New Yorkand Grenada, to elect a successorto MauriceBishop,after
Bishopwas murderedand the U.S. invadedGrenada. When Stanislaus' candidate was elected
primeministerof Grenada,Stanislaushimselfwas
appointedGrenada'sambassadorto the United
Nations, althoughhe had not visited Grenadain
over forty years.
As we see fromthese examples,the abilityof
58
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
these transmigrantsto wield politicalinfluencein

This extensionof the bordersof the nationboth the U.S. and their home nation-statesderives state to includetransmigrantpopulationslong setfrom their politicalincorporationin both settings. tled and often legally citizens of other countries
Grassrootsorganizinglinked to new social move- was highlightedby the politicaldiscourseof Presimentsas well as electoralpoliticstake place in the
dent Aristideof Haiti. In 1991 he designatedthe
Haitian diasporaDizyem-na, the Tenth Departemergingtransnationalpoliticalarenas.While the
dominantpolitical ethic of the U.S. continuesto
ment of Haiti. Haiti has nine territorialdivisions
demandthat citizens,both nativebornand natural- called departments. By including Haitians in
ized, swear allegianceonly to the U.S. and define whatevercountrythey have settled as part of the
their politicalidentitywithinits borders,the trans- Haitiannation-stateAristidecontributedto a new
nationalismof increasingnumbersof its citizens constructionof the postcolonialnation-state.In this
promotesnew politicalconstructionsin labor-send- constructionof Haiti as a borderlessstate, Haitian
ing states. Facing situationsof extremeeconomic territorybecomes a social space that may exist
withinthe legal boundariesof manynation-states.8"
impoverishmentand dependency,Caribbeanleaders are developingconstructionsof their nation- Haiti now exists whereverin the world Haitians
states that encompassthoseresidingabroadas part had settled. Speakingof the "bank of the diasof theirbodypolitic.Theseconstructions,whichwe
pora,"he offeredthe model of JewishZionismas
have labeled "deterritorialized nation-states" evidence of the productivityof this strategy in
(Basch et al. 1994) define state boundariesin sowhich, in the Haitian reading,the diasporastays
cial rather than geographicterms. Accordingto
abroadbut providesmoneyand politicalassistance
this readingof the nation-state,the bordersof the
to the "home"country(Richman1992b).1'
state spreadgloballyto encompassall migrantsand
Aristide'sconstructionof the Tenth Departtheir descendantswhereverthey may settle and
ment recognized,accepted,and made use of the
whateverlegal citizenshipthey may have attained. multiple embeddednessof the Haitian transBishop,the primeministerof Grenadaduring migrantsand theirparticipationin the politicallife
the early 1980s,reflectingthe perspectiveof several of the U.S. Haitian transnationalismwas more
West Indianpoliticalleaders,underscoredthe imthanlegitimized:it was nationalized.By nationalizof
the
to
nation
Grenada's
immigrants
portance
ing transmigrants,Aristidemade Haitiantransnabuilding by referringto Brooklynas "Grenada's tionalisma politicalforcethat mustbe figuredinto
largest constituency."To assure that the immi- the relationshipbetweenHaiti and the other nagrantsremainconnectedand committedto projects tion-statesin whichHaitianshavesettled.By theoat homebothideologicallyand financially,scoresof
rizing a deterritorializednation, leaders such as
West Indianpoliticalleadersvisit their "constitu- Aristideare definingvoting, lobbying,runningfor
encies" in the diasporato describetheir develop- office,demonstrating,
buildingpublicopinion,sendment initiatives.In so doingthey enmeshthe trans- ing remittances,and maintainingother transnational activitiescarriedout in the U.S. as acts of
migrantsin the nation-statebuildingprocessesof
West Indiannation-states.
citizenshipand expressionsof loyalty to another
As early as 1973 Philippines President country.
U.S. hegemonicforces, on the other hand,
Marcos,and subsequentlyhis successors,developed
a programfor balikbayan("homecomers")
and behave reactedto the growingcommitmentof transgan to use the termto referto Filipinocitizensand
migrantsto participatein the politicalprocessesof
non-citizens residing overseas. They encouraged both the U.S. and the "homesociety"by renewed
migrantsto visit home throughvisa and travelfaincorporativeefforts.They have insisted that the
cilitationand allowed for large shipmentsof perbottom line loyalties of Caribbean immigrants
sonal effects that ultimatelyfed transnationalimmust be to the U.S. Interviewsconductedin 1986
with representativesof fifty-one philanthropies,
port-exportbusinesses and they levied taxes on
incomesearnedabroad.Governmentofficialscalled churches,and state agencieswho workedwith Haiupon Filipinotransmigrantsto fund development tian immigrantorganizationsmadethis clear.Representativesof U.S. organizationswere explicitin
projects in the Philippinesand to lobby for increased U.S. aid. Filipinosenatorsand congress- their insistencethat Haitian immigrantsbecome
men came to the U.S. to campaignfor elected ofU.S. citizensand give up their allegianceto Haiti.
fice in the Philippines.
Both implicitlythroughthe money,technicalassisThis content downloaded from 161.53.28.4 on Fri, 04 Dec 2015 11:33:06 UTC
FROM IMMIGRANT TO TRANSMIGRANT

