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The making of world society: perspectives from

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Anghel, Remus Gabriel (Ed.); Gerharz, Eva (Ed.); Rescher, Gilberto (Ed.);
Salzbrunn, Monika (Ed.)

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Rem us Gabriel Anghel, Eva Gerharz,
Gilberto Rescher, Monika Salzbrunn (eds.)
The Making ofWorld Society
REMus GABRIEL ANGHEL, EvA GERHARZ,
GILBERTO RESCHER, MONIKA SALZBRUNN (EDS.)

The Making of World Society

Perspectives from Transnational Research

[transcript]
This book was printed with the financial support of the

W estfalisch- Lippische Universitatsgesellschaft

and

DFG Graduate School844 »World Society.

Making and Representing the Global«.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons

Attribution-NonCommerciai-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Bibliographic information published

by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deut-
sche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in
the Internet at http:/ jdnb.d-nb.de

© zoo8 transcript Verlag, Bielefeld

Cover layout: Kordula Rockenhaus, Bielefeld

Cover: location: Tijuana, Mexico, © Maria Guadalupe Rivera Garay,
Bielefeld, zoo8
Typeset by: Stiewe & Lieber GmbH
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Contents

Preface 9

Introduction: The Making of World Society 11

REMUs ANGHEL, EvA GERHARZ, GILBERTO REscHER, MoNIKA SALzBRUNN

Transnationality: Theoretical and Methodological Challenges

Transnationalisation in North and South:

Concepts, Methodology and Venues for Research 25
THOMAS FAIST

Transnationalisation, Translocal Spaces, Gender and

Development - Methodological Challenges 51
GUDRUN LACHENMANN

World Society, Transnationalism and Champs Migratoires:

Reflections on German, Anglo-Saxon and French Academic Debates 75
MoNIKA SALzBRUNN

Transnationalism, Political Participation and

New Forms of Belonging

Euro-Alevis: From Gastarbeiter to Transnational Community 103

BESIM CAN ZIRH

Identity Politics as an Expression of
European Citizenship Practice: Participation of
Transnational Migrants in Local Political Conflicts 133
MICHAEL JANOSCHKA

Mothering in Migration:
Transnational Strategies of Polish Women in Italy 153
GERMANA D'OTTAVIO

Transnationalism and Development

Opening to the World:

Translocal Post-War Reconstruction in Northern Sri Lanka 173
EvA GERHARZ

Transnationality, Translocal Citizenship and Gender Relations:

Transformation of Rural Community Organisation,
Local Politics and Development 195
GILBERTO REscHER

Networks, Hubs, Localities

A Global City-State of Finance- the Staging of Singapore as

Financial Hub between Global and Local Rhetoric 221

STEPHANIE HERING

The Transnational Management of Hazardous Chemicals 237

ALEXANDRA LINDENTHAL
IT Usage and Transnational Identity Formations

'Do you really talk about emotions on the phone.. ?':

Content of Distance Communication as a Structuring Moment
of the Modern World Society 253
MAGDALENA N OWICKA

Does It Matter Where You Are? - Transnational Migration,

Internet Usage and the Emergence of Global Togetherness 275
HEIKE M6NIKA GKESCHKE

The Indernet- A German Network in a Transnational Space 291

URMILA GoEL

Afterword: Are We All Transnationalists Now? 311

JoANNA PFAFF-CzARNECKA

Contributors 325
Preface
REMUs GABRIEL ANGHEL, EvA GERHARZ, GILBERTO REscHER, MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

World Society: Perspectives from Transnational Research is the result of two

years of theoretical work based on empirical studies carried out on four con-
tinents. A conference on this topic, organised by Remus Gabriel Anghel, Eva
Gerharz, Heike Greschke and Sven Kleinekathofer, took place at the University
of Bielefeld in November 2005. This conference was held within the framework
of the Graduate School 844 "World Concepts and Global Structural Patterns"
funded by the German Research Council (DFG). The event brought together ju-
nior and senior scholars from ten countries. The fruitful exchange that came out
of this conference was deepened through international working groups which met
virtually and physically over two years.
We would like to thank all of those who helped us along the way and made
the publication of this volume possible. We greatly appreciate the support of the
DFG Graduate School 844 "World Society. Making and Representing the
Global" for financing the conference and contributing to the publication. Finan-
cial help was also provided by the Westfalisch-Lippische Universitatsgesell-
schaft in Bielefeld. Thomas Faist has generously supported us throughout the
publication process. We owe particular thanks to Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka.
Without her generosity and encouragement we would not have been able to share
the outcome of our working group through this publication.
We are also deeply grateful to several scholars who participated in the con-
ference but whose contribution could not be integrated in this volume, particulary
R. Cheran and Petra Dannecker. We also express our gratitude to all those who
assisted us in copy editing, especially Sandrine Gukelberger and Mary Kenney.
Karin Werner, Roswitha Gost and our project manager Alexander Masch at
Transcript believed in this project from the very beginning and guided us with
great professionalism and friendship.
Introduction: The Making of World Society
REMUs ANGHEL, EvA GERHARZ, GILBERTO REscHER, MoNIKA SALzBRUNN

As a result of the emergence of global communicative connectivity the world has

become more integrated than ever before. Movements of people, exchange of
commodities, ideas and values have contributed to the increasing integration of
the world as a whole and the fact that the world can not be thought of as a con-
glomerate of separate entities as it was before. Related to these observations,
studying world society is a great challenge facing social scientists today, because
the notion itself reinforces a perspective which understands the world as a single,
comprehensive texture: World society encompasses the totality of social relation-
ships linking the inhabitants of the Earth. Similar views of such a vision are sug-
gested by notions such as dependencia (Andre Gunder Frank 1969), world sys-
tem (Wallerstein 1974), global village (McLuhan 1968; McLuhan/Powers 1992),
or world culture (Meyer 2005). Moreover, John Urry introduced the concept of
global complexity, taking the "global" as a complex perspective for analysing so-
cial processes (Urry 2002). Ulrich Beck (2006) has developed the notion of cos-
mopolitanism in a context of growing worldwide accessible reference systems. A
critical standpoint in regard to Urry's and Beck's approaches is expressed by Ele-
onore Kofman (2005), who has criticised these views on cosmopolitanism as too
narrow in scope. According to her, they are directed towards politically and eco-
nomically privileged groups, leaving aside considerations about others. She also
criticises the optimistic view of cosmopolitans, arguing that independent cosmo-
politan individuals or networks can also be perceived as a threat in the eyes of
representatives of the nation-state. Finally, an approach to synchronic meanings
of worldwide phenomena is offered by historians like Osterhammel and
Petersson (2003), who have analysed the world society from a diachronic per-
spective.
This general shifting perspective brings a number of new challenges for so-
cial science research which necessitate rethinking the notion of society in more
fundamental ways. In social sciences, but also in popular UIIderstanding, society
usually refers to boUIIded, territorially localised entities, especially to those con-
12 I REMUS ANGHEL, EvA GERHARZ, G1LBERTO REsCHER, MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

fined by nation-states. The emphasis on world society, in contrast seeks to over-

come this narrow perspective which, in times of mobility and border-crossing,
can not be regarded any longer as the dominant conceptual framework for analys-
ing and understanding society. This does not mean that the boundaries of nation-
states have lost their relevance entirely, but the meanings and significance of na-
tion-states as societal entities and, of their boundaries, is changing . This, in turn,
bears important implications for identities and modes of belonging, as well as for
the perspectives we need to apply while understanding and analysing social
formations and society. This is the case, for instance, when we investigate mul-
tiple border-crossing practices, forms of transnational or global togetherness and
new forms of intemet-mediated sociality between people living in different parts
of the world.
One particular aspect of the discussion on new meanings of boundaries in the
world society consists of investigating transnationalisation processes. We under-
stand the crossing of territorial and symbolic boundaries, like those of nation-
states, as an intrinsic aspect of today's characteristics of the global as such and
thus, a constitutive element in the making of world society. In this introduction
we wish to highlight a few aspects of the ongoing constitution of world society.
Furthermore, we attempt to clarify some of our conceptual tools and relate them
to other discourses and notions, such as globalisation. This leads us to a more
clear-cut understanding of world society, less as an object of sociological theory,
but rather as an analytical concept describing the "global situation" (Tsing 2000).
Transnationalisation, as the second constitutive concept within the framework of
this anthology, also requires some clarifications. The social sciences have pro-
duced a multitude of empirical works related to various phenomena of transna-
tionalisation during the last two decades, and based on these a great deal of con-
ceptual work has been made. We attempt to narrow our focus in this discussion
on its relationship with the notion of world society and intend to show some link-
ages related in the following chapters.

World Society as a Framing Concept

World-system theory, which can perhaps be regarded as a predecessor of per-

spectives on world society, dealt with the expansion of the capitalist economic
system and categorised the opposition between centre and periphery. Immanuel
Wallerstein (1974) and earlier Femand Braudel (1949) developed approaches
that linked various ways of thinking from social history, economy and the soci-
ological tradition. Marxism and development theory have proceeded, using the
approach of a world system, with influence on area studies. The global expansion
of capitalism across national borders continued to be a central question of world-
system theory. This was further developed and deepened by the pioneering works
of mainly Latin American social scientists in the 1950's and 1960's. These schol-
 THE MAKING oF WoRLD SociETY I 13

ars developed the concept of dependencia, which later on was further elaborated
and globally revealed by Andre Gunder Frank (1969) in his theory of the devel-
opment of underdevelopment. This influential perspective is concerned with the
phenomena of underdevelopment as a result of a greater degree of integration
into global structures dominated by First World countries and thus studies the re-
lationship between dependent accumulation and underdevelopment of the Third
World. 1
The notion of world society was first introduced into the sociological debates
by the Bielefeld system-theoretician Niklas Luhmann (1971), who assumed that
under the condition of so called modernity, the world should be thought of as a
system which transcends nation-states, stretching as a separate coordinated sys-
tem (Wobbe 2000: 6). 2 In other words, the world can be conceived only as one ir-
reducible entity, or social system. As such, this serves as a macro-sociological
explanatory framework. According to Luhmann, world society is constituted by
communication comprising all kinds of human interaction. Thinking of world so-
ciety as a single social system which is not reducible to smaller geographical
units (states, regions, locales) and which is constituted by communication, causes
a number of difficulties for empirical research and theory building. This is be-
cause it remains incompatible with attempts to develop middle range theory
based on empirical grounds. 3 Moreover, world society, as conceptualised in Luh-
mann's theory, is constituted solely through communication between equalised
partners who are related to each other through inclusion, while the rest remain
excluded (Ko/3ler 2001: 24). This means also, that this approach cannot ad-
equately capture the inequalities and asymmetries inside world society, which
are, nevertheless, apparent and empirically evident, for example in regional dis-
parities. These are crucial issues in development sociology and approaches to
global social inequality. Luhmann's successor, Rudolf Stichweh (2000), tried to
adapt this theoretical framework, paying attention to the obvious regional dispar-
ities, by introducing the idea of asynchrony (Ungleichzeitigkeit). However, this
partial solution ignores the various modes of interrelatedness between the world's
regions 4 (Ko/3ler 2001: 25) since the disparities are frequently a direct result of
global connectedness and integration into worldwide relations.
From our point of view, the notion of world society helps to depict intercon-
nections between geographical and social subjects. We attempt to figure out hier-
archies and power relations between different actors situated in distinct positions

A good overview is provided by the volume "The Underdevelopment of Develop-

ment" edited by Chew/Denemark (1996).
2 Almost simultaneously Peter Heintz (1973) referred to world society as well.
3 Herewith we refer to R.K. Merton's (1949) differentiation between theories of vari-
ous range. The aim of empirically grounded research is not to develop an all-embra-
cing theory of society, but to understand the various dimensions of society based on
observable phenomena.
4 Hence, any analysis in terms of asynchrony falls back into the concept of backward-
ness.
14 I REMUS ANGHEL, EvA GERHARZ, G1LBERTO REsCHER, MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

at different scales. In their latest reflections on rescaling processes, Nina Glick

Schiller and Ayse <;:aglar (forthcoming) analyse the positioning oflocalities with-
in broader fields of power that are shaping opportunity structures, cultural polit-
ics, and pathways of migrants' local and transnational incorporation. We favour
an understanding of world society inspired by the insights of system-theory and
other macro perspectives, but which emphasise interrelatedness and rescaling
processes. Social spaces, emerging between actors situated in different world re-
gions and the localities therein, are constituted by differences in positions in
power relations, possession of resources, and other general inequalities. In doing
this, we also suppose that empirical perspectives on such issues will not lead us
to a view of world society divided into territorial entities, such as nation-states.
We rather envisage the world as a single global connectivity with a multitude of
overlapping social spaces being continuously constructed and reconstructed.
Much literature on globalisation focuses on describing phenomena of world-
wide mechanisms of diffusion, integration and shifting of boundaries, paying less
attention to the notion of society and its characteristics under conditions of glob-
ality. In contrast, an approach focusing on world society helps to describe society
under globalised conditions. Thereby, we follow Glick Schiller's (2005) lead in
understanding globalisation as a myriad of cultural, social, political and econom-
ic processes that integrate the world into a single system of relationships and val-
ues: world society.
Moreover, we emphasise that world society, as an encompassing system and
as an emergent reality, is created by the social actors involved: Their concrete in-
teractions, negotiations, agency, struggles, conflicts and coalitions establish so-
cial space, which we regard as a constitutive element ordering society. This
provides an opportunity to move away from macroscopic perspectives on world
society, as it has been understood in some conventional approaches. Allowing us
to analyse social processes at different levels and scales, however, this approach
helps us to overcome the supposed gap between the macro-perspective of world
society and social actors with an interaction approach. This also prevents us from
applying a top-down perspective to the constitution of world society but instead
to develop theoretical assumptions based on empirical, often ethnographic re-
search on global or translocal phenomena.

Transnationalisation Processes Constituting

World Society

Transnationalisation is one particular dimension contributing to the making of

world society. Research on trans-border social formations such as transnational
fields (for example: Glick Schiller/Basch/Szanton Blanc 1999) or social spaces
(Faist 1998; Pries 1999) has contributed greatly to a shift in the understanding of
society. Instead of clinging to a static 'container' concept of society, confined
 THE MAKING oF WoRLD SociETY I 15

within the borders of the nation states where social actors are located and
bounded inside a national society, transnational perspectives pinpoint social rela-
tions crossing societies or cultures. Thereby they highlight the social phenomen-
on being located in at least two, or multiple localised social contexts, thus consti-
tuting pluri-local social formations. In contrast to older perspectives on migration
which focused on migrants' incorporation and later assimilation in the destination
countries (Park/Burgess 1921 ), transnational approaches analyse the situatedness
of migrants inbetween different territorial states. Migrants' 'inbetween-ness',
however, accentuates a condition in which social actors are involved simultan-
eously in more than a single place and highlights the ambivalence of many
transnational social processes going on in the world. This ambivalence stands at
the core of a process of redefining sociality in the sense of Vergesellschaftung.
By having provided means of distance communication, through intemet and
cheap telephone calls (Vertovec 2004), new forms of virtual sociality emerge, as
is shown in the articles of Heike Greschke and Urmila Goel in this book. This
may raise intriguing questions about the role of present and virtual communica-
tion, and identity change. Transnational research, however, highlights migrants'
delocalisation and the trans-border interaction, which can be conceptualised in
terms of transnational social spaces or fields. Moreover, Glick Schiller/Basch/
Szanton Blanc (1999: 76) argue that the tendency to use the adjective transna-
tional has contributed to the emergence of a transnational anthropology, that ana-
lyses, among other things, transformations of the ways in which time and space is
experienced and represented (cf. Harvey 1990). Central to this argument are not
just shifting representations and contestations of the nation-state and of its
boundaries, but the scrutiny of localities and other spatially constructed entities.
In contrast to systemic world society perspectives, transnational approaches
are rather process-oriented and actor-centred. They are often based on multi-situ-
ated or global ethnography (Burawoy et al. 2000), sometimes even on long-term
empirical research. One of the commonalities transnationalisation perspectives
have with world society approaches is that it presupposes a view of society de-
tached from specific locations, regions, or states. It forms an encouraging and
productive starting point that enables the researcher to avoid the pitfalls of a
"methodological nationalism" (Wimmer/Glick Schiller 2002) consisting of a nar-
row analytical focus on nation-states. Some of the authors prefer to speak of
translocalisation processes (see, among many others, the contributions of Gudrun
Lachenmann, Monika Salzbrunn, Eva Gerharz and Gilberto Rescher in this
volume). Geographical entities, constitutive of social formation and belonging
are not necessarily constructed as nation-states, occupying a clearly demarcated
territory. Disputed territories in countries with ethnic conflict for example, can be
a much more meaningful reference producing subjective and collective feelings
of belongingness among their (virtual) neighbourhoods (Appadurai 1995) than
the nation-state. Moreover even in relation to social processes and phenomena
which cross borders, the attachment to a specific locality can frequently be found
16 I REMUS ANGHEL, EvA GERHARZ, G1LBERTO REsCHER, MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

to prevail over that owed to a nation-state. It has been pointed out that locality
also can be an important concept for representing society (Pfaff-Czamecka
2005). Localities can, like nation-states, be meaningful geographical spaces with
great symbolical value and they serve, in some cases, as the crucial locus of so-
cial identification. In contexts of migration and transnationalisation, it can be ob-
served how localities are constructed as localised and virtual neighbourhoods.
The local is thus something to be created, organised and reproduced in social and
phenomenological terms (Appadurai 1995).
Accordingly, observing transnationalisation and translocalisation processes
constitutes an important research avenue for understanding the dynamics consti-
tuting world society. In contrast to the obvious macro-determinacy, inherent in
conventional world society approaches, the perspective oriented towards 'the
making of world society', is more oriented to the empirically observable features
of the 'global situation'. This perspective facilitates the taking into account of the
processes of interaction which, in the end, constitute macroscopic phenomena.
Finally, one has to acknowledge that the growing global interconnectedness
indeed implies homogenising tendencies or decreasing diversity, as was proposed
by Ritzer (1992) with his metaphor 'McDonaldisation of the World'. But at the
same time, it reinforces global interconnectedness and complexity, to look at the
diversification of world views which drives us towards an attempt to research and
understand empirically the emergence of the world society. A plurality of theor-
etical and research views on world society, we hope, contributes, and brings us
closer to grasping the dynamics of its constitution. With this book, we attempt to
bring together some major perspectives, hoping to instigate further discussion
and open new venues for future research.
The papers included in this book deal with a variety of, mainly empirically
grounded, perspectives on transnational processes that are constitutive of world
society. Most papers were presented at a conference organised by four former
members of the research training group "World Concepts and Global Structural
Patterns" in the Department of Sociology, in Bielefeld in November 24-25, 2005.
This conference aimed at gathering contributions on the relationship between
concepts of world society and transnationalisation from a cross-disciplinary per-
spective. The chapters greatly vary in terms of their themes, approaches, method-
ologies and styles but we believe that the diversity of our book's topics provides
a fruitful basis for the further research on how world society can be analysed
from an empirical perspective, and conceptualised from such a perspective.

Structure of the Book

This book is structured into five sections: an introductory part and four major
topics around which various empirically informed contributions are centred. The
first section focuses on the discussion of general questions concerning theory and
 THE MAKING oF WoRLD SociETY 117

methodology in the papers of Thomas Faist, Gudrun Lachenmann and Monika

Salzbrunn. Thomas Faist critically analyses the state of affairs in migration re-
search in the English and German literature and raises several questions concern-
ing transnationalism and development: First, how has academic and policy think-
ing on "development" cast the role of transnational social formations and non-
state organisations? Secondly, in what ways are the activities of transnational
cliques, groups and organisations, which embody some of the community prin-
ciples, complementary or incompatible with those of other institutions function-
ing according to the logics of states and markets? Gudrun Lachenmann focuses
on methodological challenges deriving from attempts to conceptualize the inter-
relatedness of global and local dimensions and exemplifies these by referring to
recent research on gender and Islam. She draws the connection between global-
isation and localisation, in the sense of empirically grounding globalisation theor-
ies, and elaborates new venues for doing transcultural research and conceptual-
ising global flows and landscapes in a translocal way. Lachenmann highlights the
centrality of agency, relationality and dynamics which need to be umavelled
when analysing the constitution of social spaces, knowledge, structuring and net-
working. She is doing this analysis emphasising the role of gender. Finally, she
argues that globalisation is constituted through new forms of organisation and
epistemic communities with the development world as a global knowledge
framework. Monika Salzbrunn discusses and compares theoretical concepts of
world society, transnationalisation and migratory fields with a focus on German,
Anglo-Saxon and French debates. Entangled as well as parallel and isolated
tracks lead to similar conclusions in contemporary research on migration,
transnationalism and urban rescaling processes. Festive events in a context of mi-
gration provide examples of how to overcome the initial intellectual divergences
by means of a focus which links transnationalisation with urban rescaling pro-
cesses.
The second part of the book presents the works of Besim Can Zirh, Michael
Janoschka, and Germana D'Ottavio on transnationalisation and migration. The
contributions focus on new forms of political participation and identity formation
in transnational contexts. Zirh analyses the evolution of the ways in which Alevi
political participation has evolved in Turkey and Germany. He argues that the
Euro-Alevis can be comprehended as a nascent transnational community that has
emerged as a result of diasporisation of Alevis in relation to global transforma-
tions and changes in Turkish and German socio-political contexts. Janoschka in-
quires into the democratic participation of Northern Europeans in Spain. His pa-
per provides a conceptual analysis of how transnational political practices and
identity politics can be evaluated as an expression of European citizenship. Ger-
mana D'Ottavio looks at transnational mobility of Polish migrant women work-
ing in Italy. While the first two contributions explicitly address issues of political
involvement among migrants, this article deals with changing identities and con-
cepts of self among migrant women. It shows how Polish migrants organize
18 I REMUS ANGHEL, EvA GERHARZ, G1LBERTO REsCHER, MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

transnational motherhood and demonstrates that mobility strategies are intercon-

nected in transnational spaces. Migrant women use their agency within these
spaces to create particular arrangements that allow them to achieve their goals in
emigration and immigration societies.
The third part includes papers concerned with the linkage between translocal-
isation and development. Eva Gerharz shows the multiple forms of translocalisa-
tion of the Tamil Diaspora in respect to the reconstruction process which was ini-
tiated in Northern Sri Lanka after the Ceasefire of 2002. Her paper investigates
the evolution of translocal spaces which are constituted through intensifying in-
teraction between different actors and which are becoming increasingly relevant
for post-conflict reconstruction. She argues that development, as a local endeav-
our, is constituted through translocal interactions. Based on an empirically groun-
ded analysis, Gerharz shows how translocalisation processes lead to the re-nego-
tiation ofTamil identity and development. Parting from everyday forms oftrans-
locality in rural Mexico, Gilberto Rescher analyses the transformation of rural in-
digenous communities that have become transnationalised in a way that reflects
the flexibility of the particular rules and customs governing life in their villages.
This process is discussed with respect to the renegotiation of local citizenship
into transnational citizenship and the transformation of gender relations inside the
transnationalised communities. Applying a focus on the communities of origin
and herein the important position of women in the construction and maintenance
of transnational social spaces, Rescher shows how social change is continuously
negotiated and how it relates to broader transformations in the field of politics
and development. He stresses the ambivalent outcomes of this process which
show that in contrast to certain visions transnationalisation can not be understood
per se as exclusively fostering processes of democratisation, emancipation and
development, but indicate that such processes have to be studied in their totality.
The fourth part deals with networks and hubs in world society. Stephanie
Herings contribution analyses the construction of Singapore as a financial center
of South-East Asia. Starting with the assumption that finance is the most abstract
and disembedded branch in global economy, often regarded as the vanguard of
globalisation, Hering argues for the image of globality as constituting and con-
tributing to the making of financial sites. The references to the specific locality
proves indispensable for the rhetoric of globalisation - contrary to a naive per-
ception of globalisation as a worldwide levelling of local and regional differ-
ences. She highlights the strategic use of rhetorics of local specifics and cultural
distinctiveness as a transnational practice. Further on, Alexandra Lindenthal
deals with networks of organisations specialised in the management of hazardous
chemicals. Lindenthal asks in how far do corporations, which are involved in
global production processes, handle hazardous chemicals across national or
supranational territories and thereby contribute to the protection of health and en-
vironment.
 THE MAKING oF WoRLD SociETY I 19

The last part deals with the ways in which Information Technology changes
the ways in which identity is conceptualised in different migration contexts.
Magdalena Nowicka analyses how proximity and distance play a crucial role in
the ways in which highly qualified mobile workers communicate with their fam-
ilies and friends. She argues that in networks, distance is not always metric, and
that the interplay of proximity and distance influences the patterns of social in-
clusion and exclusion. Heike Greschke looks at the significance of eo-presence
and internet communication in the case of Paraguayan migrants living in differ-
ent parts of the world. She shows that national identity can be regarded as a func-
tional pattern of social organisation and structuring within global public spheres.
Unnila Goel looks at the ways in which the second-generation Indians in Ger-
many construct their identity through the mediation of an internet portal. She
shows in detail how, why and with what consequences the transnational space
theinder.net is positioned in national categories and at the same time remains a
transnational space.
In her afterword, Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka draws a conclusion about the em-
pirically based reflections about the making of world society through transnation-
al practices. Moreover, she critically discusses the scope of the transnationalisa-
tion paradigm in the world society project.

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Transnationality: Theoretical and
Methodological Challenges
Transnationalisation in North and South: Concepts,
Methodology and Venues for Research
THOMAS FAIST

Discussions of globalisation have amply and aptly described the increase in the
intensity, velocity and scope of cross-border exchanges. These include financial
transactions, the exchange of goods and services, and various efforts to deal with
these challenges, including the supranational advancement of global governance
(see e.g. Lechner/Boli 2003). Much less attention has been devoted to conceptu-
alizing cross-border social and symbolic ties and their concatenation, such as the
life-worlds of persons and the organisational activities of associations who move
around and maintain ties in a cross-borderised world. In order to capture the soci-
etal dimensions of cross-border social life, terms such as transnational social
spaces, transnational social fields or transnational social formations usually refer
to sustained ties of geographically mobile persons, networks and organisations
across the borders of multiple nation-states (Basch et al. 1994; Faist 2000a; Faist
2000b; Portes et al. 1999). To list but a few examples, transnational families
practise complex forms of livelihood which imply geographical distance and so-
cial proximity in earning a living and raising children (e.g. Murray 1981). Chi-
nese entrepreneurs have long been known to rely on guanxi- friendship-commu-
nal - networks dating back to hometown ties in China in order to integrate eco-
nomically in a great variety of countries all over the globe (Ong 1992). Kurdish
political activists in various European countries have organised in various associ-
ations to address both governments of immigration states and rulers in Turkey in
order to advance their cause of an autonomous 'Kurdistan'. And in the UK, Mus-
lim organisations made up of migrants from South Asia, have sought to gain
recognition as a religious association while forming part of a global umma. Such
border-crossing social - political, economic and cultural - formations are not
only found in the North and West but are probably equally widespread in the
South and East. After all, cross-border migration is not only South-North and
26 I THOMAS FAIST

North-South but also runs in directions such as South-South or East-East and

North-North. 1
It is rather obvious that, although transnational approaches have centred on
cross-border interactions and social formations in the context of international mi-
gration, and have thus has pointed to sustained and dense cross-border transac-
tions involving North and South, East and West, most research has focused on
and been carried out in the West and North. But not only has research focused on
these regions - not surprising in view of the fact that most scholars working in a
transnational vein were socialised and work in these regions. What is noteworthy
is that comparatively little attention has been given to a balanced description of
North-South linkages, including not only sites in the North and South but also the
linkages. If the South is included, they are mostly valuable studies on locales in
the South (for example Haugen/Carling 2005; Leichtrnan 2005). What is needed
is certainly a strengthening of research on the South and East, giving perspectives
to scholars from the South. Short of such mid-term goals, a short-term and first
step involves a more rigorous analysis of the interlinkages between North and
South, East and West. One of the venues for this much-needed step in research
on transnationalisation is the newly rediscovered migration-development nexus,
that is, the two-way link between migration and development.
In particular, transnational migrant networks and migrant associations have
lately been at the centre of the optimistic visions of national governments in the
OECD world and international economic development policy establishments
such as the World Bank (for an overview, see Maimba/Ratha 2005; on optimistic
claims, see World Bank 2006). First, the surge in financial remittances over the
past three decades transferred by transnational migrants has given rise to a kind
of euphoria. Annual remittances from economically developed to developing and
transformation countries more than doubled during the 1990s and have been ap-
proximately twenty percent higher than official development assistance (ODA) to
these countries. Second, knowledge transferred through networks of scientists
and experts from North to South is increasingly seen as "brain circulation" bene-
ficial to all parties involved (cf. Lowell/Findlay/Stewart 2004). The transfer of
ideas is seen as helping developing and transformation countries to participate in
knowledge societies, which are the basis for innovation, productivity, and devel-
opment. In a wide sense this knowledge transfer includes networks of scientists

The United Nations (UN) defines migrants as persons living outside their country of
birth or citizenship for over a year. The world total of migrants amounted to about
100 million in 1980. Of those were ea. 50 million in the North, compared with 52
million in the South. By 2006, out of a global total of some 190 million migrants,
61 million had moved South-South, 53 million North-North, 14 million North-
South and 62 million South-North (UNDESA 2006). Obviously, categories such as
North and South represent gross over-simplifications, since many countries cannot
be readily classified as either North or South. For example, there are also quite a
few transformation or transition countries in the former Eastern block, or emerging
powers such as China.
 TRANSNATIONALISATION IN NoRTH AND SouTH I 27

and experts from the USA to China, or the diffusion of the practice of participa-
tion in the formal labour market by women migrants from Bangladesh who
stayed in Malaysia and returned to their country of origin (Dannecker 2004).
Thirdly, there are social remittances, which involve the transfer of ideas regard-
ing the rule of law, good governance, democracy, gender equity and human
rights. Politically, social remittances have achieved a growing prominence in the
aftermath of interventions into armed conflicts and efforts at reconstructing coun-
tries ravaged by civil war - evidenced lately in Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Occasionally diasporas made up of exiles, refugees, and labour migrants are
hailed as mediators in conflict resolution, for example in the cases of South
Africa or Nigeria. However, all these mechanisms of transfer also have their dark
sides. For example, refugee and exile communities that have fuelled conflicts in
their countries of origin from abroad, such as Kosovo Albanians or Chechen free-
dom fighters.
The newest round of the migration-development nexus is the idea of what in
French has been called co-developpement. eo-development means that migrants
are productive development agents. It very well describes the public policy ap-
proaches of immigration countries to the migration-development nexus, at least
those propagated by several states such as France, the Netherlands, the UK and
international organisations such as the World Bank. eo-development does not
build upon the permanent return of migrants to their countries of origin but tries
to tap into existing transnational ties of migrants who are seen to be transmission
belts of development cooperation. The question comes up how this new enthusi-
asm (Faist 2007a) can be fruitfully analysed from a transnational perspective.
What is puzzling from a transnational view is that the new optimism envisages
one-way flows from North to South, occluding reverse flows.
The central puzzle then is: On the one hand we can observe that public and
academic debates in the newest round of the migration-development nexus ad-
dress mostly one-way flows, the transfer of resources from North to South- fin-
ancial remittances, human capital, knowledge and even so-called social remit-
tances, such as the export of democracy and human rights. The newest round of
the migration-development debate, like the older ones in the 1960s and 1980s, is
couched in terms of development and development cooperation. On the other
hand, studies taking a transnational approach suggest that we do not see one-way
traffic but two-way flows. Certainly, we can still observe brain drain, as evidence
in research on "brain strain hotspots", such as the health care sector in much of
Sub-Saharan Africa, where the nurses and doctors who migrated abroad cannot
be replaced (cf. Lowell et al. 2004). Also, countries such as the USA and the UK
have benefited tremendously from tuition fees from students hailing from the
South and East. Moreover, we may think of findings which indicate "reverse re-
mittances", for example, families of migrants in Accra, Ghana paying for their
kinfolk in Amsterdam to "get their papers", that is, to legalize their status in the
Netherlands. And taking a broader historical perspective, it seems odd that the
28 I THOMAS FAIST

migration-development debate would focus predominantly on North-South trans-

fers, as it is well-established that only colonial and imperial domination of large
regions of Africa and Asia set the conditions in which migration systems could
develop (Wallerstein 1983).
The first part of the analysis delineates three levels of transnational analysis,
located in the realms of lifeworlds, associations and systems respectively. While
the focus of transnational approaches is on the associational level (meso-level;
Faist 1997), the lifeworld or interaction level (micro-level) and the systems level
(macro-level) are to be included. The second part shifts attention to various types
of meso-level social formations, called transnational social spaces. Transnational
spaces can be conceptualised as being inbetween a space of places and a space of
flows (Faist 2000a: chapter 1). The third part deals with transnational methodo-
logy, arguing that research should strive to consider multi-sited research, and re-
search dealing with meso-level formations - not only associations but also the
"spaces inbetween associations" and organisations. In the fourth part the analysis
then moves on to consider an application of transnational methodology, the re-
cently rediscovered migration-development nexus.

Transnational Approaches: Life-worlds, Associations

and Systems

The Oxford Dictionary of English dates the emergence of the term "transnation-
al" to ea. 1920, documented with a quotation from an economic text that saw
Europe after World War One as characterised by its "international or more cor-
rectly transnational economy" (ODE 2003: 1762). Indeed, the term re-emerged in
the late 1960s to denote increasing economic and political interdependence
between industrialised countries and the spread of trans- or multinational com-
panies operating across the globe (Keohane/Nye 1977). The newest round of the
term transnational, which started in the late 1980s and early 1990s, took a bot-
tom-up perspective and asked about migrants as agents in constellations of in-
creased cross-border flows, not only of goods, but also of people (Basch et al.
1994). It is within this latest context that transnational approaches have flour-
ished. They have explored counter-trends to the dis-embedding of social systems
in an increasingly globalised world. Transnational studies look at processes of re-
embedding the social in cross-border societal formations.
Transnational social formations - fields, spaces - consist of combinations of
social and symbolic ties and their contents, positions in networks and organisa-
tions, and networks of organisations that cut across the borders of at least two na-
tional states. In other words, the term refers to sustained and continuous pluri-
local transactions crossing state borders. Most of these formations are located in-
between the life-world of personal interactions, on the one hand, and the func-
tional systems of differentiated spheres, such as the economy, polity, law, science
 TRANSNATIONALISATION IN NoRTH AND SouTH I 29

and religion. The smallest element of transnational social formations is transac-

tions, that is, bounded communications between at least three persons. More ag-
gregated levels encompass groups, households, organisations and firms.
There are various ways to conceptualize transnational social formations,
which can be thought to be part of more general cross border societal configura-
tions. Transnational approaches, as do globalisation theories, world society and
world polity theories, look at the current waves of global connectivity not as a
new material phenomenon. Cultural pluralisation is not anything new in world
history but has been the rule for centuries. Colonialism, wars of conquest, mass
migrations, the slave trade, world wars, and refugee movements have been pro-
cesses with global dimensions for several centuries. Viewed in a world-system
perspective, capitalist markets required migration across borders of states and
empires (Wallerstein 1974). What is new is not so much cultural pluralisation as
a result of increasing global connectivity - more a matter of degree than a new
quality- but global awareness of it. This awareness can be described as one im-
portant dimension of globalisation (Robertson 1992). It is reflected in academic
analyses and in mass media.
Nonetheless, transnational approaches differ from both world society and
world polity theories, on the one hand, and more general globalisation studies, on
the other hand. On an epistemological level, transnational views argue against a
simplistic top down world society or world polity version of global or glocal con-
ditions, which suffer from a neo-functionalist oversimplification in the first case
and an exogenous rational actor model in the second. World society theories
view societal processes from the vantage point of an already existing world soci-
ety. The systems-theoretic notion of world society presupposes that global com-
municative connectivity already exists. According to theorists such as Niklas
Luhmann, society is the most encompassing social system, defined as the sum
total of all communication connected to communication. As communication is
geared towards global connectivity, only one society exists: world society (Luh-
mann 1975: 57). World society theory places a high premium on functional dif-
ferentiation. In a functionally differentiated society, each subsystem fulfils one
specific function coded in a binary way. For example, the political system de-
cides on power or not to have power, the science system on truth or not truth, the
economic system on money or not to have money, and so forth. Such functional
differentiation is a form of homogenisation. Social formations other than those
which are functionally differentiated, such as segmented or stratified forms, play
only a secondary role. World society is the inevitable result of functional differ-
entiation (Luhmann 1997: 809). In the world polity theory of John W. Meyer and
the Stanford School, the starting point is the existence of a world culture, which
is culture exogenous to local contexts, worldwide, and based on the premises of
modern rationalisation in Max Weber's sense (Meyer et al. 2000). This world
culture is rationalistic in that it does not primarily consist of values and norms
which are debated and towards which actors orient their behaviour, but on "cog-
30 I THOMAS FAIST

nitive models". Actors accept such standards, that is, cognitive models, even
though they may not be ready to act according to the standards prescribed; for ex-
ample, in taking over English language curricula without adapting them to local
circumstances.
There are various problems with both world society and world polity theory.
Firstly, these theories postulate a priori and without further systematic empirical
consideration that a world society or world polity actually exists. We can
certainly observe the emergence of global institutions, for example, in the realm
of political governance, such as the United Nations and its sub-organisations or
the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Other prominent examples are the
national state as a universal principle of political organisation, the use of money
as a medium of economic exchange, and global standards in travel, time and
communication. Yet such global structures or globally diffused institutions only
exist in selected policy domains. Even if we turn to the universal semantics of
human rights, rule of law, democracy or gender equity- terms which fulfil the
function of meta-norms of meta-cognitive models - we observe that they do not
rule universally. Also, functionally differentiated structures exist only to a very
narrowly confined extent in many parts of the world. Social protection and social
insurance in many parts of the world are just one crucial example (Faist 2007c).
While some policy fields such as trade have been regulated by a complex and
evolving international regimes, which may amount to elements of global
governance, cross-cutting issue areas such as geographical mobility are a long
way from being regulated by such mechanisms. Even in the realm of the United
Nations various UN agencies compete for competence in these fields.
Secondly, both world society and world polity approaches are top down
approaches which define the properties of lower order elements. Moreover,
according to such views, it is modern organisations and networks which rule the
societal world, while social formations such as families, tribes, and communities
play a negligible role, if at all. World polity theory maintains that cognitive
models shape the actors although authors working in this mould have conceded
that it is not only world polity and world culture that shapes actors but it is also
actors who shape world polity. For example, the very fact that the World Bank
has championed the diaspora model of development has very real consequences
for conceiving development. Different agents - a term used to ascribe the
effectiveness of actors in influencing the social world - hold different notions of
development. These notions change as a result of new paradigms. As a
consequence, it still has to be shown how world society or world polity models
shape local or national patterns. We can name many local or national patterns
which do not necessarily go back to global models. For example, states in the
OECD countries have employed very different models of incorporating migrants
at the national level, ranging from assimilationist to multicultural paradigms
(Castles/Miller 2003). Moreover, states have viewed very differently the
desirability of migrants' transnational ties. While former colonial powers with a
 TRANSNATIONALISATION IN NoRTH AND SouTH I 31

long experience in penetrating developing countries have seised quickly upon the
idea of eo-development, that is, employing migrants as development agents,
others, often characterised by less intense transnational and international ties,
have only recently started to think about such models. Examples for the former
category are national states such as France, the UK, Spain and the Netherlands,
for the latter Germany, Austria and Sweden (cf. de Haas 2006).
Thirdly, neo-functionalist approaches neglect the crucial aspect of
legitimation and thus the whole realm of normatively bounded agency (Peters
1993). And the world polity approach suggests that actors reap benefits from
adapting to cognitive models such as the mainstreaming of tertiary education
models, for example, the "Bologna Process" in the European Union. Political
conflict over the very definition of such processes is merely semantic. However,
to reduce the analysis of social and societal formations to instrumental concerns,
and to occlude normative and ethical or expressive dimensions is to truncate the
rich variety of the orientation of agency. Conflicts over whether social orders or
systems are legitimate are a driving force of social change and transformation.
For example, political agents active in pushing for gender equity criticize existing
political arrangements and justify their strategies by reference to overall meta-
norms such as human rights. In a similar way, those trying to establish a national
state from abroad through secession may refer to norms such as national self-
determination. In these two very different cases it is the legitimacy of existing
orders which is at stake, both on the level of empirically observable acceptance
of authority and power and on the level of normative criteria used to evaluate
institutions.
Transnational approaches also need to be carefully distinguished from global-
isation theories. Transnational views refer to overlapping ties and linkages of
non-state agents between various national states. The hunch that political transna-
tionalisation is a set of processes with a potentially global scope has implications
for the functions of states, supra- and international organisations. In contrast,
globalisation approaches focus on processes transcending state territories. Vari-
ous aspects of society and governance on the local, national, regional and global
levels can be thought of as nested within each other- always connected by po-
tentially global communication. This characteristic also applies to global gov-
ernance, namely the rapid emergence of multilateral cooperation and internation-
al organisations.
On a methodological level, transnational approaches - along with world
society and world polity theories - aim to overcome "methodological
territorialism" (Scholte 2000: 56), that is, conflating society, state and territory.
Such methodological territorialism is evident in many analyses which prioritise
state agency in the traditional Weberian trilogy of the congruence of territory,
authority and people. Yet it is evident from empirical observation that processes
such as migration challenge national institutions such as citizenship, and - in
conjunction with processes such as gender equity and denizenship rights - favour
32 I THOMAS FAIST

dual citizenship (Faist 2007b). In addition, transnational approaches also strive to

overcome "methodological nationalism", the conflation of society, state and
nation (Wimmer/Glick Schiller 2003). Again, the increasing tolerance of dual
citizenship suggests that affiliations to nations may not be exclusive and
monogamous but overlapping and plural.
Transnational perspectives on cross-border societal formations relate to the
concepts of fields and spaces. While the former connotes the systemic dimen-
sions of societal formations, the latter refers to associations and life-worlds. The
notion of fields refers to the inner logic of social action of functionally differenti-
ated realms. Although Pierre Bourdieu's notion of fields points towards the in-
ternallogic of systems, such as the economy, polity, science or law, transnational
approaches do not presume an evolutionary and linear logic in a trend towards a
functionally differentiated world society. The notion oftransnational social fields
is much more concerned with issues of agency and diverse social formations. In
contrast, the notion of space denotes the spatial dimension of social life
(Faist/Ozveren 2004; Pries 2001). Transnational social spaces are not synonym-
ous with concepts such as "network society" which postulate a trend towards so-
cietal life as a "space of flows" (Castells 1996). Undoubtedly, the intensity and
velocity of the transfer of goods, capital, and ideas across borders has increased.
And so has, in less spectacular rates of increase, cross-border migration.
However, the dynamics of migration cannot be understood without considering
the life worlds of persons, and the social and symbolic ties they entertain across
regions of origin, destination and onward mobility.
Social space in particular has been neglected for several decades in the social
sciences (Faist 2004b). In globalist or cosmopolitan approaches time definitively
trumps place. The now often-used description of the world as a "space of flows"
are creative re formulations of Marx' s and Engels' famous dictum on capitalism:
"all that is solid melts into air". The latter statement is still the clearest expression
of the claim that there is an annihilation of space by time (Marx/Engels 1972
[1918]). Systems theory argues that migration can be substituted by routines (cf.
Stichweh 2005). The core argument is that functional differentiation leads to the
disappearance of social space and to the diminishing relevance of face-to-face
communication in social systems. In a way, it is the end of geography. The
counter-argument is equally simple but based on empirical evidence: social geo-
graphers have firmly established that face-to-face contact is the main functional
reason for the spatial clustering of knowledge and skills. This is exactly why
nowadays there is great fanfare about clusters of excellence in academia, such as
Oxbridge in the UK, or clusters of growth in industry, such as the Rhine Valley
or Shanghai. Other examples are international financial centres in places like
New York, London or Frankfurt (see, for example, Thrift 1996). We observe
a spatial clustering of practical knowledge, tacit knowledge and scientific know-
ledge. This trend is tied to production processes, which require simultaneous in-
puts and feedbacks (Sassen 2006: 72). Social spaces expand and direct contacts
 TRANSNATIONALISATION IN NoRTH AND SouTH I 33

grow as technological possibilities grow, and the short-term and even long-term
mobility of persons certainly does not decline but has steadily increased. It is not
only true in the world of business but also in the life-worlds of migrants, and new
telecommunications that technology is a complement to, rather than a substitute
for, face-to-face contact. It appears that information is still an "experience good"
and that face-to-face contact still helps to build the trust needed to close deals
(Rauch 2001), or to build reciprocity and solidarity in kinship groups. This ex-
ample indicates that spaces of flows -not only those of persons but also of goods
- are embedded in spaces of places. In other words, intensive and continuous
cross-border flows of persons, ideas and goods do not necessarily result in a de-
bordered world.
Flows are tied to the experience of place(s). The production of space can be
considered a dialectical process. On the one hand, globalisation allows a de-
placing from concrete territorial places - space of flows. On the other hand,
global flows have to be anchored locally in specific places - space of places.
Space is conceived as a relational process of structuring relative positions of
social and symbolic ties between social actors, social resources and goods
inherent in social ties, and the connection of these ties to places. On a meso- or
associational level - the main focus of transnational approaches - the dialectics
of flows and places goes hand in hand with the possibility for transfer of
resources in space. Financial capital, for example, is distinctly more mobile than
social capital. It is therefore often seen as the prototype of a global good. In
contrast, social capital, such as networks of solidarity and trust, are place-bound,
local assets, which can only be rendered mobile across space by the social ties in
kinship groups, organisations, communities, which connect distinct places. Any
conceptualisation of space across borders would therefore depend on the type of
ties and (social) goods to be exchanged. At the interstices of the space of flows
and space of places are processes of glocalisation. Glocalisation then means, first,
that the local is produced- to a large extent- on the global or transnationallevel.
Secondly, the local is also important in reconfiguring place. An empirical
example of this approach is transnational social spaces. The concept of
transnational social spaces probes into the question of by what principles
geographical propinquity, which implies the embeddedness of ties in place, is
supplemented or transformed by transnational flows.
Ultimately, these analyses have to be reconnected to macro-level analysis in
the realm of systems or fields. On a macro-level, the reconfiguration of social
space is visible, for example, in the political realm. In a process of "unbundling"
territoriality (Ruggie 1993), various types of functional regimes have come to
intersect territorially-defined nation-states. Such institutions include common
markets, border-crossing political communities and inter- and supranational
organisations. Non-territorial functional space-as-flows and territorial nation-
states as space-of-places are the grids wherein international or global society is
anchored. Such ruptures render the conventional distinction between internal and
34 I THOMAS FAIST

external increasingly problematic because there are vanous tiers for making
collectively binding decisions. It also calls into question the concept of state
sovereignty as an expression of a single fixed viewpoint and the research strategy
of 'methodological nationalism', which takes for granted national states as
container-like units, defined by the congruence of a fixed state territory, an
intergenerational political community and a legitimate state authority. In its
stead, multi-layered systems of rule, such as the European Union, demand a
multi -perspective framework.

