Turning transnational: notes on the theorisation of international migration

Abstract

Abstract This paper takes stock of transnational perspectives on international migration. Transnationalism concerns itself with social processes that are both rooted in, and transcend, nations. While more generally referring to complex economic, cultural and political relations, I focus on scholarship that describes how migrants contribute to the daily life of emerging transnational communities. I argue that poststructural readings of transnationalism have opened the way for accounts of international migration under globalisation. However, key questions of migrant agency and hybridity remain under‐theorised. The paper concludes with a discussion of the potential of postcolonial theorisations of international migration. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.