tance, and political connections they provided to organizations, and explicitly in the course of meetings and conversations with Haitian leaders, these
representative sent a consistent message. It was
summarized by a representative of the Community
Service Society, a large philanthropic organization:
"I have problems with dual citizenship; I believe in
allegiance to one country."
Implications of Transnationalism for the Debate
on Immigration
The paradox of our times, and one that must be
central to our understanding of the identities and
dilemmas of current day immigrants is that the
"age of transnationalism" is a time of continuing
and even heightening nation-state building
processes. In the current heightening of nationalist
sentiment in a globalized economy, transnational
migration is playing a complex, significant, yet little noted role (Miles 1993). It lies as a silent subtext that contributes to the actions, motivations,
and sensibilities of key players within the political
processes and debates of both states that have histories of population dispersal and states that have
primarily been and continue to be recipients of
population flows. In the U.S. the debates on both
immigration and multiculturalism need to be analyzed in relationship to the efforts by dominant
forces to reconstruct national consensus and legitimate state structures at the same time that they
globalize the national economy. The 1994 passage
of the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs
and California's Proposition 187 that denies vital
services to undocumented immigrants are a
matched set of policy initiatives. As the national
economy is restructured to facilitate higher levels
of profit for transnational capital, politicians and
the media have projected a bunker mentality, convincing the majority of the population, including
people who are themselves immigrants that the national borders have to be defended against the undocumented. Undocumented workers are said to be
the cause of the deterioration of the infrastructure
and the lack of public services.
The strategy of U.S. hegemonic forces forming
a national consensus by depicting immigrants as an
enemies of the nation is not new. However, the par-
59
ticular focus on the undocumented is worth examining for several reasons. Certainly the continuing
ability of the nation-state to punish violations of
law should not be dismissed in debates about the
demise of the nation-state. In the realm of the
withdrawal of rights to health, education, and
peace of mind, the U.S. nation-state is clearly able
to enforce a distinction between categories of belonging. However, it should be noted that the political rhetoric and policies such as Proposition 187
delineate legal residents and the undocumented,
rather than native born and foreign or citizen and
non-citizen. Similarly, the special Federal Commission on Immigration Reform chaired by former
U.S. Representative Barbara Jordan does not advocate halting immigration but does propose restricting undocumented immigration.
This particular emphasis on categories of legality has a dual thrust. The debate is as much
about confining immigrant loyalties to the U.S. as
it is about reducing the flow of immigration. Of
course, the current national public discussion about
immigration certainly contributes to a broader
anti-immigrant hysteria that has racist underpinnings, with all immigrants of color finding their
presence and activities under increased scrutiny.
Concepts of "America, the white" are reinforced.
Yet at the same time, documented immigrants are
being drawn into the debate on the side of enforcement, validating their right to belong but differentiating themselves from other immigrants. There is a
dialectic between inclusion and exclusion that disciplines transnational migrants by focusing public attention on the degree to which they belong in the
U.S. The current debate on immigrants in U.S. will
lead not to the effective policing of national borders
but to the reinscription of boundaries. It serves to
counter transnational identities and loyalties and
creates a terrain in which immigrants are drawn
into defending whatever they have achieved or obtained by defending it against the undocumented.
They are therefore drawn into a discourse of identity that links them to the U.S. nation state as a
bounded structure of laws and institutions as well
as a defended territory. Yet none of the nationbuilding processes encompasses fully the complexity and multiple identities which constitute the lives
of transmigrants.
NOTES
'The Filipino immigrants also did not raise the issue of
transnationalism. Even while they continue to build their transnational practices and networks, immigrants, very often influ-
enced by the concept of "the immigrant" as uprooted, believe

that they must make a choice between their new country and
their homeland. Interactions such as these with the census or-
60
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
QUARTERLY
ganizersreinforcetheir belief that U.S. society wants them to