Types of Transnational Social Spaces

The reality of transnational social spaces made up of migrants indicates, first, that
migration and re-migration may not be definite, irrevocable and irreversible de-
cisions - transnationallives in themselves may become a strategy of survival and
betterment. Also, transnational webs include relatively immobile persons and
collectives. Secondly, even those migrants who have settled for a considerable
time outside the original countries of origin, frequently maintain strong transna-
tional links. Thirdly, these links can be of a more informal nature, such as intra-
household or family ties, or they can be institutionalised, such as political parties
maintaining branches in various countries of immigration and emigration.
Under propitious conditions transnational social spaces find a fertile breeding
ground. Favourable conditions for the reproduction of transnational ties include
(1) modem technologies such as satellite or cable TV, instant mass communica-
tion, personal communication bridging long distances via telephone and fax,
mass affordable short-term long-distance travel, (2) liberal state policies, such as
poly-ethnic rights and anti-discrimination policies, or the opposite (3) cultural
discrimination and socio-economic exclusion of migrants in immigration states,
and (4) changing emigration state policies which reach out to migrants living
abroad for remittances, investment, and political support.
There are three stylised types of transnational social spaces: small groups,
particularly kinship systems; issue networks; and transnational organisations or
associations.
(I) Formalised transboundary relations within small groups like households
and wider kinship systems, are representative of many migrants. Families may
live apart because one or more members work abroad as contract workers (like
the former 'guestworkers' in Germany) or as employees of multinational com-
panies. Small household and family groups have a strong sense of belonging to a
common home. A classic example of such relations are transnational families,
who conceive of themselves as both an economic unit and a unit of solidarity and
who keep, besides their main house, a kind of shadow household in another
country. Economic assets are mostly transferred from abroad to those who con-
 TRANSNATIONALISATION IN NoRTH AND SouTH I 35

tinue to run the household 'back home'. It is estimated that a vast amount of fin-
ancial remittances are transferred within such small groups of kinship systems.
(2) Transnational issue networks are sets of ties between persons and
organisations in which information and services are exchanged for the purpose of
achieving a common goal. Linkage patterns may concatenate into advocacy
networks (Keck/Sikkink 1998), business networks, or scientists' networks. These
issue-specific networks engage in areas such as human rights and environmental
protection. While issue networks have a long tradition in the realm of human
rights, and are making steady progress in ecology, they are also emerging among
migrants who have moved from the so-called third countries to the European
Union (EU). Among the immigrant and citizenship associations are, for example,
the European Citizenship Action Service (ECAS), and the Migration Policy
Group (MPG). The latter network includes the British NGO Justice, the
Immigration Lawyers Practitioners' Association and the Dutch Standing Group
of Experts on Immigration and Asylum. Some of these networks - usually
headed by non-migrant EU citizens - have succeeded in bringing issues such as
discrimination onto the agendas of Intergovernmental Conferences (IGC), and,
ultimately, into the Treaty ofMaastricht (1997).
(3) Transnational organisations: an early type oftransnational organisation-
interstate non-governmental organisations (INGOS) - developed out of issue
networks like the Red Cross, Amnesty International and Greenpeace. At the other
extreme there are organisations which are based in one specific country but
whose sphere of influence extends abroad, as with the ethno-nationalist Tamil
Tigers which seek an autonomous Tamil state on the territory of contemporary
Sri Lanka. Transnational enterprises constitute a further type of cross-border
organisation. These businesses are differentiated transboundary organisations
with an extremely detailed internal division oflabour.
Transnational social spaces have cultural, political and economic aspects.
Syncretist cultural practices - for example, music styles, language diffusion and
mixing- and hybrid identities- such as German-Turkish or French-Algerian-
are phenomena that tend to accompany processes oftransnational migration. Al-
though such phenomena may range from evanescent and temporary to more en-
during and stable patterns over time, their observable existence has implications
for the self-conception of individuals and groups, and for the definition of these
same actors by others. How intensive this trend really is remains a matter of dis-
pute. In principle, the idea of transnational cultural diffusion and syncretism im-
plies the cross-border movement of people, symbols, practices, texts - all of
which help to establish a pattern of common cultural beliefs across borders and
patterns of reciprocal transactions between separate places, whereby cultural
ideas in one place influence those in another.
Transnational migrant culture cannot be seen as baggage or a template, not as
something to be figuratively packed and unpacked, uprooted (assimilationists)
and transplanted from one national context to another (cultural pluralists and
36 I THOMAS FAIST

multiculturalists). Transnational cultures are cross-border mixes, which not only

involve novel elements but also "hardware" found in national or local cultures
from regions of origin and destination. Syncretist identities and practices do not
imply a diaspora consciousness. Nor do these mixing identities necessarily de-
note a successful stage in the transition from one collective identity to another,
such as the prototypical development: Sicilian ----> Italian ----> Italian-American ---->
US-American. Rather, it is an outcome of transnational ties and often segmented
cultural communities that do refer to a successful synthesis in some cases - such
as hip-hop musicians among the cultural elite. Also, there may be religious hy-
bridity, mixing a Protestant attitude of an individualist relationship to God with
Islam (Roy 2004). On an organisational level, it is sometimes religious com-
munities called by some observers as Islamist, such as Milli Gori~ -an organisa-
tion originating in Turkey with branches all over Europe - which have moved
more than Islamic organisations supported by the Turkish state to a Christian-
type model of religious activity. For example, they have given the Imam a more
prominent role than in traditional "folk Islam", more akin to Christian pastors.
Quite important, syncretism and migrant incorporation are not necessarily oppos-
ite processes. For example, while many Chinese migrants in Canada may be in-
corporated socio-economically, they may engage in syncretist cultural practices
related to both Canada and their home region.
In the political realm, over the last few decades more than half of all sover-
eign states have come to tolerate dual or multiple citizenship for various reasons
(Faist 2007b; Faist/Kivisto 2007). This is astonishing when one considers that a
few decades ago citizenship and political loyalty to a state were still considered
inseparable. Dual citizenship could be conceived of as the political foundation of
the transnational experience, enabling transnational migrants and their children to
lead multiple lives across borders. There has been a push towards tolerating dual
nationality from both ends, from immigration and emigration countries, albeit for
somewhat different reasons. In immigration countries it has been the spread of an
equal rights perspective, advanced by considerations of gender equity and equal
political freedom for all residents, which has provided the momentum towards in-
creasing tolerance. Categories of persons to which tolerance has been shown
have continued to grow, starting from stateless persons, those not allowed to re-
nounce their nationality that is, not released from their original citizenship, and,
finally, spouses and children in bi-national marriages. In emigration countries,
the reasons for increasing tolerance often have been pronounced in more instru-
mental ways. For instance, representatives of political regimes have attempted to
forge continuous links to expatriates living abroad.
While political transnationalisation is not a new phenomenon, the transna-
tional activists of today, unlike those of the 19th and the first half of the 20th cen-
turies, are not comprised solely of professionals. A major difference between
today and the turn of the 20th century may be that today, in addition to national-
ist activists or diasporists, ethnic business persons and their associates, there is
 TRANSNATIONALISATION IN NoRTH AND SouTH I 37

probably a greater proportion of groups concerned with human rights and funda-
mental rights issues. Transnational activists are not merely internationally ori-
ented cosmopolitans but rather need a firm grounding in local or national con-
texts. In order to inquire into the rootedness of transnational political actors, it is
necessary to distinguish the organisational form their activities take: First, there
are transnationally active non-government organisations (NGOs), such as cultural
organisations; diasporic organisations; and organisations founded by political ex-
iles and dissidents with the intention of overturning authoritarian regimes in their
country of origin. Secondly, there are also genuinely transnational NGOs or in-
ternational NGOs (INGOs), in which migrant activists operate, such as Green-
peace or Amnesty International (Tarrow 1998).

Methodology: "Spaces inbetween" Associations and

National States

Most empirical studies on the process of forming and reproducing transnational

social spaces - transnationalisation - focus on association and organisations (cf.
Moja 2005). Such studies need to be complemented by those looking at the
"spaces inbetween associations", that is transactions criss-crossing multiple asso-
ciations, networks forming within associations, and non-organised engagement.
For example, village cultural associations of Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia
nowadays also function as an arena for businesspersons planning to invest in
China (Hong Liu 1998). In such cases, associations function as platforms for per-
sons who are participating in other social groups as well, an instance of cross-cut-
ting social circles (cf. Simmel1955).
Methodologically, the exhortation of transnational approaches to "follow the
flow of persons, money, ideas and so forth" has not really been taken very seri-
ously, contrary to most announcements. A more systematic network approach,
not only in the metaphorical sense is necessary. Taking multi-sited fieldwork ser-
iously- that is, simultaneous research in locations- would mean to follow finan-
cial or other transactions in tracing lateral connectivities to other immigration and
emigration regions. A case at hand is a five-year study meticulously tracing
transactions involving persons, groups and organisations in the case of networks
of Ghanaian migrants located in Amsterdam back to locations in Ghana and in
other regions of the world (Mazzucato 2008). Such a methodological approach
does not presume concepts of world society which presuppose too much unity
and systemic differentiation. In sum, exploring transnational connectivities
through multi-sited fieldwork enables us to look at the great variety of societal
forms- associations, small groups, networks of associations (issue networks) and
informal social networks. In particular, it allows us to trace the combination of a
high degree of local clustering with a relatively low average path distance
between nodes and hubs, which are located in different national states.
38 I THOMAS FAIST

Networks in the "spaces inbetween" and within associations can be built

around various categorical distinctions, such as ethnicity, race, gender, schooling,
professional training, political affiliation, and sexual preference. Ethnicity consti-
tutes a particularly vexing issue in transnational studies. On the one hand a
transnational approach should be able to overcome the "ethnic" bias inherent in
much migration scholarship. The fallacy is to label migrants immediately by
means of "ethnic" or "national" categories. Often scholars presuppose prema-
turely that categories such as Turks, Brazilians and so forth matter a lot, since
they do in public discourse. On the other hand, methods should be able to trace
actually existing ethnic social formations, such as networks of reciprocity, which
are of great importance, for example, in informal transfer systems of financial re-
mittances. Yet ethnic networks may be complemented by networks in the finan-
cial sector which are not ethnically based at all. For example, informal remittance
networks extending from Manchester, UK to Lahore in Pakistan rely on interme-
diaries or financial brokers in Dubai (Ballard 2005). In such cases we may speak
of network of networks characterised by overlapping categories. In essence, a
network approach means to turn the issue of the importance of ethnicity into an
empirical question.
Transnational agents, such as groups, associations, organisations, and dia-
sporas, cannot be treated as unitary actors if one wants to understand the tensions
inherent in transnational social formations. Certainly, the opportunities for
transnational agents have changed in the process of globalisation, not only for
migrant-based collectives (cf. Evans 2000). Because of the apparent increase in
interconnectedness through long-distance communication, facilitated face-to-face
communication and interaction through travel and interaction, and the diffusion
of ideas and knowledge, social life extending across the borders of states has be-
come more dense and extensive. The spaces "inbetween" states have multiplied.
Some of the cherished concepts of migration research need to be questioned be-
cause they may not be adequate to capture more fluid life-styles, modes of action,
and collective behaviour. The lives of migrants are not necessarily characterised
by one-time settlement and commitment to one society or associations and
groups in one society. Therefore, dichotomous distinctions such as "origin" vs.
"destination" and "emigration" vs. "immigration" no longer hold, if only because
many traditional emigration countries have become both transit and immigration
countries. Turkey is a typical example. Less obviously, other dichotomies such as
"temporary vs. permanent" or "labour migrant vs. refugee" also no longer hold if
the goal is to map trajectories of mobile populations. One first step has been a re-
newed interest in the notion of social space. This has implied, among other
things, the need to conceptualize migration beyond its demographic construction
as "flows" and "stocks" of people and to look at the "inbetween places." Non-
etheless, overcoming unhelpful binary conceptual oppositions does not mean oc-
cluding political conflicts in policy fields such as migration and development.
 TRANSNATIONALISATION IN NoRTH AND SouTH I 39

Venues for Research -The Example of Transnationalisation

and Development

Public debate and research on the relationship between migration & development
has increased considerably over the past years. To be more precise, it has experi-
enced yet another climax after two previous ones, in the 1960s and 1980s. From
a simple cost-benefit point of view the basic idea has always been that the flow
of emigrants and the loss of brains are partly or wholly compensated by a reverse
flow of money, ideas and knowledge. Yet there is very little systematic thought
given to what is recently "new". A transnational approach means looking at the
emergence of a new transnational agent in development discourse - intermit-
tently called "migrants", "diaspora", or "transnational community". In the eyes of
some international organisations, states and development agencies they have
turned into development agents. Increasingly, the cross-border ties of geograph-
ically mobile persons and collectives have been moved to the centre of attention.
And national states, local governments, inter- and supranational organisations
and development agencies seek to eo-opt and establish ties to such agents, who
are engaged in sustained and continuous cross-border relationships on a personal,
collective and organisational level. Also, and this is crucial for any kind of sci-
entific endeavour, the emergence of this new type of development agent can be
tackled by means of a decidedly transnational methodology just sketched. Only
then can we hope to look at what is usually called "development" in both North
and South, and what the different agents involved understand by "development",
hence one may use the plural "development(s)". Development is a decidedly
normative term and may be of little value analytically. However, its main pur-
pose for this discussion is that it concentrates academic and public debates on the
conflicting and evolving notions of what different agents understand as leading a
"good life".
Various agents have repositioned themselves locally in the global changes
over the past decades. Both public policies and rhetoric have changed. A promin-
ent example of the transformed political semantics is the discursive and institu-
tional changes the People's Republic of China has implemented. Discursively,
the slogan to "serve the country" (wei guo fuwu) has replaced the previous motto
of "return to serve" (huiguo fuwu) (Cheng Xi in Nyiri 2001: 637). Such rhetoric
has been complemented by various public policy changes. Examples are easy to
spot, including adaptations through mechanisms such as dual citizenship for
emigrants and immigrants, voting rights for absentees, tax incentives for citizens
abroad, and coaptation of migrant organisations by local, regional and state gov-
ernments for development cooperation. Instead of permanent return migration,
temporary returns, visits and other forms of transactions have moved to the
centre of attention. Thus, in recent years the notion of migrants' return as an asset
of development has been complemented by the idea that even ifthere is no even-
tual return, the commitment of migrants living abroad could be tapped, not only,
40 I THOMAS FAIST

for example, through hometown associations but also through informal "diaspora
knowledge networks" (Meyer 2006). These are networks of scientists and R&D
personnel, business networks, and networks of professionals working for mul-
tinational companies (Kuznetsov 2006). States, development agencies and inter-
national organisations try to support the circulatory mobility of persons involved.
The keyword is "temporary return": An example is the Migration and Develop-
ment in Africa (MIDA) program of the International Organisation of Migration
(IOM), which send migrants as experts back to their countries of origin for short
periods of time (cf. Kapur/McHale 2005). And, of course, governments try to tap
into the activities of hometown associations. A prominent example is the Mexic-
an tres-por-uno (3xl) program, in which each "migradollar" sent by migrants
from abroad is complemented by three dollars from various governmental levels.
More recently, banks have joined the fray and announced 4xl programs. The ex-
amples given suggest that states and organisations have started to build programs
based on the obligations and commitments felt by migrants towards "home coun-
try" institutions.
Much of the semantics focuses on community. The two most fashionable
terms are diaspora and transnational communities. There is an interesting differ-
ence: diaspora is used frequently in the development discourse, and refers to indi-
viduals dispersed all over the globe, while the term transnational community is
found more often in the transnationalist literature. Both terminologies refer to
"communities without propinquity" (Faist 2000b ): Such communities are not
primarily built upon geographical closeness but on a series of social and symbol-
ic ties which connect ethnic, religious and professional diasporas. Yet the notions
of diaspora and transnational community need to be unbundled and even rejected
in order to get closer to a systematic analysis. Rogers Brubaker cogently ob-
served that the "universalisation of the diaspora, paradoxically, means the disap-
pearance of the diaspora" (Brubaker 2005: 3). In recent decades there has been a
telling change of meaning. First, in the classical meaning diaspora referred to
forced migration and violent dispersal, nowadays it denotes any kind of migra-
tion, hence the talk of labour diaspora, trade diaspora, business diaspora, and
refugee diasporas. Secondly, in a classical sense diaspora implied a return to an
imagined or real homeland. Nowadays, this simply means some sort of sustained
ties back to the home country, and in post-modem usage even lateral ties - that
is, ties not only from emigration to one immigration country but connectivity all
over the globe. Thirdly, in the old meaning diaspora referred to various forms of
diaspora segregation in the immigration country, but in the new meaning a sort of
culturally pluralist boundary maintenance in the host country. While these are in-
teresting shifts in meaning, the term diaspora - as well as transnational com-
munity- is too restrictive a term. It imagines a rather homogeneous cross-border
social formation. It repeats the same mistake as much migration scholarship
which assumes rather homogenous national, ethnic or religious groupings. In
sum, in a transnational approach terms such as "community" and "diaspora" do
 TRANSNATIONALISATION IN NoRTH AND SoUTH 141

play a role. Nonetheless, they should not be used in a conceptually inflationary

manner because this leads to an essentialisation of these categories.
The newest wave of the migration-development nexus raises a couple of
challenges to transnational approaches:

Incorporation and Development

So far, incorporation and development studies are disjointed, even in transnation-

al studies. Studies either take the perspective of the country or region, in which
immigrants live, and deal from a transnational angle with issues of incorporation
into labour markets, housing, education and cultural pluralism, but also social se-
curity, state security, wage differentials, and so forth. Or studies deal with the ef-
fects oftransnational ties on home countries, villages, formations from which mi-
grants originate, such as demographic dynamics, remittance flows, and cultural
impacts and often involve an analysis of transnational flows. The former studies,
preoccupied with effects on immigration regions, have entered into a dialogue
with assimilation and multiculturalism perspectives, and the latter, focusing on
emigration regions, with development studies. Yet the two areas are still awk-
ward dance partners. For example, studies have found in the case of immigrants
from Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Colombia in the USA that transna-
tional immigrant organisations' members are older, better-established, and pos-
sess above-average levels of education (Portes et al. 2007). This could be inter-
preted, depending on one's conceptual predisposition, as transnationalism and as-
similation not being opposites, or as a strong transnational orientation indicating
a specific path of incorporation.
However, if not carried onwards, such discussions miss the essence of a
transnational approach. From such a perspective incorporation in national polities
of immigration is one of several dimensions, the other being emigration countries
and transnational social formations themselves. This is clearly visible in two-way
flows. From an integrated South-North-South perspective one has to look not
only at remittances as North-South transfers but also at potential "reverse remit-
tances." There are indeed empirical findings of "reverse remittances" or two way
flows: They can be important especially at the beginning stages of migration of
persons or groups, for example to help undocumented migrants to get papers and
thus to legalize their stay. In this particular case reverse remittances may be in-
dicative of an immigrant incorporation policy which externalises the costs of in-
tegration. Yet such support structures only function if there are cross border
formations, consisting of various elements, such as kinship groups or brokers.
It is questionable whether terms such as immigrant integration or incorpora-
tion are able to capture how two-way flows shape the associational life connect-
ing emigration and immigration regions. They are valid perspectives, of course,
centring on regions of destination and origin. Nonetheless, the in-between trans-
42 I THOMAS FAIST

actions constitute social facts sui generis. Yet we have not yet found an appropri-
ate terminology to deal with these social facts. For example, migrant associations
in immigration regions cannot be neatly categorised into those concerned with
social integration and those interested in development cooperation. It is thus not
surprising that local governments in some European countries have started to link
incorporation, development and migration policies. This opens up new ways of
thinking about the link between incorporation and development: Not only may
those best incorporated be most active in migrant organisations dealing with de-
velopment (a result which is not really surprising) but development cooperation
can also be seen as incorporation- yet the sphere is not restricted then to immig-
ration states but extends to regions of origin. In Spanish metropolitan areas such
as Madrid and Barcelona, for example, there has been a marked shift by local
governments to not just support eo-development but to tie incorporation in Spain
to development abroad. Co-operation between local authorities and migrants is
then directed not only at development in the countries of origin but also seen as a
means to foster incorporation in Spain. The questions which arise are: Is this an
example of co-optation of migrant organisations by local state agencies, or do we
see collaboration between migrant associations and state power? What are the
functions of local cooperation for migration control or management? Why do we
see the triangulation of development, migration control and incorporation in
countries which have only recently emerged as major receiving countries, such as
Spain? And, ultimately, given the pluri-locality of incorporation in multiple sites
in Spain and abroad: incorporation into what? In addition, it stands to reason why
the combination of development, migration control and incorporation now and
the motives behind it? In the end, the issue of eo-development on the local level
and the plurality of agents involved suggest that we need to pay more attention to
different layers of statehood to understand the triangulation. After all, it is the na-
tional state which is explicitly engaged in migration control, while at the local
level issues of incorporation achieve a prime importance.

Public Policy, Politics and Inequality

Many studies look positively at remittances - financial, knowledge and social -

because they may reduce poverty or even eradicate it and contribute to economic
growth. However, there is almost no discussion of the mechanisms of how this
may work - it is almost as if an "invisible hand" transforms remittances into
poverty reduction and economic growth. Needless to say, this is a very myopic
view of the public policy relevance of remittances. If they tie transnational mi-
gration to global social inequality, then remittances must be examined in their
relevance for social policy. Seen in this way, they do not constitute explicit social
policies, of course, but they form a basis for fostering social solidarity among cit-
Izens.
 TRANSNATIONALISATION IN NoRTH AND SoUTH 143

There is, first, an interesting nexus between remittances, social policy and de-
velopment with remittances constituting a sort of intervening variable because
they are an expression of the diffuse solidarity and generalised reciprocity upon
which any kind of social policy has to be built. Secondly, only by integrating
transnational migrants and their associations into policy circuits on various gov-
ernance levels can such potentials be realised. At the very least, we need to ana-
lyse the social policy potential inherent in transnational flows with respect to
state agencies on various levels, non-governmental organisations and economic
organisations such as firms.
Therefore, the crucial policy question is how to fit remittances into universal
social policies. How can remittances be factored into what a recent publication
by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)
calls "developmental welfare"? Social policy and social rights are not something
that might merely evolve after a certain level of development has been reached.
Rather "social policy is a key instrument for economic and social development"
(UNRISD 2007: 2). Since there is no simple remittance-development-nexus, we
need to look at policies which can forge social solidarity and are thus based on
social citizenship across the borders of national states (Faist 2007 c). All the great
theorists of societal membership - from Aristotle, Cicero, J.S. Mill, Hannah
Arendt, T.H. Marshall - have agreed that in order to participate fully in public
life, persons need to be in a certain socio-economic and political position - in
Marshall's tradition we may call it social citizenship; more recently the term
"capabilities" has been introduced by Amartya Sen to capture the same thought
(Marshall1950; Sen 1999).
However, for remittances to play a role in social policy, one has to consider
the obvious difficulties involved in the exchange of financial flows (cf. Guarnizo
2003). For various reasons, macro-political agents such as governments and in-
ternational organisations have tried to control such flows. States in the North, the
USA in particular, have tried to redirect flows through the hawala and hindi sys-
tems to the formal banking system. Officially, this has been part of the effort of
states to gain political control over resource flows after 9/11 in the "war against
terrorism". From a state control point of view, remittances transferred through in-
formal channels exemplify the transgressive behaviour of migrants, not only their
entrepreneurial spirit; remittances do not go to countries as such but to particular
households, villages and regions, and emigration states try to get control of the
money. For international organisations, remittances are one of the instances in
which the control over development finance is at stake. The World Bank and the
regional development banks, such as the Asian Development Bank and the Inter-
American Development Bank give loans to poor countries. The profit made
comes from the small margin of interest rates imposed. However, in the after-
math of structural adjustment programs, and above all alternative sources for
credit (e.g. China in Africa), more and more developing countries seem to be less
and less interested in development finance issued with all the strings attached,
44 I THOMAS FAIST

such as the rule of law, democracy, respect for human rights, scaling down social
subsidies. China imposes none of these stifling conditions. As a result, the World
Bank issues fewer loans and thus the volume of transactions decreases. This state
of affairs constitutes indeed a challenge to the mandate of the World Bank. A
transnational perspective must take into account the frictions and sometimes even
the political conflicts caused by the efforts to control financial remittances.
With respect to all forms of remittances, whether financial, human capital or
social, the issue of their use for purposes such as social and economic welfare
points towards a deeper question. They signal different and often divergent vis-
ions around the notion of development. If one uses the notion of development,
the questions are: what kind of development, whose development and for whom?
Is there a congruence of development visions of diaspora groups on the one hand
and development agencies on the other hand? Do transfers imply transforma-
tions? The cooperation and sometimes coaptation of migrant associations by de-
velopment agencies and local governments raises the issue of who sets the stand-
ards for the goals to be achieved. Listening to the voices of migrants and com-
munities affected by migration may involve re-defining the goals and indicators
of development to focus on human well-being rather than monetary wealth. Yet it
would be nai've to ascribe an emphasis on community and equality to migrant
agency, and more instrumental aims to development agencies, governments of
national states and international organisations.

Transnationalisation through Coupling Migration Control and

Development Aid

Paradoxically, restrictive migration policies may be conducive to financial remit-

tances and the maintenance of transnational kinship groups. Contemporary inter-
national borders are much more akin to sieves than to medieval stone walls. Their
principal function is to protect the integrity of the socio-economic, demographic
and cultural integrity of the population which lies behind them. One important
measure is to filter unacceptable or illegitimate migrants and welcome those who
increase the competitiveness of the economy. The hewers of wood and the draw-
ers of water are implicitly "wanted but not welcome" (Zolberg 1987). By con-
trast, those regarded as highly skilled migrants who transmit knowledge and for-
eign investments are not only wanted but also quite welcome. The migration-de-
velopment link is usually mentioned in its function of reducing the propensities
for migration to Europe. Coupled with such controls are policies making devel-
opment aid to states in the European periphery conditional upon their willingness
to control undocumented migration (Faist/Ette 2007). In other words, emigration
countries need to show their willingness to control illegal migration to immigra-
tion countries in order to get development aid. A good example for such condi-
tionality is Morocco, which partly depends on the EU for financial contributions.
 TRANSNATIONALISATION IN NoRTH AND SoUTH 145

Transnational Concepts and the Concept of the Transnational

Not all "national" concepts can or should be "transnationalised". It is very nebu-

lous what terms such as "transnational citizenship" could mean. Sometimes the
term is used to connote the membership of migrants to local communities
(Fitzgerald 2004). However, it then does not have a legal referent. Citizenship
usually connotes equal political freedom, equal rights of full members, and affili-
ation to a politically-bounded group (Faist 2007b ). A very lose definition of cit-
izenship as transnational does not help analytical work. On the level of national
states it is therefore more precise to speak of dual or multiple citizenships. "And
on the level of supra-state polities such as European Union citizenship, we find
that several layers of citizenship are nested within each other - regional, national
and European. In this case the term nested citizenship is appropriate" (Faist
2001). Therefore, we are better off speaking of transnational membership when
discussing the involvement of geographically mobile persons in local communit-
ies in two or more countries. The situation may be different when talking about
transnational civil society. Civil society and rule of law or even democratic state-
hood are mutually constitutive: Civil society is usually held to be a sphere dis-
tinct from "market" and "state", and as such can only be thought of in terms of
basic human and civil rights guaranteed by state structures. Migrant organisations
may be part of groups active in the civil sphere (Faist 2000b: chapter 9).
The difficulties involved in transnationalising concepts such as citizenship
and civil society points towards a larger problematique. Too often the term
"trans" means only overcoming unhelpful binary oppositions. And indeed, from
a transnational angle oppositions such as emigrant and immigrant can partly be
dissolved in the concept of a transnational migrant. Also, as mentioned above,
there is no necessary opposition between transnational ties and the incorporation
of geographically mobile persons in different and distinct local and national civil,
economic and political spheres. However, it should not be forgotten that "trans"
does not simply imply going beyond, namely beyond conflicts created by the
very transnationality of ties and social structures. For example, there are numer-
ous documented instances of conflicts between development visions of homet-
own associations on the one hand and those remaining in the locales of origin on
the other hand. While the former may see stipends for bright students for study
abroad as an appropriate tool of development, the latter may be interested in the
improvement oflocal infrastructures (for examples, see Waldinger 2006).

Conclusion: Bringing Legitimation Back in

Transnational approaches offer a counter-balance to macro-oriented, top-down

approaches of globalisation, world society and world polity theory. Although
they are less integrated theoretically than these three broad groups of approaches,
46 I THOMAS FAIST

they offer much-needed heuristic tools to call into question the umealistic notions
of these other cross border theories in at least two respects. First, transnational
approaches occupy the conceptual space inbetween "container" social sciences
fraught by problems such as methodological territorialism and methodological
nationalism on the one hand and world society and world polity theories on the
other hand (on related but differing concepts such as "cosmopolitanism", see
Beck/Sznaider 2006). Transnational approaches perform this function because
they emphasise the tension between space as place and space as flows. Although
the boundaries of many national institutions, including the national states them-
selves, are rapidly changing, binary oppositions are not going to dissolve. If one
is interested in emergent structures of world society or world polity, one has to
take very seriously the nexus between local and global models and look at how
they shape each other. Doing so requires attention to cross border agency. This
means allowing for both tendencies towards homogeneity and heterogeneity, in-
corporation and disintegration of societal formations across the globe. Second,
globalisation and world society approaches usually do not pose the central ques-
tion any political sociology has to put at its centre- the problem of legitimacy of
social orders and social systems. Issues of legitimate social order, here shown in
an exemplary way regarding the migration-development nexus, are at the root of
social change and transformation in any kind of societal formation.

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Transnationalisation, Translocal Spaces, Gender
and Development - Methodological Challenges
GUDRUN LACHENMANN

Transcultural Research: Transnationalism

and Development

In the approach presented in this article, we want to empirically ground global-

isation theories and consider migration research as one very important methodo-
logical perspective. The other perspective important for our analysis is gender
and agency.
This approach reflects the process of connecting development research
(especially at the Department of Sociology in Bielefeld, see Schrader and Kaiser
2001) to a new concept of bridging migration and transnationalism. Migration is
now seen as constituting a transnational space for negotiating development
through translocal interactions which form an everyday life activity of
'transmigrants'. Their concepts of development, of societal well-being and of
social transformation in general are probably quite different from the mainstream
development ideas into which they are supposed to be integrated by 'developers'.
These may be very modernistic, or traditionalistic in other concerns, not really
democratic but with a high degree of ownership.
In order to investigate these processes, questions of methodology and design
have to be asked in quite a different way than has been the case in development
research, sociology and social anthropology up to now. Many are sceptical of re-
garding the adequacy of doing comparative research across different societies,
first world and third world, between different cultures or civilisations, given the
very heterogeneous and context specific developments. After the long tradition of
regional studies, case studies in social anthropology and fear of transfer of Euro-
centric concepts in development research, there is a necessity for a fundamental
reconsidering of methodological approaches within a process of globalising so-
cial science. Concepts connected to specific cases and regions enter more and
52 I GuDRUN LACHENMANN

more into generalising debates, following a methodology of transcultural 'com-

parative global' social research.
Therefore, there is an increased interest in strengthening qualitative methodo-
logy and in empirically grounding certain theoretical fields such as the sociology
of Islam, gender, social movements (Lachenmann 1993, 1998b) which can be
made fruitful for migration and development studies and can be considered to be
basic features of globalisation 'in the making'. There are three different ap-
proaches: qualitative analysis of concepts and phenomena considered to be con-
stitutive of globalisation, such as social movements, networks, civil society with-
in a framework of transcultural sociology, thereby avoiding dualisms of blocks,
cultures etc.; globalisation studied through its constitutional element of interlink-
ing, global flows, translocal social spaces, networks and movements; and global-
isation looked at as it is generated from below, making use of knowledge accu-
mulated by means of regional studies and looking at glocalisation and localisa-
tion. The paradigm of translocality refers to the interactive construction of social
reality whereby boundaries of multiple social worlds, identities, and communities
are renegotiated.
The article is mainly based on the research project "Negotiating Development
in Translocal Gendered Spaces in Muslim Societies". 1 The women's movements
which we studied in their own societies, referring to global concepts such as
CEDAW, family law and with regard to translocality ascribed to their local and
regional activities, were, together with migrants, among the early transnational
actors of globalisation. In this article, I shall try to explain the theoretical con-
cepts and methodology developed in this context to study the constitution of
translocal spaces. We aim at bringing different recent venues together, such as
engendering social fields and interface of knowledge systems on the one hand
and approaches to new forms of field research on the other, linking up to interna-
tionally debated concepts of multi-sited respectively global ethnography. An im-
portant aspect of further developing the study of translocal spaces will be bring-
ing together concepts of (translocal) agency, institutionalisation and structuration.
It will be shown how these considerations can be applied to three case studies of
Muslim societies. The theoretical outcome of empirically grounding globalisation
theory will be based on contrasting concepts of 'othering' vs. glocalisation, trans-
fer vs. interconnectedness and analysing the restructuring and overlapping of
public spheres. Finally concrete methods of field research, as applied in the re-
search project mentioned above will be explained.
In this project we argued that globalisation is being constituted through new
social forms of organisation and epistemic communities, with the development of
the world as a global knowledge framework. Within a framework of theory of
agency, relationality and dynamics, we analyse the constitution of social spaces,

Financed by the Volkswagen Foundation, see www.uni-bielefeld/trdc, and coordin-

ated by the author and Dr. Petra Dannecker, together with Dr. Salma Nageeb, Dr.
Nadine Sieveking and Anna Spiegel Dipl.Soz.
 TRANSNATIONALISATION , TRANSLOCAL SPACES, GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT I 53

which are structured through gender, and look at othering and fundamentalisms
as globalising forces negotiated locally at different interfaces. We want to con-
tribute to deepening globalisation theory by looking at how spaces, knowledge,
structuring through agency and networking of women in the development field
are constituting flows and landscapes in a translocal way. We do this in the sense
of empirically grounding approaches of Appadurai (1998, 2000), Robertson
(1995) or Hannerz (2000) etc .. In our view the structuration of social fields is
gendered, and the female negotiation of development and constitution of trans-
local and transnational spaces present very pertinent cases for consideration. Mi-
gration is a second important dimension of structuration and agency.
We can consider migration theory and transnationalism as one field of global-
isation processes in which migrants are actors and carriers of ideas and concepts
being localised and also globalised in the sense of feeding back to the North. Of
course, the structuration of power of these translocal spaces, interfaces and inter-
actions, is one of the main challenges to be analysed. Our approach intends to be
transnational, overcoming methodological nationalism (although the interface
between the state and i.a. its development policy can be focused upon as well)
and methodological ethnicity (Glick-Schiller/Basch/Szanton Blanc 1992) by
looking at diversity and intersectionality in the social and cultural construction of
reality in a transcultural approach.
In general it is astonishing how little explicit debate and writing exists on
how to do empirical research which captures translocality (Appadurai 1998;
Freitag/von Oppen 2005) and transnationalism (Hannerz 2000; Faist 1998; Faist
2007; Pries 2001). It is clear that we cannot separate an interactive and translocal
approach from a comparative approach when studying processes, relations, or
flows. Comparison, respectively interface-analysis, does not imply one logic, but
rather the construction of meaning from situatedness and contextualisation.
Therefore, it seems very fruitful to make comparisons by deconstructing concepts
regarding certain phenomena, such as citizenship and participation. The ad-
equacy of the methods has to be discussed by looking at the newly observed pro-
cesses and problems which are constitutive of globalisation. These include local/
national confrontations and questions of autonomy, political ethnicity, identity
etc., the constitution of the public sphere and social spaces, knowledge produc-
tion and transfer.
It is also very important to see that, although there is a global regime in de-
velopment with very dominant conceptualisations, interactions and transfers, as
in migration, are not mainly North- South any longer. However the South -
South relations are often invisible. Such is the case with traders' networks 2 for
example, which transform into transnational South - South firms, transnational

2 See Evers/Schrader (1994). They elaborated on the so called "traders' dilemma",

showing that trade is mainly organised by non-locals who can avoid social obliga-
tions.
54 I GuDRUN LACHENMANN

women's and other social movements and civil society, constituting new translo-
cal public spheres.

Engendering Methodology, Researching Constitution

of Translocal Spaces

We are aspiring to empirically ground globalisation theories in the sense of

"grounded theory" (Strauss 1987; Strauss/Corbin 1998) and are doing transcul-
tural comparison and research in the sense of "global ethnography" (Burawoy et
al. 2000), and "multi-sited ethnography" (Marcus 1998). Therefore we study the
social spaces constituted in different arenas, platforms for public debate, consid-
ering different flows and fields, such as development, through the agency and
perspective of actors such as migrants and members of women organisations. The
constitution of interactive social spaces through networks, especially through IT
in a virtual space, is a very interesting concomitant feature of migration which
transcends the division of everyday life and lifeworld, mid-level organisations
and national boundaries (Harcourt 1999; Saloma-Akpedonu 2006).
From our point of view it is important to widen the epistemological and the-
oretical approach to embrace translocal social spaces in general by using the
concept of overlapping knowledge systems and their interfaces (Long 1992).
This implies broadening migration approaches and generalising development
studies, but in very clear cut fields. This position should not be equated with the
assumption that the nation state should or does lose certain functions. The differ-
ence in methodology lies in referring to certain dimensions of analysis such as in-
terfaces with state authorities, politics, and institutions, instead of focusing on
them as units of analysis.
We take recourse to phenomenological social theory and interpretative meth-
odology and share the assumption that methodological deficits should be over-
come by focusing on renegotiating and overcoming frontiers, constituting cross-
cutting and overlapping social spaces and institutions. This brings into focus the
negotiation of meaning and constitution of social spaces. According to our view,
this necessitates a methodological approach of structuration and hybridisation
with a focus on negotiation of meaning of institutions in translocal/transnational
spaces. This also implies to investigate new forms of social cohesion and collect-
ive agency of society including social movements and civil society organisations,
and the constitution of crosscutting spaces for negotiating meaning. Another
methodological requisite would be a systematic analyis of (encounters at) inter-
faces (of knowledge systems) and the interconnectedness or redrawing of bound-
aries between different sites and spaces.
We think that we can thereby overcome in our analysis the tendency to con-
ceptualise institutions in very formalistic and modernistic ways, distinguishing
between formal and informal institutions and sectors as well as social security,
 TRANSNATIONALISATION , TRANSLOCAL SPACES, GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT I 55

public and private, traditional and modem forms of governance, civil society and
the state. This would imply drawing strict boundaries without taking into account
interfaces, crosscutting knowledge and resource transfers and management, the
social embeddedness of institutions, the permanent renegotiation of social identit-
ies, i.e. the enormous flexibility of structures and agency. However, we would
look at processes of formalisation, organisation-building, development in translo-
cal/transnational spaces, of participation, ownership and transformation of 'tradi-
tional' institutions.
Unfortunately, in mainstream transnationalism studies in general there is
hardly any explicit engendering of analysis, although a gender perspective is very
pertinent and fruitful. This is especially true regarding the structuration of social
fields where gender clearly makes a difference and provides relevant insights into
the construction of social reality. 3 However, there are some very thorough and
rich empirical studies, mainly in the field oftransnational identity formation (e.g.
Thapan (ed.) 2005; Thapan 2005; Chaudhuri 2005). Often, only a conventional
number-taking or comparison of men and women takes place. This looks at the
very statically conceived 'role of women' in 'households', without taking into ac-
count research on translocal gender relations and their renegotiation, gendered
modes of (circular) migration, construction of gender in institutions and organisa-
tions, including policies, and societal gender order.
When applying this gender perspective (Lachenmann 2004a; Lachenmann
2004b; Dannecker 2005), we realised that there are gendered (translocal) social
spaces on the one hand, where the instrumentalisation of women in migration,
identity and poverty reduction policies takes place. The construction of gender is
often very essentialist, with gender constructs influencing, to a great extent, the
orientalisation of migrants. This occurs through concepts such as vulnerable
groups, forced marriage, oppression of women, thereby characterising the send-
ing countries as underdeveloped and culturally inferior. On the other hand, far-
fetched implications about what these 'suppressed' women should do are implied
in policies. Also the gendered structure of transnational migration and the very
big gender differences and interesting gendered networks are hardly taken into
account.
Furthermore, it is very important to development and localisation, as Nina
Glick Schiller has stressed, to study localities within the global 'new economy',
overcoming the 'ethnic economy' approach. To do this she suggests a scaling ap-
proach to transnational migration research, including the positioning of nation-
states and global cities within global fields of power affecting the "processes
through which migrants move, settle, and maintain transnational connection"
(Glick Schiller 2007: 6).
There is certainly a need for a global perspective, but at the same time we
need to strengthen the methodological links between localities, localising pro-
3 Sarah J. Mahler and Patricia R. Pessar (2006) put it nicely: "Gender matters: ethno-
graphers bring gender from the periphery toward the core of migration studies".
56 I GuDRUN LACHENMANN

cesses, interfaces at different levels and crosscutting and overlapping social

spaces. Of course we cannot consider migrants as 'actors of globalisation' (in the
sense that political scientists often do) without unravelling underlying power
structures. Agency and (power) structuration of translocal fields are constituting
globalisation which is also 'made by migrants' in the sense of 'social worlds', es-
tablishing relations and institutions. We would refer to modes of structuration, di-
mensions, even think of strategies. A methodological consequence is to over-
come dichotomies by showing that new cultural spaces are created - what could
be called 'spaces of migration' (intersecting at many borders and internally struc-
tured)- in contrast to a concept of container culture (see e.g. Pries 2001).
The constitution of spaces can lead to formation of communities, but the
more interesting approach of global ethnography would be to analyse negotiation
within, e.g. between concepts of culture, development and obligations, gender re-
lations etc. between migrants and people at home. Otherwise there is the danger
of assuming a framework of' global capitalism' without showing how combined
power structures work on a local level. This is what can be conceived as a para-
digm of 'translocality' (Appadurai 1998; Freitag/von Oppen 2005).
Development, in a framework of globalisation, must be conceived of as "so-
cial transformation" in a broad sense such as "multiple modernities". This
concept implies looking at othering processes, different institutional solutions but
also informalisation processes (e.g. of social services). These need to be defined
in terms of knowledge production and use, as well as arenas of the negotiation of
meaning in a scalar sense on different levels. In general, transnationalisation, in-
cluding migration, should overcome tendencies to become closed epistemic com-
munities. Following a translocal paradigm, our questions with regard to develop-
ment and migrants as carriers of flows (in the sense of Appadurai 1998) would
be: What concepts do they carry? Can they overcome the 'stranger' -'natives' di-
vide which is used in development co-operation, addressed by social concepts
such as local knowledge, participation, ownership etc. We are introducing meth-
odological approaches in order to do analysis based on sociology of knowledge,
including ideas of authority of knowledge, dominant knowledge etc. (e.g. article
by Eva Gerharz in this volume).
The phenomenological approach of structuration, which is connected to the
theory and methodological approach of social action - necessarily goes beyond
an "actors" approach. This can not be done by concentrating on transnational or-
ganisations (Pries 2001). In our view, agency and the negotiation of meaning
leading to structuration must be the basis for studying social spaces. Social space
would be conceived of as the operationalisation of the life-world concept, which
includes the dimension of "borders" or "boundaries". Instead of conceptualising
fixed units of analysis, we suggest analysing dynamic interfaces of systems of
knowledge in social spaces by showing how they are constituted. If globalisation
and localisation are produced in a constructivist sense by migrants, or like in our
 TRANSNATIONALISATION , TRANSLOCAL SPACES, GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT I 57

project case study by women activists and researchers, everyday life and organ-
isational life and linkages between these have to be brought together. We con-
sider the micro-macro relation as best captured through the structuration and in-
stitutionalisation approach. Regarding the defining levels, we can indeed distin-
guish different complexities of societal organisation. However the linkages and
interactions appear to be increasingly important. Very interesting indeed are the
crossing of levels and the multiple entanglements.

Translocal Agency and Institutionalisation

Given the global and translocal phenomena of connectedness, methodological

challenges are indeed to replace classical comparison because independent units
of analysis cannot be distinguished any more. We analyse how social spaces are
constituted through agency (e.g. Peleikis 2003 on Lebanon - Ivory Coast mi-
grants) and we can formulate certain dimensions and perspectives in order to
look at processes and dynamics in other cases. Such relational studies need to in-
clude systematic contextualisation thereby overcoming methodological national-
ism by considering e.g. the interaction with the state when negotiating concepts
in different spheres as only one of several dimensions.
Often organisations are considered as the relevant actors, whereas social
movements are neglected. Social movements are typical actors in social spaces
with blurred boundaries between formal and informal contexts. Relevant social
spaces can be constituted by organisations, which, however, are not social spaces
per se. Instead, we look at crosscutting spaces and multiple social worlds, not as
concentric circles but as overlapping spheres, also regarding everyday life in and
with the economy which is socially organised and transnationally embedded. Per-
spectives on both need to be combined in analysis. The methodological imperat-
ive of structuration has to be taken seriously. Pertinent here are some Bielefeld
studies such as "The Traders' dilemma" (Evers/Schrader 1994), or "Doing IT in
the Philippines" (Saloma-Akpedonu 2006), where the everyday life and organisa-
tional boundaries are blurred and where translocal interaction amongst actors
within organisations or individually takes place. One example is the exchanging
ofiT knowledge and contracts with Philippine migrants to the United States. We
assume that this blurring of the relations with organisations is one of the phenom-
ena of globalisation which has to be understood. The way the global economy is
structured for example by Bolivian migrants living and working in private sweat
shops in Argentina ("cama dentro" lit. bed inside the sweatshop, Spiegel 2005),
includes all forms of outsourcing, privatising and precarious working relations.
Another relevant case would be cleaning staff and housemaids in global cities.
Analysis can be based on concepts of modes of transformation, processes of in-
stitutionalisation and of organisation building.
58 I GuDRUN LACHENMANN

With regard to the question of the institutionalisation of agency in social

spaces, thereby contributing to the analysis of the migration/development nexus,
we suggest studying interfaces between formal and informal institutions (such as
social security or finance), crosscutting boundaries of formal institutions and
formally employed persons including migrants overcoming distances. There are
innovative forms of linking, conceiving and combating poverty by taking into ac-
count social networks, livelihoods, and cooperation between genders. These also
take into account the exchange of resources and labour, boundary crossing
between different logics of economic agency such as the reproductive and pro-
ductive field, for example between women in informal business interacting with
men in institutions and the other way round. It is important to analyse how
boundaries are drawn and the interfaces between local governance and civil soci-
ety organisations are take place. These can be analysed by looking at the social
spaces for negotiating public issues or developing formal institutions. Examples
are social forestry or informal institutions such as rehabilitation of irrigation
schemes or male/female groups and organisations.
A phenomenological methodology clearly helps to overcome the 'society
equals nation state' syndrome. We can render relational and interactive ap-
proaches more visible by using systematic dense methodology which includes
the study of trajectories. Contextualisation can also be done systematically ac-
cording to structures of relevance in the field. I am afraid the trap of territorial
reference remains if cross-cutting worlds and boundaries are not examined; we
have to study how these are permanently (re)produced and negotiated. This can
be done by using concepts such as arena, platforms and public sphere(s) where
power relations are generated and challenged and the meanings of policy issues
are negotiated as well as the images of (gendered) migrants are constructed.
In our project we use the concept of 'translocal' social spaces in a broader
sense, looking at processes of 'othering' and negotiating multiple feminisms, Is-
lams, Islamic feminism, African feminism etc. (Lachenmann 2005). I consider
"African" not as an ethnic but rather a political concept. In these debates 'mi-
grants' from the respective countries play a decisive role. We talk about a 'cos-
mopolitan epistemic community' which brings together gender researchers, act-
ivists and experts on different levels of international organisations and links
between their social movement/organisational base and regional regimes which
influence and conceive global policy and rights concepts and debates, e.g. regard-
ing UN women conferences.
M. Salzbrunn (see contribution in this volume) discusses different approaches
to theorising locality in migration studies, "local-global embedding processes"
and "globalisation from below" (a term used quite early in gender research). Fol-
lowing these approaches she very convincingly suggests studying certain "polit-
ical and cultural events in a context of migration" in order to "recognise the root-
ing of transnational networks". Her epistemological focus considers them to be
"platforms for the negotiation of inclusion/exclusion and transformation pro-
 TRANSNATIONALISATION , TRANSLOCAL SPACES, GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT I 59

cesses" (i.e. boundary drawing regarding power of definition). She avoids con-
ceptualising "ethnic" essentialised communities by using the 'neutral' definition
of "minorities", and looks at processes of communitarisation. In this process she
sees the formation of"new identity" based on "experience of circulation".
I think these are very interesting directions in a 'localisation' approach,
which can be connected to concepts of 'politics of the place' (Harcourt 2000;
Gupta/Ferguson 1997) and 'translocality', in the sense of the constitution of so-
cial spaces where new hybrid social worlds, identities, interactions, modes of
transformation and gender order are negotiated, showing how they are construc-
ted in translocal social spaces.
The dimension of comparison applied in the sense mentioned above, when
looking at agency in public spheres, is seen in the relationship and the location
e.g. of Muslim minorities in a secular state, thereby applying a situational ap-
proach, elaborating on arrangements, modes of interaction etc., and doing sys-
tematic contextualisation. The instrument applied is event analysis. These new
forms of comparison are concerned with dimensions such as "religious references
in the public sphere" (Salzbrunn in this volume). This I consider to be a meso
level of social organisation, as well as a middle range theorising approach, in-
eluding the phenomena of sociality (Vergesellschaftung). Methodologically this
implies institutionalisation processes and social change. The production of hy-
bridity, a concept which is supposed to overcome old dichotomies between de-
veloped and underdeveloped countries (Nederveen Pieterse/Parekh eds. 1995), is
shown in translocal spaces through interactions as well as economic, cultural and
social structures and institutions.
In order to further study globalisation processes, and even if we regard them
to be constitutive of a "world society", it is certainly fruitful to use hermeneutics
to open up stocks of knowledge on non Western societies. The sociology of
knowledge laid the necessary methodological foundations rather early through
the works of Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann (1966). These works are still
very relevant for studying the social construction of reality through the situated
negotiation of meaning. Following this approach ensures that cultural relativism
is avoided.
We attempt to do systematic contextualisation, in transcultural global social
research, elaborating on translocal social spaces, referring to these foundations in
sociology of knowledge and trying to come up with different possible interpreta-
tions of meaning (such as implied in Geertz 1983; Knoblauch ed. 1996 etc.).
When our methodology is based on "grounded theory", we come up with key
categories and working (hypo)thesis, which demonstrate the explanatory power
of various concepts. The idea of 'different meanings' has always been implied in
constructivism along with logics of actions, interfaces of systems of knowledge
and the multiplicity of social worlds .
The idea of "multi-sited ethnography" (Marcus 1998) has influenced social
anthropology. In this approach I would claim that the "sociological" view should
60 I GuDRUN LACHENMANN

be highlighted more explicitly. We have used it in several forms, combining

"thick and complex methods" such as trajectories, multi-level analysis (Berg-
Schlosser 2000; Lang 2005), mobile research (Schlee 1985), and structured
designs including triangulation. We have also developed new forms of comparis-
on, where it is not the same researcher who has to do all the different studies, but
rather works with collectively elaborated dimensions, and typologies as de-
veloped in interpretative sociology.
This debate has been highly emiched through the work of Michael Burawoy
and his research group in California, and also by debates in social anthropology,
which refer to global power structures and ask how new forms of power structur-
ation can be taken into account in what they call "Global ethnography. Forces,
connections, and imaginations in a postrnodem world" (Burawoy et al. 2000).
They want to overcome the restrictedness of the ethnographic site represented by
the Chicago school in this new approach. "Within any field, whether it had global
reach or was bounded by community or nation, our fieldwork had to assemble a
picture of the whole by recognising diverse perspectives from the parts, from sin-
gular but connected sites", striving at a "historically grounded, theoretically driv-
en, macro ethnography" (Burawoy 2000: 4). Inda and Rosaldo (2002) use the
term "anthropology of globalisation", Long (2000: 184pp) talks about "exploring
local/global transformations". This approach can be combined with systematising
structuration, translocality and contextualisation, in the sense of empirically
grounding globalisation theory.

Studying Translocality and Comparison Through

Case Studies

In our research project we studied, through field studies as well as common

workshops, how global development concepts are localised and negotiated in
translocal social spaces in three different Muslim societies - Senegal, Sudan, and
Malaysia. We study how women academics, activists and movements interact
with civil society and the state, thereby restructuring the public sphere. We re-
stricted the scope of our studies by looking very specifically at female activities
and the gendered structure of development processes including concepts of vul-
nerability and rights. Nevertheless, we have been able to arrive at more general-
ised conclusions beyond merely comparing the three cases. Our research process
is guided thus by the question of how comparative research can contribute in a
fruitful way to theory building and at the same time to understanding our 'special
cases'.
The diversity of concepts and constructs of gender, development and reli-
gious identity, that we came across in our research project, is not only pre-de-
termined because of the highly contrasting case studies we did in countries and
societies which have completely different constellations in regard to Islam. In
 TRANSNATIONALISATION , TRANSLOCAL SPACES, GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT 161

these three countries, Islam varies in its importance for state and society, type of
development and socio-economic issues, as well as the influence of religion on
societal and international conflicts. The theoretical sampling of these countries
was complemented by the results which emerged when theory was grounded in
empirical findings. In Senegal - a secular state - Islam is hardly relevant at all for
development efforts. However, it is omnipresent, in a localised Brotherhood
structure, and in some newly Islamising forces which are starting to compete on a
national level with state legitimacy (e.g. with regard to family code debates). In
our empirical results the Senegal case shows how local development works and
how women network, linking it to women rights in a very basic way - even in
some discourses such as those against equality (when women want to uphold
family obligations of men).
Sudan - as an Islamist state - stands for Islam as the permanent force as
against which to negotiate room for manoeuvre by women and defining the
meaning of global as against popular Islam. At the same time, development is-
sues resulting from poverty are omnipresent in all women's groups. Their social
spaces seem to have grown enormously in the context of the present day conflict
and of the peace debates being supported by the international and donor com-
munity. These spaces constitute a very interesting arena of societal transforma-
tion. In our comparative design, Sudan therefore indicates that the interface
between the state and the civil society is being strengthened and the public sphere
restructured.
The case of Malaysia, on the other hand, has shown that the force of wo-
men's and feminist organisations and networks is struggling in a complex nation-
al context based on political ethnicity and national Islam. Its power of negotiation
and conquered space seems not to refer to the development model per se: There
are astonishingly conventional welfare or service oriented women's organisations
reflecting the typical developmentalist constructs of 'vulnerable women'. At the
same time, rather conventional left-wing 'progressive' organisations seem to
have little power to change the miserable working and rights situations of mainly
labourers belonging to ethnic minorities (plantation workers etc.). However, there
are very important feminist organisations and networks which have entered an in-
ner Islamic debate on situated interpretations oflslam relating to women's rights
and which seriously challenge hegemonic religious authorities, Islamic practices
and the state. This question, which we have conceptualised as "authority of
knowledge", is an interesting feature of all three societies. However, in Malaysia
it seems to be on a high scholarly level and is especially crucial at this point in
time before the possible institutionalisation of Sharia law. At the same time wo-
men groups seem to get their main legitimacy from their important transnational
presence and reputation in networking. Here, of course, the feminist Islamic ex-
change is one important field, but at least as important is the participation in re-
gional and global debates about globally defined rights (see CEDAW) from
which they draw their power for national activism.
62 I GuDRUN LACHENMANN

It became clear that the relevant issues being discussed are very different in
the three countries. For example, discussions of sexualised violence or illegitim-
ate children, an issue raised in Malaysia, are still taboo in Sudan. There is no
single uniform globalising force called Islamisation. We can, on the contrary, see
more and more diversified processes of Islamisation going on in very different
settings.
However, on the national/societal level we have worked out ideal types of
power in civil society which could be applied to and compared with other societ-
ies. In Malaysia we see strongly gendered public spaces and networking in order
to negotiate national forms of Islamisation by means of human rights discourses.
This action is - nearly exclusively - legitimised to a very high degree by external
networking, thereby influencing and contributing strongly to inter-Islamic gender
discourses. In Sudan a strong Islamist State is fighting the diversity of Islam of-
ten including local, and popular Islam of women, and with strong pressure to
open up to Western and global development donors. This is leading to develop-
ment discourses on poverty, but is combined with peace keeping and conflict res-
olution processes and activities. In Senegal there is increasing neglect of the
Muslim societal context in favour of very liberal, Western oriented development
concepts. Also, the degree of influence on negotiating development concepts in
the public sphere seems to be less with regard to gender issues. There are Islam-
isation processes going on within the global discourse with very clear implica-
tions for gender and development, and these are considered to be politically crit-
ical.

New Interactive Methodological Perspectives

Othering processes vs. glocalisation

We have been able to observe developments taking place within the international
women's organisations and positioning in the international arena. We could wit-
ness that othering processes are not uniform and sometimes absent. In Malaysia
activists claim not to be anti-Western but rather- as in global feminist discourse
-anti neo-liberalism and denounce the impact of globalisation. Here, the present
discourse goes in the direction of very generalised criticism, which often very
simply claims that human and women rights discourses should be linked to or re-
place macro-economic debates.
Although there is a consensus on the diversity of feminisms in a global arena,
this might indeed cause certain new boundaries to be drawn and othering pro-
cesses and exclusions to be produced. Moreover, since the Malaysian women's
movement claims global solidarity with women and sisterhood, this might be
constituted in global female spaces where globalisation and relevant concepts
seem indeed to be negotiated. In Senegal the othering works through different
 TRANSNATIONALISATION , TRANSLOCAL SPACES, GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT 163

constructions of gender and, thereby, conceptions of (universal human) equality,

which sometimes does not address the global feminist discourses on difference.
This debate takes place between feeling labelled by the term 'Muslim' women
and claiming universal exchange on the one hand, and working for the considera-
tion of specific, nationally relevant, contexts of culture and tradition on the other.
Development can mean neo-traditional reconstruction of community. When the-
orising about new global forms of diversity and difference, we can refer to these
translocal relations, where it is clear that neither economy nor women's move-
ments nor NGOs are bound to one place.
We have found references to different !slams, and claims of everyday Islam
against global homogenisation and fundamentalisms, as well as different femin-
isms reflecting regional and political diversity. These phenomena can be inter-
preted as different modernities in relation to public space, secularism, economic
institutions, cultural re-vitalisation, social movements and civil society.

Translocal Public Spheres

The constitution of public spheres where universal concepts are being negotiated,
has been a very interesting aspect of comparison in our project. Forms of activ-
ism were discovered (such as those taking place at Women's days) to be very
global culture oriented (consumerism, popular music etc. in shopping malls in
Malaysia), as well as very conventional and state dominated (Senegal) or even
ambivalent such like Sudan where womens' groups are part of the peace making
process but enter very little into the constitutional debates. In Malaysia the im-
portance of the women's movement in entering and restructuring the public
sphere is shown in the remarkable "shadow report" elaborated for the (World
Conference on Women in) Beijing plus 10 process. In Senegal the official nation-
al Strategy for Gender Equality and Equity (SNEEG) adopted in 2005 lacks pro-
fessional quality regarding agency in society and a vision of any sort of gender
movement. This is the case although it is supported and even contributed to by a
large women's organisation. In Sudan, one can say that women groups have for
quite some time been, in a less conspicuous way than Human Rights activists,
upholding a public discourse by occupying spaces concerning women's issues,
poverty, and now peace and democracy.
Sociology, including that of"world society", mostly neglects these new inter-
actions and spheres. These relations are not addressed when studying the 'im-
pacts' of globalisation or new global regimes of development and social policies.
Mostly, relevant interactions become invisible as seen from a modernist view on
the one hand and a paternalistic antipoverty and diffusionist perspective on the
other. Transnational relations in migration, new forms of shadow economy in
formerly socialist regimes, social embeddedness, interface between all so called
informal forms of economy and politics have only recently been discovered (see
64 I GuDRUN LACHENMANN

e.g. Yurkowa 2004). The relational approach goes far beyond studying reactions
to impacts, survival strategies etc. which are discovered in an exotised sense.
These are structurations and institutionalisations which take place in very cross-
cutting ways. 4

Transfer vs. lnterconnectedness

Modernity implies pluralism and globalisation implies diversity yet in an interre-

lated system of interactions, constitution of spaces and negotiation of meanings
as understood by the term of battlefields of knowledge (Long/Long 1992). There
is clearly no doubt any more about the transfer of knowledge, patterns of mod-
ernity and so forth. Thus theorisation about globalisation has to be based espe-
cially on these glocalisation and localisation processes. At the same time, this
does not mean that we should and can study 'the impact' of globalisation pro-
cesses in general or of certain global governance policies, economic policies etc.
in particular. This has been the case especially within the feminist global arena,
i.a. generated within different UN-environments, and of global movements often
criticising in a too general way and constructing 'neo-liberalism' as a global anti-
force. Neither should we look at 'reactions' of societies or groups even if we en-
vision active coping or survival strategies. This also means that we cannot just
look at the transfer, diffusion or movement of concepts and institutional arrange-
ments in different policy domains (such as gender policies, local governance, and
social services) without analysing the contexts and problem solutions in the re-
spective situations. This forces us to introduce completely different perspectives,
crosscutting unquestioned analytical concepts such as formal and informal, mar-
ket and subsistence, public and private.
Often it is not a question of diffusion or transfer of models and solutions.
When exploring interconnectedness and localisation, the perspective changes and
one no longer oversees phenomena of glocalisation within a given societal con-
text. This is neither impact nor resistance, but it is also not some completely new
alternative or independent idea.

4 The Internet, or information technology per se, could be considered to be a new

form of translocal public space (Spiegel, Harig rapp. 2002). It is a matter of a
(gendered) structure of knowledge, which means combining agency and knowledge,
and added to the new debates on knowledge management in development agencies
(Worldbank 1999, 2000). Feminist economists (Lachenmann 1998a; Marchand/Par-
part eds. 1995,) are what could be called a strategic global group of women activists
and researchers - an epistemic community which has partly become virtual, with
many members who are cosmopolitan migrants (Hannerz 2000). They argue very
strongly that the socio-economic consequences of globalisation are especially harm-
ful because of gender inequality, conceiving economy as a gendered structure
(Cagatay/Elson/Grown 1995). If we look at economy as being socially and globally
embedded (Lachenmann/Dannecker eds. 2001), we should abandon 'impact analys-
is' in favour of interaction and structuration.
 TRANSNATIONALISATION , TRANSLOCAL SPACES, GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT 165

The problem is less the transfer than the understanding of these globalisation
processes, implying active diversity. Of course these processes often mean
powerlessness in the sense of reduction of room to manoeuvre. This is exempli-
fied with regard to all development issues such as economy, poverty, decentral-
isation, resource protection and gender, even knowledge. With globalisation,
(mostly informal) economic patterns are travelling which implies the creation or
destruction of (precarious) jobs as well as investments.

Observing Globalisation: Empirically Grounding

Globalisation/Doing "Global Ethnography"

An important aspect which has changed the practice of adhering strictly to one
country/society/community or ethnic group, is certainly the fact that more and
more concepts of intercultural and especially translocal, transnational and also
transcultural relevance are being developed in social science. This is probably an
empirical feature of glocalisation. In our research project this has already proven
to be very useful in terms of organising the empirical research around networking
and discourses on development concepts in the different communities etc.
Stauth's (1995) concept of"kulturiibergreifende Sozialforschung"- we call it
trans-cultural social research - is absolutely pertinent. He criticises a concept he
calls "comparative sociology of civilisations" for "assuming a homogenous, uni-
versalistic classificatory system of communication absent in multicultural societ-
ies" (ibid: 1995: 102). Within this framework our approach consists oflooking at
different dimensions relevant to our subject of engendering development and
how they are situated within an Islamic cultural orientation.
Thereby, it is certainly useful to work out typologies. In our project we gener-
ate concepts of gender/social equality, types of gender constructs with regard to
occupying public spaces and engaging in economic activities, concepts of
poverty and wealth and societal obligations, types ofNGOs and their closeness to
the state and types of intensity of inward/outward looking social legitimacy of
gender policies. Also female types of representing Islam, including local or popu-
lar forms, can be found, and of discourses regarding gender and development
(see above), as well as intensity and type oftransnational networking.
The comparative approach we follow does not aim at developing fixed indic-
ators or categories for comparing the various cases focused on. Rather the com-
parative perspective is based on "comparing by contextualising" (Nageeb 2005)
and explaining the ways in which the issues under study, be it the constitution of
spaces, or the negotiation of development concepts, are embedded in specific loc-
al and trans-local contexts. Indeed the nature of the state, Islamisation processes,
development institutions and policies, political and social structures have presen-
ted themselves in very decisive ways and influence our subject matter. It is clear,
however, that the actors and arenas involved in the field of negotiating develop-
66 I GuDRUN LACHENMANN

ment, as well as the subjects of negotiation, are different in the three regions be-
ing studied. The comparative perspective is thus meant to reflect on the different
nature of the actors involved and their modes of interaction in each context. The
variation lies in the development concepts which are signified as subjects for ne-
gotiation in each case, and the kind of spaces and identities which are being con-
stituted while negotiating development in the different countries being studied.
In our approach, the comparison takes place on a meso level using middle
range theories and tries to explain the differences through contextualisation. This
means that our methodology is interactive and cross-cultural diversity oriented.
Our comparative approach therefore operates in the sense of explaining integra-
tion through difference, overcoming a dualistic approach, as well as through
glocalisation and localisation, and perhaps hybridisation. The conventional com-
parative approach is outdated (Kaelble/Schriewer 2003; Kaschuba 2003) because
of the ongoing processes of interaction, deterritorialisation etc.. Theoretical
sampling within the countries and across our three countries is based on ideas of
similarity or of difference. If we take grounded theory serious we can extend the
outcome of empirical research to other contexts - which is not a comparison in
the classical sense. Grounded theory generates theses which can be fed into fur-
ther research. We very clearly realise that the relevance of our research subject
for the context, i.e. adequacy regarding the object of research, has to be chal-
lenged in each and every case with regard to the relevance structure of the re-
spective community or society when studying women's rights conventions and
politics with their completely different histories and backgrounds of the women's
movement and political struggle.
Complex or thick methods of empirical research are being used to structure
the analysis of data (Geertz 1983; Elwert 2003). Design and theoretical sampling,
always implying comparison, have been thoroughly developed for each country
and mutually discussed. Methods which have been employed quite successfully
were contrasting case studies, typologies (even trans-cultural), interfaces between
different actors and knowledge systems, biographies and trajectories of activists
in networking, event analysis especially of workshops and transnational confer-
ences (who organises, invites, participates, excludes; major topics, discussions,
conflicts, consequences), organisational analysis (leaders, discourses, network-
ing.).
Marcus (1998: 10pp.), in his chapter on "ethnography of the world system"
(ibid: 79pp.) stresses contextualisation; mobile ethnography according to him
constructs "aspects of the system itself through the associations and connections
it suggests among sites". He takes an interesting position regarding "the loss of
the subaltern", thereby "also decentring the resistance and accommodation
framework ... for the sake of a reconfigured space of multiple sites of cultural
production". He claims that "comparison reenters the very act of ethnographic
specification by a research design of juxtapositions in which the global is col-
 TRANSNATIONALISATION , TRANSLOCAL SPACES, GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT 167

lapsed into and made an integral part of parallel, related local situations rather
than something monolithic or external to them" (ibid: 80, 85p.).
Burawoy et al. (2000) pursue the explicit aim of linking critical ideas of glob-
alisation theories (considered to be of "too high abstraction") and political eco-
nomy with what they had called "ethnography unbound", asking whether their
"extended case method ... [was] flexible enough to link everyday life to transna-
tional flows of population, discourse, commodities and power" (ibid: x, ix).

"We wondered whether exploring the global dimensions of the local changes the very
experience of doing ethnography. The narrow boundaries of the traditional ethnographic
'site' as conceived by the Chicago school were, for us, permeated by broader power
flows in the form of local racial and gender orders, free-flowing public discourses, eco-
nomic structures ... one of the questions facing us was whether globalisation had
rendered ethnography, apparently fixed in the local, impossible or even irrelevant. Our
experience ... has suggested quite the reverse: ... ethnography's concern with concrete,
lived experience can sharpen the abstractions of globalisation theories into more precise
and meaningful conceptual tools" (ibid: xii).

Regarding contextualisation, Burawoy acknowledges that many ethnographers

are "systematically incorporating historical and geographical context" (27).
Pulling together "questions of power and reflexivity" is an important dimension
to him, so are "extensions of observations over time and space", in order to un-
derstand "the succession of situations as a social process", demanding strongly
more thorough historical work and asking for a '"structured' macro-micro link ...
in which the part is shaped by its relation to the whole" ( 17).
And fortunately he does see that "constituting the extralocal as forces gives
them a false sense of durability" (27), problematising "the concept of forces" by
seeing themselves as "product of contingent social processes"; "they are ex-
amined as the product of flows of people, things, and ideas", and as "global
forces and ... connections [being] constituted imaginatively, inspiring social
movements to seize control over their immediate but also their more distant
worlds, challenging the mythology of an inexorable, runaway world". He sees
the "locality fight back, adapt, or simply be destroyed" (ibid: 27, 17, 29).
We try to operationalise these ideas by an interface approach revealing power
constellations and adding complex methods crosscutting communities, places,
levels, time, space and social worlds, such as the analysis of trajectories. In our
research field this applies to, over and beyond biographic research, persons
whose personal history and career in different knowledge spaces, institutions and
organisations we follow based on the narrative approach. Here we would comple-
ment it with an approach dealing with agency, knowledge, authority, and mean-
ing. Also, combined with studies at the interface we very fruitfully practice
multi-level analysis (see Lang 2005; Berg-Schlosser 2000) which can be applied
68 I GuDRUN LACHENMANN

in very different ranges studying concrete interactions and following movements

and discourses.
Burawoy (2000: 28) promotes "the study of global connections" whereby
"multi-sitedness becomes the object of theorisation". "Space and time, rather
than being disembedded, are intensified by the global workplace". Therefore he
wants to "demystify ... globalisation as something given", to study "how different
images of globalisation are produced and disseminated" as a resource of what is
possible forming a "thickening global public sphere" (ibid: 30-32).

Research Questions, Process and Interpretation

A complex comparative design and interpretation has to appear in the research

process on the basis of a mix of methods and ongoing new questions. We expli-
citly formulate dimensions of contextualisation which are directly relevant to the
problem researched, thereby constituting an instrument of validation- and not, as
is often done- just of background information.
After studying the relevant literature and the discussion of the empirical data
collected, brainstorming on possible differences and similarities between the case
studies took place and constantly became more analytical concerning different is-
sues: Gender discourse is influenced in Malaysia by a high level of industrial par-
ticipation of women, in Senegal by poverty and in Sudan (especially recently) by
conflict and peace constituencies. Regarding local moral discourse on gender and
religion, in Malaysia a clear instrumentalisation of the 'good Muslim woman' is
taking place. In Senegal a conventional women in development approach is dom-
inant, feminism is regarded as Western or non-African, or as non-religious. In
Sudan complete othering is taking place, although more and more local NGOs
have been created and are cooperating with external donors. In Malaysia ethnic
and religious differences play an important economic, national and social role. In
Senegal, these are of minor relevance although certain !slams are clearly linked
to ethnic differences. In Sudan ethnic/identity discourses are highly political and
conflictive as the current political situation shows.
Based on our empirical studies, concrete comparative questions have
emerged to be asked for analysis. These questions include: How is Islam, reli-
gion, rules, religiosity addressed by the organisations researched? Is it addressed
in texts, discourses, as well as in interviews/narratives/conversations, directly or
indirectly, without or with explicit questioning by researcher? What are the
ascriptions made by different types of religious women regarding the West and
their religiosity and its connection to gender and development, economy, educa-
tion and public sphere participation? When and how are certain issues taken up
by the state, such as human rights, following (women's) civil society activities,
especially their external visibility?
 TRANSNATIONALISATION , TRANSLOCAL SPACES, GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT 169

The instrument of conducting workshops turned out to be especially fruitful

at first at a very small scale in the three countries studied, organised with the loc-
al community of researchers and activists, and then at the level of exchange
between researchers and activists from each country as well as researchers work-
ing on relevant areas in Europe/the North (Nageeb/Sieveking/Spiegel 2005a, b).
The debates on our work presented as well the (written) inputs of the participants
took place on a very intensive, highly theoretical and methodological level.
Thereby we produced or re-produced the object of our research, interpreting data
and debating about conclusions, and showing how translocal spaces for negotiat-
ing knowledge are constituted.
The theoretical and political importance of networking, and of constituting
and restructuring the public sphere, is evident. We think in both a methodological
as well as empirical sense, and our approach is to look at interfaces between dif-
ferent female social spaces and cross-cutting national boundaries. But we also
look at diversity and battles within national and transnational spheres. These in-
terfaces of female spaces and public spheres permit to formulate conclusions
concerning national societies and processes and the institutionalisation of global-
isation.
Gendered social spaces can be seen as constituting a non-homogeneous pub-
lic sphere, one that does not converge in one common public interest. We are us-
ing the concept of social space in the sense that it is a relatively non institutional-
ised and non delineating concept, going beyond community, place or territorial or
physical space. The concept of social space is clearly linked to agency, to the
production of gender specific and culturally defined meanings, and to the social
construction of reality and the life-world (Spiegel2005).
We wanted, in a common effort, to deepen our theoretical and methodologic-
al interest with regard to the dimensions of networking and of structuring the
public sphere which had been introduced as main concepts in our research project
and were empirically grounded. How far does the networking indeed take place
so to be able to say that this is where glocalisation takes place? Do female spaces
indeed intersect with a societal public sphere, or do we need to qualify this
concept more for Muslim societies in the sense of gendered social structure. Does
the state discourse still dominate, or would indeed the female social spaces and
the interfaces they institutionalise be the relevant actors in civil society - as in
Malaysia and Sudan. Are they as marginalised and reduced to a female vulnerab-
ility and rights discourse, restricted to gender specific difference or to women in
development discourses as it seems to be the case in Senegal? I.e. does no engen-
dering of development take place?
The result of our studies, however, seems ambivalent. The gender networks
and public debates are indeed to be very diverse and relevant for constructing the
global arena. At the same time we might question in how far the link to the na-
tional civil society and global public sphere does indeed take place as regards rel-
70 I GuDRUN LACHENMANN

evant issues of hegemonic concern, or whether it is a field tolerated and instru-

mentalised by global governance.

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World Society, Transnationalism and Champs
Migratoires: Reflections on German, Anglo-Saxon
and French Academic Debates
MoNIKA SALzBRUNN

Rescaling Processes and Transnationalism across

Academic Borders

This chapter aims at elaborating a genealogy of academic debates and research

on migration in different academic contexts. The differences between German,
Anglo-Saxon and French academic worlds are not only a reflection of language
problems. The organisation of academic disciplines, the relationship between
academics and politics, and finally the way scientific categories are elaborated in
each context, explain remaining differences and a lack of dialogue, especially
between French and German references. My aim is not to go back to national his-
tories, but to analyse specific ways of doing academics, from an epistemological
point of view developed in the His to ire croisee approach. 1 The latter includes a
transnational analysis of cross-cutting ties and shifting intellectual borders that
can be observed in contemporary academic work. German and English speaking
scholars have inspired each other for a long time, thanks to academic exchange
programs and cooperation. Although these academic fields have their own devel-
opments and specific terms, they are capable of reaching similar views in prac-
tice. However, the concepts that were used and translated for the purpose of co-
operation are not necessarily understood in the same way by scholars. There are
also French speaking researchers on migration who have cooperated with Eng-
lish-speaking colleagues, but these exchanges are often limited to particular dy-
namic research groups or institutes. Besides these exceptions, more common
anti-American and anti-Liberal (in the negative French understanding of the
term) intellectual barriers have caused misunderstandings or rejection on the

The Histoire croisee approach, developed by Michael Werner and Benedicte Zim-
mermann (2002), includes a systematic reflection on the semantic evolution of cat-
egories used in social sciences.
76 I MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

French side. On the other hand, the representatives of what the English-speaking
authors call "French Theory" (Derrida, Deleuze, Foucault) are not necessarily the
main references for those who write contemporary French theory in France.
However, they remain the main authors translated into English. It is not easy for
French-speaking and German-speaking scholars to be cited by American col-
leagues who do not read these languages. Other examples for limited exchange
due to language problems could easily be cited, but I chose to concentrate on the
German-, English- and French-speaking scientific communities because the
largest part of the world's scientific production is written in these languages and
because I know them much better then others.
Finally, I will look at Franco-German cooperation and mutual intellectual in-
spirations. I see that entangled as well as parallel and isolated tracks lead to sim-
ilar conclusions in contemporary research on migration, transnationalism and
urban rescaling processes. 2 The analysis of festive events in a context of migra-
tion will be used to provide examples for these intellectual dialogues. Thus, I
have developed an approach that takes festive events as an entry point for the
analysis of migrant dynamics in urban contexts. Focusing on these events in New
York and Paris, I can observe the emergence and dynamics of group building, the
development of new hybrid references (to music, food, clothing, political cultures
etc.), and the impact of the particular dynamics of these places, namely the very
local urban environment on these social and political practices. I use political and
cultural events in these spaces as the entry points for understanding different
pathways of migrant urban incorporation. Finally focusing on events in New
York and Paris allows me to analyse the local embeddedness of transnational net-
works and thus to overcome certain critiques of transnationalism mentioned be-
low. Glick Schiller's and <;:aglar's concept of rescaling processes (2006; forth-
coming) is a result of their critical reflection on transnationalism that I will
present below and apply in order to analyse these festive events.

Localising Transnational Networks

Migration studies have extensively dealt with networks, transnational spaces and
migration fields during the last 15 years and the term transnational social space
has even become part of the common vocabulary in migration studies. Recently,
researchers concerned with transnational migration have once again expressed a
concern with "the local". Ludger Pries (1996; 2008) links geographic and soci-
ological aspects by analysing the spatial spanning of the social; Nina Glick

2 The notion of rescaling processes is discussed below. Following Glick Schiller's

and <;:aglar's definition (forthcoming), the term "scale can be defined as the sum-
mary assessment of the differential positioning of cities determined by the flow and
control of capital and structures of power as they are constituted within regions,
states and the globe".
 WoRLD SociETY, TRANSNATIONALISM AND CHAMPS MtGRATOtRES I 77

Schiller and Ayse <;:aglar (2006; forthcoming) develop a "theory of locality in

migration studies". In francophone social geography there is a similar research
agenda influenced by Gildas Simon's poly-centred and multi-polarised migratory
spaces (1996) and in migration sociology there is growing interest in researching
local-global embedding processes, such as Alain Tarrius' "La mondialisation par
le bas" (globalisation from below) (2002). In their own ways, each of these au-
thors and the literature on transnational migration in general represents an effort
to move beyond the methodological nationalism that posited the nation-state as
the unit of analysis for migration studies (Smith 1983; Beck 2000;
Wimmer/Glick Schiller 2002). However, contained within a shared interest in
transnational process and apparently a similar perspective focus on place and
space, there are different perspectives that are worth distinguishing. In addition,
by positing a transnational space bounded by a shared national origin or ethni-
city, many of the studies actually reinforced the notion of the naturalness of na-
tion-based identities, reinvigorating methodological nationalism but in a new
form, according to Glick Schiller, Caglar, and Guldbrandsen (2006).
I mention the history of French migration research now because the percep-
tion of immigrants by research and public policy has an impact on their self-
definition and on the way they behave within public space. I will show later how
the production of alterity is shaped by the existence or the ignorance of individu-
al difference in the concept of a nation (as an assimilating Republic or a State as
a salad bowl, to put it briefly). None of these authors cites world-society as a rel-
evant reference for the immigrants or as a theoretical concept. The French-speak-
ing migration studies rather refer to interethnic relations, to eo-presence or to
world-wide networks. Globalisation phenomena, if they are researched as such in
France, are described as "mondialisation", but in general, French sociologists and
anthropologists put into question the innovative character of this concept, arguing
that world-wide exchanges of goods, knowledge or people have existed for cen-
turies. I will give an overview of French migration research and divide the nu-
merous schools and approaches into roughly three groups in order to make my
argument clear. It would certainly be possible to go into the distinctions further
but the main argument would remain the same.
The migration research carried out in France until the 1990s can roughly be
divided into three tendencies: 1. Research conducted by Alain Tarrius and his
PhD students at University of Toulouse, 2. Research projects hosted by uni-
versity research institutes like URMIS in Paris and Nice that were deeply in-
volved with political consulting and public demands from Ministries, 3. Research
influenced by geographers and sociologists from MIGRINTER research group
Poitiers or INED in Paris, which are part of international networks like IMIS-
COE. Furthermore, there are numerous researchers working at Universities that
78 I MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

are not specialised in migration studies but include migration in area studies or
general sociology like in Strasburg or Lyon. 3
1. The sociology of migration developed at the University of Tours did not
refer to transnational social spaces or to residence places, but focused on circula-
tion. One of its representatives, Alain Tarrius (2002: 18), stresses the primary
role of the migration process itself. He speaks of the emergence of a "capacity to
circulate." By this he means a new capacity of being here and there at the same
time, and not being here or there. 4 The interesting point of Tarrius' approach is
that he posits that the experience of circulation creates new cosmopolitanisms
and the consciousness of a new identity. However, Tarrius' focus on circulation
leads to a problematic understanding of the migrant experience of localities of
settlement. He speaks of a nomadic identity, assuming that these new nomads re-
main economically dependent exclusively on their place of origin. 5 This assump-
tion is shaped by a part of the French migration literature. Therefore, despite any
reference to the local, the thrust of Tarrius' research and the literature it reflects
has failed to examine migrants multiple ties to and participation in local institu-
tions and social, economic, political, and cultural processes. However, Tarrius
made an important point by underlining migrants' capacity for self-organisation
and entrepreneurship, underestimated by other sociologists.
2. Other researchers are shaped by their engagement with French public
policy debates and tend to interpret their empirical material according to the de-
mands of the Ministry of Social Affairs or public institutions that pay them for
consulting. In this case, lower social classes within the migrant population were
researched and often considered as being dependent on the French State. Women
are particularly concerned by a research perspective that sees them as victims and
economically dependent on men. However, the average economic activity rate of
migrant women is higher than that of the French women (Cahiers du CEDREF).
Although the working class composes the majority of first generation immig-

3 Catherine Delcroix is Professor of Sociology at Marc Bloch University of Strasburg

and member of the research group Cultures et Societes en Europe. Laurence Roul-
leau-Berger is member of the Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire pour la Sociologie Eco-
nomique and of the Institut des Sciences de l'Homme Lyon. Both have done extens-
ive research on migration and are board-members of the Research Committee on
Sociology of Migration of the French Association of Sociology. Laurence Roulleau-
Berger and Monika Salzbrunn are speakers of that committee.
4 Tarrius (2002: 18): "Une capacite inedite d'etre d'ici, de la-bas, d'ici et de la-bas a
la fois se substitue a la vieille opposition entre d'ici ou de la-bas".
5 Tarrius (2002: 18): "Ces etonnants territoires circulatoire conferent de la sorte une
identite nomade a des dizaines de milliers de migrants ... Les nouveaux nomades,
par contre, restent attaches a leur lieu d'origine et demeurent economiquement
dependants de lui seul" ("These surprising circulation territories produce in a way a
nomadic identity for ten thousands of migrants. In contrast, the new nomads stay at-
tached to their place of origin and remain economically dependent exclusively on
the latter"; translated by M.S.).
 WoRLD SociETY, TRANSNATIONALISM AND CHAMPS MtGRATOtRES I 79

rants, there are also highly skilled immigrants, to which much less attention has
been directed.
3. Other representatives of French social sciences have been concerned with
independent migrant self-organisation, assuming this indicated a form of em-
powerment and a political consciousness that was independent of the French na-
tion-state and/or directed towards the home country. 6 These aspects are lacking in
the work of the representatives of French migration sociology who are part of the
second group mentioned above: Focusing on immigrants who are part of the
working class and who are geographically excluded by residing in rundown sub-
urbs, some of the sociologists influenced by Marxism and structuralism drew a
general picture of immigration that victimised the immigrants. The social and
economic structure was over-emphasised whereas the migrants' agency was un-
derestimated.7 Moreover, individual identification processes remained hidden be-
hind the collective categories used in research settings, which lead to a reproduc-
tion and essentialisation of categories.
Contemporary migration research in France8 tries to overcome these differ-
ences and takes into consideration transnational social spaces and interethnic re-
lations in the sense of Barth (1969). In a recent work on the migrant's contribu-
tion to urban changes in Sofia, Bulgaria and Alicante, Spain, Lamina Missaoui
and Alain Tarrius develop the concept of "circulation territories" (Missaoui/Tar-
rius 2006: 64). They assume that this is a new form of migration which differs
from diaspora9 configurations, and reveals networks, "bound by word given and
honour, stretching beyond the boundaries, and social norms of the various nation-
states they pass through or live in" (ibid.). This "spatio-temporal topic [ ... ] cov-
ers all transactions and interactions, all symbolic and concrete relations, which
express those international forms of mobilisation, and [ ... ] are likely to produce
or harbour new types of social relations" (ibid.). Missaoui and Tarrius do not cite
any of the German-speaking or English-speaking theorists of transnationalisation
processes, but refer to the French social geography of migration developed at Mi-
grinter research group in Poitiers and their own works in sociology of migration
at the University of Toulouse (which is inspired by the early Chicago school of
urban sociology and by Georg Simmel's work). However, they end up with a
definition of circulation territories that comes close to the notion of transnational

6 This perspective was developed over the past twenty years by geographers from the
"Migrations intemationales" research group in Poitiers. As most of their members
are geographers, they have very early linked geographical space to social space in
their fieldwork but also in their conceptual reflections (cf. Simon 1996).
7 This research perspective can be explained by the strong involvement of these re-
search groups, mainly from University Paris-VII and Nice, with public policies and
research programs financed by the State or the Region.
8 See the websites of the Migration Section of the French Association of Sociology
for an overview: http://www.afs-socio.fr/rt2.html and www.migrations.ouvaton.org.
9 For the use of the term diaspora cf. Dufoix 2003; Berthomiere/Chivallon (eds.)
2006.
80 I MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

social spaces developed by Ludger Pries (1996, 2008) and Thomas Faist (2000;
this volume). Finally, despite the fact that this is not expressed explicitly, the idea
of social change in urban spaces inspired by migrant's social and spatial practices
shares commonalities with Nina Glick Schiller's and Ayse Caglar's innovative
approach on rescaling processes in cities (2006; forthcoming). Both approaches
focus on gentrification processes within cities and amongst cities. I offer several
examples based on my own research on the cities of Paris and New York, which
illustrate these ongoing rescaling processes resulting from gentrifcao~
William Berthomiere and Marie-Antoinette Hily (2006: 67-82), both mem-
bers of the French research group Migrinter, provide a critical review of transna-
tionalisation theory on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of this research group
and of its review, the Revue Europeenne de Migrations Internationales, which
has become a major reference in the French-speaking scientific community spe-
cialised on migration processes. Berthomiere and Hily provide a rich critical ana-
lysis of the Anglophone and Francophone approaches in transnationalisation the-
ory10. They come to the conclusion that the notion of multiple belongings in
pluri-directional settlement processes can provide a useful concept for the analys-
is of migration paths. Their own research, grounded on action-theory, is also
based on fieldwork in urban spaces and focuses the "organisational modes of col-
lectives in eo-presence". Hence, they focus on "the manner in which collectives
seize 'opportunities' when they meet in non-set social spaces" (Berthomiere/Hily
2006: 82). Their fieldwork on neighbourhoods in Beirut and Tel Aviv also
provides examples of opportunity structures and rescaling processes within cities
that are subject to a dynamic migration process.
Ludger Pries and Thomas Faist also see the emergence of social experiences
and identities that are created, that are more than the sum of their parts, and gen-
erate new identities or practices. However, they concentrate not on the process of
circulation but on what they posit as transnational space. The term is used as a
geographic metaphor for the connections, processes, and identities created by
people who live across borders. They describe the ways in which cross border
locations are connected through the social networks of migrants, building on a
seminal analysis of the transnational social networks of "transmigrants" (Glick
Schiller/Basch/Blanc-Szanton 1992: 2). Studying migration between Mexico and
the United States, Pries (1996, 2008) identified as the transmigrant, a working
migrant who is situated in plurilocal social spaces. Transmigrants interact in
highly complex transnational networks that provide information about employ-
ment, facilitate the transfer of money to family in the home village, and offer a
means of identification with the home country by network members' sharing
everyday practices like the action of preparing food and organising social gather-
ings according to well-established patterns. Networks are structured by mutual
obligations and are the result of a complex system of loyalties. The positions and
10 The French researchers do not always refer explicitly to the term "transnational-
ism", but Marina Hily and William Berthomiere (op. cit.) use the term.
 WoRLD SociETY, TRANSNATIONALISM AND CHAMPS MtGRATOtRES 181

identities created in this way are hybrid because they take into consideration ele-
ments of the original and host countries. These transnational social spaces are the
result of new forms of delimitation and differ from geographic or national bound-
aries, transcending a simple coexistence of the two systems of reference (Pries
1996: 456). However, this concept does not yet take into consideration the spe-
cific aspects of the localities in which migrants settle (temporarily or perman-
ently). Even though Pries included the importance of elements of the new envir-
onment within the transnational social space, the reference to the home country
seems to be the most important part in the reference system. Pries speaks about
pluri-local frames of reference and a relational social geographic space. He is
close to geographers' approaches with his focus on place-making and on the geo-
graphic-spatial dimension of the Social. In my own work on Senegalese political
networks, I have shown how these networks go beyond ethnic or religious be-
longing by rooting themselves into local and national geographic and social
spaces. This allows them at the same time to attain their transnational political
goal: the victory of Abdoulaye Wade from the opposition party at the Senegalese
presidential elections in 2000 (Salzbrunn 2002; 2004). Similarly, Glick Schiller
and Fouron (2001) have given us an example of Haitian long-distance transna-
tionalists who collaborated with US-American actors.
Caglar and Glick Schiller (2006, forthcoming) also speak of the local but
their emphasis is not a general sense of multiple rootedness but a call for a spe-
cific investigation of the forces that shape the specific places. They are concerned
with the localities from which migrants and their descendants leave, in which
they settle, and to which they are connected by social fields, which often extend
across the borders of nation-states. They build on Glick Schiller's (2005; Glick
Schiller/Basch/Szanton Blanc 1992) concept of a transnational social field 11 as
specific set of networks of ego-centred social relations that are linked to institu-
tions located in specific places . These fields contain social relations of unequal
power constituted by differential access to forms of capital, military force, and
means of discursive representation. This approach focuses on social relations and
institutions - workplaces, schools, religious social, financial and political organ-
isations that differ in their functioning according to their location and that can be
empirically studied. The theorisation of locality they express is influenced by the
scholarship that uses a concept ofrescaling to describe the contemporary neo-lib-
eral restructuring of urban space.

11 Gildas Simon's concept of poly-centred and multi-sited migration spaces that

emerge from world-wide networks (1996: 223) is, although not referring to the
same literature, close to Glick Schiller' s concept of transnational social fields. The
latter goes further by emphasising the relations of unequal power constituted by dif-
ferential access to (military, economic, political, discursive) resources.
82 I MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

Translocal Social Spaces: The Importance of

the Local Living Conditions in the Process
of Place-Making

Following L. Pries' concept of transnational social spaces which takes into con-
sideration the spatialisation of the social, T. Faist's approach (in this volume), G.
Lachenmann's methodological considerations (in this volume) and Schiller and
Caglar's work on transnational social fields and localities which emphasises urb-
an rescaling processes and power relations, I suggest emphasising the importance
of the specific local living conditions and the process of place-making by adopt-
ing the notion of translocal social spaces. During my fieldwork among Seneg-
alese migrants in Senegal, in Europe and the United States of America, I ob-
served that the local economic, social and cultural reference systems became
more and more important within the transmigrant's identification process. Their
actions were only partly determined by their reference to their original nation,
village or family. More and more, their actions referred to their new local and na-
tional environments. Understanding the local power relations, the processes and
discourses of political lobbying and the concrete conditions of access to land,
property, business, residence permits etc. is crucial in the rooting process of the
network within different localities, reaching far beyond a dyadic relation between
"home" and "host" countries. Their references and contacts went far beyond their
ethnic or national peer group. The latter has often been the focus point of re-
searchers wearing "ethnic lenses" (Glick Schiller/(:aglar 2006), and as a con-
sequence of treating the ethnic group as the unit of analysis, the social configura-
tions beyond ethnic/national lines within or beyond borders were ignored in mi-
gration scholarship. This is a general problem of migration research which con-
cerns also certain religious groups which are constructed by the research focus,
although the people concerned may declare neither that they are part of that
group nor that they fit to the researchers' definition of belonging to it. Particu-
larly after 09/11, public funding of studies on Muslim immigrants increased and
contributed to establishing a distinction between immigrants according to their
religion, without taking into consideration the whole range and diversity of reli-
gious practice.
Hence I suggest a definition of translocal social spaces as the result of new
forms of delimitation that partly consist in, but also reach beyond geographic or
national boundaries. These translocal spaces become the new sources of identi-
fication and action within specific local and global reference systems. However,
this does not mean a local determinist position denying any agency to the mi-
grants. It is the migrants which also shape the conditions of the local. Migrants
contribute to rescaling of certain cities and certain urban districts and zones; for
example the African migrants in Harlem in New York City are important part of
the rehabilitation of housing there. Especially studies on gender and migration
 WoRLD SociETY, TRANSNATIONALISM AND CHAMPS MtGRATOtRES 183

have underlined agency from an action-theory point of view (Lachenmann, in

this volume).
An entanglement of various subjective and objective rescaling processes is
taking place in the context of recent immigration from West Africa to Europe and
North America. I develop below how the visible diversity has become an import-
ant point in city marketing and worldwide competition of global cities for tourists
and investors attracted by this diversity. Furthermore, the migrants themselves
are in a subjective rescaling process of different locations, and adapt their life
projects and objectives to the new subjective scalar hierarchy. Potential highly
skilled immigrants also choose a new place to work according to the criteria of
whether there are open-minded citizens living in cosmopolitan cities or not. 12
The importance of a whole city like Paris can change in a context of interna-
tional competition amongst tourists who are in search of cultural diversity and
cosmopolitanism: The official tourist guide of Paris nowadays includes districts
with a variety of national and ethnic groups. Ten years before, these districts
were not recommended for tourists because of criminality. 13 Furthermore, mi-
grants often develop a subjective scalar perspective that creates a hierarchy of cit-
ies or countries based on their subjective references and criteria for the choice of
a place of residence. Abdoulaye Gueye (200 1) illustrates in his article the "relega-
tion" of France to the benefit of the North American continent in general and
New York, Washington or Montreal in particular. He expresses a subjective na-
tional and local rescaling process established by migrants. These processes have
consequences for objective rescaling processes because New York has become
an important financial platform for money transfer and investment thanks to the
recently immigrated Senegalese and other highly skilled African workers. Thus
subjective rescaling processes go along with the objective rescaling processes
that are being researched. According to Saskia Sassen (2007a: 16),

"Existing theory is not enough to map today's multiplication of practices and actors
contributing to these rescalings. Included are a variety of nonstate actors and forms of
cross-border cooperation and conflict, such as global business networks, the new cos-
mopolitanism, nongovemmental organisations (NGOs), diasporic networks, and such
spaces as global cities and transboundary public spheres".

In her latest book, Sassen (2007b: 7) explicitly includes local and translocal per-
spectives on rescaling processes:

12 The assumption that perceived respect or perceived disregard can influence a mi-
grant's choice to move further is a result of my field work on Senegalese in New
York and Paris. Abdoulaye Gueye (2001) has similar findings for Senegalese who
move from France to Canada or plan to do so.
13 These districts suffered from an image of being central places for drug trafficking,
although this was only true for a certain type of visible drugs. In other, more fash-
ionable and richer districts, less visible drug traffic was also going on, but in chic
discotheques rather than on the street.
84 I MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

"studying the global, then, entails not only a focus on what is explicitly global in scale.
It also calls for a focus on locally scaled practices and conditions articulated with global
dynamics; perhaps the most developed scholarships with this type of focus are those on
global cities and commodity chains".

A concrete operational definition of scale 1s provided by Glick Schiller and

<;:aglar (forthcoming):

"the term scale can be defined as the summary assessment of the differential positioning
of cities determined by the flow and control of capital and structures of power as they
are constituted within regions, states and the globe".

By focusing on festive events in two global cities, I will show how rescaling pro-
cesses are undertaken by various actors who have differential access to power.
This is the result of a fruitful interaction between migration studies, transnation-
alism and social geography, as it is done by Glick Schiller and <;:aglar, and by the
discussion about the notion of scale offered by Neil Brenner in Anglophone aca-
demic circles. In France, the research group Migrinter (Migrations Intema-
tionales) at Poitiers, founded by social geographer Gildas Simon and still domin-
ated by geographers who work together with sociologists like Marie-Antoinette
Hily, have also combined urban sociology with social geography. As I mentioned
above, Hily is the editor in chief of the important journal "Revue europeenne des
migrations internationals" (REMI). Together with William Berthomiere, the dir-
ector of Migrinter and former student of its founder Gildas Simon, he has re-
cently given a critical overview of transnationalism in Anglophone and Franco-
phone research (Berthomiere/Hily 2006). They come to the conclusion that a de-
scription of the ways in which migrating collectives seize opportunities in a eo-
presence with other groups can lead to a better understanding of organisational
modes of collectives than a search for causes of emigration.
The research group MTE (UMR 5045 MTE Mutation des Territoires en
Europe) at the Universities of Montpellier and Nimes provides also an interesting
framework for the study of migration and transformation of rural or urban space.
The members of MTE are dealing with festive events and their influence on the
symbolic construction of territories (Catherine Bemie-Boissard and Dominique
Crozat, forthcoming). I want to develop this approach further (Salzbrunn, forth-
coming in Bernie-Boissard/Crozat) by underlining the migrants' impact on this
transformation process.
 WoRLD SociETY, TRANSNATIONALISM AND CHAMPS MtGRATOtRES 185

The Incorporative Impact of Festive Events in a

Migratory Context

Once we agree that it is necessary to go beyond an essentialisation of national

states as the "natural" unit of analysis in global contexts and to turn from space
as a metaphor to an examination of migrants in relationship to specific localities,
we have to suggest an alternative approach and innovative methods (see
Lachenmann and Pfaff-Czamecka in this volume). I have developed an approach
that takes festive events as an entry point for the analysis of migrant dynamics in
interaction with the urban context. Focusing on these events, I can observe the
emergence and dynamics of group building, the development of new hybrid
references or "hyphenated identities" (<;:aglar 1997) and I can observe the impact
of the particular dynamics of these places, namely the local urban environment
on these social practices. I focus on political and cultural events in these two
cities in order to understand the different pathways of migrant urban
incorporation in these places. This chapter does not operate with a priori-defined
ethnic or religious groups as the units of analysis; there is no assumption that
people who share a religious or national origin settle together as a community
and identify themselves in any situation as members of a community based on
these elements. Both NY and Paris are global cities, and focusing on two such
cities enables me to address the following questions: what are the differences
among the rescaling processes experienced by both cities and neighbourhoods in
these cities? What are the different impacts of these processes on the paths and
trajectories of migrant transnationalism in these global cities? How do two
specific global cities (Paris and New York) relate to migrants in different ways?
How do the migrants themselves recognise their place in the city vis-a-vis their
fellow city dwellers? How do they work out their ties to the city with the other
neighbourhood dwellers? How do rescaling processes effect the representation of
locality and identity in each city? How does the historicity of the neighbourhood
(the places) shape the ways the migrants are being incorporated into the
diversity 14 of the urban fabric? Putting my research questions this way helps to
move the migrants, global cities and transnationalism debate beyond the current
discussions, which are usually cast in cultural diversity 15 , cosmopolitanism, 16 or

14 I do not mean cultural diversity here, but the diversity in terms of neighbourhoods.
15 Cf. the book on cultural diversity in metropolitan cities edited by Bemard Jouve/
Alain-G. Gagnon (2006).
16 Cf. Eleonore Kofi:nan's critical analysis of John Urry and Ulrich Beck's notions of
cosmopolitanism (2005). She argues that both have developed the notion of cosmo-
politanism in a context of growing worldwide accessible reference systems. Their
views are too narrow in scope because they are directed towards politically and eco-
nomically privileged groups, leaving aside considerations about others. Kofi:nan
also criticises the optimistic view of cosmopolitans, arguing that independent cos-
mopolitan individuals or networks can also be perceived as being threatening in the
eyes of representatives of the nation-State.
86 I MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

migrants' role m unskilled labour or as ethnic entrepreneurs m the labour

economy. 17

Translocality in Urban Spaces: Senegalese in

New York

Paris, while marketed as quintessentially French, is not representative of France.