be loyal to only the U.S., so that they do not describeother
aspectsof their experiences.
2"Transnational" appearsin the titles of books, dissertations, conferences,and journals(AmericanAcademyof Political and Social Science 1986; Georges 1990; Richman 1992a;
Rouse 1989;Wakeman1988). Diasporais "a journalof transnationalstudies,"Public Culturehas as its subtitle the "Society for TransnationalStudies,"and the statementof purposeof
Identitiesspeaks of "transnationalmovementsof population."
In 1993 transnationalconnectionsbecame a theme of the annual meetingsof the AmericanEthnologicalSociety, while the
Society for CulturalAnthropologycalled for workon "transnationalculture."The 1994 meetingsof the AmericanAnthropological Society contained seven sessions devoted to transnational studies.
3Sutton and Mackiesky-Barrow(1992[1975]: 114) were
among the first to speak of a "transnationalsocioculturaland
politicalsystem"in which "politicaleventsat home ... had an
impacton the migrantcommunitiesabroadwhile migrantexperienceswere relayedin the oppositedirection."Researchers
workingwith immigrantswhose lives defy, sometimeson daily
terms, the legal constraintsof the Mexican and U.S. border,
beganto talk of "transnationalcircuits"(Rouse 1989, 1991) or
"transnationalcommunities"(Kearney1992; Rouse n.d.). Appadurai(1990, 1991) and Gupta (1992), notingthe rapidflow
of ideas and objectsas well as people,began to reimaginethe
globe as havingenteredan era of transnationalism,a position
also expressedby Rouse and Kearney.In 1989, respondingto
our call to develop a transnationalperspectiveon migration,
seven scholarsexaminedthe ramificationsof transnationalmigration to the U.S. from Asia, the Caribbean,Mexico, and
Portugal,at a conferenceat the New York Academyof Sciences (see Charles, Feldman-Bianco,Lessinger,Ong, Rouse,
Richman,and Wiltshirein Glick Schiller et al. 1992b).
4Thisstatementreflectsa tendencyfoundin manyscholars
influencedby postmodernismto imaginea past of unchanging
and tightly boundedcultures.
5Appadurai(1993) has made a similar point but does not
includemilitaryand police functions.
6Gilroy (1987) has examinedthe responseof black immigrant youth in Britainfrom a similar perspective.
7See Chock (forthcoming)for a critique of the way in
which texts such as the Harvard Encyclopediaof American
Ethnic Groupsshapednarrativesof immigrantsettlementand
identity.
8The intensityof earlier drives to assimilate immigrants
may actually have been a reactionto the fact that immigrants
of earliergenerationsalso tended to maintaintheir home ties.
Certainlythere are glimpses in the historicalrecordof large
scale returnmigrationto Italy (Portesand Rumbaut1990) and
of political movementsin Europe, including many national
strugglesthat were transnationalin their composition(Higham
and Brooks1978).
9Bolsheviksincluding Trotsky wrote for the immigrant
pressin New Yorkand then returnedto Russiain the courseof
the revolutionto build newspapersin the Soviet Union.
1OTheycontributed to the reconceptualizationof the
Greek-speakingpopulationfrom a religiousmillet composedof
co-religionistswithin the OttomanEmpireto a nation with a
sharednationalculture and its own state.
"The term "West Indies"is used to describethose coun-
tries formedfromthe Caribbeanterritoriesunderthe controlof