Similarly, New York while serving as a cultural reference for the United States is
an exception in comparison to other big American cities in multiple ways includ-
ing the tremendous diversity of its migrant population and its long history of en-
couraging the identity politics of its newcomers. New York and Paris are both
global cities in the sense of Saskia Sassen's (1991; 2007a; 2007b) definition.
They emerge as one territorial or scalar moment in a transurban dynamic and
each is a complex structure that can articulate a variety of crossboundary pro-
cesses and reconstitute them as a partly urban condition. "At the same time there
has been a sharpening inequality in the concentration of strategic resources and
activities in each of these cities compared with that of other cities in the same
country" (Sassen 2007a: 112). Global financial processes (see Hering in this
volume) are concentrated in these cities and stretch beyond national borders
within worldwide networks. The periphery (i.e. the poorer suburbs and the pro-
vincial towns in the Parisian case) is becoming increasingly marginalised and ex-
cluded from major economic processes. In both New York and Paris, spatial se-
gregation processes are coinciding with social and cultural exclusion.
In France, closeness to the city centre of Paris reflects the closeness to power.
Real estate prices are the highest in the districts where political, financial and cul-
tural power is concentrated. Furthermore, Paris intra muros hosts the best sec-
ondary schools and some of the most prestigious universities and elite schools,
with some exceptions in the western suburbs like Neuilly. A recent study on ra-
cism based on nationality and family name, financed by the French Prime Minis-
ter, has also shown the impact of the residence of a candidate on an employer's
choice (Duguet/Leandri/Horty/Petit 2007). Here the position of Paris in France
differs from any US-American city in that, in the United States, cities of differing
scalar positions host the best ranked Ivy League universities and there are anum-
ber of intellectual centres. On the other hand, the segregation of migrants of dif-
ferent class backgrounds is sharper and more visible in New York than in Paris
(Salzbrunn forthcoming in Glick Schiller/(:aglar). This is due to differences in in-
ternational relations, immigration policy and local housing policy. Both cities
contain not only diverse migrant populations but significant concentrations of
West African migrants. The first West African immigrants came to Paris in a co-
lonial context, particularly during World War I and World War II. They were fol-

17 For a critique of the notion of ethnic entrepreneurship cf. Thomas Lacroix, Leyla
Sall, Monika Salzbrunn (forthcoming 2008).
 WoRLD SociETY, TRANSNATIONALISM AND CHAMPS MtGRATOtRES 187

lowed by low skilled workers who found work in the car industry from the 1950s
until the 1980s. They resided in poor suburbs with other workers, but these
neighbourhoods became more and more segregated in the 1990s. West African
entrepreneurs, students and highly skilled workers arrived after World War II or
they were French born children of immigrants from West Africa. The West
African immigrants to the United States arrived much later, mostly in the 1990s,
and were better educated than those who reside in Europe. New York (and the
east coast of the US more generally) concentrates the largest part of West African
migration to the United States and offers an important contact platform for these
newcomers (Salzbrunn 2004; Stoller 2002).
In New York City, West African Muslim groups have successfully promoted
their specific Islamic practices by connecting them to common American dis-
courses on minorities. Making use of the available religious discursive resources
in US and their prominence within the identity politics of New York City, Mur-
id18 organisations and movements have developed in a particularly successful
way in New York. Although the migrants, notably the political and religious act-
ivists, follow strategies across their translocal spaces, they also take into consid-
eration the cultural and political differences between their various places of resid-
ence. In New York City, they pay attention to the diverse inhabitants ofHarlem 19
and its local geographical setting, to the state representatives and their immigra-
tion politics, as well as to the mayor and his political program. These actors are
part of specific opportunity structures that interest groups can exploit when pur-
suing their goals in New York (Wilson/Rodriguez Cordero 2006; Furlong et al.
1996). By the end of the 1990s, the two week-long annual visit of the Murid
Shaykh Mourtada Mbacke had become an important event, not only within the
Murid transnational networks and in Harlem but within New York City. The
Senegalese and New York press, as well as radio stations, regularly reported the
news. Video producers filmed the whole event in order to market the tapes
through retailers in the US, Europe and Senegal. The culminating point of the an-
nual visit is the Murid parade, a march through the streets of Harlem that ends
with several speeches held in W olof, Arabic and English at a corner of Central
Park, the southern boundary of Harlem. 20 Senegalese who participate in these

18 Murids are followers of a Sufi brotherhood founded in the 19th century by Shaykh
Ahmadou Bamba in Touba (today's Senegal). Murid is derived from the Arab term
for disciple within a Sufi-brotherhood, Murids are members of a tariqa (Arabic:
brotherhood, pi. turuq).
19 Most of the Senegalese in New York live in Harlem and Brooklyn. Here, I concen-
trate on Harlem.
20 Wolof is one of the languages spoken in Senegal. As the dominant political groups
come from Wolof-speaking regions, speaking Wolofhere can signify an affirmation
of these groups. French is understood by the elder generation and by people who
have gone to school. English is now becoming a lingua franca for Senegalese resid-
ing in the US.
88 I MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

activities are becoming part of the landscape of Harlem through their religious
expression and its visibility in public space.
Instead of feeling "marginalised" in a predominantly Christian country,
through their religious organisations and presence in public sphere Senegalese
migrants in New York City have become more and more incorporated into the
city in the eyes of other residents, including black and white Americans. This ac-
ceptance allows the Senegalese in return to identify more with "American
values" or political practices. One example of this ongoing identification process
is the increasing use of the English language and the decreasing use of French
and the presence of American flags, especially on T -Shirts, during religious
demonstrations like the Murid parade. Another part of the Murid's strategy of be-
coming firmly rooted in the public space in Harlem is the translation of their val-
ues into a language and a social discourse understood by Americans. The repres-
entation of Murid economic and moral practices plays an important role in how
they locate themselves vis-a-vis the other inhabitants of Harlem. The ideology of
hard work and the ideal of a certain form of piety are welcomed by a section of
American society, as represented by the mainstream press. 21 In his proclamation
ofShaykhAhmadou Bamba Day, 1988 the mayor ofNew York connected Afric-
an roots and Sufism with a reference to "African personality and culture." Such
connections enable the African American Muslims, searching for their African
roots, to identify themselves with this spiritual leader. In the context of city offi-
cials' open battle against drugs and alcohol, the promotion of an ascetic lifestyle
by the Murids is considered as a helpful initiative. The authorities trust the new
migrants because of their Muslim ethics. Murids, in turn, underscored these so-
cial values in the course of their political lobbying and in public events like the
annual Murid parade. 22 In this context, it is important to note that the local Murid
networks in Harlem, as well as the Nigerian and Asian networks researched by
Stoller (2002), have contributed to the transformation of the urban landscape of
New York City and paved the way for the current gentrification of Harlem. Since
the arrival of the first Senegalese migrants in the 1980s, the housing market with-
in that area has considerably changed.
Murids declare also in their own discourse that they have reconstructed large
parts of Harlem, fought crime and stopped the disintegration of the area. They
see themselves contributing economically and morally to a decaying neighbour-
hood and helping to upgrade it. The administrative and economic support and en-
couragement provided to them by the federal government and by New York City
and its borough of Manhattan facilitate Murid incorporation into economic net-
works and the administration structures of daily life. The public visibility of reli-
gious practices infuses Senegalese Muslims, and particularly the members of the

21 See the articles by Susan Sachs (2003) and Natalia Antelava (2002).
22 American researchers who are specialists on Muridism also express their fascination
with the expression of these values.
 WoRLD SociETY, TRANSNATIONALISM AND CHAMPS MtGRATOtRES 189

Murid brotherhood, with a feeling of positive recognition by and acceptance in

the United States (Salzbrunn 2004; forthcoming).
Although their positive roles in the neighbourhood, public recognition, and
success making in converts give the Africans in the Murid networks self-esteem
in their place of settlement, this self-perception is built at the expense of other
groups in Harlem, especially African Americans. Murids have adopted the more
general US negative prejudices against African Americans, particularly about
their putative work attitudes and loose morals. However, Murid's self-representa-
tion did not go unchallenged and the apparent unity, which is cherished in the
Murid parade, seems to be in contrast with everyday tensions between Afro-
Americans and Africans in Harlem. 23 Like Pentecostalism, which 'has become a
transnational phenomenon that, in its modem form, is locally expressed through a
highly accelerated circulation of goods, ideas and people' (van Dijk 2002: 178),
Muridism has also developed its own transnational social field (Riccio 2000,
2008). On the one hand, the local expression of Muridism changes according to
the specific context and influences of the religious network as a whole. On the
other hand, the local expression of Muridism contributes to the restructuring of a
local territory including its social, economic and political practices. In the case of
New York, I have shown the way the Murids make use of the available adminis-
trative opportunities, to have access to public space as a religious community and
of the specific symbols of belonging to America (through the Proclamation of
Shaykh Ahmadou Bamba day, etc.) in order to become a part ofHarlem. This is
also an example of poly-centred migration spaces linked to the development of
world-wide networks as defined by Gildas Simon (1996: 263).
The success of New York in the world wide competition to attract highly
skilled immigrants is also due to the Murid's experience of exclusion in Europe
and particularly in France. Abdoulaye Gueye (2001) points out how the Seneg-
alese in general have "downgraded" France after having felt downgraded by the
French. His French expression "declassement" expresses a subjective process of
re-ranking of localities (in this case this ranking includes Paris as a node of the
religious and political networks but also France and Europe in general as an im-
migration option) done by the migrants. This process is closely related to the
Murids' experience of hostility to displays of any sign of particularity, especially
religious, within the French public space. During the 2007 presidential election
campaign, politicians both from left and right-wing parties were denouncing the
"communitarianism" that, according to them, threatens Republic's unity and
equality. Nicolas Sarkozy (the current President of France and member of the
right wing party UMP) and Jose Bove (from the leftist alter-globalisation-move-
ment) were among these politicians denouncing communitarianism. They fail to
note that the republican ideal of equality isn't working in practice, and immig-
rants are increasingly aware of their exclusion from the job market and various
23 For example African Americans working in shops and restaurants recently opened
by Murids view their new immigrant employers as exploitative.
90 I MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

spheres of social life. This subjective process of positioning of places is influ-

enced by objective rescaling processes and has an impact on ongoing rescaling
processes.

Belonging to Urban Spaces through Festive Events

in Paris

In my second example, I move even further away from examining migration

through an ethnic or religious lens and concentrate on the insertion of migrants
from multiple backgrounds into a particular neighbourhood in the throes of
gentrification processes. This gentrification is intensified by efforts of the city
leadership to increase the city's competitiveness within the global tourist market.
I examine an event as access to the local dynamics of the Parisian district of
Sainte Marthe in order to understand how groups emerge or evolve in a migrat-
ory context.
In 2001, the global competition between cities contributed to the electoral
victory of Socialist mayor Bertrand Delanoe and his allies from the Green party
in Paris. This victory was a culmination of pressures to recognise, celebrate, and
market the diversity of the city. The latest municipal elections in 2008 confirmed
and reinforced the success of the ruling coalition between the Green party and the
Socialist party lead by Delanoe. Efforts to highlight Parisian diversity began in
1995, with leftist parties' victory in municipal elections in the multiethnic neigh-
bourhoods. In addition, a global marketing trend that highlighted cultural and
geographical diversity, as seen in several carnivals that were initiated in
European cities such as Berlin and London (Knecht/Soysal 2005), stimulated ef-
forts to market Paris as a capital of international recreation. The invention of arts
and crafts villages (such as a street of fashion in Barbes24 ) and several festive
events, supported by the City of Paris, such as the Chinese New Year in 2007,
were all products of this commitment to highlight diverse cultures (Raulin 2004)
in order to reposition the city within the global tourist industry.
Sainte Marthe is the name of one of the two parallel streets in the district; it
provides the name for the whole district. Most of buildings in the area now
known as Sainte Marthe, were built in the 1860s as part of a former Parisian sub-
urb (Faubourg) by the Comte de Madre, an entrepreneur whose utopian ideas
lead to the invention of a new type of architecture for workers' homes. By the

24 The fashion street in the Northern quarter of Barbes contains a high percentage of
West-African immigrants and was an invention that was criticised by a part of the
African population. The stylists, despite their vaguely common West African origin
were perceived as being sociologically (especially in terms of class) and culturally
alien to the inhabitants of the quarter (including the tailors). The clients, mostly rich
inhabitants or tourists, came to the fashion street in search of exoticism, which did
not match the social and cultural realities of the largest part of the population in
Barbes.
 WoRLD SociETY, TRANSNATIONALISM AND CHAMPS MtGRATOtRES 191

1980s the buildings were in danger of collapsing because of their poor quality
and at the beginning of 1991, the mayor wanted to destroy the whole quarter in
order to construct huge buildings, such as the ones on north and east of Sainte
Marthe. The inhabitants were afraid of being expelled and developed various res-
istance strategies. The association "Village Saint Louis Sainte Marthe" organised
banquets and festivals, as part of a major public relations and press campaign, in
order to win public and political support. The village reference in the associ-
ation's name alluded to a territorial identity within a big city. In the festivals and
activities organised by the association, the architectural and aesthetic value of the
houses and the cultural richness of the inhabitants were emphasised. The history
of the place and an identity as the common enemy of right-wing and the real-es-
tate speculators strengthened the inhabitants' sense of belonging to this particular
neighbourhood. In 1994, the notion of its rehabilitation figured for the first time
in the plan for new urban projects in Paris. During the municipal election cam-
paign in 1995, opposition to real estate speculation and the restoration of this
quarter were at the centre of the political campaign of the left-wing parties.
Thanks to this platform in 2001, the left won the district elections and for the first
time the whole city of Paris was conquered by the left. However, it was not until
2003 that the restoration/renovation project of the quarter was approved and the
home owners were offered financial support.
A central point of interest in Sainte Marthe is the celebration of cultural di-
versity, which features its inhabitants from various backgrounds and origins.
Today, the population includes working class migrants from North Africa and the
former Yugoslavia who arrived in the 1960s, Chinese from three provinces,
artists and musicians who have occupied the deserted ateliers of the artisans, and
a middle class population attracted by the diversity and the village-like ambience
of the place. The events are organised by the association "The Four Horizons",
which was created in 1997 when the "Village Saint Louis Sainte Marthe" split.
Their founder and president, Kheira, is a French woman of Algerian origin/ 5 who
has sought to provide activities to the inhabitants (especially to the youth) of the
quarter, create links between different people and establish a meeting venue for
the Algerian women who suffer from isolation. She works as a housekeeper in
the district and serves as a mediator between people searching for housing and
for sites for shops and the real estate agencies. Because of her involvement in
real estate transactions in the district, she has been criticised by a number of in-
habitants, even though she is engaged in saving the neighbourhood from destruc-
tion. "The Four Horizons" has organised cultural events like outdoor balls, public
couscous banquets and carnivals, which have made Sainte Marthe more and more
popular in the eyes of tourists, potential investors in real estate, local political
representatives and a section of the inhabitants of the district. The organisation of
festive events like the carnival has played a central role in shaping the inhabit-
25 I hereby thank the German Research Foundation for having supported this research
in Paris with an Emmy Noether grant.
92 I MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

ants' identification with the quarter. The president of "The Four Horizons" also
acts as a development broker (Bierschenk/Olivier de Sardan 1993) and, forms an
interface (Long 1989) with other actors during municipal elections. In 2008, she
invited the (successful) district candidate of the Socialist Party, Remy Fereaud, to
present his program during an informal meeting in the association's assembly
hall.
The association receives public funding from the State Secretary of Urban
Affairs to do community work, and from the district mayor to enable it to parti-
cipate in the organisation of the annual multi-sited nationwide Fete de la Musique
in the Sainte Marthe Square. Furthermore, the association earns money from their
members' fees (30-40 members) and from their banquets and the food sold dur-
ing the festivals. In the course of building and conducting these events, the asso-
ciation interacts with various key persons in the district: the mayor and the elec-
ted deputies, the presidents of other associations (especially the Association for
Local History). Others, such as local artists and craftswomen, participate in and
benefit from these festive events. For the first time in 2003 several inhabitants of
the quarter participated in a new type of summer carnival inspired by the London
Notting Hill Carnival. They named it "Barbes Tour" in allusion to a popular
quarter in the Northern Paris (Barbes) where migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa
and North Africa have settled and where a large part of the participants reside.
The year 2003 was declared the official year of Algeria in France; the President
of The Four Horizons and its other members acknowledged this in the festival by
wearing Berber costumes and walking in front of a banner with "Algeria my
love", written on it in Arabic. In 2004, the "Barbes Tour" took place in Barbes
and Sainte Marthe, where a music concert featuring a variety of styles was hold.
During the carnival, the Four Horizons offers crepes to the children of Sainte
Marthe and prepares a Moroccan dish (Tajine) on Mardi Gras, the day before
Ash Wednesday, in a local restaurant run by a community organisation. Similarly
Four Horizons celebrated Halloween and the beginning of Ramadan in 2004 to-
gether at a restaurant. All these references and the activities exemplify the cultur-
al bricolage that marks the neighbourhood. The conscious cultural creolisation
carried out by the Four Horizons and the inhabitants of the neighbourhood draw
attention to the emergent place-based belongingness of the district inhabitants.
Despite the power asymmetries within this common place-based field of identi-
fication, the local political identity construed through festive events has led to the
emergence of a we-group. It is a belonging that extends beyond ethnic and/or re-
ligious origin and identity.
It is important to note that if I had focused on the members of the district who
were of Algerian descent, I could have told a story of an ethnic or transnational
network: there are indeed connections between the President of The Four Hori-
zons, her nephew in Great Britain and her uncles in Algeria. To begin instead
with neighbourhood ties, and the evolving sense of local community, does not
deny the fact that this communitas evolves within the context of the political situ-
 WoRLD SociETY, TRANSNATIONALISM AND CHAMPS MtGRATOtRES 193

ation faced by North Africans. Living within transnational social fields, North
Africans in Paris are very sensitive to France's attitude to colonial history. They
also face increasing daily restriction of access to public space especially around
Belleville and Sainte Marthe because of a rise in identity checks by the police,
which are justified by concerns about illegal migration.
However, these cultural practices and alliances can best be analysed in the
context of specific local political, social and economic living conditions and un-
derstood as produced within space and time (Barth 1969; Cohen 1991). Actors'
identities are "partial, multiple and fractured by cross-cutting alliances" (Werbner
1997: 265). The local dynamics of Sainte Marthe were shaped by the struggle to
restructure the neighbourhood as part of broader globe-spanning forces that are
repositioning cities. The residents, partly resisting the gentrification of the neigh-
bourhood, were able to find support for their cause from the district authorities
because of the increasing value placed on cultural diversity (best displayed in the
neighbourhood) in the marketing of cities within the global tourist industry. By
restoring most of the buildings instead of rebuilding them, most of the actual in-
habitants could remain at home. However, the numerous reports on the public
conflict in the media, particularly in writings covering the festive events, made
the district famous and contributed to the gentrification process.
The appropriation of the urban space by the migrants in this case and its re-
positioning locally and globally were partly the outcomes of the subjective res-
caling of the place from the local inhabitants' perspective (both migrant and nat-
ive), as well as of local politicians' recognition of this neighbourhood's market-
able value for the repositioning of Paris as its neighbourhoods are restructured
within global flows of capital and the marketing of cultural difference. As Bodaar
and Rath (2005: 4) point out, city

"boosters increasingly acknowledge that urban diversity is a vital resource for the
prosperity of cities and a potential catalyst for socio-economic development, particu-
larly since business investors consider this diversity as one of the factors determining
the location of businesses. The commodification and marketing of diversity, through the
commercial use of the presence of the ethnic 'others' or their symbols, fits in well with
this process, and this helps explain the growing enthusiasm for 'interesting' landscapes
that have the potential to draw tourists ... ".

Consequently, in Sainte Marthe the response to the surveillance of migrants has

been local rather than solely ethnic or religious. Surveillance has led to the devel-
opment of solidarity networks for the protection of political and economic
refugees. Several individuals have been supported by a network that extends bey-
ond persons of Algerian descent. While in one case a family network was at the
centre of the network, their ability to include other local residents and to extend
into Paris was much more important for the support of this individual. Inhabitants
94 I MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

of Sainte Marthe include these forms of solidarity among their reasons to be

proud of their neighbourhood.

Conclusion: Rescaling Processes in Urban Spaces

and Translocal Migrations

Although New York and Paris show common points in their marketing of cultur-
al and spatial dynamics, there are still important differences between these two
global cities in this regard. Paris is not only the biggest French city, but also the
capital of France while New York City is not a political centre. Reflecting the
differences between these two cities, the role, positioning and possibilities for the
incorporation of migrants and for their transnational connections are different. I
have illustrated the different positioning of migrants in these two global cities,
which are subject to very similar dynamics, by using two festive events: the Mur-
id Parade in New York and a neighbourhood festival in Paris as entry points for
my analysis of translocal phenomena. In both cases, in Paris and to a lesser extent
in New York, the mayors transgress national discourses that portray immigrants
as a threat to the coherence of the national cultural and social fabric. It is note-
worthy that while the mayor of Paris chose to send a positive message of belong-
ing to the African residents of Paris by sponsoring a concert with the best known
African musicians on the Bastille Day, (a French national holiday held on July
14th), the president of the country chose a French singer of popular but a bit old-
fashioned chansons for the same occasion. 26 As local leaders of cities, who must
constantly assure the continuing successful regional and global connectedness of
their cities, mayors of global cities supported and celebrated the diversity of their
urban space. They strive to facilitate continued global flows of capital, invest-
ments and high-skilled (migrant) labour force, as well as tourists. Placing my
analysis on the local rather than the national level, allows me to note the situ-
ations in which urban discourses and policies may differ from those formulated
by national leaders. It is noteworthy that the perspectives of the mayors of Paris
and New York, as well as some of these cities local leadership, were closer to the
sociological reality of immigrants and migrant incorporation than those espoused
by the leaders of France and the United States who acted within national frame-
works. The Borough President of Manhattan, NYC and the district mayors in the
North-Eastern quarters of Paris generated responses to migration that reflected an
awareness of competitive marketing of both particular cities and the contributions
of migrants to both the restructuring and the marketing.

26 This choice, as well as the venue of the quite old-fashioned star Mireille Mathieu,
singing the National anthem on the evening of Election Day, was interpreted by
several journalists as an illustration of his political programme on "chosen migra-
tion" and expulsion, and his wish that migrants should identify with "French nation-
al identity".
 WoRLD SociETY, TRANSNATIONALISM AND CHAMPS MtGRATOtRES 195

However, the short-term success of the rescaling process both in New York
and Paris can lead to mid-term social problems and increase inequalities in the
city. The gentrification process in Harlem undertaken by Senegalese high skilled
and/or middle class immigrants is to a certain extent built on the exclusion of the
poorer Afro-American population from this area, as the latter can no longer af-
ford the real estate prices. In Paris, the gentrification process as mediated through
neighbourhood interventions and struggles reinforced the notion of belonging ex-
pressed by the inhabitants. The Parisian and the district mayors did not suffer
electoral defeat in its wake, at least as long as they maintained a certain balance
between different interest groups, in the voters' eyes.
In the analysis of the interplay between urban and migrants settlement dy-
namics in New York and Paris, it is important not to follow a common trajectory
of migration scholarship in which social scientists build their nation-wide models
on specific urban examples like Paris or New York. New York's ethnic politics
have long been a product of New York and its particular relationship to national
and global relationships of power. Conclusions drawn from studying New York
are not reflective of the United States in general. 27 Similarly, Paris' late recogni-
tion of urban diversity was a product of the local context of Paris including its
specific electoral politics, which was shaped in interface with the global and re-
gional pressures asserted on that city and the way its leaders sought to reposition
the city and themselves in urban politics and governance structures.
Although migrants' subjective ranking of places within transnational social
fields may follow a logic different from the rescaling of cities within neoliberal
restructuring, the New York case demonstrates that both processes are entangled
with each other. In New York, Harlem has become a global platform for the Mur-
id brotherhood and an imaginary centre for high skilled Senegalese and Murids
residing in Europe who wish to migrate to a place that is most attractive within
their own subjective rescaling. In Paris, rescaling processes within the city real-
ised partly by migrants' activities and festive events place the city on a different
scale for an emerging type of tourist who travels in search of sociologically dy-
namic quarters like Notting Hill in London or Kreuzberg in Berlin. Nevertheless,
it should still be noted that the highly skilled migrants and potential Murid in-
vestors' perceptions of France and the new restrictive (anti-) immigration laws
are reflected in the transnational field of the Senegalese political and religious
networks as a subjective rescaling in favour ofNew York.
Both New York and Paris share intensive gentrification processes where
spaces are globally marketed in ways that reflect the struggle of both cities to re-
tain their dominant global positioning. Examining the relationship between urban
rescaling processes and migration allowed me to reposition urban political eco-
nomy within more global fields of capital, tourism, investment, and transnational

27 Paris can fruitfully be compared to London as a capital and global city with specific
local policies under mayor Livingstone, although Great Britain is organised differ-
ently in national political terms than France.
96 I MoNIKA SALZBRUNN

social fields. It also places the restructuring of neighbourhoods and gentrification

processes within globally extending markets in interaction with migrants'
transnational social fields and settlement dynamics. Using festivals as entry
points to analyse the interplay between migrant dynamics, transnational net-
works, global restructuring, and questions of political representation, this study
allowed me to ask questions about the divergence of local political discourses on
immigration from homogenised narratives of national policy.
Furthermore, focusing on localities rather than on a priori defined groups,
based on national, ethnic or religious criteria, allowed me to go beyond methodo-
logical nationalism and to follow the actor's social practices, which extend bey-
ond national and ethnic frameworks. This multi-sited fieldwork started by focus-
ing on one predefined group of migrants, and then enlarged the transnational per-
spective to group-building processes around events in public space. Thereby, eth-
nic or national lenses were replaced by a place-based perspective in rescaling
processes within urban spaces. It became clear that a systematic comparison of
the rescaling and restructuring of localities was indispensable in order to under-
stand how these processes interact with the migrants' activities. I suggest that a
focus on events can avoid taking an a priori-defined ethnic, religious or sociocul-
tural category as a key issue in the processes of communitarisation. This epistem-
ological perspective with its comparative design reveals some surprising cross-
cutting local alliances which go beyond predefined categories. The history of
transnationalism in different scientific communities shaped by linguistic areas
presented in the first part of this chapter could be continued by this epistemolo-
gical choice. This would allow researchers to overcome former disjunctions and
to give a constructive answer to critiques of transnationalism research.

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Transnational ism,
Political Participation and
New Forms of Belonging
Euro-Aievis: From Gastarbeiter to Transnational
Community
BESIM CAN ZIRH

Introduction: "Non-Sunni-Muslim-Minority" as a New

Label for Alevis

After a long period of silence and invisibility, Alevis of Turkey have dramatical-
ly become one of the controversial issues of Turkish politics in the last two
decades. This is the phenomenon known as Alevilik Uyanz:jl (the Alevi Revival)
(<;:amuroglu 1998) and popularly named as Alevilik Patlamasz (the Explosion of Alev-
ism) (Vorhoff 2003: 91). These gripping concepts refer to a dramatic and almost
unexpected increase in the socio-political visibility of Alevism. Hundreds of
books published, dozens of Alevi associations and new radio stations established
appeared as the indicator of this phenomenon. Although some researchers had
forecasted the nearly inevitable disappearance of this particular culture in the be-
ginning of the 1980s (Vorhoff 1998: 31 ), the silence was broken when an open
letter, the Alevi Declaration, signed by numerous intellectuals was published in
1990. With this 'coming out', constitutional recognition of Alevis, as a particular
but integral component of the nation, was explicitly demanded for the first time
in Turkish history.
Nearly 15 years after the Alevi Declaration, another phase in this revival was
reached when a second declaration was jointly issued by Avrupa Alevi Birlikleri
Konfederasyonu (the Confederation of European Alevi Unions- the CEAU) 1 and
Alevi Bekta:ji Federasyonu (the Federation of Alevi Bektashi- the FAB)2 on 7th
of October 2004. This declaration was actually a response to the EU Regular Re-

The CEAU has been established in 2000 as an umbrella organisation so as to repre-

sent Alevi associations on European scale. Presently, hundreds of Alevi associations
from 10 European countries such as France, the Netherlands, Austria, and Norway
are represented under this organisation.
2 The FAB has been established in 2004 in cooperation with the CEAU so as to sup-
ply a similar umbrella function for Alevi associations in Turkey.
104 I BESIM CAN ZIRH

port 2004 on Turkey's progress 3 which defined Alevis as a "Non-Sunni Muslim

Minority" (Regular Report 2004: 44-45) instead of using the concept of "Non-
Sunni Muslim Community" or "Alevis" employed before 2004. Having endorsed
this new conceptualisation without reservation, this declaration indicated a dra-
matic shift in the discourse of the Alevi movement4 as the decade long agenda of
Alevi movement shifted from the "right to be equal" as citizens to the "right to be
different" as a minority group. 5 Furthermore, the declaration also revealed a pub-
licly unknown fact, namely that the concept was able to find a place in the report
as a result of a five-year-long lobbying campaign by CEAU at the EU Parlia-
ment.
The concept of "minority" was removed from the Regular Report 2004 as a
result of immediate reaction by Turkish state and replaced with that of "com-
munity" again in the subsequent years. 6 Even in the absence of the concept, it
would not be wrong to argue that the question of Alevism has begun to be ap-
praised as another painful task in Turkey's yellow-brick road to Europe. 7 Some
red-blooded words from the declaration may well indicate this forthcoming 'po-
litical danger': "Although solving these problems through impositions by the Eu-

3 The EU Regular Reports on Progress are prepared by the European Commission for
each candidate country during the process of accession. The first Regular Report on
Turkey's progress was issued in 1998 followed by the reports prepared in 1999,
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. For more information,
http://www.avrupa.info.tr/AB_ve_ Turkiye/Muzakereler,Regular_ Reports.htrnl.
4 By the Alevi Movement, I refer to the socio-political awareness appeared at the end
of 1980s firstly in Germany. In 1988, a small group of Alevi immigrants from dif-
ferent German cities gathered in Hamburg under the name of Alevi Ktiltiir Grubu
(the Alevi Culture Group). In addition to their associational title which overtly voic-
es the name Alevi, the group differentiated itself from the previous Alevi associa-
tions by directly referring to the question of Alevism from a new approach.
5 It is impossible to discuss the Alevi movement as a monolith entity. Apart from the
main stream divisions, there are also many localised forms of the movement in
Turkey and Europe. To illustrate, in spite of its prominent position in the CEAU,
the Berlin Anatolian Alevi Culture Centre (BAAC) responded to the definition of
Alevis as a belief out of Islam very critically. When I was coincidentally in Berlin
on the day the declaration was issued in 2004, the members of the BAAC were dis-
cussing about suspending their membership to the CEAU.
6 Alevis in the EU Progress Reports, 1998: Turkey's Alawi Muslims with non-Sunni
background. 1999: the Alevis. 2000: the non-Sunni Muslim communities. 2001: the
Alevis. 2002: the non-Sunni Moslem/religious communities and the Alevis. 2003:
the non-Sunni Moslem communities and the Alevis. 2004: the non-Sunni Muslim
minorities and the Alevis. 2005: the non-Sunni Moslem/religious communities and
the Alevis. 2006: the Alevi community/the large Muslim Alevi community. 2007:
the Alevis and the Followers of Alevism. Main concerns about Alevis in the Re-
ports are mainly about legal and socio-political difficulties of expressing and prac-
tising their belief and identity.
7 German Green Party MP, Cem Ozdemir stresses this vital importance of the ques-
tion of Alevism in EU accession process by saying "Ttirkiye'nin AB'ye giden yolu
cemevlerinden geyer" (The path of Turkey to EU passes through cemevis [Alevi re-
ligious centres]) (Alevilerin Sesi, July 2004: 83).
 Eu Ro-ALEVIS I 105

ropean Parliament annoys us, the assimilationalist approach of the Turkish gov-
ernment in power leaves us with no alternative than EU" (CEAU - FAB,
Manuscript - 2004). Additionally, the ensuing outcry from populist political
groups blaming Alevis for "betraying" Turkey by cooperating with the EU indic-
ates nothing but the ambiguous position of Alevism in Turkey. Needless to say,
as we will see in the following section, such disagreements bear close resem-
blances to the political prejudices which stigmatised Alevis as an "inner-enemy"
during the 1960s and 70s.
Considering the interaction and cooperation between the CEAU and the
FAB, I prefer to approach this case as an appropriate example indicating the pro-
cess of transnationalisation through migratory experiences in a historically spe-
cific context. In this sense, I claim that this is not a spontaneous 'revival/awaken-
ing' of what was going to sink into oblivion two decades ago. On the contrary, I
suggest that 'Alevi Revival' should be understood as a 'reconstruction/recapture'
on the basis of a new context that emerged as a result of migratory experiences.
In other words, I basically claim that Alevism has become able to exceed the lim-
itations of its historically rooted geographical, social, political, legal and econom-
ic marginality by establishing extensive social networks linking distant locales in
the processes of internal and external migration. Alevi identity has been re-
defined and restructured on the basis of various restraints and opportunities and
as a result of diverse struggles and negotiations on local, national and transna-
tional levels. In this article I attempt to analyse the transnationalisation of Alevis
in the process of migration to Germany/Europe so as to understand the appear-
ance of the concept of"Non-Sunni-Muslim Minority".

What is Alevism? A Perpetual Working Definition

Any attempt to define Alevism has to deal with two main difficulties. On the one
hand, as Sokefeld mentions, "the answer is neither clear nor self-evident; the
question is not a rhetorical one" (2004a: 1). On the other hand, the question of
Alevism has always been wrapped in political concerns. Two separate sources of
literature can be mentioned to exemplify this complexity. 8
8 John Shindeldecker (2001) notes that he located all these following definitions
about the question of what is Alevism during his research: (1) "An Alevi is any
Muslim who loves the family of the Prophet Muhammad", (2) "An Alevi is simply
any democratic, tolerant, human rights-promoting, modem-thinking person, what-
ever his religious background", (3) "An Alevi is a filthy, immoral person who is so
far from religion that he must first become a Christian before he can become a Mus-
lim", (4) "Alevism is the original, true essence of Islam", (5) "Alevism is a hetero-
dox sect within Islam", (6) "Alevism is the most authentic expression of Turkish
Anatolian Islam", (7) "Alevism is a philosophy, a 'way of life'", (8) "Alevism is
pure Sufism", (9) "Alevism is pure Shiism", (10) "Alevism is simply Sunni Islam
with an extra emphasis on Ali", (11) "Alevism is so syncretistic that it can't be
counted as Islam at all", (12) "Alevism is an alternative to orthodox Islam", (13)
106 I BESIM CAN ZIRH

The literature on "the people of Asia Minor" from the late 19th century
mainly focuses on the question of origin of certain communities such as Tahtacz
and Kzzzlba!f which are identified as Alevi today. 9 Although many European
scholars have reached a consensus on the idea that such heretical communities
represent the survival ofpre-Islamic beliefs (Crowfoot 1900), the question is still
loaded with "very considerable confusion" for Hasluck (1929: 311). De Planhol
offers his "resignation" referring to "the complexity of the issue." To conclude
his literature review, Gronhaug cites De Planhol's resignation and says "I feel no
incentive to go further than that" (quoted in: Gronhaug 1974: 9, 189).
The question of what is Alevism has become very popular with the emer-
gence of the 'Revival' at the end of 1980s and, since then, hundreds of books in
Turkish have been published on the question which Alevis themselves are trying
to answer (Vorhoff 1998: 31). However, this extensive literature blended with
various political concerns does not supply more definite answers. 10 I would men-
tion only some of the main exemplars of such definitions and their relation to cer-
tain political agendas (Okan 1999; Goker 1999): 11

1. Having originated from A vesta and Zoroasterian, Alevism is an ethno-

religion as a part ofKurdish Culture (AlgUll999).
2. Having originated from Middle Asian Turkic paganism, Alevism is an
ethno-religion as a part of Turkish Culture (Tfukdogan 2004).
3. Alevism, as a syncretic belief, originated from Middle Asian Turkic
paganism but also blended with many other different cultures during
the process oflslamisation of the region (Ocak 1996).
4. Alevism is a branch oflslam specific to Anatolia (Sezgin 1998).
5. Alevism is a form of primitive communalism specific to Anatolia and
the product of "class struggle" of early medieval period (Yfuiikoglu
1990).

The first two definitions try to channel Alevism into Kurdish or Turkish national
political movements. Various forms of the syncretism thesis, exemplified here in
reference to Ocak (1996), are widely used by urbanised Alevis to celebrate Alev-
ism as a secular culture rather than a belief system. The fourth thesis tries to loc-

"Alevism is an example of the classic Marxist struggle by an oppressed minority",

(14) "Alevism is a mixture of the best elements of Islam, Christianity, Judaism,
Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, Shamanism, and 20th century humanism".
9 See also Footnote 15.
I 0 One of the prominent historians, Reha <;:amuroglu, who is Alevi himself and works
on Alevism, concludes the discussion on the question of definition by referring to a
Tao master who says: "Tao tammlamaz, tammlamrsa Tao olmaz" (Tao cannot be
defined. If it is defined, it would not be Tao) (<;:amuroglu 2000: 10).
!I In his book titled as "What is Alevism?" in Turkish, Baki Oz, who is a retired high-
school teacher and one of the "new Alevi intellectuals" himself, categorises such at-
tempts to define Alevism under 32 different statements (Oz 1996).
 Eu Ro-ALEVIS I 10 7

ate Alevism in the circle of orthodox Islam, whereas the last praises as a proto-
communist philosophy by indicating its non-conformism. 12 Massicard (2003: 3)
employs the concept of"framing contest" to analyse this divergence in the defini-
tion of Alevism as a reflection of the political struggle between different parties
over Alevism.
In light of these difficulties, my attempt to define Alevism should be under-
stood as a working definition specific to this very moment of history. In other
words, instead of trying to reach a static definition of Alevism, I focus on some
essential symbols and institutions which are indispensable components of Alev-
ism. Although their applications may differ in nuance for one or another reason,
almost all Alevi communities share these institutions regardless of the question
whether they are still in use or not.
To begin with, Alevi, as a contemporary concept, was popularised at the be-
ginning of the 19th century, and refers to groups of people who have a particular
belief system and set of practices which are different from that of Sunni Islam in
Anatolia. 13 The concept derives from Alawi, and etymologically means the fol-
lower of Ali, the son-in-law and cousin of the Prophet Mohammed. His assassin-
ation in 680 in Kufa resulted in the first and main division in Islam. This is spe-
cifically important for understanding Alevism since they comprehend their col-
lective history of victimisation as a fate beginning with the murder of Ali. This
event functions as a "chosen trauma" for Alevis by combining "their loss of col-

12 During the visit by German-Turkish Joint Seminar group to an Alevi organisation in

Ankara in 2005, an "Alevi intellectual" translated the historical position of Alevism
in Anatolia in reference to the German Peasant War in 1524/5. He also urged the
audience not to consider Alevism in reference to Martin Luther what he has all done
is "temporising such a great revolt by creating a new religion for bourgeoisie class-
es": the Protestantism. Instead, he suggested another name, Thomas Munzer. Such a
nuance could only been understood by those who already read The Peasant War in
Germany by Friedrich Engels (Engels 2000).
13 The concept of 'Ale vi' did not take place in the official documents of the Ottoman
Empire until the 19th century (Ortayh 1997: 120). These communities that we iden-
tify today with the name of Alevi, as the "umbrella term", were known by their trib-
al names such as Tahtaci, Abdal, Cepni, and Zaza (Eickelman 1989); or by imposed
pejorative labels such as Rafizi, Zmd1k and Mtilhid which means unbeliever, infidel
and non-Muslim (Melikoff 1998: 5); or by the name ofKlZba~ (red-heads) which
referred to the insubordinate attitude of heretical communities especially in the east-
em part of Anatolia (Birge 1965: 67). Much more importantly, many historical re-
sources have been re-written following the popularity of this "new" concept. The
memoirs of ibrahim Ethem Begh who was a governor in Gallipoli regions during
the War of Independence (1919-1923) may be presented as a proper example of
such re-writings. In its 1936 version, "A lady informed that an old klZba~ <;:etmi
came and ask for irregulars" (Ethem 1936: 164) re-published as "there is <;:etmi,
namely, an Alevi in the village asking for irregulars" in its 1989 version (Ethem
1989: 289) (I should thank Mehmet Demiray for this last quotation about ibrahim
Ethem Begh. He noticed this nuance in the period of literature review for our joint
research on Alevism in 2002).
108 I BESIM CAN ZIRH

lective self-idealisation and the emotional burdens of historical grievances" and

allows them to "act as ready victims of circumstances" (Volkan 1997: 48). 14
Alevism may roughly be defined as a belief which has its own specific
"secrecy of Gnostic forms and esoteric teaching" (Erdemir 2005: 938) and claims
"to posses the inner/esoteric meaning oflslamic revelation" (Kehl-Bodrogi 2003:
53). According to Melikoff, the formation of Alevism is rooted in the 11 - 12th
century following the Islamisation of Mesopotamia which caused the conver-
gence of pre-Islamic beliefs with Islam (Melikoff 1998). Tord Olsson portrays
the Ali-oriented belief communities in reference to (1) the priority of oral over
written culture, (2) the principal of takiye (dissimulation) 15 and (3) the insubor-
dinate and non-conformist characteristic in opposition to any kind of political
centrality and institutionalised orthodoxy (Olsson 1998).
Alevis, in their traditional settings, organise themselves in the form of endo-
gamous and closed communal units. Membership can only be achieved through
cognation but it is also needed to be upgraded with a special ceremony conducted
by a dede (spiritual leader). Alevism may properly be defined by referring to
what it is not, namely, its essential differences from orthodox-Islam. They do not
observe any of the core rites of Islam such as practising namaz (Sunni prayer), 16
or fasting during the Ramadan. 17 Saz (Turkish lute) and Semah (ritual dance) oc-
cupy a central position in their rituals during which men and women gather under
the same roof. In some communities, a symbolic amount of alcohol, dem!dolu, is
consumed at the opening part of rituals. Lastly, Alevi women, mainly in the urb-

14 As Vorhoffwrites, Alevis usually define their historical origin in a very pronounced

dualism with Sunni-Islam by referring to Kerbela where Huseyin, son of Ali, and
his followers were killed. The Alevis as "the people of Ali", "the descendants of
Kerbela", "the adherents of the Ehlibeyt [the family of Mohammed]" oppose the
Sunnis as "the people of Ebu Bekir, Omer and Osman [first three caliphates]" or
"the followers of Y ezid [political rival of Ali during his caliphate]" (V orhoff 2003:
103).
15 In Alevi tradition, the takiye principle refers that Alevis may dissimulate their belief
and identity in the presence of non-Alevis so as to conceal the "secrecy" of the be-
lief and to avoid possible discriminations by orthodox-Islam (Zeidan 1999: 2).
16 Unlike the followers of orthodox Islam, Alevis do not attend mosques, and conse-
quently their settlements in rural Anatolia are known as Camisiz Koyler (the vil-
lages without mosques).
17 However, this non-practicing should not be considered as a denial of Islamic rites.
The main structure of Alevi cosmology is described as a path though the four doors
which are hierarchically ordered as $eriat (the Sheri'a), Tarikat (Mysticism), Mar-
ifet (Ingenuity), and Hakikat (the Truth). Islamic rites are required by the first door.
Since Alevis accept that their belief system has already passed through this very
first door, they do not need to practice these core rites (Shankland 2003: 85).
 Eu Ro-ALEVIS I 109

an context, usually do not wear headscarves 18 (Shankland 1993; Hasluck/Hasluck

1929: 153).
In modem Turkey Alevis constitute the second largest religious community.
According to some estimates, the population of Alevis fluctuates between ten and
twenty-five per cent of the total population of Turkey (70 million 2006 est.). Ad-
ditionally, twenty per cent of the Alevi population is also Kurdish (V orhoff 1998,
Zeidan 1999). Regional, linguistic, ethnic, and ritual differences draw historical
borders among Alevi communities (Akta~ 2000; Kehl-Bodrogi 1997). Neverthe-
less, these differences among the communities are not as vital as the difference
between Alevism and Sunnism. As Geaves mentions, "othemess [in Alevism] is
more a religious term rather than tribal" (2003: 61). 19
Three social institutions, which have indispensable importance in the repro-
duction of Alevism, can further be focused to discuss Alevism. First of all, dede-
lik as a spiritual leadership has a unique role which cannot be compared with the
role of imam in Sunni-Islam. Each Alevi community consists of talips (the fol-
lowers) who are organised under the leadership of a dede who needs to be com-
mitted to specific spiritual centres, ocaks (heart) and is also supervised by a pir
(grand-master) who resides in these centres (Shankland 2003). It is believed that
each dede comes from the holy lineage of Ali which is the main sources of their
spiritual charisma. Dedes also have absolute judicial roles. 20 In the special inter-

18 In Turkey, the difference between Turban and Ba~ortis is needed to be mentioned

specifically. According to the republicans and secularist, although Ba~ortis as a
rural and folkloric way of veiling does not have any political connotation; Ttirban is
used by political Islam as a symbol of their movement. In light of some critiques to
earlier versions of this paper where I used the concept of 'headscarf,' I prefer to use
Ttirban to indicate the form of more urban and contemporary veiling - if it is not
political - to stress the difference between Alevism and Sunnism. In this sense, my
claim here does not apply to veiling in rural contexts where Alevi women may tra-
ditionally veil their heads.
19 The historical relation between Kurdish-ness as an ethnic identity and Alevi-ness as
a spiritual/religious identity also highlights another difficulty about Alevism. On the
basis of historical evidence, it would not be wrong to argue that Kurdish-Alevis and
Turkish-Alevis can get together around the Alevi-ness much easier than Kurdish-
Shafis and Kurdish-Alevis make a coalition on the basis of the Kurdish-ness. In this
sense, Alevi and Kurdish organisations today constitute a strong neither/nor alterna-
tive to each other. A Kurdish-Alevi has to choose either an Alevi or a Kurdish or-
ganisation if he or she needs to participate in one. This choice also determines
which part of his/her identity is going to be emphasised. During my pilot research, I
came across many examples of this situation. Although they can use the Zaza/Kur-
dish language as the everyday language among family members, some people prefer
to identify themselves only as 'Alevi'.
20 According to many sources, Alevis especially in rural settings did not apply to the
official judicial system. Any kind of intra-communal problems was preferred to be
solved under the supervision of dedes. This principle has gradually dissolved since
the 1950s when the internal migration began (Demir 1999: 24). On the other hand,
it would not be wrong to argue that respected dedes have still some level of judicial
authority to solve certain disputes in modern Alevi associations.
110 I BESIM CAN ZIRH

rogation ritual, gorgii cemi, which is performed only once a year, the dede exam-
ines his talips as to whether or not they behaved in a morally up-right manner ac-
cording to Alevi doctrine. 21 In the case of being found guilty, a member can be
required to compensate his/her fault in accordance to varying degrees of penalty.
In much more extreme cases such as murder and adultery, the dede has the au-
thority to label a guilty member as a dii:jkiin (shunned) which implies a total ex-
communication from the community (Zeidan 1999; Geaves 2003: 63).
The main ritual in Alevism is cem, a nocturnal ritual constituting the main
platform for Alevis to congregate under the supervision of a dede. Etymologic-
ally, Ayin-i Cem means gathering at the core of existence, namely, great integra-
tion (Bal1997: 82). In Alevi cosmology, every human, can (life), is a form of en-
ergy which comes from and goes through the hak (God). In this sense, cem
means glorification of the only sacred thing on this earth, namely, human beings
(Shankland 1998: 20). Musahiplik is the third important social institution which
is a prerequisite for entering into gorgii cemi in some communities. Musahiplik is
a kind of kinship relation which one can not be born into such as kirvelik (god-
parenthood of circumcision) (Kieser 2001: 5). The concept etymologically means
the fraternity of path/world which refers to making two males socially respons-
ible to each other about their way oflife and commitment to the doctrine (Kay-
gusuz 1991: 11).
As a conclusion, these three institutions have critical importance for the re-
production and transmission of Alevism through generations. Some scholars
stress this importance by claming that Alevism cannot be imagined in the ab-
sence of these institutions (Yoriikhan 1998: 35; Yaman 2000: 5). For anyone
studying Alevism, especially in the urban and migration context, it is very diffi-
cult to locate 'proper' applications of these institutions. 22 In this sense, first of all,
I prefer to understand Alevism on the basis of these institutions. Secondly, I
claim that focusing on the evolution of these institutions is important to under-
stand the transformation of Alevism.

Historical Background: Alevis of Turkey: From

"Non-Person" to "Inner-Enemy"- Leaving and
Losing Home.

In the long history of the Ottoman Empire Alevi communities known by their tri-
bal names and affiliations were treated differently in accordance with the politic-

21 These manners are understood in reference to the motto of "eline, beline, diline
sahip olmak". Be Master your hand, tongue, and loins; namely, do not take what is
not yours, do not lie, and do not commit adultery (Tur 2002: 451).
22 Sokefeld, for instance, quotes on a dede living in Hamburg who says "Cem [which
he is conducting in Hamburg] is a game, it is a drama because a deep, spiritual in-
volvement of all the participants is missing" (2004b: 147).
 Eu Ro-ALEVIS I 111

al tensions of specific periods and regions. Their position in this long history has
always been ambivalent. Although, they were often labelled as 'non-believers' or
'out-of-Islam', they were never recognised as "non-Muslim" within the Ottoman
Millet system which entitled non-Muslim communities such as Jews and Christi-
ans to have particular rights and duties. In this sense, as Vergin argues, in addi-
tion to suffering from suppression and pressures over their belief and ways of
life, Alevis, then and now, have a kind of "non-person" public persona which en-
hanced their public invisibility (2000: 76).
During the disintegration period of the Empire, especially at the very begin-
ning of the 20th century, newly emerging nationalists approached Alevis from a
different angle. This 'disrespected' and 'ignored' culture began to be esteemed in
the search for an alliance during the War of Independence and then it was also
socially mobilised in the frame of the new national identity (Ku9Uk 2002: 165).
During this period, certain literary components of Alevism such as folk lyrics and
poets (Kehl-Bodrogi 2003: 57) were utilised as the culture of"true Turks" in or-
der to purify the new official Turkish language in opposition to the Ottoman lan-
guage (Karpat 1976: 120). With reference to this flirtation as opposed to their
disadvantaged position during the Ottoman period, Alevis are usually presented
as strong adherents of secular republicanism since the very beginning of the Re-
public. Alevis' sympathy for the republic derives from both myth and reality
which is a phenomenon that should also be contextualised to understand Alevism
in Turkey (Oz 2000: 35, 45).
It would not be appropriate to understand this convergence as an attempt to
open a new space for Alevis on the grounds that all these cultural elements were
"neutralised" before being utilised for national identity building (Massicard
2003: 6). Once again, "the existence of Alevis in the state was covered in
silence" (Sokefeld/Schwalgin 2000: 11). Since the Republic "did not discrimi-
nate [Alevis] in favour of Sunnis" (Ahmad 1994: 167), this new period has
opened the door to social, economical and educational mobility for Alevis but
only if they abondon their particularity (Alevi identity) to melt into the republi-
can commonality (national identity). In this sense, I suggest that this "republican
socialisation" has enabled Alevis to leave their geographically isolated locations
and socially marginalised position.
In the 1940s, considerable inner-migration flows appeared in Turkey as a re-
sult of rapid industrialisation as well as modernisation. Considering their commu-
nal structure, Alevis were both the 'victors' and the 'victims' of this new period.
They were victors because they were able to break free from violence and repres-
sion of the centuries under the Ottoman the Empire. They were victims because
this liberation required them to keep a very low-profile in terms of displaying
their identity in public life. They could be a part of newly emerging world by
jumping on the bandwagon going to the cities, but their well-preserved commu-
nal structure also receded in their memories with every kilometer traveled.
112 I BESIM CAN ZIRH

In the same decade, the multi-party system was announced and the Demokrat
Parti (the Democratic Party - DP) achieved a victory against the founding
Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (the Republican People Party- RPP) in 1950. In the po-
litical atmosphere of the period, Alevis were also among the supporters of
'democracy', however, they turned to the RPP as the DP's discourse shifted from
liberal-democratic to conservative-Islamist which reminded them of repressive
days during the Ottoman Empire (Karpat 2004: 91). With the military coup in
1960, Turkish socio-political life entered a new phase in which socio-political or-
ganisations mushroomed in accordance with the new constitution. This has
brought the freedom of association. In this context, the first "Alevi Revival"
came to fruition parallel with the urbanisation of Alevism which is the process
increased their social and economic visibility especially in previously Sunni-
dominated Anatolian city and town centres (Kaplan 2000: 246). The main moti-
vation in this period derived from the necessity of responding to reactions by
conservative-Islamists against the increasing visibility of Alevis. This process
concluded with the establishment of Tiirkiye Birlik Partisi (the Turkish Union
Party- TUP) 23 in 1966 ($ener/ilknur 1995: 77).
Although this first initiative managed to utter the name of Alevi publicly,
Alevism remained invisible during the period between 1960s and 1980s. The rea-
son of the invisibility in this period derived from another flirtation which was be-
tween Alevism and the leftist-secular politics. In the beginning of 1960s, quite a
considerable number of Alevis had already been urbanised. As a result, in addi-
tion to legal and social difficulties, preserving and practising Alevism became
nearly impossible as the organic relationships with three institutions mentioned
above heavily dissolved.
In this sense, Alevism is now inadequate for helping Alevi youth to under-
stand the new contradictions they have encountered in the highly-politicised ur-
ban context. In the wake of this 'forgetting', Alevi youth began taking part in the
secular-leftist organisations against the raising rightist-Islamist hostility (Kehl-
Bodrogi 1997: 11). In other words, as seen from this perspective it would be rea-
sonable to argue that a historical enmity between Sunnism and Alevism emerged
from the political polarisation of the period in the form of an antagonism between
leftist and rightist groups (Neyzi 2003: 113). As one of initial outcomes of this
process, Alevism was altered and transferred from the field of belief into that of
politics as a "folk-socialism" (Koyan!Oncu 2004: 476). 24
This logical marriage of secular-leftist politics and Alevism also had some
negative outcomes for the latter. First of all, this articulation reinforced the pro-
23 The TUP could never gain real political power. Especially after the national election
in 1972, it turned into a more secular-leftist party by embracing a socialist agenda.
It was abolished by the Military Coup in 1980.
24 For instance, a traditional motto of Alevi cosmology, "En'el Hak" (I am the God)
was phonetically rewritten as a political slogan of "Emek-Hak" (labour-right)
(<;:o~kun 1995: 274) as "the untrimmed moustache of the Alevi becomes the distinc-
tive features of all Turkish revolutionist" (Kehl-Bodrogi 1997: 11 ).
 Eu Ro-ALEVIS I 113

cess of forgetting by rendering Alevism as a local-symbolic component of a uni-

versal ideology inasmuch as Alevi youth in this period abandoned Alevism "in
favour of the new secular ideologies" (<;:amuroglu 1998: 80). At the risk of over-
simplification, it is possible to claim that sheltering in secular-leftist politics was
the only way for Alevis to participate in the new social and political life of
Turkey during this period. This sheltering may also be seen as a modernised ver-
sion of the traditional dissimulation strategy by which Alevis were able to keep
their identity invisible. Secondly, Alevism was identified with secular-leftist poli-
tics, and slightly with Kurdish separatism in the eyes of the rightist-Islamist
groups which treated Alevism as an "internal enemy". 25 This political polarisa-
tion culminated as a result of several armed attacks in a number of central and
south-eastern Anatolian cities, such as <;:orum, Sivas, Malatya, and Kahraman-
mar~, between 1978 and 1980. Hundreds of people were killed in these attacks
and most of them were Alevi (Sinclair-Webb 2003: 220-216). These events were
very traumatic for Alevis who had become an integral part of social and econom-
ic life in these cities (Kaleli 2000: 102-103). Eventually, they started fleeing to
Turkish and European metropolises and Alevis in Europe decided to stay instead
of returning to insecure "home on fire". In other words, "The homeland Turkey,
which has become a land of repression and sorrow, has turned into a 'lost home-
land'" (Rigoni 2003: 164).
The military coup in 1980 constituted another turning point for Alevism. Ini-
tially, the tragic social extermination of secular-leftist politics in Turkey has left
Alevis voiceless once again. With the emergence of "Turk-Islam synthesis" as a
new cementing ideology, public life was radically reconsolidated on the basis of
more nationalist (Turkish) and more religious (Sunni-Islam) ideology (Jongerden
2003: 71). This reconsolidation inevitably brought an end to sui generis neutrali-
ty of the Turkish state. Turkification and/or the Sunnification of the official per-
sona of the state did not only ignore but also pushed sub-national identities into
the category of"lesser Turks" (Kosnick 2004: 990).
Furthermore, the rise of the Kurdish armed struggle of the Kurdistan Work-
er's Party (PKK) also heightened the situation of Alevis since they were caught
in the crossfire between the Turkish state and the Kurdish separatism both of
which attempt to redefine and mobilize Alevism for the sake of their own politi-
cal agenda (<;:amuroglu 1998: 80; White 2003: 17). Another significant outcome
of this period had to do with Alevis living in European countries. Before the mili-
tary coup, they had already organised under highly home-land-oriented secular-
leftist political organisations which were usually sister chapters of Turkey-based
organisations. In this sense, the abolishment of all social and political organisa-
tions in the home-land drove them into a political vacuum which was hard to fill
agam.

25 During the period, 3K Doctrine appeared as an unofficial internal security doctrine,

which indicates all "internal-enemies" of Turkish sate: Klz!ba~-tiromns
(Kizilbas-Kurd-Communist).
1141 BESIM CAN ZIRH

Alevis of Germany: From "Institutions of Alevis" to

"Aievi Institutions" - Desiring Home

In the Turkish case, international migration basically refers to the process of la-
bor migration from Turkey to Western Europe, especially to Germany, which be-
gan in 1961 in the frame of bilateral agreements. Secondly, although Turkish im-
migrants share certain social and cultural similarities, "it is impossible to talk
about 'the Turkish-German transmigrant' as a homogeneous ideal type" (Jeffrey
2001: 107). In other words, Germany has a unique role in the story of Turkish
immigration and the case of Alevism has its own particular chapter in this story.
There are 2.5 million Turkish immigrants in Germany. Of those 600-700 thou-
sands, about thirty per cent are Alevis (Rigoni 2003: 166). In Germany, Alevis
have organised in the form of home-town and/or worker charity associations
since the early days of immigration. In accordance with the changing political
climate in both, the home- and host-land, previous "home-away-home" organisa-
tions have been gradually superseded by political and ideological ones. At the be-
ginning of 1970s, secular-leftist organisations, which were usually official or un-
official sister chapters of home-land based legal or illegal political organisations,
have appeared as the dominant form of organisation ($ahhuseyinoglu 2001: 250).
Despite a changing political climate, the political mobilisation of Turkish immi-
grants has remained as highly home-land-oriented. Consequently, it is not sur-
prising that political organisations abroad inherited the home-made blindness to
the question of Alevism. In this sense, as Sokefeld and Schwalgin claim, they
were "institutions of Alevis" but the socio-political networks they established
gave birth to "Alevi institutions" at the end of 1970s (Sokefeld/Schwalgin 2000:
12).
During this period, Alevis in Europe usually gathered at private meetings
which were only open to acquaintances and compatriots who knew each other
personally. These private meetings mainly resembled social chatting. Although
the question of transmission of Alevism to next generations was a burning issue
of these meetings, they were not able to perform even basic rituals due to diffi-
culty of finding a learned dede in the context of migration. (Sokefeld/Schwalgin
2000: 12). On the other hand, a significant level of discrimination by Turkish
Sunni immigrants constituted another difficulty for Alevis in expressing their
identity during this period (Naess 1990: 188; 0stergaard-Nielsen 2003: 28). Just
as in Turkey, most of Alevis felt uncomfortable expressing Aleviness overtly. 26
Consequently, Alevis abroad had also remained "unorganised and invisible in
secular-leftist organisations/associations" (Sokefeld/Schwalgin 2000: 12). In oth-
er words, the modernised dissimulation strategy has been imported to Europe

26 One of the most frequent examples of this dissimulation strategy appeared during
the holy month of Ramadan. During this long period of silence, although they do
not practice this core rite of Islam, Alevis in Europe pretend to be fasting to avoid
humiliating discrimination by Sunni Turkish immigrants.
 Eu Ro-ALEVIS I 115

along with the arrival of the home-based antagonism and conflicts. Since they
kept such a low profile, even in Germany, Alevis were almost invisible to aca-
demic research as well as to official reports until the end of 1980s (Thoma-
Venske 1990: 83). The idea of discarding the cover of leftist-secular politics as a
home-land custom appeared in the wake of the bloody attacks of the late 1970s.
In this period, Mustafa Timisi, the leader of the TUP, visited Germany and
toured several cities to seek for cooperation. As a result of his encouraging visit,
a new association was established by Alevis who left secular-leftist political or-
ganisations to be part of this first independent initiative of their own. Yurtsever-
ler Birligi (the Union of Patriots -UP) established as a sister chapter of the TUP
to support the struggle for the rights of Alevis in the home-land. In a short period
of time, the UP had organised in several German cities and they united under the
roof of Yurtseverler Birligi Federasyonu (the Federation of Union of Patriots -
FUP) with the participation of twenty-five local UPs. This first independent ini-
tiative also encountered depressing criticism from ex-comrades who accused
Alevis of becoming "factionalist", "religiously oriented" and "fickle". 27
Even though they continued to use a social-democratic (right to be equal) in-
stead of an ethno-religious (right to be different) discourse in the political context
of the period, they were able to courageously reveal Alevism by mobilising and
liberating their cultural symbols. For instance, one of the first organisational ac-
tivities was an amateur play, Tiirkiye Gerc;eginde Kerbela (Kerbela in the Reality
of Turkey), which attempted to inform Turkish and German audiences about the
bloody conflicts in Turkey ($ener/ilknur 1995: 116). In spite of its organisational
power, members of the FUP were easily de-motivated after the military coup in
1980 due to the fear of being investigated in Turkey because of their political ac-
tivities in Germany. As noted earlier, the military coup caused a political vacuum
for Alevis at home and abroad. Under this circumstance, the FUP could survive
only up to the mid-1980s by gradually losing its organisational influence. In my
opinion, the period between 1980 and 1988 can be conceptualised as "reconsider-
ation period" in which Alevi leaders and intellectuals considered former political
strategies and searched for a new road map to overcome this political vacuum. As
an outcome of this period, in the late 1980s some ex-leaders of the FUP and ex-
iled leftist Alevi youth established a new social-democratic organisation which
would be more concerned with problems of "being immigrant" in Germany
rather than with the issues of their country of origin (Sokefeld/Schwalgin 2000:
13).
Towards the end of this period, in 1988, the most crucial point was reached
when an independent small circle, Alevi Kiiltiir Grubu (the Alevi Culture Group
- ACG), gathered in Hamburg to discuss possible strategies to reveal Alevi

27 In the May Day demonstration in Germany in 1990, for example, a group of Alevis
who want to participate in the demonstration with a placard which said "Freedom
for Alevi Doctrine" was blocked by members of a Turkish leftist organisation (To-
sun 2000: 113).
116 I BESIM CAN ZIRH

Gerc;egi (the Alevi Reality) at home and abroad. Almost all the members were
ex-members/leaders of the FUP. At the same time, some of them were also mem-
bers of the Association of Turkish Social Democracy and volunteers for the
Deutsch-Auslandische Begegnungsstatten (the German-Foreign Association of
Cultural and Social Exchange- GFA) founded by the city council of Hamburg
(Sokefeld/Schwalgin 2000: 15).
In the light of their experiences in the GFA, they noticed that the newly
emerging multicultural context in European allows a particular identity to be-
come a form of positive social capital. 28 With this inspiration, as a first step for
revealing the question of Alevism in the home-land and Europe, they drew up a
bi-lingual declaration which would clearly give voice to their demands on behalf
of Alevism. This declaration was announced on the opening day of the first Alevi
Culture Week organised by the ACG in December 1989. During this week, they
also announced the establishment of the Hamburg Alevi Culture Center (HA CC)
as a new organisational model which focuses on the question of Alevism and mi-
gration. This was also the first association which used the name of "Alevi" as an
organisational title in the history of Alevism. Some sentences from the declara-
tion may be enlightening for understanding their initial motivation:

Alevism, nearly with 20 million participants, is a branch of living Islam in Turkey .. .

Alevis disguise their identity because of anxieties about being excluded by Sunnis .. .
Alevism is not a new trend; it is a cultural heritage hundreds of years old ... A foreign
worker is able to be a migrant worker in the case that both his/her society and German
society accept the phenomenon of migration. This is the same for Alevis. It is necessary
that he/she should accept him/her self as Alevi and the others should be acquainted with
their Aleviness ... We understand differences in society as dynamic of society ... In the
country that we are living in, fragments of Christianity, Catholicism and Protestantism,
are living in harmony and even in solidarity. We believe that Alevis and Sunnis, one
day, will reach this kind of tolerance (Manuscripf 9 - 1989).

With these words, Alevis, as citizens of Turkey and as immigrants in Germany,

proclaimed their problems in their home and host-land by directly referring to
their particular identity which was invisible on these national spaces. Moreover,
this declaration also points to their position of "double liminality" in the sense
that they have certain difficulties because of their identity as Alevi in Turkey and
as Alevi and immigrant in Germany (Mandel 1989). Another significance of this
declaration is its transnational characteristic. After being announced in Germany,
28 For instance, the S.O.S Rassismus and the Beur is Beautiful movements of the
1970s are frequently mentioned by the current leaders of the Alevi Confederation to
indicate their source of inspiration for a new strategy to reveal Alevi identity in Eu-
rope.
29 By 'manuscript', I refer to announcements and press releases issued by the organi-
sations mentioned. To the best of my knowledge, the content of these documents
were only partially and indirectly covered by the media, so I have quoted directly
from the sources I have collected.
 Eu Ro-ALEVIS I 11 7

the declaration was 'exported' to Turkey through personal networks and pub-
lished in Cumhuriyet newspaper with some retouches at the beginning of 1990.
In this sense, although it is rarely known, the declaration written by ACG was the
first version of the "Alevi Declaration" which is recognised as the milestone of
the Alevi movement in Turkey (Kaleli 2000: 174).
This first phase of 'revival' ended with an unexpected incident. A mob, pro-
voked by Islamist-fundamentalists, attacked the Pir Sultan Abdal commemora-
tion festivals on the 2"d of July, 1993 in Sivas. In this incident, thirty-seven peo-
ple died and of those thirty-three were Alevi. Alevis perceived this attack as an-
other 'massacre' in reference to the bloody conflicts at the end of 1970s. Ihe
Sivas is a very critical turning point for the Alevi movement both in Turkey and
abroad reinforcing the feeling that Turkey has become a "lost home-land" (Kaya
2000: 102). Under this extraordinary circumstance, Alevi Cultural Centres
(ACC) could establish a complete hegemony over Alevism in opposition to some
local and highly religiously-oriented Alevi initiatives. 30 On October 30th 1993,
ACCs convened the 2"d General Assembly with the participation of 36 sister
chapters from Germany and changed the name ofFAC to Avrupa Alevi Birlikleri
Federasyonu (the Federation of European Alevi Unions- the FEAU). 31 After the
Sivas, transnational cooperation between the European and Turkish Alevi move-
ment has also become much more institutionalised.

Transnational Cooperation between Turkish and

German Alevi Associations - Transforming Home

During the long decade of the Alevi movement in the 1990s, the newly emerging
Alevi movement managed to generate a powerful discourse serving to uncover
the question of Alevism both in Turkey and Europe. The main fields of associa-
tional activity in this period can be categorised under six interrelated topics:

• Defining and Framing Identity: As an initial outcome of the 'forgetting' in

the 1960s, one of the most urgent tasks was to define Alevism in order to
answer the question of "who are we?" In view of the complexity of the
question, the Alevi movement inevitably drifted into a "framing

30 In contrast to new Alevi intellectuals of the period arguing "Alevis should turn their
faces toward Europe" (Sokefeld 2004: 11), these local initiatives were in favour of
keeping a low-profile to avoid the politicisation of Alevism.
31 The FEAU was established in Germany in 1994 with the participation of 140 Alevi
associations represent 30,000 Alevis from all over Europe. Many of these associa-
tions were established just after Sivas. This is the process which is known as the
'mushrooming period'. By this concept, I refer to a five-year-period between 1993
and 1998 in which a remarkable increase in the numbers of Alevi associations expe-
rienced. In this period, the number of Alevi associations in Germany increased from
20 to 140.
118 I BESIM CAN ZIRH

contest" (Massicard 2003: 3). In opposition to Turkish and Kurdish na-

tionalists attempting to redefine Alevism ethnically, political Islamists
tried to inject/eject Alevism into/from Islam, Kemalists desired to mobi-
lize Alevism against a rising political Islam, leftists expected to take ad-
vantage of being linked to Alevism, and religiously-oriented dedes looked
forward to restoring their status in the community.
• Organising Panel Discussions: In relation to "framing contest", panel dis-
cussions on theological, historical, ethnic, and even political origins of
Alevism were the most frequent and prestigious activity. Especially during
the early period of the 1990s, a number of intellectuals were invited from
Turkey on the basis of their expertise on Alevism.
• Organising Cultural Courses: Almost all associations tended to hold a va-
riety of courses such as saz (musical instrument) and semah (ritual dance)
to transfer the Alevi culture to new generations. Organising a course, how-
ever, has never been an easy task due to the lack of local expertise and of
financial resources to invite professionals from Turkey.
• Organising Religious Rituals: Due to rising demands for religious ser-
vices, almost all associations tend to organise cem ayinis and to employ a
dede. At the beginning of 1990s, European associations invited dedes
from Turkey through personal networks. However, as a result of dishar-
mony between 'Turkish' dedes and 'European' audiences, associations
have turned to European dedes who are much more familiar with the ex-
pectations of Alevis in Europe (Sokefeld 2002; Dumont 1997: 146). 32 Due
to the seriousness of the problem of defining and framing Alevi identity,
employing a dede, who would be able to be flexible in adapting his view
of Alevism in accordance with the association's approach, became a very
important asset for new Alevi leaders who need to gain a secular control
over religious issues.
• Organising Concerts: Concerts are specifically useful for raising funds to
buy a new building, to support sister associations in Turkey and to im-
prove infrastructures and/or building cemevi in home-villages in Turkey
(Rittersberger-T1h9 1998).
• Issuing Reports: Especially in the mid-1990s, some Alevi villages experi-
enced brutal treatment by Turkish Special Forces operating against the
Kurdish separatists in Sivas, Erzincan, Tokat and Ordu. The FEAU from
Germany and Pir Sultan Abdal Kiiltiir Dernegi (Pir Sultan Abdal Cultural
Association- the PSKAD) from Turkey issued several reports on these
events in the framework of human right violations. The FEAU also con-

32 For instance, in a cem ritual that he participated in 1986 in Strasburg, Dumont wit-
nessed that a dede needed to be prompted to complete the ceremony since it was
one of the first rituals he was invited to supervise after many years (Dumont 1997:
144).
 Eu Ro-ALEVIS I 119

veyed these reports to the European Court of Human Rights ($ahhuseyi-

noglu 2001: 385, 391).
• Organising Burial and Funeral Services: Funerals of Alevis were among
the most traumatic experiences in Europe. Contrary to the situation in
Turkey, where religious institutions were under the control of the state, in
Europe, each Islamic community can establish a religious centre based on
their particular understanding of Islam. Due to lack of their own centres,
Alevis had to apply to Sunni-owned centres for having burial services.
This situation renders them open to pejorative discriminations. One fre-
quently hears sad stories of the rejection of an Alevi funeral by Sunni-
owned centres on the grounds that Alevis do not attend mosques. 33 Conse-
quently, establishing their own internment and funeral centres is always
very important for Alevi associations in Europe (GUl1999: 115).

These associational activities can be summarised as an attempt to redefine and re-

frame Alevism as a particular identity based on the new context of immigration.
In addition, European and Turkish Alevi associations also have been working to
institutionalize transnational relations between the home and host-lands. Alevi
Bekta!}i Temsilciler Meclisi (the Council of Alevi-Bektashi Representatives- the
CABR) was established in 1994 as an initial result of this search for transnational
cooperation. In its statutes, the CABR was defined as the only organisation
which is authorised to speak on behalf of Alevis both in Turkey and abroad ($ah-
hUseyinoglu 2001: 294).
Another remarkable cooperation between European and Turkish Alevi asso-
ciations was the establishment of Barz!} Partisi (Peace Party, PP) in the
mid-1990s. This project was actually advocated by Germany-based Alevi federa-
tion so as to proclaim the demands of Alevis in Turkey. 34 In fact, they were aim-
ing to apply a well-known political strategy which is commonly practiced in Eu-
rope. This political party would be established in order to withdraw just before
the election, or members of this party would participate in the election as inde-
pendent candidates. In both cases, their demands would be raised on the national
level by taking advantages of the election period. 35

33 During my field research, I was told at many times that one of the most common
expressions Alevis encounter is "diriyken gelmezsiniz anca oltince gelirsiniz" (you
don't come [to mosque] when you are alive but only when you die).
34 For example, the chairman of the FEAU (then he was elected as a MP from the Re-
publican Party in Turkey), Ali Rlza Gtilvivek, says "If we have had eighty MPs in
the parliament [in Turkey], we could have expressed our demands by shouting [not
by murmuring]" ($ahhtiseyinoglu 2001: 328).
35 This joint project concluded with a discouraging conflict between Turkish and Eu-
ropean Alevi associations when the Turkish side of the project attempted to act in-
dependently. The Alevi Federation in Germany constituted an inspection committee
to investigate this process.
120 I BESIM CAN ZIRH

The FEAU also attempted to establish cooperative relations among Alevi as-
sociations on the European level. They invited leading Alevi associations from
all over Europe to the 7th General Assembly on November 28, 1998, in Cologne
(Kaleli 2000: 76). With the participation of Alevi associations from Austria,
France, Denmark, England, Switzerland, the Balkans and the Netherlands, they
agreed on the establishment of a federation in each participant country which
would also be organised under the European Alevi Confederation. This was done
in order to coordinate the struggle to raise the issue of Alevism on the European
level in 2000. Parallel to the establishment of the Confederation in Cologne, in
2002 the CARB was transformed into a new organisational body, the Alevi-Bek-
ta!}i Federasyonu (the Federation of Alevi-Bektashi- the FAB), with the partici-
pation of hundreds of local or national associations from all over Turkey. The
most remarkable outcome of this process appeared as the first transnational and
multi-lingual campaign, "Yes to a Democratic Turkey on the Way to the Euro-
pean Union", organised to state the Alevi views on Turkey's accession process to
the EU. The campaign was started at the European Parliament in Brussels on
May 5, 2004 by the CEAU and the FAB (Alevilerin Sesi, May 2004: 14-15). It
was signed by ten member federations: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England,
France, Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden and the Netherlands, and
Turkey as a representative of the home-land. In the proclamation, they declare
their support for the accession of Turkey to the EU with a 'big but' which de-
mands official recognition of Alevis in Turkey as a particular identity
(Manuscript- 2004).
In conclusion, the confederation can be considered as an example of "an af-
firmative 'politics of recognition', voicing demands in order to be recognised as a
specific group and to obtain equal participation" (Massicard 2003: 91). It "serves
as a bridgehead between political parties or movements in Turkey and organisa-
tions in other European Countries" (0stergaard-Nielsen 2003: 81). In this sense,
the CEAU can be seen as a proper example of a transnational (immigrant) organ-
isation. 0stergaard-Nielsen states that "political institutions in the sending state"
and "the receiving country's particular political institutional context [ ... ] has
been heralded as central actors in shaping the field oftransnational political prac-
tices" (2003: 20, 23). In this sense, to understand the transnationalisation of Alevi
communities in the form of the CEAU, Turkey as a sending country, Germany as
a receiving country, and Alevis as an immigrant group, all these should be con-
sidered as a single unit of analysis.

Fields of Transnational Alevi Community: Turkey

and Germany

Living in Turkey has always held specific difficulties for Alevis in terms of ex-
pressing and practising their belief and identity. In accordance with the constitu-
 Eu Ro-ALEVIS I 121

tive principles of the Republic, Turkish socio-political life has been closed to any
particular identity rather than "Turkish" since the very early days of Modem
Turkey. As we have seen, Alevis could participate in Turkish public life by artic-
ulating their demands through secular-leftist politics during the period of silence
until the late 1980s. These demands were basically to push for proper application
of the secularism principle, to have the "right to be equal" before the constitution
and to gain protection against rising nationalist-Islamist threats. Furthermore, a
considerable rupture in the relationship with "authentic" Alevism and its social
institutions has also left Alevi communities voiceless in answering the question
of "who are we?" especially for the younger generations born in new urban con-
texts.
In contrast to Turkey, where the "non-person" status of Alevis was main-
tained, Germany has provided Alevis with significant opportunities for express-
ing and practising their belief and identity especially after the 1980s (Schiffauer
1995). In other words, "had there been less restriction on freedom of thought, ex-
pression, and organisation in Turkey, Turkish society might have looked politi-
cally more like its simulacra in Europe today" (Ercan-Argun 2003: 30). From a
different and plainer angle, Europe means liberation of all kinds of "anthropolog-
ical diversity" from any suppression and restriction of the home-land (Kasto-
ryano 2000: 127). In this sense, the socio-political context of Germany plays a
unique role in the formation of immigrant transnationalism, especially for those
suppressed in Turkey.
To understand this role, certain particularities of the German context should
be mentioned. First of all, based on the ius sanguinis principle, German citizen-
ship is defined as an "ethno-cultural exclusionist" regime in which "foreign mi-
grants find it difficult to obtain full citizenship rights and thereby join the nation-
al community" (Koopmans/Statham 1999: 661). In other words, since the con-
cept of gastarbeiter (guest-worker) refers to a temporary stay (Kastoryano 2000:
27), German immigration policy indirectly causes institutional marginalisation
for immigrants. They can be a part of the labor market but, at the same time, they
are also excluded from the political and social spheres (Wilpert 1990: 90). As a
result of this institutional marginalisation, immigrants "remain strongly tied to
their homelands which might in turn strengthen the position of home-land based
organisation" and "they organise and identify themselves on the basis of their na-
tional origin" and "the politics of homelands" (Koopmans/Statham 1999: 667,
691). At the same time, the "formalistic inclusion" system of Germany channels
immigrant communities to restructure their organisational model and redefine the
way of defining their identity so as to have access to certain legal rights and pub-
lic resources to perform and practise their beliefs (Koopmans et al. 1992). For in-
stance, the highest legal status for the religious communities, Korperschaft des
offentlichen Rechts, has remarkable importance as such, any community aims to
benefit from certain rights and social funds has to be recognised with this status
(Massicard 2003: 19).
122 I BESIM CAN ZIRH

During the 1980s, traditional "neutrality towards all different religions and
denominations" overlapped with rising multiculturalism (Massicard 2003: 7-9)
and opened a new space for immigrants in Germany. In contrast to the well-
known motto of German immigration policy, Deutschland ist kein Einwan-
derungsland (Germany is not a country of immigration), Castles considers this
articulation as the emergence of de facto multiculturalism on the basis of an eth-
nically defined national citizenship (ethnos) and a democratic state (demos)
(2000: 136). In this context, the concept of Gemeinde (community) does not just
refer to a kind of social network among immigrant communities but also to a
kind of identification tool for carving out a niche for one's group in host-soci-
eties. This means that the only condition for claims-making appears as to define
their position as a minority community in Germany (Kastoryano 2000: 53; 96).
The modification of the association constitution of Berlin Anatolian Alevi Cul-
ture Centre can be given as an example to illustrate how this challenging func-
tions. When the directors of the association decided to apply for the right of de-
nominational religious instruction at Berlin schools, the title of the association
was needed to be changed from a secular one to Glaubensgemeinschaft (religious
community) so as to be eligible to apply for this right (Sokefeld 2004a: 14-15).
In conclusion, institutional socio-political marginalisation in addition to Ger-
man-type multiculturalism blended with a hi-denominationalist tradition "has re-
sulted in policies that favoured and encouraged ethnic and religious differentia-
tion among migrants" and "heterogenisation and deprivation of religion and eth-
nicity" among Turkish immigrants in Germany (Ercan-Argun 2003: 69). Thus,
Alevism has been transformed "by Alevis themselves into a kind of denomina-
tion on the Christian model" by underlining the differences between Alevism and
Sunni-Islam (Massicard 2003: 12). In other words, Alevism has gradually been
repositioned by new Alevi intellectuals on the model of Protestant-Catholic di-
chotomy to emphasize their difference from Sunni-Islam during the 'revival' pe-
riod in Germany. 36 For instance, Alevism has begun to be represented as a "hu-
manitarian face of Islam" ((:alar 1998: 63), especially, with the rise of Islamo-
phobia in Europe (Halliday 1999) which also overlapped with an increasing con-
cern about the rise of political Islam in Turkey. Consequently, the Alevi move-
ment in Germany is organisationally less divided and is discursively more in-
clined to define Alevism as a belief out of the circle oflslam Us lam dz:p) than the
Alevi movement in Turkey (Massicard 2003: 13) because this difference (or dif-
jerance) is the raison d' etre of their legal existence in the German context.

36 Turgut Oker, the chairman of the confederation, states that "Alevism is a bridge for
peace between Islam and Christianity" (Alevilerin Sesi, February 2004: 32). Actual-
ly, the identification of Alevism with Protestant Christianity is not new or rare. As
Baykurt quotes, when an Alevi immigrant woman decided to get married with a
Protestant Greek man, her family introduced their Protestant son-in-law to their rel-
atives in the village in Turkey by saying "He is not a stranger, he is a Greek
Alevi" (Baykurt 1998: 174).
 Eu Ro-ALEVIS I 123

The changing nature of global context has also played a certain role in the
transnationalisation of Alevi communities. The appearance of new advancements
in transportation and communication technologies has enabled more intensive
and constant engagements among immigrant and non-immigrant communities
which are scattered over distant locales (Portes et al. 1999; Foner 1997; Vertovec
2004: 220). In this shrinking world, the restructuration of the global economic
system on the basis of neo-liberalism, de-industrialisation and the withdrawal of
welfare state increased the vulnerability of immigrants. As a result, they became
much more dependent on their social networks as an economic survival strategy
(Basch/Glick Schiller/Szanton Blanc 1992; Faist 2000). The emergence and the
empowerment of international and supra-national institutions, such as the UN
and EU, enabled previously disadvantaged groups to proclaim their particularistic
demands by by-passing national border and categories (Kriesberg 1997: 4). As a
result of these transformations in the global context, as Nuhoglu-Soysal indi-
cates, immigrants can "make particularistic claim through universalistic dis-
course" and "mobilisation of claims takes place at different levels" such as local,
national and transnational (Nuhoglu-Soysal2000: 7; Faist 2000: 240).
As a result of these transformations, the question of locality in the age of
globalisation has become fragmented as "the circulation of interaction, goods,
and populations" (Appadurai 2003: 338) gaining a transgressive momentum
"through a static and unchanging notion of space" (Kaplan 1996: 146) and "in
the midst of these displacements, new concerns over borders, boundaries, identit-
ies, and locations arise" (ibid. 101). The main outcome of this process appears as
the locales "substantially divorced form their national context" resulting from
new forms of practices and relations such as marriages and exchanges in the mi-
gratory context. These "divorced" single locales, however, fused into a new em-
beddedness what Appadurai calls "translocalities" (2003: 339). Ong conceptual-
ises the condition of this emergence as "the processes of disembedding from a set
of localised relations in the homeland nation and re-embedding in new overlap-
ping networks that cut across borders" (ibid. 2003: 87).

Conclusion: From the Invisibility of Locales to the

Visibility of the Transnational

The unexpected appearance of the concept of "Non-Sunni Muslim Minority" in

the Regular Report 2004 is interwoven into the matrix of a multifaceted historical
background in which Alevism has been redefined and restructured on the basis of
certain restraints and opportunities in relation to various struggles and negotia-
tions on local, national and transnationallevels. This concept, however, refers to
a striking increase in the (trans-)national visibility of Alevis in the last two
decades which is usually understood as the "Alevi Revival". Instead of backing
this essentialist approach of 'revival', which tells a story about the spontaneous
124 I BESIM CAN ZIRH

return of what was forgotten, I propose to understand this phenomenon as a 're-

capture' of what has already been there. Speaking concretely, it is possible to as-
sume that Alevism has been reconstructed as a new social identity during the
long historical period which began in the 1950s. During this period, Alevis
played the most important role by shuttling their life and culture, ideas and sto-
ries, identities and labels, fears and expectations, money and goods back and
forth between Turkish and German contexts which are also subject to the spirit of
our age - globalisation. Therefore, it seems quite reasonable to argue that the re-
construction of Alevism is inscribed in the transnationalisation of Alevi immi-
grant communities.
The appearance of the concept of "Non-Sunni Muslim Minority" is a direct
outcome of this process. 37 In this sense, I also propose to understand the Ger-
many-based Alevi movement as a transnational organisation of Euro-Alevis.
From the same point of view which Europeanises Islam and Turks, Alevis can
also be portrayed as a group of people who came from outside and stayed inside
with their distinctive identity which has also been "culturally adjusted to the civic
culture of modernity" (Tibi 2002: 37). Alevi organisations in Germany found a
very fertile ground for gaining an important experience of the new global politi-
cal climate in which immigrant communities have unexpectedly become an ac-
tive actor in international as well as domestic politics (Shain 2005). As a result of
their superiority arising from this spectacular experience and financial well-be-
ing, the Germany-based Alevi movement has also become the "agenda-setter" for
Alevi associations in Turkey and Europe (Avc1 2005: 204).
In conclusion, it can be argued that Alevism has been transformed by Euro-
Alevis from a locally invisible Gemeinde into a transnationally visible Glaubens-
gemeinschaft after several phases of their history. These phases are first, leaving
home parallel to modernisation and industrialisation processes in which Alevis
were subjected to inner or outer migration flows beginning in the 1950s, second-
ly, losing home in which Turkey as the home-land became 'lost' as a result of
political polarisation and bloody conflicts which victimised Alevis at the end of
the 1970s, thirdly, desiring home during the reconsideration period of the 1980s
in which they searched for a new road map to uncover the question of Alevism in
both Turkey and Europe, and fourthly, transforming home in which Alevis ap-
pear in the form of new social movements with wide transnational networks so as
to struggle for the rights of Alevis in Turkey and to increase their visibility in Eu-
rope since the beginning of the 1990s.

37 It should also be mentioned that it is impossible to discuss the Alevi movement as a

monolith and static entity. Apart from the main stream divisions, there are also
many localised forms of the movement in Turkey and Europe. All these parties have
very dynamic relationships with each other. Additionally, recent political develop-
ments in Turkey also make the emergence of a unified Alevi quite difficult. The
"agenda-setter" characteristic of Germany-based Alevi movement is specifically fo-
cused in this paper to portray the historical background of the process. But, it is not
easy to claim that this position would continue in the following years.
 EuRo-ALEVIS 1125

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"Avrupa Birligi Yolunda Demokratil~n bir Tfukiye'ye Evet." Alevilerin Sesi
(May 2004, pp. 14-15).
"Ye~ilr Partisi Milletvekili Cem Ozdemir ile Gori~me." Alevilerin Sesi (July
2004, p. 83).

Appendix

CABR: the Council ofAlevi-Bektashi Representatives (Alevi Bekta:ji Temsil

ciler Meclisi).
CEA U: the Confederation ofEuropean Alevi Unions (Avrupa Alevi Birlikleri
Konfederasyonu).
DPM· Democratic Peace Movement (Demokratik Barz:j Hareketi).
FAB: the Federation ofAlevi-Bektashi (Alevi Bekta:ji Federasyonu).
FEAU: the Federation ofEuropean Alevi Unions (Avrupa Alevi Birlikleri
Federasyonu).
FGAU: the Federation of Germany Alevi Unions (Almanya Alevi Birlikleri
Federasyonu).
FPR: the Federation ofPopulist Revolutionist (Halkc;z Devrimc;i Feder
asyonu).
FUP: the Federation ofUnion ofPatriots (Yurtseverler Birligi Feder
asyonu).
HBVA: Hacz Bekta!} Veli Associations (Hacz Bekta!} Veli Dernekleri).
PKK: the Kurdistan Worker's Party (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan)
PP: Peace Party (Barz:j Partisi).
PSKAD: Pir Sultan Abdal Culture Association (Pir Sultan Abdal Kiiltiir
Dernekleri).
RPP: Republican People Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi)
TUP: Turkey Union Party (Tiirkiye Birlik Partisi).
UP: the Union ofPatriots (Yurtseverler Birligi).
Identity Politics as an Expression of European Citizenship
Practice: Participation of Transnational Migrants in Local
Political Conflicts
MICHAEL JANOSCHKA

Political Participation of Retired Migrants in Southern Spain and

the Emergence of Local Political Conflicts

The increasing migration of retired northern Europeans to the coastal regions of

the Mediterranean, mainly to Spain, is a remarkable phenomenon within the con-
text of European integration. In contrast to traditional labour migrants, the key
protagonists of these movements can be characterised as (mostly) affluent senior
citizens, who migrate/move in order to fulfill a leisure- and outdoor-oriented
lifestyle after retirement. Within the last decade, seasonal and temporary move-
ments (to spend autumn and winter in Southern Europe) have been widely re-
placed by permanent migrations. Different statistical analyses give evidence that
the coastal areas of Spain are the most important destination, followed by the
French Riviera, Portuguese Algarve and Italian Tuscany (Casado-Diaz et al.
2004; Warnes 2001). Taking into account the various reasons for migration in
Europe, this "amenity migration" of senior EU residents is a highly important
and rapidly increasing practical experience of a borderless Europe.
Recent discussions concerning migration processes of (senior) EU residents
have mainly been concerned with approaching the transnational social conditions
of this specific type of migration (Ackers/Dwyer 2002; Casado-Diaz et al. 2004;
O'Reilly 2000; Warnes et al. 2004). More than 750,000 of such migrants, coming
principally from the EU-15 member states, are currently registered with coastal
municipalities throughout Spain, and more than two thirds of them are within age
of retirement (INE 2007). But the statistical data available do not track the
record: Breuer (2003: 45) and Huber (2005: 328) confirm that a realistic estima-
tion of northern European expatriates at least doubles the official data. Including
the seasonal migrants, an estimated figure of two and a half to three million for-
eign senior residents live in Spain. Throughout Spain, many municipalities, espe-
134 I MlcHAEL JANOSCHKA

cially in coastal areas of Andalusia, Valencia, the Baleares and the Canaries,
count large numbers of foreign residents, in some case exceeding by far the fig-
ure for native inhabitants. These villages and towns are prototypes for wider ar-
eas of the Mediterranean coast and can be characterised as an important "social
laboratory" for both the empirical study of senior migrations and a theoretically
focused research approach regarding the outcome of the European political inte-
gration on a local and regional sphere. Given the fact that many of these "Euro-
pean residents", as they name themselves, belong to the economic elite and were
successful professionals, they count on powerful tools, know-how and resources
to integrate themselves and exercise leadership in a variety of areas within local
politics, ranging from the formal representation in local parliaments to all kinds
of informal participation settings, especially in areas or topics related to urban
and regional planning (Duran 2004).
In an attempt to regulate urban development, the Spanish region of Valencia
adopted a complex planning law in 1994 (the LRAU1). The stated purpose of the
law was principally to give the municipalities in larger urban centres the legal au-
thority to force reluctant, normally large-scale landowners to cede portions of
their property, with the aim of providing space for low-cost housing (Sanchez de
Madariaga 2003: 92pp). In summary, the law enables local authorities to change
the assignment of land from agricultural use (where following national laws the
construction of two-storey-houses on plots of at least 10.000 square metres is
possible) to urbanizable land, whenever a developer wishes this. The promoters
do not necessarily have to buy the future building plots, because a system of
forced concessions lead to the situation where the private owner has to pay the
investor all urbanisation and infrastructure costs deriving from urbanisation and
concede additionally up to two thirds of the total area to the developer
(Soriano/Romero 2004). However, in the last few years, it has become increas-
ingly evident that the land laws, coupled with the expropriation powers, have
been widely misused. Local councils are under pressure from promoters and de-
velopers who exploit the legal system to obtain land at low cost in order to build
expensive holiday and retirement accommodation and get substantial economic
returns. Many thousands of mainly foreign residents suffer under the conse-
quences of this law. In 2002, some of the victims of the land law, decided to fight
for their rights and founded an NGO named "Abusos Urbanisticos No 2 " with the
aim of, via active political participation, achieving a moratorium against develop-
ment plans in several municipalities and also in the region as a whole. As local
and regional authorities did not show any cooperation or sympathy, they decided
to de-localise this primarily local conflict and organised petitions directed at the
European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Hu-
man Rights. The embeddedness of several members of the NGO in important

LRAU is the Spanish abbreviation for "Ley Reguladora de la Actividad Urbanisti-

ea".
2 This Spanish name means "No to urbanistic abuses".
 IDENTITY PoLITICS AS AN ExPRESSION oF EuROPEAN CiTIZENSHIP PRACTICE 1135

networks of the transnational political elite led to success, and the queries were
answered with frequent visits and reports by the Commission and the Parliament.
A team of activists took up the challenge to fight for property rights as a full-time
job and were able to convince several delegations from the European Union of
the failures of the law. By vote of the Euro-Parliament on December 13, 2005,
infringement proceedings against Spain were opened, and as a final consequence,
a new law replaced the former Valencian land use law in 2006.
The case against the LRAU planning legislation and its local applications
does not only show the political involvement and power oftransnational elite mi-
grants in political conflicts. European residents in Southern Spain were able to
de-territorialize this local conflict and involve supranational institutions usually
unknown in local conflicts, for instance making use of the formalised power of
European institutions by exercising European citizenship rights. But the most im-
portant aspect, which will guide the conceptual discussion in this text is based on
the fact that the foreign residents also managed to invent a commonly shared
identity which is mainly based on "European" principles. Thereby, this paper will
focus on the question of how identities are strategically used within the political
conflict dealing with the local application of the land-use regulations. It will pro-
vide a conceptual analysis of the role of"European" identity politics and identifi-
cation processes within this political conflict and discuss how identity politics
can be evaluated as a practical resource in this specific and transnational struggle.

The Shifting Spaces of Citizenship and the Decisive Role of

Identity Politics

Elite migrants, such as the amenity-seekers in Southern Europe, are often re-
ferred to as a living example of the embodiment of a new transnational world
(Favell 2003: 397pp). In this new world, citizens increasingly escape from some
of the constraints of the old national systems. Different authors integrate this ob-
servation in the conceptualisation of what is named transnational social spaces or
transnational social formations (Faist 2000; Smith/Guarnizo 1998). Within the
European Union, the ratification and implementation of the Treaty of Maastricht
did not only expand the freedom of residence, mobility and labour, but also es-
tablished new forms of citizenship which contest the common understanding of
national citizenship (Wiener 1998: 7pp ). Citizenship rights such as the possibility
to vote and to be a candidate in municipal elections do not exclusively relate to a
static national concept any longer (Day/Shaw 2002), but include political partici-
pation in different societal settings. As a consequence, authors such as Mitchell
(2003: 397p) believe in a rising process of national de-consolidation and defend
the de-territorialisation of democratic participation.
As Jackson et al. (2004) emphasise, in a globalising world many social rela-
tions are increasingly stretched out across the borders of nation states. Conse-
136 I MlcHAEL JANOSCHKA

quently, urban politics and social movements are also becoming more and more
transnational. Following their main ideas concerning the geographies of transna-
tionalism, three different perspectives on transnational studies (from "above",
"below" and "between") can be differentiated. While studies of transnationalism
"from above" are associated with the impact of supranational political institu-
tions, transnationalism "from below" is commonly understood as the incorpora-
tion of different forms of local resistance, e.g. via grassroots activism (Jackson et
al. 2004: 8p). According to Smith (2001), transnationalism "from between" is re-
garded as a permanently reconstructed product of political and cultural practices,
involving transformations of individual and daily (political) practices. This ap-
proach can be evaluated as an effort to conceptualize the transformations within a
global world, without the necessity to refer to Luhmann's conceptualisations of
"world society" (Luhmann 1991 ). Despite its inspiring analysis of social systems,
recently interpreted within the framework of geography and geographical migra-
tion studies (Pott 2005; Goeke 2007), adaptations of system theory still mainly
focus on macro-scales and a systemic perspective. As discussed in the introduc-
tion to this volume, process-oriented approaches, which concentrate on the analy-
sis of individual constructions such as this contribution, may better fit into a con-
ceptualisation which is based on the broader debate on transnationalism.
In this regard, recent discussions from Global City research and political the-
ory concentrate on the changing role of the national state in a transnational world
(cf. Bamett 2003; Davidson 2000; Low 2004; Vandenberg 2000). One of the
central arguments is that the growing importance of transnational European eco-
nomic, cultural and political interaction is leading to a post-national era with the
subsequent formation of a European civil society through daily practices and rou-
tines (Finke/Knodt 2005: 11 pp). Post-national power positions include different
forms of governance, ranging from the local up to the transnational levels, which
may contest institutionalised links between social power positions and the nation
state (Held 1995; Mann 1993). Cosmopolitan individuals like elite (senior) mi-
grants with a wide variety of lifestyles, political ideas and options, are the proto-
types of a new "transnational citizen", disintegrate nationally-confined organisa-
tional spheres, both from "above" and from the "bottom", and establish new
forms of flexible social control and power (Faist 1998).
Lepofsky and Fraser (2003: 127) argue that the rising flexibility in practical
uses of citizenship goes hand in hand with a transformation of its theoretical con-
ception. Post-modem or post-national citizenship includes more than just only a
collection of rights, but is also a powerful discursive mechanism which articu-
lates identities and which has shifted from a given status to being a performative
act. This idea leads to the question discussed in this paper of how citizenship may
be important for claiming the rights to the city, the production of space and the
participation in (local) political conflicts about urban space. According to Rose
(2001: 474), citizenship is currently shifting from being a possession towards be-
ing a capacity of"citizenship practice" (Wiener 1998: 7). Considering citizenship
 IDENTITY PoLITICS AS AN ExPRESSION oF EuROPEAN CiTIZENSHIP PRACTICE 1137

as a practice, it includes the connotation of increasing flexibility in identity. Post-

national or European citizenship as an expression of the rising role of Europe
also causes potential problems with identities, which traditionally were discussed
as bound to the invented community of a nation (Anderson 2006).
In a transnational world with multiple migration patterns, cultural and politi-
cal identities are a commonly shared social construction which is constantly
destabilised (Hall 1996). All social subjects are constituted through cultural hy-
bridisation (Bhabha 1996). At the same time meanwhile they refer to a strategic
use of essential cultural concepts, e.g. within political resistance. Essentialisation
with the use of empty signifiers is a necessity within hegemonic relations, in or-
der to establish the possibility of representation (Mouffe 2002). Stuart Hall
(1997) offers two possible reactions of identity politics in response to the weak-
ening of the national state. One possible response regresses towards a defensive
and aggressive nationalism, which searches for the establishment of new social
power relations through the essentialisation of cultural identities. The other way
of dealing with the menace of loss of stable identities implies an integrative ac-
tion with the strategic application of new cultural patterns. Identity politics, by
means of contesting traditional identification processes, is the base for social and
political innovation. This is despite the fact that all political actions, for instance,
require temporary fixations of our flexible identities (Krau/3 2001: 21 pp). Within
political activities in a globalised environment with a wide variety oftransnation-
al ties and meanings, questions of cultural identity play an increasing role in po-
litical action. Identity politics, as representations of social and spatial meanings,
offer the opportunity for political coalitions and a commonly shared basis for ac-
tion in political conflicts.