the Britishduringthe colonialperiod.The term "Caribbean"
has a broaderconnotation,referringto all islandstates lying in
the CaribbeanSea as well as states along the northernrim of
South America(See Basch 1987, 1992).
12Further work on Garifuna networksthat interconnect
populationsin multiplenationstates has beendoneby Macklin
(1992). Macklinidentifieda patternin which immigrantnetworksspanso manycountriesthat migrantsdevelopan identity
which in some ways is independentof any particularnational
territoryor history.
13SSeePessar 1991 for an explicationof this theme.
whichwere apparentin the early
"These interconnections,
1980s, led Basch to design a study to explorethe extent and
ramificationsof these connections.This researchwas conducted
underthe auspicesof the United Nations Institutefor Training
and Researchand was fundedby the United Nations Fundfor
PopulationActivities and the InternationalDevelopmentResearch Centre (Ottawa, Canada). Rosina Wiltshire,Winston
Wiltshire,and Joyce Toney were researchcollaboratorswith
Basch;their efforts were greatly aided by the researchassistance of Colin Robinson,Isa Soto, and MargaretSouza.
"1Theimmigrationlegislationof 1965, and the social and
economicrelationsbetweenthe United States and the Caribbean that framedits enactment,greatlyliberalizedrestrictions
of West Indian immigrationthat had been in force since the
1920s.This historicmoment(1965 to 1970) was a watershedin
the expansionof the West Indian population,of West Indian
social, political,and economicactivities,and of increasingassertionsof a publicWest Indianidentityin New York.Transnational organizationsplayed an importantrole in fostering
these intertwiningdevelopments.
16The survey, as well as a survey of U.S. organizations
that providedsupportto Haitianethnicorganizingwas funded
by a grant from the National Institutefor Child Health and
Human Development(#281-40-1145) to Josh DeWind and
Nina Glick Schiller. It was developedand administeredby a
research team that included Marie Lucie Brutus, Carolle
Charles,George Fouron,and Antoine Luis Thomas.For a report on some of the findings, see Glick Schiller et al.
1992[1987].
17"Inher researchwith Filipinoorganizationsin New York
City Szanton-Blancfounda similarrangeof organizationswith
transnationalconnections.
1"GeorgeAnglade had previouslyused the term in his
writingsbut Aristidepopularizedit. The conceptof the Tenth
Departmentstrucka resonantnote amonga numberof middleclass Haitian immigrantsand aspiringpoliticalleadersin the
U.S., and they proceededto hold a seriesof meetingsto organize the mannerin whichthey wouldassist Haiti and to choose
officialrepresentativesof the Tenth Department.
'1Aristidealso waged a campaign to insure that when
transmigrantscame home to visit and spendtheir money,they
felt welcome. In the past personsin the diasporawere often
devalued as unauthenticopportunistswho had jumped ship.
"Diaspora"became a somewhatpejorativeterm. In contrast,
Aristidecalled on the Haitianpopulationto welcomethe transmigrantswho shouldreturnto Haiti not to settle but as "good
homegrownKreyoltourists"(bonjan pitit kay touris Kreyol)
and to see them not as a threat but a sourceof assistancefor
the strugglesof the Haitian people (Richman 1992).
61
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From Immigrant to Transmigrant: Theorizing Transnational Migration

FROM IMMIGRANTTO TRANSMIGRANT:THEORIZING

At a dinnerrecentlyGlick Schillerlistenedwhile internationaldevelopmentexpertsdebatedthe degreeto whichland in

At Expo 1993, a tradeand culturalfair in Brooklynsponsoredby the CaribbeanAmericanChamberof Commercethat

In the 1960s the word"transnational"

conjuncturein which "groupsare no longertightly

Threeconjoiningpotentforcesin the currentglobal

the infrastructureof transportation,education,

FROM IMMIGRANTTO TRANSMIGRANT

the narrativesof nation that were prevalentuntil

the publishedstudies.The studiesdescribedand assessedthe progressmadetowardsincorporating

the same time parties,factions,and leaderswithin

FROM IMMIGRANTTO TRANSMIGRANT

est descriptionsof transnationalprocessesare of

to building national educational institutions (p.

Evidenceof transnationalpatternsof interconnectioncan be found in descriptionsof migrations

cial mobilityin contextsof vulnerabilityand subordination to world capitalismboth at home and

FROM IMMIGRANTTO TRANSMIGRANT

economicnetworksmaintainedby many Haitians

transferbusinessesthat had developedin the U.S.

tions.They organizednot just nostalgicimaginings

FROM IMMIGRANTTO TRANSMIGRANT

movementtook off after the Aquinoassassination.

these transmigrantsto wield politicalinfluencein

FROM IMMIGRANT TO TRANSMIGRANT

enced by the concept of "the immigrant" as uprooted, believe

ganizersreinforcetheir belief that U.S. society wants them to

tries formedfromthe Caribbeanterritoriesunderthe controlof

FROM IMMIGRANTTO TRANSMIGRANT

Gupta,Akhil and James Fergerson.1992. Beyond"culture":Space, identityand the politicsof difference.CulturalAnthropology

Michael Featherstone.NewburyPark CA: Sage

New York:CommunityCouncilof GreaterNew York.

York:New York Academyof Sciences.

Neveu, Catherine.1994. Of a naturalbelongingto a politicalnation-state:the Frenchcase. Paperdeliveredat the symposiumon

FROM IMMIGRANT TO TRANSMIGRANT

Szanton.New York:New York Academyof Sciences.

circuit. Ph.D. dissertation,StanfordUniversity.

. 1992. Makingsense of settlement:Class transformation,

Center for MigrationStudies.

Ann Arbor MI: UMI DissertationInformationServices.

Wakeman,Frederic,Jr. 1988. Transnationaland comparativeresearch.Items 42(4): 85-88.

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