The Social Construction of Europe and European Identities

Following Benedict Anderson (2006: 15pp ), each community with a larger scope
than face-to-face groups, has to be conceptualised as an imagined community.
That is the reason why communities should not be differentiated by their authen-
ticity but rather through the hegemonic way in how they are imagined (W odak et
al. 1998). In contrast to many European nation states, Europe can be neither
clearly recognised- nor can its geographical borders even be defined. As a con-
sequence, the hegemonic discourse about Europe and European identity is still
widely contested (Quenzel 2005: 5pp ). Different authors argue that this aspect
contains the problem of Europe, as a discursive product without complete nation-
al functions (Wiener 1998: 8pp). Different and partly exclusive dimensions and
ideas about Europe and its identity are being negotiated within the media and the
political system and involve a variety of controversial debates. Authors such as
Nissen (2006: 155pp) understand the European identity as the collective identity
of EU citizens in relation to the Union institutions, while Loth (2002: 93pp.) in-
138 I MlcHAEL JANOSCHKA

terprets European identity as one flexible possibility of identification based on

shared traditions. In his conceptualisation of Europe, Bach (2000) refers mainly
to the bureaucratic elite located in the administrative and political institutions and
provides a conceptual analysis of the transnational networks of administrative re-
structuring processes resulting from the proliferation of European institutions.
Puntscher Riekmann and Wodak (2003) propose the theoretical argument that
any politcies which refer to Europe and its identity, simply make strategic use of
the same theoretical constructions as used in national discourses. From this point
of view, European identity is just one layer between many others, which can be
used to unify any kind of community. For the political utility of collective repre-
sentations of (European) identities, as is the case in the political participation of
foreigners in Southern Spain, two aspects should be considered: First, collective
identities cannot be thought of without the existing power relations and can be in-
terpreted as expression of or protest against them. Secondly, identities should be
evaluated as politically motivated engagement and representation, which regular-
ly build on a commonly shared emotional basis and which activate the integra-
tion of the group itself.
Any construction of European identities always contains positive and nega-
tive aspects, as identity must always be thought of as the binary opposition of
identity and difference. Every process of identification always comes back to an
inscribed difference, which is constitutive of every positive statement. Following
Stuart Hall (1996: 4), "identities are constructed through, not outside difference",
which implies that any positive identity is only possible "through the relation to
its Other". This theorem is deducted from Derrida's radical de-constructivism
(Derrida 2004), political thoughts about social power (Laclau!Mouffe 1985) and
feminist theory of Judith Butler (1990). It is also the basic starting point for the
possible use of European identities in political conflicts such as those foreign res-
idents are engaged in Southern Spain. In this context, Gudrun Quenzel (2005) of-
fers an interesting overview of the different possibilities of Europeanness. Her
contribution applies Stuart Halls' ideas of the constructive Other (1997: 223pp)
in order to defend the position that Europe is constituted both through internal
and external Others. Aspects, which derive from positive identity constructions
such as "Civilisation and technical advancement", "Christendom", "European
values" or "Aesthetic community always imply an inscribed difference to internal
and external Others, who are marked as less or not European. These construc-
tions establish the analytical framework for the empirical discussion of the strate-
gic use of identity politics and "Europeanness" as the expression of a commonly
shared identity in the conflict over land use and the expropriation powers of local
authorities in Southern Spain.
 IDENTITY PoLITICS AS AN ExPRESSION oF EuROPEAN CiTIZENSHIP PRACTICE 1139

Between Formal and Informal Forms of Political Participation:

European Identities as a Practical Resource of (retired) Elite
Migrants in Local Political Conflicts

A common hypothesis proposes that the recent strengthening of the European in-
stitutional frame, the increasing mobility of European citizens and the formal
possibilities for transnational political participation within Europe develop auto-
matically and result in European civil society. But different analyses of municipal
data show, for instance, that the formal political participation of EU-citizens
abroad is extremely low (Jacobs et al. 2004; Strudel 2004). Adrian Favell (2005),
who conducted qualitative research on the political interests and involvement of
highly mobile foreign professionals in London, Brussels and Amsterdam con-
cludes that these "Eurostars" do not show no more major interest in the munici-
pal voting rights granted to EU citizens, even if they are locally social active,
possess social capital and have only minor language problems, than traditional
labour migrants. Apparently, it is not the right to vote which encourages the po-
litical participation of foreigners. It seems instead that rather the symbolical signs
and codes that control the access to local politics keep even foreigners with per-
fect language skills away from active interaction with the local political elites. In
the words of Pierre Bourdieu, this exclusion means that the capital of cultural
practices bound to the field of local politics are so restrictively controlled and
monopolised by the traditional elites, that foreigners are discouraged from partic-
ipating actively in political life abroad (Bourdieu 1989). Mahnig (2004: 35p) in-
terprets this exclusion of migrants from political participation as a typical and
systemic attitude of governmental structures and regimes. This poses the interest-
ing question of why and how specific governance contexts give power to foreign-
ers. Diehl (2002: 5pp) argues that within local politics, ethnicity may play a deci-
sive role, although it is less relevant if it reflects symbolic, invented or even fic-
tional ethnicity. If political integration follows ethnic topics and specific groups
can identify the representation with shared cultural symbols, the establishment of
ethnic motivations can be a successful way to gain influence in local politics.
Most of the ideas referred to are a helpful tool for the theoretical and empiri-
cal analysis of the political participation of foreign residents in the Mediter-
ranean. But it is evident that other conditions also play a decisive role:

In contrast to the centres of the European economy and administration

such as London and Brussels which are a magnet for highly mobile urban
professionals, the Mediterranean attracts mainly retired people who did
not move as a step in their career, but came for the lifestyle maximisation.
Elderly residents show a major interest in local and regional political
questions, have more time to engage in local politics and count on knowl-
edge and experience in organisational tasks. Age, gender and nationally
140 I MlcHAEL JANOSCHKA

bound behaviours are important factors in the daily practice of political

participation of foreign EU residents in the Mediterranean.
Political participation is evaluated as a form of formal and informal social
engagement abroad, especially in cases including "interpretation" between
communities, e.g. via the application oflanguage skills.
• National, regional and especially local governance regimes play a key role
in the motivation for the participation of foreign residents. In cases when
the residents disagree with political regimes and the way decisions are tak-
en or communicated, they are highly interested in taking an active role in
their municipality. This explains the high regional variation in exercising
the right to vote in local elections held in Spain in 2003 and 2007 respec-
tively.
Given the fact that many of the "European residents", as the senior mi-
grants in Spain call themselves, belong to the economic elite and were
successful professionals, they count on powerful tools, know-how and re-
sources to integrate and assume leadership in local politics, ranging from
formal representation in local parliaments to all kinds of informal partici-
pation settings. Migrants from northern Europe have founded their own
parties in many municipalities and are currently active politicians in an in-
creasing number oflocal councils.

Within the Costa Blanca region, which is the "home zone" of political participa-
tion of retired EU foreigners in Spain and the protest against the regional plan-
ning regulation, there are about two dozen municipalities. In these municipalities
where European residents have taken an active part in the formal political sys-
tem, being elected local councillors and playing a major role in the local political
decision making. Cultural aspects and identity politics subsequently emerge as
part of this participation, as the following statement from a councillor in a village
with a vast majority of foreign residents, mainly Germans, shows: "Yes, I told
our Alcalde3 once, when he said to me: 'Hey, you must learn better Spanish!' So
I told him: 'No- you must first learn German, don't you? (laughs) You are here
mayor of mainly Germans."' (Wilfried R.)
Although the statement sounds ironical, it also expresses the councillor's own
desire for a greater role in all questions regarding the representation of German
citizens in his village. On the other hand, there are other examples where the for-
mal political scene reacted to the threats of foreign political participation. In Teu-
lada-Moraira, an elite beach resort of about 12,000 inhabitants with more than 70
per cent foreigners, a new locally based party put in place a policy of full politi-
cal integration of foreigners. "Europe" as a daily practice was the strategy to
achieve a shared vision of a hometown with multiple transnational social ties.
The participation of foreigners in important positions of the local council (e.g.
vice Mayor, Head of the Department of Finance, Head of the Department of
3 Alcalde is the Spanish word for Mayor.
 IDENTITY PoLITICS AS AN ExPRESSION oF EuROPEAN CiTIZENSHIP PRACTICE 1141

Ecology) led to a win-win-situation for both social and the administrative life,
while local conflicts were subsequently de-escalated, by using a common "Euro-
pean" identity: "Here we have a Europe in a pocket design, and especially this
European idea has been realised here. Total integration, no? And we all are work-
ing here to improve our place to live, our region. What we wanted, was exactly
this. We are a little Europe here." (Sylvia T.)
The statement cited shows how actors in local politics try to realize an inte-
grative vision of future local development through recourse to a "European" vi-
sion, although expressed as a fairly vague idea. Identity politics explicitly using
the notion of an empty signifier called "Europe", helped to establish a basis for
the political integration of various foreign groups. By strategically using this
empty concept of a European identity, every individual can imagine different as-
pects of how this concept may be filled within a context. But an important aim
was to eliminate all conflicts between foreigners and the native population. The
strategic use of "Europeanness" does not only mean symbolic participation of
foreigners, but also leads to a re-definition of local development strategies. In
contrast to other villages, the actors involved in the local governmental institu-
tions recognised early the social dynamite that was behind the cited land law ap-
plication and had established as early as the year 2001 a moratorium on all build-
ing permits. Within a participative process of a Local Agenda, which was held in
six different European languages, different development lines for the municipali-
ty were established, mainly focusing on upgrading the local development by the
proliferation of primarily high quality housing. As a consequence, since 2002, no
cases of abuses related to the application the LRAU land law were reported in
this village - a very different and striking situation as compared with the sur-
rounding areas.

European Identities as a Practical Resource of Elite (Senior)

Migrants in Local Political Conflicts: The Case of Parcent

Although many studies focus on the formal political involvement of foreign resi-
dents in European cities, it is the "informalisation" of the contribution of foreign-
ers which emerges as a recent "key policy issue in European cities"
(Fennema/Tillie 2004: 85). Authors such as Salzbrunn (2001) show that the ex-
pression of the political interests of migrants is not reflected in the common and
formal modes of participation. Especially, the possibility of internet based media
use (e.g. blogs), enables and de-locates new forms of participation and identity
politics. But how does this informal political participation work in different con-
texts, what can be learnt from the conflict over the abuse of the land use regula-
tions in Southern Spain, looking again at the role of "Europe" and "European
identities" in the conflict?
142 I MlcHAEL JANOSCHKA

As mentioned in the introduction, February 1, 2006 was an important date for

the tens of thousands of signers of the petition that was presented by the NGO
"Abusos Urbanisticos No" at the European Parliament. By this date, the new land
use regulations had been applied in the region of Valencia and the former LRAU
was replaced. But promoters and developers were able to convince, in more than
120 cases, the municipal authorities to authorize new development projects by
granting building permits for more than 60.000 new houses, chiefly through par-
liamentary decisions taken in the last days of January 2006. Three of these highly
disputed decisions took place in Parcent, conceding a construction company
owned by the Spanish music star Julio Iglesias, the right to construct more than
1,800 houses on a highly attractive hillside outside the current village of only 900
inhabitants, a fairly disproportionate size for such tiny village. Following LRAU
land law application, more than 50 (mainly foreign born) neighbours living cur-
rently within the development area and also about 35 (mainly native) landowners,
producing citrus fruits in the valley mainly on small agricultural plots, received
the official claim for paying high fees to the developer and lose important parts
of their land. The following quotation from one of the interviews explains how
the law worked on a "micro scale":

"We had no letters, no notification, nothing, neither the Spanish landowners nor any of
the mainly foreign owners of the 50 houses. We heard nothing. So, we pressed and got a
meeting with the town hall, with the alcaldesa4 and with the technical officer, Ignacio.
In this meeting Ignacio, the architect, explained to us that this plan had been submitted
on the LRAU. And he said, well, on the LRAU first of all, you will have to pay a contri-
bution towards the infrastructure. And not just for my road, for my house. But as a pro-
portion of the total area. So whatever the cost of the infrastructure is for the whole area,
you must pay according to the size of your plot. And we asked him how much this
might be. And he indicated with a shrug of his shoulders: Well, on a kind of rocky
mountain side, a range of around about 75 Euros per m2 , is normal, you know. So, a
very quick calculation: You know, I have got 1,500 m2 here, that is gonna make a bill of
over 100,000 Euros. Then he goes on to explain: On top of that, on the LRAU you must
contribute .... , all the landowners of the area, because the developer within the plan has
to set aside 30% for public open space, for green space, a certain amount for public use,
like a school or health centre or something. You must all contribute to that as well, as a
proportion of the plot size. And that could be 30-40% of your plot. And I said, well,
what is the use of me giving 300 meters in that corner of my garden, it is no use for any-
body. And he said: No, no, not like that. But you have to pay if you want to keep it. So
on top of the 100,000, I was gonna have to pay a lot of money to keep my own land. We
protested, [ ... but], the mayor just shrugged and said: "iEs la ley/" 5 -You understand
Spanish? So we came away, very angry, very upset and the first thing we did was, get
together, inform the residents." (Mark H.)

4 Spanish expression fort he mayoress of the village.

5 The Spanish expression means: "This is the law!"
 IDENTITY PoLITICS AS AN ExPRESSION oF EuROPEAN CiTIZENSHIP PRACTICE 1143

Threatened with significant economic damage and the annihilation of the physi-
cal environment, the neighbours decided to set up a locally organised protest
movement in order to respond to the publication of the plans in late 2004. The
protest strategies of the association can be divided into two phases: Until the de-
cision of the local government, all protest was locally based and tried to stop the
project by convincing politicians to vote against the plans. After the decision in
favour of the plan, the conflict was strongly de-localised, organising juridical and
political protest in the provincial capital Alicante, the capital of the Autonomous
region of Valencia, the national capital Madrid and at the European institutions in
Strasburg and Brussels. It was exactly the combination of carefully designed
protest strategies with legal actions, which finally led in October 2006 to a deci-
sion of the Supreme Court in Valencia, stopping the plan due to a number of ille-
gal aspects in the whole procedure.
The following analysis centres on the local conflict and the strategic use or
construction of an array of "differences" as expression of identity politics within
the struggle against the planned urbanisation of the local hillside. Despite the fact
that the protest movement was organised by foreign European residents (mainly
British citizens), they achieved a broad coalition with native inhabitants, includ-
ing local farmers, environmental organisations and even a xenophobic movement
of the nationalist regional party. The analytical aspects are derived from a series
of interviews with local citizens, activists, and politicians and also consider infor-
mation available in published newsletters, flyers, websites and newspaper arti-
cles. But the main arguments will be presented in the words of the leader of the
local neighbourhood association. His interpretations and representational
schemes are key elements for the development of this conflict, as it was him who
was constantly negotiating with the potential investors and the local administra-
tion over many months.
All the arguments of the protest movement are based in a permanent process
of identification, which has a typical pattern. Following Stuart Halls' perspec-
tives on identity politics, it is important to consider that, within the discursive ac-
tion, constructions of different elements of European identity are contextualised
through the constitutive "Other" of the protest - which is mainly the coalition of
municipal leaders and land developers. Following this perception, different iden-
tity politics -mainly centred in the dichotomy Europe vs. Spain:Valencia: Par-
cent- can be identified and will be discussed.
One central interpretation of this conflict, being highly representative of simi-
lar situations in other villages, takes into consideration the question of how
democratic participation and the will of the inhabitants are respected. The refer-
ence frame is always analogous to this statement and implies aspects such as cor-
ruption and non-participatory democracy, comparing local authorities and politi-
cal structures with the Other which can be labeled as "British":
144 I MlcHAEL JANOSCHKA

"I thought that this was really nice, that you could walk up to the town hall and you
could ask for information, you could meet the mayor walking in the street. And for the
first year or so, you know, I met the mayor a couple of times and "Ho la Mark. Coma
estas? Ah, muy bien,,"6 uh, and I thought, this is really nice. What a nice way to run a
village. But of course once you get involved in something like this and you realize just
how devious they are, how uh, undemocratic they are, you suddenly realize that actual-
ly, a lot of the problems here stems from the fact, that there are just so few people who
run the council. When there is only four people against three people on the council, if
those four people get together and decide on a particular course of action, or, as if some
of those are corrupted in whatever way by developers or anything else, uh, then you
suddenly find that, that democracy just doesn't exist at all." (Mark H.)

At this point and without mentioning any directly European aspect, it is clearly
understandable that normative concepts of how democracy should work within
Europe are implicitly engaged in the meaning of his statement. The prototypical
situation of many small villages is reflected in the following statement of another
foreign resident who is politically active in a local government.

"In this government with seven seats, we own four of them. That also means that I had
to take my responsibility in participating in governing. And that was a desolation to be
honest. Just because you became aware how poorly it was organised. How it is a matter
of, uh, "be nice to friends and be hard to the other half'. That's not my system. Democ-
racy doesn't mean dictatorship of the majority. That's not my view. Democracy is not-,
I always say it's not la dictadura de los quatros7 It's not fair. You need to listen to the
others and really consider what they say and if they have better ideas, implement the
better ideas but do not create another dictatorship." (Jan T.)

The expressions give clear hints that local politics in the region do not reflect
what the self-identified group of European residents considers as proper democ-
racy. The retired elite migrants, many of them with experience in local politics in
their home countries, have clear ideas of the local failures due to their well estab-
lished internal principles of how democracy should work:

"I retired from local government in Southeast London when I was 50 years old. I was
part of the chief executive department of a big council in Southeast London. I studied
law, though I wasn't a lawyer, I just studied law at university and then became an ad-
ministrator really. And, I was very involved in the political processes. One of my jobs
was to provide the services to the council for meetings, the committees and the council
itself. I also did a lot of work on public consultations over new policies, new programs,
part of my job was as head of public relations as well. So I was constantly familiar with
organising meetings for the public, informing public, providing information to the pub-

6 Imitation of a prototypical situation, when meeting someone on the street, saying:

"Hello Mark, how are you? Fine, everything okay?".
7 In English, this statement means "the dictatorship of the four (governing
politicians)".
 IDENTITY PoLITICS AS AN ExPRESSION oF EuROPEAN CiTIZENSHIP PRACTICE 1145

lie, dealing with the press, dealing with the media, all that kind of thing. So, I came with
this background of understanding the way that democracy works.[ ... ] When I came to
Spain, I very quickly found that certainly in Parcent, and I suspect in a lot of the little
villages, it doesn't work anything like that." (Mark H.)

The sequence from the biographical story shows two of his personal principles in
relation to public administration: (i) confidence in the procedures of state action
based in the laws and (ii) confidence in trustworthy public relations and partici-
patory commitment at a local level. This normative concept of democracy, in the
light of his professional career, is the interpretational basis for his valuation of
the democratic system in Spain and explicitly in the village in question. His
hegemonic normative point of view, his Londoner perspective, is loaded with as-
pects such as development versus backwardness and leads to a negative evalua-
tion of everything which is different from his own cultural background- concep-
tualised as "British" and "European". The following statement develops this ar-
gument:

"It is taking me a long time to realize and understand what goes on in a village like Par-
cent. But as someone coming from Britain and someone who used to work in local gov-
ernment in Britain, you bring with you a kind of European concept of democracy and
fairness and consultation and honesty and trust with politicians and all of those. Even in
Britain, Politicians aren't always a 100 per cent trustworthy. But when you deal with
them here long enough, what you realize is, that you have to clear your mind of any
ideas that you brought with you from England or Germany or Holland, wherever you
might come from. And start thinking Spanish because they just don't accept or under-
stand any of those principles." (Mark H.)

The culturally interpreted discrepancies that lie behind this interpretation lead to
a wide essentialist point of view: (Political) values defined as typically British,
Western European or cosmopolitan become the "European" standard and are
used as the reference point for all criticism of the local politics. The argumenta-
tion is based on the superiority of his point of view and the resemblance between
the British and European identities. The expression of his identity politics gain
importance through the discursive unification he applies by combining the con-
cept of "European democracy" with aspects such as fairness, honesty and trust
within politics. In order to express his ideas of European identity, he refers to a
spatially defined "core of Europe", formed by countries such as Britain, Germany
or The Netherlands. This implies a location of Spain as the constitutive internal
Other of his identity construction. Whoever comes to Spain, has to re-program
his understanding of politics, because the usual "European" values do not work
there. From the point of view discussed by the activists, the reason seems to be
easy: Spaniards do not respect the European way of governing. This is his central
146 I MlcHAEL JANOSCHKA

argument for discursively excluding Spain from any kind of European identity
and values. But where does he locate Spain and Spanish democracy?

"The problems here stem not just from the political situation but from the structure of
the council and the way these councils operate. In Britain, and I am sure it is the same in
Europe, there is a separation of power, even in local government. There you have pro-
fessional paid officers of the council. And then you have the politicians. The politicians
take the policy decisions, but the officers operate the law and tell the politicians what
they can and can't do within the law. What happens here is, that distinction doesn't exist
at all. The mayor in the town hall and the councillors basically see themselves as the
bosses of the offices. If an officer says, by law you really should be doing this, the may-
or just says: Oh, we are not interested! Forget it, we are doing it this way! You know, I
was often in this position with politicians in England, I would sit with the politicians
and I would say: I don't give a danm, if you are the leader of the council, the mayor or
anyone. I am the paid officer, I am telling you legally you cannot do that and you will
not do it. But here, that doesn't exist. ( ... ) The people in power run the town hall as if it
was their own little empire. You know, the mayor is treated like a god-type figure. And
it is almost as if Franco was still here." (Mark H.)

Following his reasoning, a central aspect of the deficiencies of the "non-Euro-

pean" Spanish democracy is concerned with the role of politicians and officers.
He draws an image of the Spanish administration that indicates the lack of sepa-
ration of powers such as established since the French revolution, trying to ex-
clude again Spain from a supposed European way of governing. The image is
one of the remarkable and essential differences in local politics between the vil-
lage he lives in and his reference frame, which is the city council of Greater Lon-
don. Beyond the absence of separation of powers, he describes an image of
quasi-dictatorship and links this to "Spanish" political thinking and actuality that
implies a belief in the absolute authority of the mayor as the local leader. He de-
scribes Spanish administration in a pitiful condition and links it to the dictatorial
past of the country, when the mayor was installed by the central government.
Again, this argument points to an essential European value, which is proper
democracy. As not being fulfilled in the particular village government, he con-
structs an image of dictatorship in order to strip the local politicians of all possi-
ble moral legitimacy.
The examples quoted demonstrate that any use of identity politics within this
local conflict takes three important dimensions into consideration: (i) the discur-
sive construction of a commonly shared identity using "Europe" as the central
positive identification, (ii) the discursive construction of Spanish politics as the
internal Other which contests the positive identity through an inscribed difference
and (iii) the discursive construction of a geographical representation of normative
ideas through its location at the "core" of Europe, where Spain is excluded twice
through the combination of cultural values with spatial aspects. This arrangement
 IDENTITY PoLITICS AS AN ExPRESSION oF EuROPEAN CiTIZENSHIP PRACTICE 1147

offers a highly coherent frame for the constitution of an interest group that acts
on the local political scene.

Conclusion

The political conflicts over land use regulations in Southern Spain, analysed in
this text, show the different meanings of transnational political action and the
flexibility of belonging. Supranational institutions such as the European Parlia-
ment or the European Court of Human Rights, which represent new possibilities
for an activation of transnational power structures in local conflicts within Eu-
rope, play a decisive role in the struggles against local politicians. Institutional
power is accompanied by the array of citizenship rights granted to foreign resi-
dents in Spain as a result of the enlargement of the European Union. Rights to
appeal at the higher European institutions as well as the right to an active and
passive vote in local election, transform the legal starting point for any protest
movements by European residents living abroad. It is only the legal framework,
which constitutes European citizenship rights and allows for the de-localisation
of the conflict over misuse of local planning laws. But it is important that, con-
sidering the political involvement and the activation of individuals, it is not the
formal European frame that is considered as a major resource in identity politics.
Although legal, the European institutions and possibilities for political participa-
tion are constantly applied, the central discursive references and the social con-
struction of conflict strategies, however, regard European values as a practical re-
source to activate citizens and form pressure groups. These "European" identity
politics play a decisive role in all aspects concerning social mobilisation in rela-
tion to the conflict.
Regarding broader theoretical discussions of the dissemination of "transna-
tional" values, lifestyles or political culture within different migration settings,
the conclusions remain less optimistic: It is important to consider that, with ex-
ception of the discussion presented in the elite beach resort Teulada-Moraira, all
analysed identity politics are not developing towards any kind of transnational
political culture. Moreover, the political activism can be evaluated primarily as
protest against traditional local politics in Spanish municipalities by means of the
organisation of a lobby group. This group makes use of the transnational power
relations established by the EU legal framework and the interconnection of the
political activists with the EU framework, but they do not extend to other spheres
of public life. Any transnationalism regarded in this chapter is highly selective:
While the personal sphere and daily organisation of the amenity migrants is
clearly located within each language group (e.g. British, Dutch or German),
"transnational spaces" occur or are organised around certain, well established
values of civil society and political organisation. But the example also shows that
discursive mechanisms including "Europe" are one important reference scheme
148 I MlcHAEL JANOSCHKA

primarily that arise in conflicts and include the "education" of the regional social
and political setting, emphasising a "colonial" aspect of European structures and
values.
In consequence, transnational political practices arise both around official
structures and concepts of any transnationally interpreted identities and identifi-
cation. They set up a flexible framework for the discussion of European citizen-
ship which can be evaluated as a practical resource or capacity of certain sub-
jects. Both the daily practice of "Europe" and the conceptual discussion within
social sciences assign to provide European identity a prominent place in order to
respond to flexible conceptualisations of citizenship and identities. Such ap-
proaches and empirical conclusions coincide with some of the principal ideas of
transnationalism theories, in this case primarily in the political sphere, and ex-
press the necessity of the transnational framework in order to re-consider the
practical implications of European citizenship which was observed in political
struggles.

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Mothering in Migration: Transnational Strategies
of Polish Women in Italy
GERMANA D'OTTAVIO

Polish women have established a long-standing and steady migratory flow in

Italy that has mainly, but not only, met the demand for care and domestic work-
ers in the country. While providing support mostly for the elderly, numerous mi-
grant working mothers have to leave their children in Poland in order to find em-
ployment as care workers. Therefore, it is significant to analyse East-West
European female mobility in order to understand its specific patterns, and how
they modify mothering arrangements and their perception in emigration and im-
migration societies.
This article is based on qualitative research conducted between 2003 and
2005. It analyses the strategies of mothering in migration adopted by Polish care
workers, and it explores intergenerational relationships in the household, articu-
lating a theory concerning a double international presence of transnational mi-
grant mothers.

International Transfer of Caretaking and

lntra-European Migration during the
EU-Enlargement Process

Migratory patterns have been developing steadily and rapidly in post-cold war
Europe, shaping new and diverse pathways capable of triggering crucial social
phenomena. In the last twenty years, the balance between the sexes in labour mi-
gration has shifted decisively towards women. Empirical studies have challenged
the idea of a predominantly male migration associated with labour in a booming
industrial sector during the 1950s and the 1960s. Sociological literature analysed
the growth of a predominantly female migration especially from Central-Eastern
European Countries (cf. Morokvasic 1983, 1984, 1991, 1992, 2004; Phizacklea
1983, 2003; Anthias/Lazaridis 2000; Friese 1995; Kofrnan et al. 2000). The ser-
154 I GERMANA D'OnAVIO

vice economy of the "global cities" (cf. Sassen 1998, 2002) has attracted and ab-
sorbed those migratory flows. Recently, this phenomenon has also become no-
ticeable in towns, villages, and non-urban areas. This is especially true in South-
ern-European states (cf. King/Zontini 2000) where welfare policies are chronic-
ally inadequate to meet the increasing rate of women's participation in the labour
market, and where household arrangements between the sexes have not modified
the unequal burden of domestic chores shared between men and women. In a sys-
tem marked by social and gender inequalities, polarisation processes are growing
between an upper or middle-class in need of household assistance, and a migrant
class that is willing to accept low income, time consuming, and emotionally de-
manding jobs. Moreover, ongoing intra-European migrations are adjusting the
demographic balance in sending and receiving migrants' societies, and are in-
creasingly connecting those areas by means of transnational mobility strategies.
These are "occupations and activities that require regular and sustained social
contacts over time across national borders for their implementation" (Portes et al.
1999: 219).
Eastern and Western Europe were separated but not definitely divided by the
so-called "Iron Curtain". Therefore, new relations between areas previously un-
connected fuelled an era of mass transportation on wheels. During the fall of the
Soviet regime and in the post-1989 private business rush, many companies were
been created to meet the cheap transport demand which is typical of a growing
migratory industry (cf. Castles/Miller 1998) that brought thousands new econom-
ical opportunities in Western Europe (Ok6lski/Stola 1999; Ok6lski 2001; Wal-
lace/Stola 2001; Wallace 2002). Political processes also are influencing the com-
position and direction of these migratory flows. The enlargement of the European
Union (EU) is a contradictory process of which the long-term effects are still un-
known. In the short term, citizens of the new member States 1 of Central Eastern
Europe were granted the right to move freely across European borders. Neverthe-
less, the governments of many 'old' EU members have been concerned with the
impact of workers' mobility on national social welfares systems and employment
rates, to such an extent that EU institutions approved a discipline of transitory re-
gimes, which divided the enlarged Union into three main areas. 2
In Italy, among so-called neo-communitarian citizens, only tourists and
autonomous workers have achieved a real freedom of movement, as it is still ne-
cessary to be included in the national quota system to have a salaried job. 3 The
government decides every year how many people for each State or group of

In 2004 Poland, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Hungary, Lithuania,

Latvia, Estonia, Malta and Cyprus; in 2007 Romania, Bulgaria.
2 It is a free movement zone, extending over Great Britain, Ireland, Sweden; a two
years restricted zone, extending over Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Nor-
way; finally, a seven years restricted zone, extending over Germany, Austria, Belgi-
um, Holland, Luxembourg, and Denmark. For more info: Accession Treaty signed
on 16 April 2003 "Freedom of movement for workers after enlargement", July 29,
2007 (http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/cha/cl0524.htrn).
 MoTHERING IN MIGRATION 1155

States are able to work legally in the country and in what occupations they are
entitled to work. Among those occupations, care and domestic work have been
assigned an important share. In 2002 an amnesty law, 4 that paved the way for the
new immigration regulations, showed the professional niche to which Polish mi-
grants are confined: 75,8 per cent out of25,002 requests were related to domestic
labour (INPS 2004), a job that is mostly feminised, and where private families
are employers. In 2003, Polish migrants were granted 34.980 residence permits,
25.282 to women and 9.698 to men. 5 The same year, 10.905 women and 6.453
men were entitled to work legally in Italy (ISTAT 2007). Despite the amnesty,
the incidence of informal jobs is still very high, also because according to the last
immigration law, only people with a contract can receive a residence permit; un-
documented migrants therefore represent high numbers. 6
This article focuses on circular migratory projects of Polish care workers who
find new arrangements for mothering and who negotiate new meanings, and
identities in the context of the international division oflabour. The increasing de-
mand for migrant women to help alleviate the reproductive labour of the growing
number of working women in post-industrial nations provokes the formation of
an international division of reproductive labour (Parrefias 2001a: 369) that is
shaped by"[ ... ] global capitalism, gender inequalities in the sending country, and
gender inequalities in the receiving country." (Parrefias 2000: 569).
The international transfer of caretaking is a facet of the division of reproduct-
ive labour, and it refers to three groups of women in two different nations:
middle-class women in receiving countries, migrant care workers, and other wo-
men (relatives or local domestics) in the sending country too poor to migrate.
In Central-European countries, as was stressed for the Philippines (Lindio-
McGovernor 2003: 513), the economical measures imposed on the governments
by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund affected local communities
in the form of more austere social policies (cf. Deacon/Hulse 1997). This

3 "Documento programmatico relativo alia politica dell'immigrazione e degli stranie-

ri ne! territorio dello Stato peril 2004-2006", July 29, 2007 (http://www.govemo.it/
Presidenza/DICA/ docprogrammatico_immigrazione.htrnl).
4 Decreto-Legge 9 settembre 2002, n. 195 "Disposizioni urgenti in materia di leg-
alizzazione del lavoro irregolare di extracomunitari" (issued after the immigration
law L. 189/2002, so-called "Bossi-Fini", July 29, 2007 (http://www. stranieri.it/ at-
tualita/ dl_migr/dl02_195/dl02 _195 .htrn).
5 In 2001, Italian government issued 1.379.749 residence permits, 745.836 to men
and 633.913 to women; Polish people received 30.419 residence permits, specific-
ally 8.844 to men and 21.575 to women; working permits were 11.092 for women
and 5.917 for men (ISTAT 2007).
6 Since the EU enlargement process, Eastern and Central European citizens cannot be
considered undocumented migrants anymore, since a valid identity document is suf-
ficient for internal border-crossing; however, the working permits are granted only
to a limited number of people, thus the combination of documented legal status and
employment in the informal sectors create new tensions and disadvantages for new-
comers.
156 I GERMANA D'OnAVIO

triggered new mobility flows. Women have emigrated from economical peripher-
ies to the cores, contributing to a "global care chain" this means

[ ... ] a series of personal links between people across the globe based on the paid or un-
paid work of caring. A typical global care chain might work something like this: an
older daughter from a poor family in a third World country cares for her siblings (the
first link in the chain) while her mother works as a nanny caring for the children of a
nanny migrating to a first world country (the second link) who, in turn, cares for the
child of a family in a rich country (the final link). Each kind of chain expresses an invis-
ible human ecology of care, one care worker depending on another and so on. A global
care chain might start in a poor country and end in a rich one, or it might link rural and
urban areas within the same poor country. More complex versions start in one poor
country and extend to another slightly less poor country and then link to a rich country
(Hochschild 2000:32).

However, the present study discloses a different aspect of the transnational trans-
fer of care taking since the core's strategy is a continuous pattern of emigration,
immigration, return, and re-immigration, wherein women attend to two house-
holds and two families in an alternate way. Therefore, the present study reveals
how Polish women tend to be in "two places at the same time".
Why are those strategies necessary, and how are they organised? In the
present case study, women in Poland seldom rely on paid care givers to attend to
their families. In most case it is responsibility of other household members.
Therefore, we analyse only two of the links forming the care chain model.
Moreover, many women are unable to migrate with their children because
care and domestic workers face enormous difficulties in the host country living
together with their sons and daughters, especially in the early years. This is be-
cause of intense working hours, lack of public or affordable social services, diffi-
culty in finding accommodation, poor economic conditions, weak or nonexistent
familiar social networks. As a result, other members of their families (mostly fe-
male) will attend to transnational domestic workers' children. A research on
Latino migrants in Los Angeles (Hondagneu-Sotelo/Avila 1997) shows that also
Latino immigrant domestic workers are transforming their own meanings of
motherhood to accommodate spatial and temporal separations: "[ ... ] many of
these domestic workers care for the homes and children of American families
while their children remain 'back home' in their societies of origin. This latter ar-
rangement, which I call transnational motherhood, signals new international in-
equalities of social reproduction." (ibid: 24).

Mothering in Migration

We can define mothering in migration as a set of possible arrangements taking

place whenever a mother lives in a different country than her child or children; it
 MoTHERING IN MIGRATION 1157

refers also to connotations associated to places where she is present or absent, to

meanings attached to her identity, to representations related to her role.
Mothering is a historically and culturally variable relationship, in which one
individual nurtures and cares for another. It occurs within specific social contexts
that vary in terms of material and cultural resources and constraints. "[ ... ] Moth-
ering is constructed through men's and women's actions within specific historic-
al circumstances. Thus agency is central to understanding of mothering as a so-
cial, rather than biological, construct." (Glenn et al.l994: 3).
Therefore, we can draw a distinction between mothering and motherhood
where the latter, as Adrienne Rich (1995) wrote, refers to an institution in a male-
defined site of oppression. On the other hand, mothering represents a form of ma-
ternity that can be a possible source of empowerment.
The transnational arrangements of mothering are rooted in what Helma Lutz
calls "a jointly operated informal commuter network" (2002: 91). The existence
and endurance of these networks allows migrant mothers to alternate their pres-
ence between two households, where they attend to both the productive and re-
productive role. They exchange job information in a restricted network, usually
formed by close relatives (mothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, sisters-in-law) and
friends, as to alternate their presence in two places by means oflong and exhaust-
ing travels by bus and, more recently, by plane. In Italy, they are often respons-
ible for the seriously ill, the handicapped, or elderly who need an accompanying
person. They do domestic chores, frequently also in some neighbours' houses;
they buy food and prepare the meals. The vast majority of the women met during
the research share a house with the person they take care of. While they are in
Italy, their mothering role is temporarily transferred to another woman, usually
their own mother, sisters, mother-in-law, and sometimes to the husband or the
children's father. The present study stresses the importance of special arrange-
ments between female cohabitating relatives that allow both women to have their
work abroad, providing material resources for maintaining the household, at the
same time guaranteeing a constant care for their children. From the interviewees'
point of view, the choice to rear sons and daughters in Poland refers to practical
exigencies, such as being able to live in a peaceful and healthy environment, es-
pecially when homes are located in rural or semi-rural areas. Indeed, the mothers
are very concerned about the education and freedom of movement their children
will have, and also about the language and the transmission of their own culture.

In the Field: Methodological Approach

The present study is based on qualitative research that took place in Italy and in
Poland from February 2003 to October 2004, and it was initially not aimed at
analyzing mothering in migration. Instead, the topic emerged as relevant during
the interviews and fieldwork. Following a grounded theory approach, I started
158 I GERMANA D'OnAVIO

the field research in central Italy in the provinces of Chieti and Teramo (Italy)
where the presence of informal care workers is significant, since demand for their
work is high not only in metropolitan areas, but also in provincial towns and in
non-urban areas.
The research is composed of twenty-four interviews with Polish household
members; the interviews were conducted in Italian and in Polish, then fully tran-
scribed and translated with the help of a research assistant; their length span is
from one hour to three hours. I applied an unsystematic sampling using a snow-
ball process, starting with an acquaintance of mine in the city of Chieti. To diver-
sify the sample I have been travelling regularly between Italy and Poland (around
350 hours in six months) on the buses used habitually by Polish commuters. Al-
together, I gathered twenty-five background questionnaires and did a period of
observant participation.
Ten women were interviewed in-depth; they are from non-urban areas of the
Sub Carpathian and Little Poland voivodeships 7 ; three of them are in their twen-
ties, three in their thirties, four in their forties and fifties. The majority received
secondary education (five), while three went to high school and two were com-
pleting their university studies. Only two among them were not married and one
is a widow. Eight out often have their sons and daughters in Poland; in one case,
the daughters are working in Italy as well. Subsequently I have interviewed three
sons and three daughters of migrant care workers, age 22 to 24, and all of them
are attending university. Two are working students. Finally, I interviewed other
cohabitants (mother, father, sister, brother-in-law, daughter-in-law) of migrant
women in order to have a wider perception of their household arrangements.

"I'm My Grandma's Son": Strategies of Transnational

Mothering and Shared Mothering

In narratives about maternity, I have rarely encountered any positive aspects of

simultaneously managing parental duties and care work. Not only live-in work-
ers, but also women who have their own (shared) apartment and who work on an
hourly basis recounted these difficulties. In fact, one of the main conditions of
having and maintaining a job in the care sector is to be free from family respons-
ibilities. Sometimes, fearing unemployment, live-in care workers decide to ter-
minate a pregnancy, while others who do become mothers have to face a number
of difficulties, especially in the early years. Efficient public services that are able
to provide continuous support to mothers of young children are difficult to find,
therefore the absence of a wide social and familiar network is not compensated
by affordable private care. Frequently the only viable option for these mothers is
to entrust the care of the children to a member of their family, usually to their
own mothers. As a matter of fact mothering in migration is deeply influenced by
7 This is an administrative division of the State similar to a region.
 MoTHERING IN MIGRATION 1159

the condition in which it takes place, for instance whether the woman is a single
mother, has a working contract, or has valid residence papers. It is therefore im-
portant to also analyse the children's father's position, which may be difficult be-
cause of a number of factors: whether he knows about the pregnancy, if he agrees
to it, his civil status, his nationality, his occupation, and his relationship to the
children's mother.
The present study, which focuses on care and domestic informal workers, ob-
served a major strategi that allows women to manage maternity transnationally.
Care workers who are already mothers themselves when going to work abroad
usually decide to leave their children in care of their own kin, or with the hus-
band and his relatives, or less often with friends. Women who become pregnant
in Italy, especially single mothers or who are in relationship with a Polish man,
entrust their baby to the care of relatives or friends in Poland. In those cases, it is
relevant to analyze the role of commuting strategies between Italy and Poland in
the work and life arrangements of migrant mothers. Before Poland joined the EU
in 2004, circular migration usually took place every three months, since informal
care workers used to request a tourist permit which is only valid for three
months. On the other hand, women working with a regular contract were able to
visit their family only once or twice a year, usually for a period of one month.
For this reason many migrant care-workers, I met during the fieldwork, rejected
regular employment opportunities. They preferred to work illegally because they
have more flexibility in their movements and work arrangements via an informal
system of job exchange.
In Germany, domestic migrant workers use a similar system of rotation to ex-
change work information and to organise transnational households:

"Polish women have themselves set up a system of rotation so that they can go home at
regular intervals, while their female substitute assume their cleaning or other jobs in
Germany in the meantime. They are usually a group of 4-5 women sharing both em-
ployers and housing. This reduces the costs incurred by double residence. The regularity
of their commuting seems to be determined by their care for the family remaining in Po-
land. In the case of the males whom I interviewed, working mainly in construction or in
agriculture, commuting takes place at less regular intervals and is determined by the
seasonal nature of their jobs and by the needs of the employer. Women engaged in 'self
managed rotation' also avoid being captured in an institutionalised form of dependency.
Not only they are not dependent on one employer, but their employers become depend-
ent on their 'self-managed' rotation system. Their constant mobility also enables them
to avoid illegal status" (Lutz 2002: 6).

8 The present research did not consider cases of family reunion since before the entry
of Poland in the EU, in May 2004, a minority of migrant workers were able to ob-
tain it.
160 I GERMANA D'OnAVIO

Malina's 9 migratory experience will help us understand how these migratory

strategies and social networks are organised. She is a grandmother of two and
both mother and daughters are working in Italy. In their household they estab-
lished a rotation system that allows the three women to work in Italy, while at the
same time the children can grow up in Poland. Her daughters are domestic work-
ers, while Malina takes care of an old man. In Poland they all live in the outskirts
of a small town, in a big house that symbolises an important knot in a network
linking two mountain areas in Poland and in Italy. For the women who live in the
neighbourhood and are looking for a job, their house telephone is a precious
means of connection with people in Italy who need assistance for a close relative
and who will often accept care workers with little or no knowledge of the lan-
guage. Although she knows women who are exploiting these weak ties (cf. Gran-
ovetter 1983) to earn money by selling job information (D'Ottavio 2005), she de-
plores doing it for profit. She expresses a proactive stance in a form of empower-
ment associated with her role as an informal community leader. She is a widow
and the two other members of her household are her son and her partner. She is
over fifty and achieved economical independence and autonomy for her and her
children by means of her migratory work. After her husband died, she had to
work in Italy during the summer holidays in order to sustain her family, as her
salary was insufficient. She received job information via her sister-in-law. Her
grandparents looked after the children, and afterwards she went to different Itali-
an cities more and more often. As a result, she has been able to renovate her
house and afford the cost of education for her children. At present, she cohabit-
ates with her partner who is younger than she is and in a traditional country such
as rural Poland, to be tolerated by the local community is highly significant.
One of her daughters alternates her presence in the household. At irregular in-
tervals, every six months or more, she enjoys her life in Italy, finding the life in
Poland too quiet for her. But she also enjoys living with her daughter, who is
nearly a teenager, preparing preserves for the winter and sewing. The daughter's
husband also works abroad and they rarely see each other. The other daughter,
who is a single mother, gave birth to a baby in Italy, but she could not arrange
mothering and a steady cleaning job at the same time, although her sister and
friends supported her. She was living with three flatmates in a small apartment
where the space was inadequate. Working on an hourly basis, as house-cleaner,
she had to rely on a local kindergarten to look after her baby. 10 Her child was of-
ten ill, and she was under emotional pressure since she could not cope with work-
ing full-time and taking care of the baby at the same time. Finally, she decided to
bring the child to Poland, to Malina's place, where he could live with his cousin
and uncle. In this peaceful environment, the child regained his health and a

9 I used pseudonyms to protect the anonymity of my informants.

10 According to the previous national category contract, a working mother does not
have any special rights or protection after the baby's third month oflife.
 MoTHERING IN MIGRATION 1161

strong bond developed between the boy and his grandmother; indeed, he used to
say: "I am my grandma's son".

The Ideology of Mothering and Emotional Distress

For the mothers, the need to leave their children "back home" in other people's
care can cause great emotional distress. Also a source of distress is a public dis-
course that tends to criticise women who choose or have to emigrate. The loss
and grief the women deplore in their interviews are often related to what Rachel
Salazar Parrefias called the ideology of mothering (2001a: 381).
In Poland, Catholicism and the Marian cult have deeply influenced the rep-
resentation of the mother's role, especially in relation to the importance of wo-
men's domesticity. The nationalistic myth of Matka Polka (Hauser/Heyns/Mans-
bridge 1993; Delsol et al. 2002; Heinen 1995; Marody/Giza-Poleszczuk 2000),
popular in nineteenth century Poland and still present nowadays, is germane to
the cult of St. Mary. It gives power to women as the protector and reproducer of
the nation but, at the same time, it demotes the woman's role to that of a power-
less mother devoted to self-sacrifice and martyrdom for the sake of the nation's
children.
Social transformations taking place during post-communism deeply chal-
lenged these processes of de-individualisation. A study of women's magazines
published in Poland from 1974 to 1994 (Marody/Giza-Poleszczuk 2000) ana-
lysed a change in the representation of women and the stereotypes associated
with the idea of femininity. This new idea implies a persuasive emphasis on indi-
vidualism, on consumerism and on the image of a "self-investing" woman who
has esthetical and physical features to be attractive to men. Nevertheless, the ste-
reotypical idea of the "winning woman" is appealing only to the tiny elite who
have been able to exploit new possibilities in the free market economy (Baer
2003).
In a society suspended between traditional and progressive values, the ideas
of good and bad mothering are also linked to these conflicting ideas of feminin-
ity. Dominant ideologies of the family stress the importance of the mother-child
dyad (Zontini 2004: 1118) and this privatised, intensive idea of motherhood con-
trasts with the reality of migrant mothers who opt for a shared and extensive form
of mothering. The following interview was recorded with a 43-year-old mother
of a care worker who has been in Italy since 2002. She is taking care of her neph-
ew, who was four years old at the time of the interview:

"The first time she came back she was so scared .. .I remember it was after she stayed
away for ten months, a very long time. The child was already three years old. He is now
four. I told her that I was telling to the baby that his parents were not with him because
they had to earn some money and that afterward they would come back ... but she was
162 I GERMANA D'OnAVIO

scared that he wouldn't recognise her as his mother anymore. I always told the child
that I was his grandma. One day [when his mother was back] he suddenly woke up star-
ing at the couch where we were sitting, and he was looking at my daughter and at me.
He didn't know what to do, so I told him: "Look, mommy is here" and he said: "Ooh!"
and he ran to hug her. [... ] Now everyone is saying that it is bad to leave little babies,
but he managed. Now it's getting worst. Recently, his father came back in December
and my daughter in January, then they left together. .. He suffered a lot, because now he
understands more."

Economic necessities are the main discourse that women choose to legitimise
their decision to migrate. This is because in times of need mothers are expected
to find a way to insure economic security for their children. The conflicting in-
terests between a mother as nurturer or as breadwinner provoke great emotional
distress. Rumianek is a 46-year-old mother of three children who are already in
their twenties. She has been a circular migrant care and domestic worker since
1996. She said:

"When I am here [in Poland] already after one month I start to think that we need more
money ... The girls are already grown-up, they can manage without me, they are very
good in taking care of the house ... But then I realise that I am not aware of many things,
like .. .if the girls are in trouble, or if something happens, I am not with them, and I feel
sorry about this. But you cannot have everything."

The last sentence highlights what an interviewee called "a dilemma between
brain and hearth". This is a central dimension influencing the decision to migrate,
especially for young mothers, since it entails a difficult choice between the pain
of an immediate separation or a life in poverty for her and her children. It means,
indeed, to renounce to the rearing of her children intensively and trying to assure
them a better future with better chances for education. An alternative is to choose
a traditional model of motherhood, which guarantees a stable mother's presence,
but is lacking in the material means for social mobility. In periods of economic
hardship, Polish women have arranged a different way of mothering in order to
be able to overcome this dilemma. They do this by means of circular migratory
projects and close-knit social networks aimed at job sharing.

lntergenerational Relations in the Household and

Shifting Meanings of Maternity: Mothers
as Breadwinners

In Poland, fathers do not commonly look after their children, since mothers are
usually expected to do so. Whenever the woman works abroad, however, the
couple has to rearrange the division of household labour, a process that is often
marked by conflict. During fieldwork it emerged that Polish fathers, mostly those
 MoTHERING IN MIGRATION 1163

who are unemployed, take care of the children, often helped by their own moth-
ers or by other close kin (sisters or brothers). Nevertheless, some of them cope
poorly with domesticity, and often get depressed or develop alcohol problems.
Grandparents on both sides of the family are frequently responsible for their
grandchildren's care, as it is unusual to hire local domestic workers in a Polish
household, especially in rural areas. Moreover, fathers appeared less active and in
some cases simply unable to positively modify their behaviour towards the chil-
dren, and acquire those attributes considered conventionally female. These attrib-
utes include willingness to listen, compassion, and understanding. As a result,
they struggle to invent a new model of fatherhood able to provide support to their
family in modified circumstances. These processes are transforming household
roles and are posing fresh challenges to the new generation. The following is
from an interview with a 22-year-old male university student, son of a woman
who has been migrant care worker since 2000:

"The most important thing for me is that mother is able to create a cosy atmosphere.
You know, with two men around, me in one room, father in the other ... when mother is
home, she understands immediately when I have a problem ... when I go home [and I am
worried] she notices it as soon as I step into the house. She comes to hug me and I [say
to her]: "Mom, I'm twenty years old now!" [annoyed] and she says: "What's
wrong?" [sadly], and so she starts tickling me and she says to me: "Tell me about your
problem" .. .it's obvious that I miss such an atmosphere, it really affects me. When moth-
er is not at home, first thing I do when I come back home is to switch on the TV set or
the stereo, and I do different things to avoid thinking. I want to hear sounds, like if
someone is in the house."

In this interview it was possible to also analyse his perception of his mother's
role in sustaining potential pathways for social mobility:

"The first time mom went to work abroad, I was living with my father and I did not suf-
fer too much since we were living apart, she was already living in another city [in Po-
land]. During that period, I was attending the third class in high school, and I didn't feel
the consequences of it, but only later .. .it became important only later, since my mother
changed a lot after the divorce, she became more a friend to me than a mother, she took
me more seriously. Then, when she left again, I had really a good relationship with her.
But when I was in the first year at the university, the situation was awful, and I have
suffered from her absence a lot. Now since I moved and I'm not living with my father
anymore, if it was not for her I wouldn't know how to survive. She sent me money for
six months, while my father didn't give me even "half grosz" [nothing]."

Interviews with migrant care workers' sons and daughters are valuable for invest-
igating the perception of their mothers' migratory pathways through a genera-
tional lens. Such interviews are important in order to understand how transna-
tional mothering strategies reflect upon the perception of the mother's role. A 24-
164 I GERMANA D'OnAVIO

year-old daughter of a woman who has been working in Italy since 1998 said in
an interview:

"When someone is missing so suddenly, afterward you realise many small details that
normally you don't take into account, but that later you miss ... yes, it's like that...
-What details do you mean? -
Chatting, listening to the music, having a homemade meal...you could go out together,
talk, ask for an advice ... things like that, normal ones, that you miss afterward .. .little de-
tails even hard to recall."

Migrant care workers' children are suspended between a traditional idea of moth-
erhood, like "the angel of the fireside", and a "pro-active" idea of maternity
where mothers' material support for their children is able to create greater spaces
of autonomy and more opportunity for their sustenance and social mobility, as
expressed by this 23-years-old daughter:

"My mother went to Italy because we have a big house, and we had to renew a part of it,
since we didn't want to sell it. In addition, we had to pay for our university studies and
even though in the past we had a good financial situation, lately it was not like that. So
it was important for us to pursue our university degrees and now my brother and I live
in the centre of the city, I cannot complain ... but this has a cost. Finally, I think it is
worth it since the education is important. You have more possibilities guaranteed for the
future."

Opinions about the decision taken by their mothers to migrate have been gener-
ally positive and they refer to important developments taking place in the house-
hold. In first place, it is important to underline that the willingness to challenge
assumptions and conventions their mothers showed, represent for them a con-
structive encouragement. They do not consider their mothers as passive victims
of unemployment and/or of unhappy marriages, but as brave women who are
able to improve their lives and social condition. Therefore, their mothers' proact-
ive stance often provided daughters and sons with a source of strength and self-
esteem.
We can analyse a sense of discovery of hidden resources expressed by a 24-
years-old daughter who communicates her amazement in relation to her mother's
deeds:

"At the beginning, I was very emotional about it, I was sad. Maybe my father and my
sister they spoke more often about it, but practically nobody mentioned it to me when I
was back home for Easter [she studies in another city]. I was really astonished when she
left ... for me it has been shocking. I thought she could not manage there, since she did
not know the language, but then I went to Italy to visit her I was really impressed .. .I
went in September, and she was already able to speak Italian! I was really surprised."
 MoTHERING IN MIGRATION 1165

From an interview with a 24-years-old man who was eighteen when his mother
went to Italy for the first time:

"First time she left, it was like "Ooh!" [a surprise]. . .! was feeling kind of weird, be-
cause she was going somewhere else, and we didn't know how it was over there, and so
I was feeling anxious, but now it is ok, I feel more calm. Actually, she is more spirited,
she has more energy; maybe doing a physical job is better for her, it has to be different
from the one she used to have here, an office job. When she comes back, she just wants
to go out, to do something together ... to live. It has influenced her outfit also. Before she
used to wear suits, high heels, and jackets, now she wears jeans and training shoes."

Communication media are also transforming mothers' moral and emotional sup-
port. The availability of new technologies allows migrant mothers, while they are
abroad, to redefine their role by means of strategies of virtual mobility that allow
the carrying on of an intimate relationship "from a distance" and which are able
to provide support, guidance and assistance to their children in Poland. 11 These
strategies are possible given a set of conditions in emigration and immigration
areas, like the availability of a computer and the ability to use it, an Internet con-
nection, and sufficient free time. Especially younger mothers use these means to
keep up a constant relationship with their sons and daughters, for instance organ-
izing virtual rendezvous on the net among two or more people in order to "chat"
via text messages or VOIP 12 to discuss daily activities, in particular about school,
friends and family.

Conclusion

Mothering in migration refers to places where mothers are present or absent, to

meanings attached to their identity, to representations related to their roles.
Circular migration connects two places, creating a mother's double presence
and absence in two different households where they perform a productive and re-
productive role in the international division of caretaking typical of global capit-
alism and post-industrial societies. The process of European Union enlargement
modified those migratory paths since family reunions are now less troublesome;
moreover, a new law on domestic workers in Italy 13 allows job sharing thus al-
lowing the emergence from informal work.
As to the meanings, it has been stressed how transnational mothers construct
"new measures to gauge the quality of mothering" (Hondageu-Sotelo/Avila
1997: 26). The "commodification of love" occurs whenever providing children
with material goods, in the attempt to substitute for mothers' presence, is an im-
11 This analysis refers to teenagers and adult sons and daughters.
12 Voice On Internet Protocol.
13 Cfr. Contratto Collettivo Nazionale Di Lavoro Sulla Disciplina Del Rapporto Di La-
voro Domestico 13 Febbraio 2007 (valid from 1103/2007 to 28/02/2011)
166 I GERMANA D'OnAVIO

portant aspect of our narratives. Nevertheless it is important to underline that is

mostly education and social mobility that migrant mothers strive for.
Therefore, the representation of a domestic maternity is increasingly chal-
lenged by a positive representation of breadwinner mothers who are able to fulfil
their parental role even when the household arrangements break up, and the fam-
ily is scattered.
Migration can turn into a painful process because of work exploitation, social
isolation and demotion of social status. On the other hand, it is important to un-
derline the agency and role of women in migration who are catalysts for import-
ant changes.
In Poland, gender relations inside the household are in a state of tension as a
direct consequence of migratory experience and, indirectly, as result of social
processes connected to the economic transition. Moreover, life conditions in the
context of immigration are deeply influencing the extent and the intensity of
those modifications inside the household. Young women who have been inter-
viewed are not willing to accept the traditional lifetime phases composed of rigid
temporal ladders stipulating that at a certain age it is appropriate to study, to have
a job, to marry and to have children. These steps correspond to passage rites to-
wards adulthood that an increasing number of women are rejecting. Thus, the
possibility to emigrate represents a way of decreasing tension and of lowering the
pressure to conform, coming especially from rural areas. Migration allows wo-
men to achieve economic independence and, therefore, to emancipate themselves
from the family. As a result, they can avoid strict social control and can gain
emotional autonomy. Some of them mostly spend what they earn on commodit-
ies and trips abroad, while others prefer saving in order to buy a house in Poland,
with the intention of going back one day. In this framework, new familiar models
are arising in the transnational space; for instance, cohabitation of unmarried
couples is a widespread condition, or multiple families in emigration and immig-
ration areas are (silently) tolerated since in many cases divorce is not accepted
and it is preferred to maintain the legal married status, even if the spouses are
managing different lives. This context might create difficult situations for
transnational children living in a complex setting but, on the other hand, the pos-
sibility to receive support socially and economically by a "pro-active" mother
might imply several benefits.
The present case study is based in the Polish-Italian migration system typical
of a transition period that took place during the European enlargement process in
2004. It analyses transnational motherhood arrangements as deeply interconnec-
ted to continuing commuting movements, which imply "going and coming back"
between societies, spaces, networks and households, and it therefore underlines
how migrant women are inventing for themselves a condition of double presence.
 MoTHERING IN MIGRATION 1167

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Transnationalism and Development
Opening to the World: Translocal Post-War
Reconstruction in Northern Sri Lanka
EvA GERHARZ

The world turned its attention to Sri Lanka when the Government and the Libera-
tion Tigers ofTamil Eelam (LTTE) decided to sign a ceasefire agreement in Feb-
ruary 2002. The peace process, brokered by facilitators at the initiative of the
Norwegian government, gave rise to a glimmer of hope that a lasting solution
might be found for the almost twenty year old conflict. It opened up new per-
spectives for the entire country in political, social, and economic terms. The
Ceasefire Agreement brought about considerable prospects for relief and recon-
struction in the war-devastated North and East of the country.
The Jaffa peninsula in the far North deserves special attention among the
war-affected areas in the North and East of Sri Lanka. For the first time after
twelve years, this almost exclusively Tamil-inhabited region regained a connec-
tion to the world. Linked to the mainland by only a small strip of land called
"Elephant Pass", the peninsula was isolated in terms of infrastructure. For civil-
ians, Jaffna remained inaccessible and people living there had to face severe
troubles when leaving the peninsula. Ship and flight services sometimes operated
only to a very limited extent, and illegal land/sea routes were extremely danger-
ous. Telecommunication and electricity were defunct for several years. After the
Ceasefire Agreement, the parties decided to open the land route. This was the A 9
highway crossing the LTTE-controlled Vanni region. Despite several security-re-
lated obstacles civilians were able to travel between Jaffna and Sri Lanka's South
and all kinds of essential and luxury goods could be transported into the devast-
ated peninsula.
The reopening constituted a unique momentum in Jaffna's history. Access to
Jaffna was regained, and translocal relations that made Jaffna a space for social
change and development were established. This reopening constituted the mo-
ment at which Jaffna began to have access to all kinds of globalised knowledge.
Of outstanding significance were the various efforts made by various actors with
regard to post-conflict reconstruction and development. The need to rebuild and
174 I EvA GERHARZ

"develop" the peninsula activated different actors in the realm of formal develop-
ment cooperation and reinforced the massive commitment of the globally dis-
persed Tamil diaspora.
This chapter aims at exploring the various dimensions of translocal interac-
tions related to post-conflict development. It attempts to show how the reopening
has intensified translocal interactions which constitute an important feature of
Jaffna's integration into world society. With "world society" I refer to the integ-
ratedness of the world as a whole, as a single social system which is thought of as
one single entity (Wobbe 2000: 10). The peace process in Sri Lanka marks an
event in the world society (Weltereignis), because it was recognised globally and
the relevant actors in Sri Lanka were well aware of this. There has been a recip-
rocal recognition of the event and its protagonists on the one hand, and the global
public (Weltoffentlichkeit) on the other. On this basis I argue that the develop-
ment and reconstruction process in Jaffna led to its re-integration into world soci-
ety. This re-integration was realised through the proliferation of flows of goods,
knowledge and information, images, and people between Jaffna and other parts
of the world. At the same time, these flows lead to processes of closure and a re-
affirmation of boundaries, localities and identities (Meyer/Geschiere 1999).
These processes of closure will be discussed in the latter part of this article.
I first present a rather general introduction into the background of the con-
flict. The recent history of Jaffna will be followed by a description of the main
actors and of their commitment to Jaffna's reconstruction. This leads us to the
analytical framework, which helps me to explore the inclusion of Jaffna's recon-
struction and development process into world society. The concept of the arena,
as it has been used in development sociology (Long 2000, 2001), is a useful tool
to capture the various relationships between localised settings, and a place tar-
geted by development efforts certainly is a locality. 1 Secondly, I will map the po-
sitions of the various actors who participate in the localised development project.
The Tamil diaspora has emerged as a considerably strong and diversified actor.
Various organisations, associations, and individuals interact with local stakehold-
ers according to different rationalities. These actors have their own ideas and
aims, and they use diverse networks, relationships, organisational belongings,
and so forth for the realisation of initiatives and projects. Another cluster of very
important actors are those representing international development cooperation.
All kinds of multilateral, bilateral, and non-governmental organisations (funded
by governments in the so-called developed world) contribute to the process in
different ways. Here I will limit myself to a rather narrow introduction into their
positions within the arena of Jaffna. Finally, I will show how these diversified in-

A number of scholars have argued that localities are relational and contextual cate-
gories and are constructed according to the very different rationalities of those in-
volved in the process (Appadurai 1996; Pfaff-Czamecka 2005) How Jaffna is con-
structed as a locality by various actors is beyond the scope of this paper and is ex-
plored elsewhere (Gerharz 2007; 2008).
 OPENING TO THE WoRLD 1175

teractions lead to local processes of social change which are beyond the rather
technical aims of reconstructing and developing.

The Field: A Translocal Development and

Reconstruction Arena in Sri Lanka's North

Almost 20 years of war (1983-2002) between the Sinhala-dominated government

and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were mainly justified on the
basis of insurmountable boundaries between different groups. Sinhala, Tamils,
Muslims and Burghers 2 speak different languages and belong to different reli-
gions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. 3 Consecutive ethni-
cisations in the process of state and nation building before and after independ-
ence can be regarded as the main trigger for the bloody ethnic conflict. Fernando
(1999: 77) notes in this context that "the state has become not only a field of eth-
nic conflict but also its main instrument". Resulting from unequal access to edu-
cation and administrative posts during colonial rule, which benefited the Tamil
minority, the Sinhalese majority collectively suffered from a minority complex
(Wilson 2000: 5). Thus, immediately after independence, ethnic difference was
already a decisive identity marker in politics and everyday-life. This led to an in-
creasing polarisation between Sinhalese and Tamils. Different exclusionary polit-
ical moves by the Sinhala-dominated government, such as the "Sinhala Only
Policy" introduced in 1956, reinforced anti-state resentments among the Tamil
minority living predominantly in the northern and eastern parts of the island. The
LTTE emerged out of a youth movement based in Jaffna as a result of increasing
marginalisation and frustration over limitations of their rights as citizens and as a
minority.
Three so-called Eelam Wars were fought between the government forces and
the LTTE between 1983 and 2002. Various aspects, such as its initially product-
ive relationships to various important supporters in neighbouring India, intensi-
fied relationships with other insurgent groups worldwide and a strong, autocratic
leadership allowed the LTTE to grow into a mature military force. Most support-
ive has probably been the formation of a globally dispersed Tamil diaspora con-
sisting of those who emigrated for educational and economic reasons before the
war and those who have left Sri Lanka as refugees since the early 1980s. At least
400,000 Sri Lankan Tamils live in European countries and North America4

2 Burghers are Sri Lankans supposedly of European descent.

3 According to the census of 1981 Sri Lanka's population consists of74 per cent Sin-
hala, 12.7 per cent Sri Lankan Tamils. 5.5 per cent Indian Tamils, and 7 per cent
Moors. The rest constitute Burghers, Malays and others. A more recent census for
Sri Lanka including the war-zones is not available.
4 Gunaratna states that the Sri Lankan Tamil population living in North America, Eu-
rope, India, Africa, Middle East and Australasia numbers an estimated 770,000 peo-
ple (Gunaratna 2001: 2).
176 I EvA GERHARZ

(Cheran 2000: 186) and Oceania, Africa, the Middle East and India. The LTTE
and its various aligned organisations have created a global support network. They
have done so by exploiting and perpetuating the collective consciousness of be-
ing a Sri Lankan Tamil on the basis of language, ethnicity, caste and religion
(Cheran 2001: 9). Constructing history and memory through practices such as
media work, public meetings, rallies, and ritual performance, the LTTE could ex-
ert social and political control in the diaspora communities (Cheran 2001: 15).
This opened up the possibility of interlinking these practices with fundraising for
the war activities, but also for humanitarian purposes and relief. Apart from these
so-called collective remittances, sending individual remittances to relatives at
home was an essential practice making survival possible. In Northern Sri Lanka,
especially Jaffna, large parts of the population depended on remittances. Accord-
ing to Sri Lankan government estimates, LTTE overseas fundraising amounts to
80 million US$ annually (Way land 2004: 421). But the process of diaspora form-
ation has not only led to effective funding, it has also reinforced a collective feel-
ing of emotional attachment and shared responsibility for the "homeland". As we
will see later, this is an important prerequisite for translocal development initiat-
Ives.
By the end of 1999, the arms race among the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) and the
LTTE led to a no-win-situation. Both sides, and the international community ob-
serving the conflict, realised that no military solution is possible. Norwegian me-
diators supported the negotiation of the Ceasefire Agreement of February 2002.
The international community greatly appreciated the newly opened space for a
peaceful settlement and attempted to support this by providing positive incent-
ives. Various multi- and bi-lateral development cooperation partners provided
huge amounts of money for reconstruction and development in order to create a
"peace-dividend" for the war-affected Sri Lankan populations. This, however,
aimed at stabilising the ground situation for sustainable peace. 5 As a result, the
CFA period saw ample planning and implementation efforts in the field of devel-
opment cooperation especially in the North and East, but also in other parts of Sri
Lanka. Unfortunately, this strategy did not prove successful. The initial enthusi-
asm for peace declined and from 2004 onwards a "shadow war" determined the
fragile situation (Hellmann-Rajanayagam 2007: 124). The space for sustainable
peace diminished successively and fighting broke out alongside a number of
political killings. The road to Jaffua was closed again in August 2006. In January
2008 the government unilaterally declared the Ceasefire Agreement to be de-
funct.
Within the period of the Ceasefire, the peninsula Jaffna was regarded as a
prime location for development and reconstruction efforts for various reasons.
First, the towns and villages of the peninsula were severely damaged during the
conflict and large parts of the infrastructure, including schools, health facilities,
5 This strategy was called "Kilinochchi consensus" by Sriskandarajah (2004) who
argued that the idea was also to demonstrate international support.
 OPENING TO THE WoRLD I 177

public building, power and telephone supply were destroyed. The local economy
was in a state of almost complete ruin. About 80,000 houses were damaged or
completely destroyed (Halbach 2003: 171 ). Large parts of the population
suffered and still suffer from war-related trauma (Somasundaram 1998). There
was an urgent need to start reconstruction, rehabilitation and development as
soon as possible. Secondly, the peninsula inhabited almost entirely by Tamils has
always been the capital of Sri Lankan Tamil culture and heritage. It was, at the
same time, the centre of advanced education from which the Tamils have be-
nefited since colonial times. This reinforced the emergence of Jaffna as the centre
of a Sri Lankan Tamil educated class and, in the light of increasingly limited
minority rights and access to resources, as the place of origin of about 90 per cent
of the Tamils living abroad (Gunaratna 2001: 2). Thirdly, due to its isolation,
Jaffna was difficult to access for the humanitarian and development organisations
operating in the other parts of Sri Lanka. After 1995, a UN Emergency Task
Force was established to monitor the situation. In 1996, there was a major initiat-
ive to provide assistance to Jaffna (Foster 2003: 157). At that time, donors
pledged a lot of money for humanitarian assistance. Only after 1999 did intensi-
fied fighting break out again in Jaffna and most organisations withdrew from the
peninsula. The re-opening in April 2002, however, offered the possibility of op-
erating in Jaffna relatively unhindered.
Jaffna's situation after the 2002 CFA, however, was characterised by very
particular conditions. The interplay between previous isolation for twelve years,
its significance as the main locality of reference for the globally dispersed Tamil
diaspora and its prominence among the donors invites us to investigate the emer-
gence of translocal interactions. The fact that these interactions were made pos-
sible "all of a sudden" creates an interesting research perspective. This appears to
be especially true considering that Jaffna was cut off from the processes of glob-
alisation which the other parts of Sri Lanka have faced from the late 1970s on-
wards (Hettige 2000). 6 Since the 1990s the lives of most Sri Lankans have
changed with the import of fridges, washing machines, computer facilities, satel-
lite TV, tourists, and associated globalised culture and lifestyles. Jaffna remained
almost untouched by this integration into world society. The re-opening created a
fascinating situation of catching up with the rest of the world. Very soon after
April 2002, mobile phones were operating in Jaffna, satellite TV was broadcast,
intemet cafes mushroomed, globalised brands like Coca Cola, Nestle and Maggi
were available everywhere. The first supermarkets emerged next to shops for
computers and electronic devices. People were talking about the latest events in
the war against the Iraq in 2003. Huge crowds of foreigners entered the peninsula

6 In the 1977 elections the United National Party with its liberalisation programme
came into power. The related economic reforms led to the intensification and diver-
sification of Sri Lanka's extemallinks which affected the significance of the nation-
state as the dominant framework for identification and ideological orientation for
many people (Hettige 1998: 8).
178 I EvA GERHARZ

which led to the growth of guesthouses and hotels. Not just researchers, but also
journalists, business people, and tourists started to travel to Jaffna. The 2004 edi-
tion of the "Lonely Planet" even promoted Jaffna as the latest hottest spot in the
Sri Lankan tourism paradise and provided an extra section on it. Apart from the
changes related to everyday-life, contact with foreigners, consumption and access
to globalised media, a number of significant changes in the field of development
took place.
Given this diverse landscape of the actors shaping the process of integrating
Jaffna into world society, it is necessary to define a clear analytical framework
which enables the observer to understand the complex dynamics of interaction
leading to various societal changes. The concept of an arena as developed by de-
velopment sociologist Norman Long (2001: 59), appears to be useful:

"arenas are social locations or situations in which contests over issues, resources, val-
ues, and representations take place ... That is, they are social and spatial locations where
actors confront each other, mobilise social relations and deploy discursive and other cul-
tural means for the attainment of specific ends, including that of perhaps simply remain-
ing in the game".

The concept of arena allows us to take a look at social relations and interactions.
It provides an analytical tool for ordering the material, for setting action into con-
text. It is open enough to bring very different dimensions into focus. Goetze
(2002: 58) argues in this context:

"it is the notions of domain and arena that permit the analysis of the processes of order-
ing, regulating and contesting social values, relations, resource utilisation, authority and
power".

Recognising the fact that we are particularly interested in interactions which tran-
scend the boundaries of the locality of Jaffna, it is necessary to re-think the
nature of the interactions since these are embedded into the context of world so-
ciety. We regard world society as a global space because world society refers to a
perspective which encompasses the totality of all social relations 7 and it is consti-
tuted by all kinds of flows of commodities, people, capital, technologies, inform-
ation and images (Long 2001: 214). These flows cross territorial boundaries. This
entails constant processes of social change on a global scale.
At the same time, it is important not to forget that the "local" dimension is
still highly relevant when analysing the development and reconstruction pro-
cesses in Jaffna: Development is regarded as a local project because it is the local
infrastructure which has been destroyed and it is the local "Jaffna Tarnil society"
who are the beneficiaries of this project. It is the clearly defined locality of Jaffna
7 See the introduction of this volume for a more concise discussion of the term world
society.
 OPENING TO THE WoRLD I 179

which is the reference point for everything, the Tamil diaspora coming from
Jaffna and calling themselves "Jaffna Tamil" (Wilson 1994) and the development
organisations which contribute to the construction of the locality by defining
their project as locations and naming their projects. All activities taking place in
the realm of development and reconstruction target concrete, localised objects, be
it schools, hospitals, roads, and NGOs members as areas of intervention. There-
fore, it is necessary to look at interactions as inter-linkages between global and
local spaces. Robertson (1995) introduced the term "glocalisation", which nicely
captures the interrelatedness of the local and the global scale. This also means
that the local is to a large extend shaped by flows at a translocal or super-local
level (Robertson 1995: 26).
Using the concept of "translocal" rather than the more familiar and well elab-
orated concept of the "transnational" (Bash/Glick Schiller/Szanton Blanc 1994;
Faist 2003; Pries 2001 among others) has several conceptual advantages in this
specific case. It also diverts our attention to a slightly different perspective (see
Gudrun Lachenmann's contribution in this volume). Instead of highlighting the
significance of flows transcending the boundaries of the nation-state, I see the
locality as the major unit of analysis. This is of special importance in the context
of Jaffna, because the integration of the peninsula into the nation-state remains
contested, even after the CFA (Ceasefire Agreement). The translocal perspective
also takes into account the critique of methodological nationalism elaborated by
Wimmer and Glick Schiller (2002). 8 Translocality, however, opens up the possib-
ility of applying a more encompassing research perspective but allows us to focus
on a specific object of research. These phenomena transcending all kinds of
boundaries are at the centre of attention (Freitag/von Oppen 2005).
Focussing on development and reconstruction efforts Jaffna, the concept of
arena has great analytical value. The arena is a space for interactions between all
the kinds of actors who participate in the project of reconstructing and develop-
ing Jaffna. This arena is embedded into translocal space, because it is constituted
by negotiations of a variety of actors who are not confined to the locality. In fo-
cus, however, are the relational and processual aspects which cross the territorial
and symbolic boundaries of the locality. We can thus speak of a translocal devel-
opment arena which is constituted by flows, interactions and negotiations of
whatever the actors consider to be development.

Diaspora Commitment to Development

Research on diaspora-local relations before the CFA has shown that the Tamil di-
aspora was organised systematically with the goal of supporting the armed resist-

8 The focus on national societies as it has been applied in social sciences has also
been especially criticised by those who have worked on the notion of world society
in the German context. See for example Schimank (2005).
180 I EvA GERHARZ

ance ofTamil organisations fighting for the Tamil cause (Radke 2004: 248). Fun-
draising and actions expressing solidarity were at the core of these transnational
activities and were centralised by the LTTE especially. At the same time, various
scholars have described how organisations and groups were formed by members
of the diaspora. Some of them provided humanitarian assistance to the Tamils re-
maining in the homeland and who were being affected by the war. 9 The land-
scape of these organisations is quite diverse. Individuals and organisations con-
cerned with development and reconstruction of the homeland can be categorised
according to different dimensions of interaction.
The first dimension consists of interactions in the field of religious institu-
tions. Not all Sri Lankan Tamils believe in Hinduism. Some follow different
forms of Christianity, particularly Catholicism. Christian Tamils have formed
groups which raise funds and generate support for the physical reconstruction of
religious institutions and development of related social institutions such as
orphanages or other organisations aiding weaker segments of the local society.
By interacting closely with religious institutions, such as the local branch of
Caritas for example, development projects are financed by diaspora members.
Research has shown that personal contacts play a very important role in the
manifestation of such projects, but belonging to the Church as a global institution
is also very relevant. There are examples of Christian Tamils living abroad who
have established contact with churches in their town of residence. In these cases
"native" volunteers work together with Tamils to provide assistance for the re-
construction of social institutions in Northern Sri Lanka.
These established structures did not change much after the Ceasefire. At the
same time it could be observed that, among the Hindu communities, practices of
exchange and support were transformed considerably. Hindu Tamils in the dia-
spora formed associations to support temples in their home villages. These con-
tacts link them to those who have stayed behind as well as to those who have mi-
grated. After the Ceasefire, such spontaneous initiatives greatly increased. Dia-
spora members collected money to aid the reconstruction of temples and related
social projects. This increase can partly be explained by the rise of communicat-
ive linkages between the homeland and the diaspora. After 2002 it was possible
to communicate via media such as telephone and internet. The hope, that the
peace process would be successful, created the impression that the invested re-
sources would not get lost in renewed fighting. Religious events like festivals
also attracted diaspora Tamils to make personal visits. The temple festival in
Jaffna's most important temple in Nallor was attended by thousands of visitors
during the Ceasefire. Transport facilities to Jaffna were fully booked far in ad-

9 These activities are strongly tied to processes of safeguarding memory and preser-
ving identity, which have been analysed for the Canadian Tamil diaspora by Cheran
(2001; 2000), the Swiss Tamil diaspora by McDowell (1996) and for the Norwegian
context see Fuglerud (2001). As such, these processes are a feature of "diaspora"
itself (see for example Clifford 1994 and Brubacker 2005).
 OPENING TO THE WoRLD 1181

vance. Temple festivals are always fundraising occaswns. Another important

temple attracting diaspora members was the one in Tellipillai. This temple is de-
voted to Durga Devi and said to help in cases of infertility and in finding suitable
marriage partners. After the Ceasefire, the numbers of visitors and the funds
donated on these occasions rose considerably. Although the temple always had
an extraordinarily good income due to its multiple translocallinkages to diaspora
groups 10 worldwide, its financial situation was greatly enhanced and various new
projects were initiated during the time of this research.
Diaspora support for school reconstruction was a second important dimen-
sion in the reconstruction process. Education has a high value among the Jaffna
Tamils. This can be explained by the peninsula's historical position as Sri
Lanka's educational centre. 11 So-called Old Boys Associations (OBA) 12 for al-
most all higher level schools follow the British tradition of maintaining contact
with one's school by forming alumni networks. OBAs provided primarily finan-
cial support. Especially the OBAs bigger schools have become translocal and
maintain branches in Colombo and overseas. Some Old Boys are so numerous in
particular places that they form networks and comprise branches in several dif-
ferent countries. Others are quite dispersed and primarily maintain contact with
their school without relying on institutionalised structures in their country of res-
idence. After the CFA the commitment of OBAs to support Jaffna's schools ex-
ploded. Having the opportunity to visit Jaffna primarily for family reunions,
many Old Boys also paid visits to their former schools. Confronted with the
large-scale destructions and the many shortages, Old Boys immediately organ-
ised financial and material support. Several schools received IT equipment,
sports kit, funds for re-building class rooms, science labs, sports grounds, and
scholarships for individual students. One school received money to buy the land
necessary for expansion. Several schools discovered the potential of the intemet
and other forms of long-distance communication. Numerous web-pages can be
found introducing the schools, their OBAs, the persons involved in these as well

10 I had the chance to interview the management president and chairperson of the tem-
ple society intensively and learned that she used to travel to different diaspora cen-
tres in Australia, Great Britain and Canada to deliver speeches and to network with
Tamil Hindu communities.
11 Various authors have shown that education has great significance in Jaffna. This is a
result of the impact of Christian missionaries during the colonial period. These
missions started to establish a high-quality school system, which let to the emer-
gence of competition between Christians and Hindus (Gunasingham 1999; Hell-
mann-Rajanayagam 1990). The importance of education was also emphasised by
numerous interviewees during fieldwork.
12 I use the term Old Boys Associations because it was used by the interviewees and
is, in many cases, also the official designation used by the associations themselves.
There are also Old Girls Associations, but only from a very few schools. Most
schools have been mixed and the old girls have been absorbed under the term "old
boys".
182 I EvA GERHARZ

as their projects. 13 Although a 'jungle" of intemet-based presentations has

emerged during recent years, the main goal seems to be the initiation of support
and finance from other globally dispersed Old Boys and Girls. This is done
through spreading information, announcing events, telling stories about the
school's history, providing photo-galleries, and discussion forums. This process
of networking has strengthened the bargaining position of the local actors in the
reconstruction processes. In some cases, overseas OBAs were formed at the initi-
ative of the school principal who visited the community abroad. In other cases,
local OBAs and School Development Societies actively encouraged funding by
sending "wish-lists" to Tamil organisations abroad.
So-called home village associations (HVA), having gained much attention in
the current debate about migration and development (Guarnizo/Smith 1998),
function according to a similar logic. Like diaspora branches of OBAs HVAs are
formed as an expression of solidarity. Cheran describes how charity and philan-
thropy are the main motivation for establishing Canadian Tamil HVAs. Many
started to function as social clubs and were transformed into development organ-
isations after the Ceasefire Agreement (Cheran 2007: 288). Some of these organ-
isations, which quite often employ the suffix "friendship society" in addition to
the village's name, use print and electronic media to inform others about their
activities and to network. They use funding strategies similar to those of OBAs
and temple societies. In practice they sometimes overlap, but since they are not
related to a particular type of insitution, they can easily switch roles depending
on the needs in the respective village. Examples of HVA support which I came
across during fieldwork, were based on fisherman societies and rural develop-
ment societies, the organisation of private tuition classes, provision of scholar-
ships for students, and the reconstruction of community centres. Like OBAs
HVAs mainly rely on personal networks. Following the CFA, solidarity with the
village was expressed through personal visits, even if no family members were
living in the village any longer. This resulted in many initiatives by diaspora
Tamils.
The forms of translocal interaction established by institutions such as Home
Village Associations, Old Boys Associations and Temple Societies were highly
localised and place-based. They were rooted in the maintenance of emigrants'
solidarity with their place of origin, which might be related to a sense of nostal-
gia and the desire to assist people in the villages back home who struggle during
and after war (Cheran 2007: 288). This is in contrast to the LTTE-dominated de-
velopment initiatives, which are rooted in translocal interaction as well, but
which follow a different rationale.
Support for local NGOs is a widespread phenomenon among the Tamil dia-
spora, but very much dominated by a particular organisation. Nevertheless, it
could be observed that representatives of local NGOs in Jaffna attempted to raise
13 See for example the very detailed page of the Jaffua Hindu College, December 10,
2007 (http://www.jhcobajaffna.com).
 OPENING TO THE WoRLD I 183

funds in the diaspora. All the representatives interviewed reported that this is a
difficult task. As a result, they developed innovative strategies to realise diaspora
commitment either by utilising personal networks, or by linking these to other
fields. One NGO representative reported that she utilises the yearly temple festiv-
al for fund-raising, which was easy for her as a member of the temple society in
her village. After the CFA many villagers living in the diaspora visited the
temple festival and it is compulsory in these circumstances to donate money.
Since the temple had already been rebuilt, this NGO representative campaigned
for her organisation's projects by arguing that the temple was rich enough at that
point and that people should do something for children and the other beneficiar-
ies of the NGO. This empirical case shows religious based charity becomes inter-
linked with "professional" development work of NGOs which is rather uncom-
mon. Though several NGOs tried to gain access to diaspora funds, they faced
severe difficulties because this particular field had already been occupied by the
Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO).
Established as the LTTE's developmental and humanitarian wing, TROis the
largest NGO in Sri Lanka's North-East and the organisation with the best translo-
cal organisational set-up. According to Gunaratna (2001) there are fifteen TRO
offices throughout the world, the headquarter in Kilinochchi and a branch in
Colombo. The overseas offices provide information about the situation in Sri
Lanka and raise funds for TRO's development and reconstruction projects. Ac-
cording to TRO's Annual Report of 2002 the organisation received more than
half of its budget, a share which is labelled as "foreign income", in the form of
material and financial donations. TRO organises a range of activities in the re-
ceiving countries in order to attract Tamils to donate for community work in the
North-East. These activities are strongly influenced by LTTE's political ideology
(McDowell 1996). At the same time, TRO pioneered a new development in the
translocalisation of development and reconstruction which has been discussed as
knowledge transfer in the recent migration-development debate. Diaspora volun-
teers helped in various fields such as management and capacity-building of the
organisation and engineering in infrastructure projects. Social skills and language
skills for translation purposes were also in demand. Other local NGOs discovered
the usefulness of diaspora knowledge. In some interviews I was told that net-
working aids local NGO workers in asking diaspora Tamils for advice in ques-
tions related to the implementation of projects where engineering skills for ex-
ample are required.
Another phenomenon which emerged after the CFA is comparable, and
closely related to the integration of skilled migrants in the reconstruction work of
NGOs. Diaspora professional have formed networks and organisations on the
basis of their profession and support local institutions. The most significant are
diaspora Tamils who are medical professionals. Organisations like the Tamils
184 I EvA GERHARZ

Health Organisation (THO), the Medical Institute of Tamils (MIOT) 14 and the
Tamil Medical Institute (TAMMED) encourage Tamil medical doctors in dia-
spora countries to network. 15 MIOT, for example, has branches in Canada and the
UK. These associations collect money and other donations in the countries were
diaspora Tamils live through charity events, or other forms of fund-raising and
they support medical institutions in Sri Lanka's North and East by providing cash
and material donations. They also send members to different places in North East
Sri Lanka (see also Cheran 2007: 291). During fieldwork I met several medical
doctors who spent their holidays working as volunteers in Sri Lanka's North.
These professionals help to reduce waiting lists for surgeries in existing hospit-
als, provide training for local staff in specialised areas in which local capacities
are lacking or are engaged in developing new or rebuilding old medical institu-
tions which have been destroyed during the war.
Although these medical associations also function like HVAs and OBAs on
the basis of solidarity and commitment to Sri Lanka's war-ravaged North-East,
there are certain important differences. Medical associations may network with
local actors in Sri Lanka on the basis of personal and professional relationships.
One example was cooperation between MIOT and a local NGO, which came into
existence because the NGO director's sister worked at the MIOT office in Lon-
don. But generally, I observed that the medical associations paid little attention to
their members' place of origin. This may be related to the fact that they were
formed by professionals and not on the basis of common roots in one locality.
This makes them more flexible in choosing their project locations and is also re-
lated to political loyalties. Attracting these non-locality based associations is im-
portant for the LTTE which attempts to integrate diaspora development initiat-
ives into their nation-building project. Since Jaffna did not belong to the LTTE-
controlled area and it was unlikely that it could be regained, the LTTE concen-
trated on the Vanni located south of Jaffna in their state-building efforts. But be-
cause most diaspora members come from Jaffna and concentrate their commit-
ment on projects in Jaffna, the LTTE faces the challenge of attracting diaspora
funding for the Vanni. OBAs and HVAs have been formed on the basis of
memory of their members' sensory experience in the place and childhood
memories. Often a feeling of obligation to the institution where the individual
gained the opportunities which enabled him/her to become successful after mi-
gration also plays a role. One interviewee for example expressed: "I love this
place although I have lived abroad for 34 years. I got free education here from
kindergarten onwards and I need to give something back". With regard to
temples interviewees also mentioned that the obligation derives from the hope

14 For detailed information see MIOT's webpage December 12, 2007 (http://www.
miotyf.org/contents).
15 There are many other organisations based in different diaspora countries. Some are
more specialised like the Cancer Aid in North & East (Sri Lanka) UK, and the Jaff-
na General Hospital Development Organisation (which is based in Jaffua).
 OPENING TO THE WoRLD I 185

that donating to the temple is thought to aid personal salvation. Networks and or-
ganisations like those run by medical doctors under contract are less motivated
by the importance of a specific place or the place based institution, but rather re-
lated to the ethos of professionals in the field of medicine combined with a non-
place-based Tamil identity. This also explains the strong emphasis on the TRO as
a dominant NGO in translocal networking, which is also related to the fact that
the LTTE, as a non-state actor is not eligible to receive funds for donor organisa-
tions directly because it is not an officially recognised partner.
The analysis so far has been concentrated on flows of financial support,
know-how, people, and ideas, but this does not mean that the interactions were
always smooth and uncomplicated. Although the transfer of funds was largely
unproblematic, there were also disappointed local actors who felt deprived, and
there were conflicts over priorities chosen. The NGO representative, who diver-
ted the funds meant for the temple, to the NGO projects managed to avert con-
flict over the deployment of resources.
In other cases local actors were discouraged by the ideas of their diaspora
counterparts. Several interviewees complained that diaspora Tamils had counter-
productive plans and were not sensitive to the needs of the people. One person
complained about diaspora plans to construct a swimming pool for the school, al-
though Jaffna is surrounded by beaches where the students could go to swim and
enjoy recreation opportunities. In hospitals, local staff complained that diaspora
doctors would occupy their time unnecessarily. Quite often, it became clear that
diaspora Tamils had different visions of what was meant by development and the
local actors felt that their priorities were wrongly set. Another dimension in
which processes of resistance and closure took place as a result of flows was the
realm of identity and cultural practices. Especially the "Westernisation", that
many locals observed among diaspora Tamils, caused resentments. This became
particularly obvious in inter-generational encounters. Many children had been
born in the diaspora, and some of them did not speak proper Tamil any longer.
Some of them were regarded as behaving like Westemers, especially when girls
wore blue jeans or tight clothes. This led to processes of closure and reinforced
alienation among those who were committed to sharing an inclusive, common
Tamil identity.
Increased diaspora-local cooperation in the realm of development marks an
important step in Jaffna's reintegration into world society. By analysing the vari-
ous dimensions and fields of interaction, a number of negotiation processes takes
place, which reflect Jaffna's positioning vis-a-vis the world. The interactions lead
to the formation of translocal spaces in which globalised ideas of development
are negotiated and in which the different actors shape the local development and
reconstruction process. The formation of migrant-local relations in translocal
spaces enable them to jointly organise, plan and implement reconstruction and
development measures in different fields while they remain in contact. As a con-
sequence, local reconstruction becomes a project embedded into the ideas and
186 I EvA GERHARZ

norms perpetuated within world society through translocal flows. At the same
time the formation oftranslocal spaces allocates agency to local actors to under-
stand themselves as being part of an integrated world society. Through reflecting
their own identity and their localised development project against the background
of their images of the world, local development also means that normative ideas
such as modernity and identity are negotiated at the interface with diaspora
Tamils. But this is also strongly related to the increased significance of formal
development cooperation after the Ceasefire. Not only the flow oflarge sums of
money, but also the presence of a large number of international staff has rein-
forced renewed negotiations of local identities and development in the context of
an integration into world society.

Development Cooperation in Jaffna

Hoping to support the peace process through initial and immediate reconstruction
efforts, the "donor community" pledged immense sums for Sri Lanka in two
donor meetings. After the second meeting in June 2003 in Tokyo, the donor com-
munity stated that a sum of US$ 4.5 billion would be allocated over a four year
period. Jaffna, which is formally controlled by the Sri Lankan government and
which suffered severe destruction became subject to extensive reconstruction ef-
forts. Many organisations, like the so-called UN family, had already initiated
support after 1996 but were forced to withdraw during a major military offensive
in 2000. Most of these came back after the Ceasefire Agreement in 2002 and re-
established offices and relationships with local institutions. As a result, donor
agencies attend to a broad variety of these fields ranging from demining and as-
sistance for returning refugees and IDPs, to aspects of food security, employment
generation, education, health, housing, water and sanitation and transport, infra-
structure reconstruction. Agencies involved are among others: various members
of the UN family, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, different bilat-
eral agencies such as British DIFD, Japanese JICA, USAID and German GTZ.
There is a broad variety of strategies for providing assistance, ranging from bas-
ket funding, implementation via national or international NGOs, implementation
via state institutions such as local government or ministries to, in a few cases, im-
plementation in cooperation with local community groups or local NGOs.
Apart from enabling finance to flow, the bi- and multilateral cooperation was
especially oriented towards globalised strategies of conflict management. 16 As
part of a larger policy formulation based on structural stability within the coun-

16 Different, rather confusing terminologies exist with regard to interventions in

(post)conflict settings. See Reimann (2004) for an extensive discussion of the va-
rious approaches related to the terminologies. For simplification I use the term con-
flict management because it seems to be the most comprehensive term in this con-
text.
 OPENING TO THE WoRLD 1187

tries of intervention, conflict management and related terms pinpoint, among

many other aspects, the establishment and consolidation of stable institutions
within the state. These function in order to avoid the outbreak of violence and
hence stabilise the ongoing development process. Behind this logic rests the as-
sumption, that violent conflict obstructs development and that inadequate devel-
opment perpetuates conflict. 17 Therefore, development cooperation attempts to
contribute to both: on the one hand, it needs to reinforce societal and economic
development processes, on the other hand conflict prevention measures have to
be employed in order to stabilise a post-conflict society. According to the most
important policy document of recent years, the "DAC Guidelines on Conflict.
Peace and Development Cooperation on the Threshold of the 21'' Century", two
major pillars are at the core of conflict preventive development policy. First,
"structural stability" is based on the presumption of good governance, democracy
and decentralisation, which can be ensured through reforms of state and bureau-
cracy. Second, a strategy called "local capacities for peace" 18 should ensure that
civil society actors gain competence to enhance peace on the level of society.
The policy for mainstreaming conflict management as formulated in the DAC
guidelines, however, suggests a two-fold approach, including partners in the civil
society as well as governmental institutions. In Jaffna, this policy was implemen-
ted in the rather peculiar situation in which civil society (in this case, NGOs) and
governmental institutions are embedded. There has been a shift in the global de-
velopment debate from supporting civil society to institutions and public goods,
especially those of the state, since the state is regarded as the most "neutral" actor
in development. This is in contrast to civil society actors who may follow partic-
ularistic interests. The highly contested nature of Jaffna in the course of conflict
has reinforced an anti-NGO policy on the part of the state. NGOs have always
been considered as under LTTE control and generally sympathetic with the
movement. The two aspects, that NGOs in Jaffna are considered to be politically
non-neutral and that global development policy is based on an emphasis of the
state as a partner in development, have reinforced cooperation with state-institu-
tions.
Development cooperation is concentrated basically on infrastructure recon-
struction and development. The bigger multi-lateral agencies have pledged large
sums for water and irrigation (World Bank), and community restoration (Asian
Development Bank) including construction of small roads, schools, community
centres and private housing. The various UN agencies have been engaged in the
tasks for which they are specialised. Various bilateral donors participated in joint
17 The conflict development nexus was discussed extensively during the 1990s both in
academia and practice (for Sri Lanka see Sriskandarajah 2004; Culbert 2005). The
relationship between conflict prevention and development strategies including insti-
tutional capacity building was also intensively discussed by von Braun/Grote/Jtit-
ting (2000).
18 This term is strongly related to the "do no harm" approach as developed by Ander-
son (1999).
188 I EvA GERHARZ

basket-funding or channel funds through international non-governmental organ-

isations which established their own structures for reconstruction and develop-
ment. The German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) had implemented a rehabilita-
tion project since 1996 and changed its focus to support for the institutional capa-
city building of local governance institutions after 2002.
Setting up development cooperation with state institutions, local institutions
and also through their own implementation structures reinforced the formation of
translocal space at yet another level which is embedded into the everyday-lives of
the people in Jaffna. This dimension beyond professional working relationships
is comprised of the various ways in which foreign employees of development
and relief agencies interact with the local population. As soon as the isolation
was lifted, herds of consultants and new foreign staff entered the peninsula. The
devastated infrastructure was not able to accommodate the needs of all these for-
eigners, who were lodged in guesthouses run by the offices of the agencies. The
UN and GTZ ran their own guesthouses, which provided accommodation for
many of these foreigners. The UN also started to provide an internet connection
by establishing the first internet cafe for locals and foreigners in Jaffna. Local
stakeholders reacted quite quickly to the influx of foreigners. Local entrepreneurs
established guesthouses and hotels to meet the exploding needs. Persons started
businesses serving foreigners, such as renting cars. Local shopkeepers enlarged
their range of products and sold imported products to attract foreign consumers.
Also quite soon the "Palm Beach Restaurant", opened by some returned mi-
grants, was offering pizza, ice cream and other Western-style food. This restaur-
ant was among the most popular lunch places for foreign visitors. Some UN em-
ployees established a bar to meet the recreation needs of the international staff.
Similarly, employees of international organisations organised parties at their
homes. Such occasions alerted more conservative Jaffna residents to the fact that
the Western visitors might expose local people to immoral behaviour. It was re-
ported that some locals threw stones over the courtyard walls of the bar, when the
music was too loud. Others reported that they found it funny when girls drank
beer and danced with men at the parties.
Local people also reported that they found the impact of foreign agencies'
capital on the local economy disturbing. The offices and residences of the agen-
cies were mainly located in Jaffna's suburb Chundukuli, especially in and around
Temple Road. In this suburb, virtually every second house had a signboard
placed in front, indicating the office of a foreign or, in a few cases, local organ-
isation. Some of the foreign organisations rented several houses as offices, and as
accommodation for the international staff. Illustrative in this regard was the junc-
tion of Temple Road and Racca Road, which was dominated by ICRC buildings
and facilities at each corner. Locally, this junction has become known as "ICRC
junction". The international organisations did not pay much attention to the local
prices for housing. Quite often they paid exacerbated rents to the owners who
either live in other, often smaller, houses or abroad. Several interviewees claimed
 OPENING TO THE WoRLD I 189

that they did not appreciate this impact of international organisations because it
caused a horrendous rise in the cost of renting houses in the area. Local people
were almost unable to afford living in these areas, which is especially critical
considering the large numbers of displaced people and others who lost their
homes during the periods of fighting.

Re-negotiating Local Development and Identity

Jaffna's integration into global development has led to a number of significant

and complex local changes in the developmental, economic and cultural sphere.
The analysis has shown that interactions between local actors and international
actors produced increased efforts to reconstruct Jaffna and support the rehabilita-
tion of its infrastructure in various ways. But the increased interactions also led to
significant changes in the images Jaffna Tamils have of the foreigners represent-
ing the Western world for them since they are located within their local context
and thus, subject to direct relationships and face-to-face contact. At the same
time, it could be shown that the flow of international agencies and their staff also
had, apart from being subject to moral critique, unintended consequences on loc-
al economic relations as well as on the already severe housing situation of Jaffn-
a's inhabitants. These different aspects of interactions came together in the Jaffna
arena and produced new images of the world. These were represented by the for-
eign visitors. These images were not only taken over but became subject to rene-
gotiations and re-positionings at the levels of localisation and local identity.
In globalisation studies it has been pointed out that globalisation, in the sense
of continuous global flows, reinforces the constitution of boundaries on various
levels. These scholars contributed a great deal to a rather flawed debate about ho-
mogenisation through the diffusion of globalised goods, commodities, ideas and
values. Notable in this context are Appadurai's works on the production oflocal-
ity (1995; 1996), and also on the relationship between global processes and eth-
nic violence described in his article on dead certainty (Appadurai 1998). These
ambivalent and complex processes of inclusion and exclusion, which seem to be
inherent in the constitution of world society result from what Meyer/Geschiere
(1999) called "dialectics of flow and closure". Although focusing predominantly
on the relationship between globalisation and identity, the dialectic moment they
seek to capture is rather broad in analytical scope. However, it captures the entire
uneasiness we have with processes of globalisation and translocalisation based
on the popular misconception that these processes might lead to the constitution
and integration of a more or less uniform world society.
Jaffna's experience of being re-opened and becoming subject to development
and reconstruction efforts is illustrative because it is such a particular case of
globalisation. Through the constitution of a translocal arena, space for negotiat-
ing the local vis-a-vis the world has been created. All of a sudden Jaffna saw it-
190 I EvA GERHARZ

self exposed to the flows from outside which led to demarcations in the realm of
culture and identity. Through the influx of foreign visitors a space emerged, in
which local Tamils could reflect upon their own moral norms and cultural partic-
ularities and reaffirm these by degrading the behaviour of immoral Westemers.
Jaffna Tamils faced similar experiences, when their relatives from abroad visited
them after an absence of several years, when they discovered that their Tamil rel-
atives' daughters wore tight blue jeans and drove cars by themselves. The re-in-
tegration into world society through flows and the formation of translocal spaces
constituted by face-to-face contacts and proximity reinforced local "closure" and
the fixing of a local, authentic culture.
Similar processes happened in the realm of development. Through the consti-
tution of the development arena, a number of different development ideas came
together. Development agencies tried to implement their recently developed
policies of sustainable development, in the sense of enhancing capacity and
building state institutions, while diaspora Tamils transported their lived personal
experience of Westem economic wealth and values into the development arena.
As part of the negotiation of an appropriate notion of development people in
Jaffna (and to a certain degree also diaspora Tamils) discovered their own ideas
of how Jaffna should be reconstructed and developed. The import of new ideas of
development and visions of society reinforced processes of closure at yet another
level and led to an accentuation of specifically local development ideas, consti-
tuted by a glorification of the pre-war past and a return to Jaffna Tamil "culture"
and "tradition". What has been understood as a project of development and inher-
ent betterment of the state of the post-war society by those living on the outside,
has produced sentiments of alienation, boundary-drawing and closure.
In this article I attempted to show that translocal flows and interactions are
features of and processes leading to the constitution of world society in a sense
that makes it possible today to think of the world as one single construct. AsAp-
padurai (1996) points out, the world is an interactive system with strikingly new
features such as mobility of goods and information. Against this background, my
aim was to investigate social interactions and processes in order to make contri-
butions to how this world (society) might look like in a particular context. Or, in
Appadurai's words: "we will need to ask not how these complex, overlapping,
fractual shapes constitute a simple, stable (even if large-scale) system, but to ask
what its dynamics are" (Appadurai 1996: 46). Therefore I have drawn together
various dimensions of interaction between development actors in the context of
Jaffna's reconstruction. By showing the different patterns of negotiation I argued
that the embeddedness of these leads to both, to an integration but also to de-
marcation and localisation. Only through detailed empirical research is one able
to draw assumptions on social realities and continuous processes of social change
which characterise and shape world society in both, a structural and processual
sense. From this perspective, Jaffnas reconstruction and development process ap-
 OPENING TO THE WoRLD 1191

pears to be embedded into world society and, at the same time, as happening in
very specific locality which is constantly reproduced by the actors constructing it.

References

Anderson, Mary B. (1999) Do no Harm. How Peace can Support Peace- or

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Transnationality, Translocal Citizenship and
Gender Relations: Transformation of Rural
Community Organisation, Local Politics
and Development 1
GILBERTO REscHER

Transnational Rurality

Rural areas in developing countries are often seen as traditionalist, isolated and
backward. This is also the case in Mexican discourses on UIIderdevelopment.
Such preconceptions are aggravated where indigenous communities are con-
cerned. In such discourses, the region I am conducing research in, the Valle del
Mezquital/ has been the example par excellence of an underdeveloped region. 3
Due to experiences from other rural areas and especially because of the existence
of undocumented labour migration to the USA as a mass phenomenon (cf. Quez-
ada 2004; Serrano 2006) it is obvious that such a vision of the communities stud-
ied is erratic, because it is based on a conceptualisation of them as enclosed com-
munities in the sense of social formations "boxed" in territorial containers. 4 The
case of the Valle del Mezquital is an excellent example to highlight the way in
which even, or better said especially, such regions and communities, seen as re-
mote and backward, actually have access to important transnational links. Such
communities are able to manage processes of glocalisation (Robertson 1995) em-
ploying them as resource for their own reproduction and continuity, thus merging
the so called traditional with relatively new elements of social life. Transnational-
ity forms an important dimension of the rural commUIIities and their social organ-

This paper is based on empirical data that I have collected from 2005 during field-
work in Mexico as part of my ongoing doctoral project on local political transform-
ation in rural areas. I applied an ethnographic methodology based on the grounded
theory and Long's interface analysis (cf. Glaser/Strauss 1967; Strauss/Corbin 1998;
Long 1989, 2005; Long/Long 1992; Arce/Long 2000)
2 This region is part of the state of Hidalgo in central Mexico. It is located about 80
kilometres north of Mexico-City. Valle del Mezquital means "Valley of the
Mezquite Grove".
196 I GILBERTO RESCHER

isation, giving evidence of how global and local processes are interwoven in the
social spaces of these supposedly remote and secluded communities. Further-
more, this everyday transnationality is related to processes of transformation of
communitarian self organisation and its internal rules, the so called usos y cos-
tumbres (ways and customs). Taking into account that the community is an im-
portant arena for the negotiation of local politics and development, this social
change ultimately relates to transformation in these fields (cf. Besserer 2006; Lis-
bona 2005; Rescher 2006).
There are only a few studies that put a focus on two important aspects of this
kind of community transformation. These elements, in the forefront of the ob-
served change, are the local concept of citizenship (ciudadania) and gender is-
sues. Citizenship is a central point in which the transformation of the community
organisation becomes visible. This is especially true concerning gender relations
(cf. Rivera 2006; Mendoza 1999). Thus, I will discuss more thoroughly the rela-
tion between transformation in community organisation and its central elements,
gender relations in- and outside the community and, as mentioned before, some
links to the fields of local politics and development. My interest in this trans-
formation arises out of its relations to the field of development. Political negoti-
ation, as a facet of multilevel and multilocally negotiated development processes,
is especially intriguing. We have to take into account the interwoveness of
transnational everyday practices, and corresponding lifeworlds (SchUtz/Luck-
mann 1974), with political aspects at all levels of policy making and political ne-
gotiations.

3 For a long time The Valle del Mezquital was seen as marginalised, poor and under-
developed and it has been the target of a large number of development interventions
and experiments of the Mexican state. The reason for this is the fact that, of the re-
gions declared as underdeveloped, it is the closest to Mexico City. Thus, for the
members of the urban middle class "poverty" became visible in the region and was
considered a source of shame because it is so close to the capital. Nonetheless, since
the 1960s, social movements have been active in this region, often drawing on eth-
nic discourses. The social pressure which manifested itself in those movements was
mitigated through developmental programs and projects. For this a specialised or-
ganisation, the Patrimonio Indfgena del Valle del Mezquital (Indigenous Patrimony
of the Valle del Mezquital), was founded. It was intended to be an institution to rep-
resent and assist the rural population. At the same time, according to Mexican pater-
nalistic ideas of politics, this aimed at their coaptation into the political system. The
Valle del Mezquital eventually gained an image as a region extremely loyal to the
(former) state party PR! and most throughly penetrated by clientelistic networks.
Even the boundary of the region is related to disputes over development. (cf.
Martinez/Sarmiento 1991)
4 According to Pries the term container was first used by Albert Einstein in his criti-
cism of mechanistic visions of space (Pries 2001: 5).
 TRANSNATIONALITY, TRANSLOCAL CiTIZENSHIP AND GENDER RELATIONS 1197

The Case of Doiia Clara and Don Raimundo 5

In my fieldwork I came across the case of two informants that perfectly exempli-
fies the processes mentioned above. This is the case of Dofia Clara and her hus-
band Don Raimundo.

Dofia Clara and Don Raimundo are native to El Thonxi a small village in a mountainous
part of the Valle del Mezquital. Both of them grew up in peasant families and they
"own" some land in the local ejido 6 along with an amount of small private property.
Like most of the couples in the village they based their livelihood on a mix of diverse
economic activities among which peasant agriculture, day labour and handicraft were
the most important. This kind of market-oriented subsistence economy 7 was amplified
when Don Raimundo migrated for the first time to the USA in the early 1990s in search
of work. He started to work there in the agricultural sector and later on found a relat-
ively stable, though irregular, job in a bean-packing-plant. Actually, he has been work-
ing there for more then ten years and has established a rather good relationship with his
boss. During this period Dofia Clara began to represent her husband in all domains. In
addition to the activities she had been responsible for, she learned to manage the agri-
cultural activities all by herself. She did all of the reproductive work and began to act as
a representative of her domestic unit in dealing with the community. Thanks to his situ-
ation, Don Raimundo is able to visit his wife and his family without being afraid of los-
ing his employment. These visits take place annually or every two years, mostly in
winter, when important local holidays and festivals are held. However since he recently
became ill, he is currently back in his village, trying to regain his health 8
During his periods of absence in the USA Don Raimundo always remained a full
member of the community and was thus treated as a citizen. This meant that he could
vote in the village assembly and had to pay financial fees as well as doing his share of

5 The names of persons and villages were changed to allow informants to remain
anonymous.
6 Ejido is a common form of collective land ownership in Mexico. It was established
after the Mexican Revolution and, as there are distinct types of ejidos, this does not
necessarily imply that all the land belongs to everyone. Instead in this ejido it means
that every member has got a share of land, but the overall organisation of this
shared land ownership is collective. So there is an elected board with a representat-
ive, the comisariado ejidal, who is the link to institutions of agricultural extension
services etc. In these communities the ownership of land is still very important,
probably not just in terms of economy but also of identity, as common disputes over
land show (in respect to the ejido and the relevance of land ownership from an eth-
nographic perspective cf. Nuijten 1998; for ejido in general cf. Eckstein, Flores-
cano, Rivera).
7 Concerning the merging of distinct incomes and economic strategies cf. Evers
(1985) and Elwert et. al. (1983) and for subsistence economy as related to market
activities see Bennholdt-Thomsen (1984) and Bennholdt-Thomsen/Mies (2000).
8 This pattern of migration is common in the village. So is the fact that most repro-
ductive work having to do with illness and aging is externalised from the productive
process in the USA and left to "homestaying" family members in Mexico.
198 I GILBERTO RESCHER

community work. As he is an experienced member of the community he was even elec-

ted to community positions during his absence and never lost the esteem of other com-
munity members. Correspondingly he and his family always tried to fulfil! these duties.
Dofia Clara and her sons carried out his communitarian labour obligations and represen-
ted Don Raimundo in the village's assemblies. His contribution was to send money to
pay the communitarian fees. In time, with the migration of the older sons, Dofia Clara
gradually took over all of her husband's duties and became increasingly experienced
and confident in community affairs. The apogee of her engagement was when she stood
in for her husband in the fulfilment of his duties as delegado, the community's highest
authority, an elected office. Although her activity was formally as a substitute for Don
Raimundo she was, de facto, the first woman who filled the post of village head. In this
function, she acquired more experience, especially on the level of the municipality, a
political sphere which was in these days nearly out of the reach of women.
The villagers relate that there were some inconveniences during her administration.
They usually expect the delegado to "work for the community". This means that at the
end of the one year tenure there should be visible changes in the village normally
achieved through the realisation of communitarian projects. This idea commonly refers
to visible manifestations of progress or development9 like the construction of new pub-
lic works and buildings or at least the renewal of previous ones. 10 Obviously, owing to
limited material resources, this can not be achieved during every term of office. In gen-
eral it is important to negotiate with funding institutions, especially the municipality, to
gain support for projects. But this implies the support of the community in constructing
the image of a well organised group. Dofia Clara' s term was probably difficult due to a
lack of confidence in her ability by male citizens, resulting in a kind of boycott. As a
result she may have gotten less support than usual, in terms of the communitarian work
itself or her duties of negotiation with the municipal administration. Nonetheless some
people state that even if it was not the best of all tenures at least it was not the worst.
But more importantly for our analysis, she insisted on trying to actively fulfil her re-
sponsibilities despite many odds and so managed to learn a lot about the modes of com-
munitarian and local politics and was able to make some (personal) contacts in the mu-
nicipality. After leaving the position she kept her interest in these spheres alive and felt
the desire to continue her commitment "in support of her community" as she says. Thus,
she started to "lobby" without a mandate on the municipal level. As a result she was
elected a substitute counsellor and at present she is trying to collaborate with a NGO.
Although several persons have criticised this dedication as a sign of Dofia Claudia's
supposed conceit she carries on with determination.

9 The most common emic expression for or reference to development is "so that the
community advances" ("para que la comunidad avance "). Whereas the term devel-
opment ( desarrollo) is nearly never used.
10 This coincides with the vision of development in various parts of the world. An ex-
ample is Benin where development is seen as manifested in prestigious buildings,
named realisations, which are supposed to exemplify progress irregardless their ac-
tual "usefulness", cf. Elwert 1991, 336pp.
 TRANSNATIONALITY, TRANSLOCAL CiTIZENSHIP AND GENDER RELATIONS 1199

In spite of the problems mentioned she can be seen as a pioneer within the com-
munity. Nonetheless this does in no way lead to recognition by the community's wo-
men. Instead there is a great rivalry among the women of the community and Dofia
Clara is constantly criticised, stressing the discourse already mentioned. It seems that
especially other women consider her to be arrogant and claim that her administration
and her commitment led to nothing. This constitutes a very common criticism of women
who step out of their supposed domain. This attitude can be analysed as a reflex of the
prevailing gender order in the community. Nobody is supposed to leave her social posi-
tion and to act in violation of local rules 11 Nonetheless following her term the participa-
tion of women as representatives in the assembly and the fulfillment of elected posts
gained a different status and was more accepted. Surely, Dofia Clara's tenure served as
an example that other women could relate to.

Based on this case I am going to discuss these phenomena in relation to the di-
mensions of the rural community organisation in the Valle del Mezquital men-
tioned above.

Transnationalised Communities

The rural communities in this Mexican region are characterised by a specific

form of social organisation. They are relatively small, of approximately 400 to
1000 inhabitants, and possess several semi-autonomous institutions through
which the communities' internal affairs are dealt with. This kind of social organ-
isation is often associated with the indigenous background of its members, al-
though it can also be found in other non-indigenous rural communities. In this
case the people belong to the ethnic group Hfl.ahfl.u. I am going to briefly discuss
the migration history of the Valle del Mezquital and the communities' pattern of
social self-organisation and then discuss the transformation related to the rise of
transnational migration. I will show how the villagers are able to adapt their so-
cial organisation, rules and institutions to broader transformation, repositioning
themselves in the diverse fields they interact with.
Migration in the Valle del Mezquital is relatively new as a mass phenomenon
and has recently resulted in undocumented labour migration to the USA. As a
consequence, the region has been only lately considered a so-called "expulsing
area". Migration research on Mexico still has a strong focus on the supposed 'tra-
ditional' migration states, like Oaxaca, Michoacan, Zacatecas and Jalisco. 12
However, there is actually a large history of migration and of translocality in the

11 Probably some of the women were also envious of the room to manoeuvre that
Dofia Clara gained and of her achievements.
12 This is reflected in anthologies like Fox/Rivera 2004 and LanlyNalenzuela 2004.
This is certainly owed to their prominence in pioneering studies on transnational
migration spanning Mexico and the USA .
200 I GILBERTO RESCHER

state of Hidalgo, especially in the Valle del Mezquital. (Martinez/Sarmiento

1991) Starting in the mid 20th century there has been an extended period of in-
ternal migration for work in the cities of Mexico as construction workers or
housemaids. Everyday life even then seemed to have involved a certain level of
translocality. 13 This shows the continuous flexibility and mobility of these rural
people in the quest for their livelihoods. Some features of this mobility seem to
have been translated to transnational migration. Migration to the USA surged in
the 1980s and turned into a mass phenomenon in the 1990s. The actual commit-
ment to this process varies from village to village, but currently all villages of the
Valle del Mezquital witness considerable migration flows to the USA. In the
communities I have studied there is no household without family ties in the USA,
mainly in the states of North and South Dakota, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida.
A fair amount of migrants were able to benefit from the 1984 amnesty, obtaining
legal residence and thus accelerating the process of transnational community
building (cf. Alvarez 1995; Schmidt/Crummett 2004).
As a result of the massive migration to the USA, several changes to the social
organisation of communities in the Valle del Mezquital can be observed. One of
the most important is, as in Dofia Clara' s case the admittance of women, nor-
mally migrants' spouses, to the community organisation and to formal positions
as representatives of their husbands, or sons. This has resulted in an ongoing
renegotiation of the community's gender relations leading to internal conflicts
but bringing certain gains for some women as I shall discuss later. Transnational-
isation is not the sole element in this transformation but it occurs in combination
with several others. This shows that the transnational dimension of these com-
munities is, in various ways, strongly related to diverse processes of current so-
cial and political transformation.
The key to the local organisation is the emic concept of citizenship
(ciudadania). This concept is different from the legal and constitutional concept
of citizenship, and has a peculiarly local character. Thus, it differs from the
concept of transnational citizenship currently discussed in transnationalisation lit-
erature (Kivisto/Faist 2007; Smith/Bakker 2008). It is an emic term which makes
reference to a social status inside the community which enables different persons
to take part in community assemblies, where local affairs are discussed, as voting
members. This means that they are enabled to formally take part in the com-
munities' decisions. At the same time citizens have to fulfil collective work ob-
ligations in so called faenas, and to pay yearly contributions for the community
projects. Furthermore citizens are eligible to fill community positions. These in-
13 In contrast to terms like transnational the term translocal refers to the fact that most
social processes are not taking place in reference to a nation but are very localised.
Thus the importance of the analysis lies not in the crossing of a national border but
more generally in the spanning of social textures between distinct localities, be they
border crossing or not (cf. for translocal as analytical category Peleikis 2003;
Lachenmann/Dannecker 2008; Burawoy 2000 and for the discussion of locality,
Pfaff-Czamecka 2005).
 TRANSNATIONALITY, TRANSLOCAL CiTIZENSHIP AND GENDER RELATIONS I 201

elude the membership in committees, for example for the water supply, schools
and public works, as well as the highest local authority, the delegado. He acts as
a justice of the peace, forms the link to governmental institutions and is more
generally the community representative to the outside world.
In the past citizens were supposed to be representatives of their family in the
sense of family patriarchs. According to this conceptualisation, it is still assumed
that the supposed "male breadwinner" is the spokesperson of a household. Non-
etheless over the last few years the social embodiment of this concept has under-
gone severe modifications through diverse processes of negotiation, which finally
converted it into a kind of transnational citizenship with a strongly gendered
background. It is important to note that the transnationalisation of this local
concept has only become possible through the commitment of women like Dofl.a
Clara in the realm of community organisation.
The weight of transnational citizenship is seen in the continuous reference to
the community as a collective and to the ongoing fulfilment of citizen duties,
even in cases of migrants who are away from home for years, despite the relat-
ively huge expenses this implies. In a certain way this can be seen as coercion,
because those who won't contribute lose all their rights in the community, e.g. to
community based services like access to water supply or even the right to be bur-
ied in their home village. This shows that identity as a community member is an
important aspect as well. No one would ever dare to be excluded beyond death
from his village.
Thus another fundamental feature of the community is its importance in the
villagers' identity formation. The community is a we-group in the classic sense
(Elwert 1997, 2002). The villagers feel themselves to be part of a certain com-
munity, despite all conflicts. It is nearly unimaginable to live outside a com-
munity. Certainly there is certain pragmatism about this, as the community is
needed for the provision of specific services and for the execution of projects.
But deeper than this the community is a social construct every villager can relate
him/herself to. This is even true in cases in which some people feel confronted by
the community, (temporarily) cease to carry out their duties and speak about the
community in an alienated way. In the end, these disputes demonstrate their com-
mitment and their identification with the community. The members feel a strong
sense of belonging (Cohen 1982) to this we-group which is reflected in their day-
to-day relevance structures. So the rise of a transnational dimension is based on
this deep identification with the community, finally enabling it to transform into
202 I GILBERTO RESCHER

a transnational formation. 14 As in every construction of identity the process itself

is dynamic and negotiated through self and external ascriptions (cf. Schlee/Wern-
er 1996; Schlee 2002). Through the interactions between the community and the
outside world the visions and perceptions of the "indigenous community" are in
constant transformation on both sides.
It is noticeable that these communities do not have the kind of migrant asso-
ciations that a considerable part of the migration and transnationalisation literat-
ure concerning Mexico frequently refers to. 15 Neither have the migrants estab-
lished formal organisations nor have they attempted to create informal equival-
ents with the goal of developing their communities or municipalities or to influ-
ence local and regional politics in their places of origin. This fact is based in the
form of social organisation, to which the migrants are attached to. In transnation-
al citizenship especially I see the reason why these types of migrant associations,
like hometown associations, have not been developed in these communities. Mi-
grants have to cooperate and their interest in helping and developing their com-
munity is thus satisfied, so there is no need for separate organisations. The out-
come is a basically transnational community organisation in which so called tra-
ditional elements are well adapted to these new circumstances. We can see this
phenomenon as exemplifying a strong transnational link between actors in their
places of origin and the migrants. This kind of transnational organisation should
not be overlooked due to an intense focus on formal migrant institutions. It could
be a feature of transnationality as common as formal institutions are. 16 In my
cases the relative informality of organisational patterns is essential for transna-
tionality. In contrast to the stereotypic perspective on rural indigenous communit-
ies above mentioned, their organisation is very flexible and capable of coping
with diverse changes. In this respect, my analysis points to the "usos y cos-
tumbres" (ways and customs), which are often perceived as traditionalistic, strict
and rigid, 17 as being the basis for the communities' flexibility and ability to adapt
to new circumstances. They ultimately assure the survival of the villages and of
their form of organisation. As a matter of fact, most customs and 'traditional' in-
stitutions seen as a legacy of precolonial times, are of relatively recent origin. In

14 This sense of belonging and the correspondent relevance structures in identity form-
ation are reflected in an often cited anecdote from El Thonxi. One villager was ap-
prehended by the US Immigration Authority. Wben he was asked about his place of
origin for deportation he answered "I am from El Thonxi." "Wbere is that?" asked
the officers. "Next to Iglesia Nueva." the closest village. "And where is that?"
"Close to Ixmiquilpan." the regional centre. This went on until the migrant finally
said that he was from Mexico, the information the immigration officers were in-
tending to find out. This shows that identity construction is not primarily related to
Mexico as nation but to the local community.
15 Examples for this focus on formally established hometown associations are
Goldring 2002, 1998 and LanlyNalenzuela 2004.
16 This aspect will be discussed in detail in my forthcoming dissertation.
17 This vision is, on the one hand, present in some academic work and, on the other
hand, in public discourse.
 TRANSNATIONALITY, TRANSLOCAL CiTIZENSHIP AND GENDER RELATIONS I 203

many cases for example, the faenas as an institutionalised form of community

work, seem to be an recent reinvention of local traditions arisen in response to
emerging necessities. This means that the community members have always been
flexible enough to adapt themselves and their organisation to external changes.
This has always been achieved through the interaction with the "outside". Since
even the internal rules are based on constant renegotiations the community actors
are able to achieve further transformation through this highly dynamic process.
The everyday interactions in- and outside the community are ultimately the basis
for the communities' flexibility.
These communities are basically transnationalised communities. I call them
transnationalised in contrast to the concept of transnational community, which
refers to broader communities that are formed in the process of transnationalisa-
tion (cf. Glick Schiller et al. 1992; Basch et al. 1993; Pries 2008). These consist
mainly of transmigrants and persons related to them through regular interaction
like their family members and other persons who stay in the places of origin as
well as those who live in places of arrival. These formations are located in or en-
compass transnational social spaces (cf. Pries 1999; Faist 2000) that are pluriloc-
ally grounded crossborder social formations. In my cases I refer to already exist-
ing communities that developed a transnational dimension mainly through pro-
cesses of migration and, as a result, became transnationalised. Thus, in this case
the transnational space does not encompass the whole of the community but just
a facet of it. The transnationalised community can be understood as part of
transnational fields (cf. Glick Schiller et al. 1999) to use a more comprehensive
concept.
Due to its manifestation of global and local processes this kind of transna-
tionality could be understood as a feature of a world society in an open and in-
elusive sense. This specific transnational formation is part of larger border cross-
ing societal arrangements. However this example exposes the lack of utility of
those world society approaches that are based on systems theory for explaining
processes related to (transnational) migration. In that mindset it is frequently as-
sumed that, as Stichweh (2005) states, migration is going to disappear. In this
view migration will be superseded by communication technologies because the
relevance of face to face communication in social systems is declining.
Moreover, supposed global world society structures are seen as influencing local
formations. The independence oflocal formations, like communities, from global
ones and their relevance in the shaping of global processes, where local agency is
prominent, is deliberately omitted (cf. Lachenmann 2007). My case demonstrates
that social formations depend upon a common ground which is constantly reaf-
firmed and renegotiated through personal interactions, this means by processes
which depend upon face to face encounters. Communication technologies are
employed in the transnational processes described but they are in no way making
personal interactions obsolete. They are just an additional feature of the transna-
tional social space that rather stimulates and assists the physical mobility of per-
204 I GILBERTO RESCHER

sons. In the communities studied, migration and the related symbolic flows are
fundamental for the existence of a transnational social formation which can be
part of broader global societal formations. Accordingly a world society concept
has to take into account the localisation of world society based on encounters of
social actors in localised formations. Only in this manner can it embrace signific-
ant parts of social realities.
Thus instead of leaving aside the analysis of interactions these should be the
focus of study. The best way to analyse the dynamics of such processes is the
analysis of the correspondent interfaces in the interactions between different so-
cial actors. According to Long, interface

"conveys the idea of some kind of face to face encounter between individuals with dif-
fering interests, resources and power. Studies of interface aim to bring out the types of
discontinuities that exist and the dynamic and emergent character of the struggles and
interactions that take place, showing how actors' goals, perceptions, values, interests
and relationships are reinforced or reshaped by this process" (Arce/Long 1992: 214).

"Such an analysis stresses the reproduction and transformation of social discontinuities

inherent in interface encounters[ .. .]" (Long 1992a: 6).

and he states that

"studies of interface should not therefore be restricted to observing what goes on during
face-to-face encounters, since these interactions are in part affected by actors, institu-
tional and cultural frameworks, and resources that may not actually be physically or dir-
ectly present. Hence [ ... ] the analysis should situate these within broader institutional
and power fields" (Arce/Long 1992: 214).

Thus, the positions of social actors are never stable but always transformed
through interactions. This means that social processes, like in our case, are very
dynamic because they are based on interactions forming the foundation for social
change. At the same time the interface is just the point where the diverse logics,
perspectives and resources of actors based in their specific lifeworlds, become
visible. As in the case of transnational formations interfaces have to be analysed
within broader fields.
In the case of the transformation of the community organisation an important
interface exists between those "staying home", the supposedly less mobile villa-
gers, usually considered equivalent to the community as an institution, and those
citizens who have migrated. The main arenas in which the encounters take place
are the village assembly and related institutions in the community organisation. I
could observe in the assemblies how the logics of the main actors collided. De-
pending upon the concrete situation, the actors involved were the leaders of the
community and its elected authorities, on the one hand, and the migrants or their
representatives on the other. There were constant quarrels about the way in which
 TRANSNATIONALITY, TRANSLOCAL CiTIZENSHIP AND GENDER RELATIONS I 205

repercussions of the physical absence of migrants could be remedied, exposing

the distinct logics of the actors. Just one example is the migrants' goal of having
more influence over the communitarian processes of decision making. This con-
cern arises basically from the fear of not being taken into account in an appropri-
ate manner and, due to the migrants' absence, not being able to argue in favour of
their families needs. In this their increased self-confidence, owed to experiences,
ideas and resources gained in the USA, forms a prominent part of the basis for
the resulting interactions. The leaders and authorities, in contrast, are aiming at a
smooth governing of the community. They often see themselves as owning the
knowledge necessary for guiding village affairs and perceive the migrants' inter-
ventions as perturbing or even as threat to the "ways in which the community
should work." Furthermore they are worried about maintaining their position in
the internal power arrangements. In the end, this kind of negotiation at interfaces
has led to the emergence of the transnational dimension of community organisa-
tion in its current pattern.
It is important to stress that the process of transnationalisation has reached
impressive dimensions. The case of the village of Barranca Empinada it is espe-
cially striking. In a relatively short period this community and its migrants de-
veloped nearly the full "set" of features of transnationality, despite its being
based mainly on undocumented migration. It can be stated that almost immedi-
ately, this community in Mexico has seen migrants as continuously participating
in the community. There have never been tendencies towards separation or exclu-
sion. Thus, the transnationalisation of this community took place faster than de-
scribed for other Mexican cases. But more importantly it took a form of everyday
practices of transnationality particular to these communities. Furthermore it has
to be stressed that it is basically women's commitment and dedication to the
community organisation that has facilitated the rise of and sustained the transna-
tional dimension. At the core are changes to the ways and customs or better said,
everyday practices of construction of citizenship and of the concept of citizenship
itself. Thus, it can be affirmed that these rules, like community organisation as a
whole, are constantly being renegotiated, which explains their flexible character.
In this way transformation is achieved through interaction in a dynamic social
field. The communities have developed their own specific transnationality
through a dynamic process of interaction with diverse actors and groups. The
change in gender relations is a prominent part of this process of transformation as
I will analyse in the following.

Change in Gender Relations

Due to the growing incorporation of women into community organisation mainly

as representatives of absent migrants, as in Dofia Clara's case, spaces like the vil-
lage assembly or the faenas, the community work, form the main arenas in which
206 I GILBERTO RESCHER

the negotiation of gender relations takes place. I am going to analise, as exem-

plarily, four arenas or sets of interfaces in which negotiations of gender relations
take place, sketching briefly the distinct logics involved.
The first arena in which renegotiations occur are the formal public spheres of
the communitarian organisation where interactions between participating women
and male community members, especially the leaders and authorities, take place.
Although the incorporation of women into the community organisation and work
is fundamental for the survival of the community and in this sense, especially of
the community in its transnational shape, this transformation is not fully accepted
and has led to continuous subtle conflicts. In El Thonxi there is constant criticism
about the women's participation in faenas. It is uttered in comments ranging
from the supposed physical inability to do hard work well, accusations concern-
ing their supposed unwillingness to work preferring to gossip, and claims that
they don't even know how to do the work. 18 What underlies these statements is a
lack of mutual understanding, and up to a certain degree, a wish to discredit wo-
men's participation. The same applies to women's position in the community as-
sembly. Here, men's criticism is again that women gossip instead of participating
constructively, that they don't pay attention, don't inform their husbands cor-
rectly and finally that they don't understand what is being talked about. These re-
proaches rise partially from a misinterpretation of the fact that some women need
explanation or translation of certain aspects, which is given by other women and
understood by some men as gossiping. Women who do actively participate in as-
semblies are criticised for being disrespectful, for criticising the men's proposals
and for saying irrelevant things. In consequence, there are regular attempts to
limit women's participation. Some delegados, for example, tried to forbid female
work in the faenas, requiring them to pay fees, and the actual delegado didn't
want to grant representatives of migrants the status of voting members in the as-
semblies. This never succeeded because women resisted and these restrictions
would have ended up putting the community's functioning at risk.
We may see the attempts to restrict women's participation and to reverse
their incorporation as a response to a feeling of discomfort and of threat felt by
many men. In a certain way, they feel threatened by the growing presence and in-
fluence of women, and are afraid that women could start ruling the community.
These general and diffuse fears are augmented by community leaders who fear
that they could lose part of their power. Accordingly, especially old men and
leaders feel that the established order or the customs are threatened. From their
perspective, the community is no longer how it should be. And this fear is not
just related to the women's participation, but also to a growing influence of male
migrants. These attempts at restriction are accompanied and supported by a rising
neotraditionalist discourse about community and its institutions, stressing collab-
oration and harmony as a result of "proper behaviour" in the community, espe-
cially concerning the positions of men and women. This is definitively to be seen
18 Obviously these reproaches stress classic preconceptions about female behaviour.
 TRANSNATIONALITY, TRANSLOCAL CiTIZENSHIP AND GENDER RELATIONS I 207

as a mix of prejudices and fear of losing power and control. It also concurs with
statements that express the view that the community is going wrong, that the tra-
ditional order is affected, and that the village organisation, which from their per-
spective 'has been proven to work', should remain unaltered or be reinstated.
Certainly, they also feel a risk of the community entering a state in which it
would no longer work and thus disappear. For the leaders this involves the
danger of losing the basis of their own political activities in the community and
party politics. The resistance of women to these manoeuvres is quite inconsistent.
Thus this neotraditionalist discourse is regularly supported by women. They of-
ten criticise in subtile ways the "inappropiate behaviour" of those women who
take part in the community organisation.
In this context, the gendered power texture in the community and its organ-
isation can be analysed where interaction between women is guided by gender
rules, or in other words at the interface between different groups of women. Gen-
erally in the analysis of the gender relations in the communities it has to be taken
into account that they are basically power relations. Nonetheless power should
not be understood as something imposed on individuals and groups in an op-
pressive manner but as constantly constructed and renegotiated through interac-
tions between diverse actors. As Foucault (1982: 225p.) states

"What makes power hold good, what makes it accepted, is simply the fact that it doesn't
only weigh on us as a force that says no, but that it traverses and produces things, it in-
duces pleasure, forms of knowledge, produces discourse. It needs to be considered as a
productive network that runs through the whole social body, much more than as a negat-
ive instance whose function is repression."

Furthermore, as Abu-Lughod (1990: 41p.) suggests, power can be detected

through the analysis of resistance. As Foucault (1978: 95p.) says

"Where there is power, there is resistance, and yet, or rather consequently, this resist-
ance is never in a position of exteriority in relation to power."

In this sense the ongoing processes of renegotiation of women's position in the

communities points to the transformation of the gendered dimension of power re-
lations. The challenging of established rules, supposedly ancient and traditional,
by dedicated women is to be understood as a form of resistance inside the power
texture of the community. But this is always related to power itself and in a cer-
tain sense implies a certain recognition and legitimation of the power relations
themselves, perpetuating power and thus gender relations as a whole. So it is ne-
cessary to study in the long term whether or not the change in gender relations is
nonetheless leading to a lasting transformation of the local gender orders.
As the example of Dofia Clara reveals, women, as part of their involvement
in the transnational community, are becoming more experienced in aspects of
208 I GILBERTO RESCHER

community organisation and some have even become politically active at the mu-
nicipallevel. This is in part a result of their involvement in community organisa-
tion but also of their increasing work and responsibility in all aspects of social
life, in community, household, agriculture and waged labour. It also coincides
with the migration experiences that many women have had on their own. Gener-
ally, this experience leads them to feel more self-assured and to be more inde-
pendent, knowing that they can achieve goals by themselves. An important part,
as these women often mention, is the feeling of earning their own money in the
USA, which makes them more independent and 'equal' to their husbands. This
change happens to an extent which leads the female villagers to categorise the
older women as "women of the past" and the younger ones as "women of the
present". This categorisation encompasses a vision of the younger women as
having different values, attitudes and abilities based on their different education
and experiences. This difference is marked and can be observed in everyday-
life.19
In any case, there exists a marked difference between elder and younger wo-
men in questions of social control, an interface characterised by discontinuities
(Long 1989). The relations of power in the negotiation of women's positions and
the existing ascriptions about what is defined as proper female behaviour imply a
strong dimension of social control in the transnationalised community. This kind
of control has always been common in the communities as social formations and
refers widely to the control of women's activities. This aspect has gained increas-
ing importance in the realm of transnationality. Because married couples are of-
ten separated for long periods of time it is seen as important to assure the ,good
behaviour" of women by maintaining or even deepening the control over
women's day to day activities. This is done especially to lessen the presupposed
risk of infidelity. Thus in the transnationalised community the social control of
women is stronger than before. It is mainly exerted through the instrumentalisa-
tion of gossip and rumour about the attitude of specific women. Actually an im-
portant part of the long-distance communication is related to gossiping and false
rumours are used to intimidate women and to create an attitude of cautiousness. It
is quite common that this social control is exerted through the mothers-in-law.
This exemplifies the interface between women in which some uphold and en-
force social rules, that are constituted by men as supposedly traditional, thus fa-
cilitating the social control of certain other women.
Nonetheless in addition to the upholding of power relations through women
there are examples of hidden resistance in the sense of James Scott (1985, 1990).
Often a visible subordination to the dominant rules and visions is just a strategy

19 It is striking that despite categorisation, and the discursive formation of two distinct
groups there is no apparent generational conflict, no confrontation, at least among
women. They often work together and help each other through well-defined ties of
solidarity and reciprocity. Existing conflicts are related more to personal antipathy
than to age based othering.
 TRANSNATIONALITY, TRANSLOCAL CiTIZENSHIP AND GENDER RELATIONS I 209

to defend existing particular spaces and room to manoeuvre. This properly de-
scribes the daughters-in-law's logic in coping with attempts at control. They co-
operate up to a certain limit to avoid problems that could lead to stronger restric-
tion. There are several other points in which this kind of hidden resistance can be
seen in women's actions. Thus, Dofia Clara almost always speaks Hfiahfiu, the
local language, in the village assembly. Officially she states that this should be
normal because they are an indigenous community. Nonetheless she told me that
she does this to avoid being cheated by the leaders due to their eloquence in
Spanish and to insure that the other women are able to understand the discussion.
There is a further point in which distinct visions of the internal rules of or-
ganisation could bring actual transformation to put a strain on the communities.
The corresponding interactions take place in a more subtile and discursive way at
an underlying all-embracing level in the communities. Although the transforma-
tion in the communitarian organisation leads to an increasing degree of incorpor-
ation of social groups that were formerly marginalised, it applies almost exclus-
ively to male citizens. It is still very difficult for women to integrate themselves
into the arenas in which such negotiations take place, and often they are not fully
taken into account. Gender democracy is far from being achieved at all levels.
This is especially problematic for the communities themselves, as currently the
majority of villagers who go to university are young women receiving financial
assistance from their migrant relatives, while young men prefer to migrate and
work in the USA before even finishing secondary education. This causes a huge
educational gap between younger men and women, but the main problem is that
women, as they are not 'citizens', are not politically taken into account in their
community. Thus, their potential is not used for the good of the community and
in time, these women become alienated. As for the community, it is losing its
educational elite in a context in which there are attempts by the leaders to instru-
mentalise village customs to maintain their position and power.
At the same time the physical mobility of women is seldom recognised in the
communities. Even though very many of them actually have extensive migratory
experiences, often made on their own, and an important share of the actual mi-
grants in the USA are female, it is continuously assumed that women stay at
home or migrate as a mere annex of their husbands and will return to the village
after a short while. 20 Thus it is generally supposed that they will be present to
cope with all of the responsibilities the migrating men leave behind. This causes
problems for those women who live differently and are confronted with assump-
tions and demands based on this prejudiced attitude. This relates not only to mi-
grants' spouses but also to the women who attend university. As they are not liv-
ing in conformity with the local conception of a good women's life, especially by

20 This corresponds to a widely shared view of female migration that fails to recognise
women as autonomous and active migrants with their own strategies and objectives.
For a discussion of academic blindness in relation to female migrants see
Dannecker 2005.
21 0 I GILBERTO RESCHER

not staying home, their reality is ignored in the communitarian self-organisation.

Thus they drop below the authorities' horizon and their abilities are not used to
benefit the community.
Looking at a fourth arena we can see that, despite the importance of transna-
tionalisation for the transformation of gender relations in the communities, it is
important to have a wider scope of analysis when taking into account other ele-
ments fostering their renegotiation. In this way it is possible to study transnation-
ality in terms of the local context and to analyse how it relates to other distinct
elements in the processes of transformation. This can be exemplified through the
analysis of the community Barranca Empinada. Here the position of at least some
women had already changed, mainly due to interaction at interfaces on the mesa-
level between the community and state institutions. In the 1990s this community
had the reputation of being rebellious. This was due to its participation in a social
movement which some say actually started in Barranca Empinada. The ground
for this movement was a protest against local and regional politics especially
concerning the disregard of the communities and the accusation of a clientelistic
and unjust allocation of resources and assistance. As a result of these struggles,
the autonomous status of the community was strengthened. 21 Although today a
majority of the former activists feel that they were misused and their claims in-
strumentalised by the former leaders of the community and the movement, they
seem to have enthusiastically participated at the time. 22 Several women also parti-
cipated actively in the forefront of marches and other activities during this
protest. Some say that this was a strategy by the leaders to draw attention to the
mobilisation and to confuse the state forces. But even in that case these women
gained experiences in the field of organisation and of local politics. This prepared
them in the long run to take a more active and independent part in the corn-
munity. Thus, this group of women formed part of the pool of persons who were
entitled to occupy the most prestigious positions in the community. 23 In the same
way they were always present as group in the discussions held to make decisions
in the community. Although they were not formally entitled to be voting mem-
bers their opinion was taken into account. When the community broke up due to
its leaders' quarrels and split into two rival groups these women were, on the one
hand, blamed for being responsible for the friction and, on the other hand, are
frequently asked for supporting one of the sides.
Finally in this year, 2008, the community elected for the first time a delega-
ci6n that is made up solely of women. This is presented as an attempt to over-
come the two-year long friction in the community. Although most of these wo-
21 As mentioned before in this community nearly no interference of governmental act-
ors from any level is accepted and state forces like police and military are not al-
lowed to enter the community without having a permit obtained through the deleg-
ado.
22 This movement became famous in the region due to several roadblocks and the
burning of the regional station of the federal police force.
23 Although none of them had been elected delegada before.
 TRANSNATIONALITY, TRANSLOCAL CiTIZENSHIP AND GENDER RELATIONS I 211

men are not formal citizens it appears that they were elected in their own right,
this means elected as the persons they are and not as proxies of their husbands. I
have come to this conclusion because of the fact that the most active women
were already present in the community's organisation. In addition the delegada is
the daughter of a previous informal leader of the community. That means that
these women had to have a proper background and image in respect to organisa-
tional experience and their reputation inside the community. 24
The analysis of this case shows that the involvement of women in arenas and
spheres that were formally restricted to or at least mainly occupied by men has
been achieved due to a combination of diverse aspects. In this the transformation
related to the transnational dimensions of the social formations inside the com-
munities, is not the sole cause although it is often an important aspect. Probably
the most important point in reaching this goal of full participation is the continu-
ous activity and insistence of these women. Thus it can be stated that they
achieve a higher level of emancipation in this process. But at the same time the
foundation for this seems to be really a previous emancipation which is then
fostered. However these cases can not be understood as a compelling hint of a
change in the gender order that goes beyond a mere change of gender relations in
certain cases. Nonetheless an important change is definitively taking place.

Local Politics and Development

It is important to underline that these changes seem to be leading to more general

change in various aspects. This transformation can not be discussed here in de-
tail, but I will point briefly to some of them. Apart from the change described in
gender relations and the renegotiation of belonging and oflocal institutions, there
is a change going on in the local modes of political negotiation and even in the
way state and national projects and programs are implemented. The formation of
the transnational space seems to be leading, together with other national and
global influences like political disappointments and discourses on democracy,
human rights and ethnic identities, to more democracy in the sense of greater ac-
cess to political decision making. Many persons in the rural communities are be-
coming increasingly interested in political decisions, starting in the community

24 Generally women's position in the communities is also influenced by other aspects

like their age or educational background. Elderly women have a distinct position
which grants them freedom from certain expectations. They have, for example,
more freedom of movement and can drink alcohol in public. Women with a formal
education and often working as teachers have always had a distinct position in the
community as they are citizens in their own right. This was due to their income but
also to a respectful view of them as educated persons. Nonetheless this does not
mean that they are fully exempted from rules and attempts at control. However the
difference is that they always have been more self assured and devoted more effort
to gain recognition by the community.
212 I GILBERTO RESCHER

and reaching other levels. Based on experiences in the USA, a growing educa-
tional level and a far better economic situation, village dwellers are not as easy to
manipulate as they were before. Many, and because of the concept of citizenship,
mainly male migrants, are beginning to get actively involved in community af-
fairs, claiming their right to be taken into account in decisions. This participation
quickly leads them to take part in the discussion of aspects concerning the com-
munity's relation to various governmental levels and finally, as community rep-
resentatives, in the corresponding negotiations. In certain cases their position is
developing into what Bierschenk, Chauveau and Olivier de Sardan (2003) have
conceptualised as one of development brokers. This means that the former com-
munity leaders' supremacy is being challenged, leading in some cases to a rup-
ture and in other cases to the integration of the rising leaders. It can be also
widely observed that the former local elites are being displaced or enlarged with
migrants and younger professionals who are becoming politically active. As part
of this process, a slight change in political logics and modes of negotiation can be
observed. An example is the fact that governmental support granted to the com-
munity is no longer seen as personalised help in a clientelistic manner. Now,
most citizens are aware of the impartial character of these benefits and of their
right to receive them. Thus, the logic of clientelistic 'begging' is slowly changing
to one of insisting on the right to support from public institutions.
As described before, migration to the USA and the formation of transnational
social spaces has led, building upon former experiences of translocality, to the
transformation of the communities' self-organisation. It is important to notice
that communities' flexibility which I argue to be the basis of their survival des-
pite all changes can even lead to a strengthening of the relative autonomy of the
communities. This coincides with change in political logics and modes of negoti-
ation and both processes seem to mutually reinforce each other. As a result of the
remittances and local community organisation, which enables the villagers to un-
dertake their own projects, the communities have become more independent of
state projects and financing. This leads to a stronger position in negotiations with
representatives of the state and its institutions. These villagers are conscious of
being able to achieve something on their own and they are aware that the state
projects would not work without their collaboration and especially without their
financial cooperation. Although in the past, this fact has been neglected in
designing their projects, over the last few years, communities are becoming more
and more aware of the value of their own work and financial contribution. In
consequence, the multitude of self-organised projects have enabled the com-
munities to be more autonomous. They are no longer willing to accept every kind
of conditions and "interference" from state institutions in exchange for a kind of
assistance which is no longer seen as essential for achieving the development of
their communities. At the same time, criticism and distrust of state agents has in-
creased and this reinforces the caution about accepting interference in community
affairs. This does not mean that the members of the communities would decline
 TRANSNATIONALITY, TRANSLOCAL CiTIZENSHIP AND GENDER RELATIONS 1213

any kind of assistance. In fact they even ask for it, but basically the basis for the
negotiation of benefits has changed. Parting from these interfaces can rise a new
vision of the communities with a gradually more inclusive perspective on devel-
opment.
Nonetheless, up to now state institutions have not nearly taken into account
the existence of female migrants and professionals and their participation in the
community decision making. So the general underestimation of rural communit-
ies is even worse in the case of their female members. The change in women's
lives goes practically unnoticed by these institutions. Thus the planning of devel-
opment programs and concrete projects remains rooted in a kind of artificial
blindness to an inadequate image of rural women. If, nevertheless, change is no-
ticed, it is only defined in negative terms, such as family disruption, etc. As a
consequence development and social programs heavily emphasise women as be-
ing affected by migration, but the projects proposed are not adapted to women's
social reality. Therefore, these programs often do not benefit women and even in-
crease their work load as discussed before. This is a common outcome of devel-
opment programs which are planned on the drawing board with too little contact
with, and understanding of, the social reality of beneficiaries' everyday life. This
is the case with several projects in the communities, e.g. the oportunidades pro-
grams and several projects which were planned to foster the local or "family"
economy. Thus, women's work load, which is already increased due to the extra
work in household, agriculture and community, is augmented by an extra-amount
of communitarian work and of other duties as a result of programs implemented
which do not take into account the transnational reality of their lives. A major
problem in development planning is that these transnational aspects are not taken
into account and therefore the programs and schemes offered do not fit into the
social reality of most of the migrants and their family members.

Small Changes - Large Results

As I have analysed in this chapter there are several processes of transformation

taking place in the central Mexican rural communities studied. There are changes
in the communitarian self organisation and in gender relations and order which
are related to transformation in other spheres like (local) politics and develop-
ment. At a first glance this transformation may be seen as mere processes of
emancipation giving rise to a more democratic and egalitarian social organisa-
tion. Nonetheless, as I have shown in my analysis, the underlying processes are
very complex and diverse and have inconsistent outcomes. Thus certain phenom-
ena concerning gender relations which could be seen as a gain for women in the
communities can result in a higher burden and increased social control. For this
reason it is important to continue studying the processes related to transnational-
214 I GILBERTO RESCHER

ity taking into account the relation and interwoveness of a variety of dimensions
and processes.
The way in which the communities are transformed points to a particular
type oftransnationality. It is the way in which transnational phenomena are nego-
tiated in those communities. An essential part of this social and political change
is based on the activities of women. Nonetheless, instead the gendered dimension
of physical mobility and thus of the rising of transnationality in the community
organisation and its everyday life is frequently being overlooked. This refers as
much to actors in the community itself as to relevant representatives of the state,
especially in institutions concerned with development. Thus, even interventions
which are meant to "support" women often have a contrary influence increasing
their work-burden. It can be stated that the communities can not be simply de-
veloped and empowered from the outside. As Long (1992b: 275p.) shows, pre-
cisely the dynamics at the interfaces hinder such an emancipation driven from the
outside. Such a deeper social change has to build on processes taking place inside
the communities, gaining importance in interactions with (institutional) actors
from the outside. As I have shown this is the case of the actual transformation
that has led to a change of gender order, mainly due to the access to formerly re-
stricted spaces. What is actually causing the problems discussed for the women
actively engaged in community organisation and politics is the fact that their
commitment is seldom formalised. As in the case of being informal proxies to
their spouses, there exists no official manner of taking part in the relevant activit-
ies. A recognition of their commitment with a relative formalisation (at the com-
munity level) would enable them to combine their numerous duties and activities
without being overloaded. 25 Up to now a subtle but considerable change in the
gender order has taken place, not only due to transnationalisation but also to the
growing education and formal employment of women. As I have shown this pro-
cess is not just restricted to the communitarian level but reaches other spheres
and levels as in the case of local politics. This exemplifies the opportunities for
sustainable change through the interrelation with diverse processes of transform-
ation.

25 This has already been achieved in few cases where couples have rearranged their
duties. Thus when the husband is in the village they attend jointly the village as-
sembly. These men state that the wife is better informed and more experienced in
issues of community organisation. This happened with Doi'ia Clara and Don
Raimundo. Officially he is still the citizen but, de facto, the community considers
her as a citizen.
 TRANSNATIONALITY, TRANSLOCAL CiTIZENSHIP AND GENDER RELATIONS 1215

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Networks, Hubs, Localities
A Global City-State of Finance - the Staging of
Singapore as Financial Hub between Global and
Local Rhetoric
STEPHANIE HERING

I ntrod u cti on

Singapore is a relative newcomer in the league of 'Global Cities'. Emerging like

a shooting star, it grew within a short while not only into a regional hotspot but
also to be a metropolis on global scale. The potency of its financial sector, its vis-
ibility and presence is rated by the Singaporeans as the most important push-fac-
tor for that status and is, therefore, highly cultivated and treated like a trophy.
Much effort is spend on presenting Singapore as an investors' paradise, a little
Switzerland ofAsia, and of course a vibrant Global City to live in.
In so far as the image of globality is, per se, inherent in the public perception
of finance, Singapore seems to provide an excellent object to investigate and dis-
play the universal mentality (or global mind set) of a whole nation. Like all sites
of international finance and Global Cities, Singapore is concomitantly looking
for and producing its specificity in order to demonstrate to the world the unique-
ness of this location. Struggling with two opposed aspirations, there is no scarcity
of pitfalls on the way. In the following article I will look at the imagineering of
globality intertwined with locality in the Singaporean discourse about its status as
a Global City State ofFinance.
Firstly, I will summar the theoretical framework from which my considera-
tions issue. Thereafter follows a short consideration of Singapore's spatiotempo-
ral context. Finally, I shall present some key-notes from the Singaporean dis-
course1 and discuss them within my theoretical framework. This paper's interest
is in the flanking ideological arrangements around a self-perception as 'a Global
City of Finance', not in the question of how this perception relates to the 'hard-
ware' of the financial world. Economic sociology needs also to be concerned

Based on the material I gathered during a field-trip to Singapore in 2005.

222 I STEPHANIE HERING

with the analysis of the culture( s) and popular representations of finance, i.e. the
public statements and the commonly held ideas about finance. The ideas of glob-
ality are not only enclosed in financial discourses but also in the visual and mate-
rial statements of urban architecture which are widely neglected by the sociology
of finance and/or globalisation. Ofless interest are the market- (and world-) con-
structions of traders, generated especially through their interaction with the
screen. 2

Financial Flows, Financial Centres and Global Cities

Since the commencement of the discourse on globalisation, it is widely recog-

nised that economy is its driving force. Finance, or more precisely the interna-
tionalisation of financial markets, is particularly relevant in this debate. Triggered
by revolutionary advances in information technologies and wide-ranging liberali-
sation-policies by many states around the globe during the last decade, 3 monetary
flows (or financial transactions) have risen enormously in volume and impor-
tance as has the public attention to, and awareness of, them. 4
Finance seems to carry some qualities that are eminently associated with
globalisation or globality. With the emancipation of (electronic) money from
cash (or other forms of paper), financial products or instruments lack a material
referent, visible beyond the screen. Now they can, at least potentially, travel un-
hampered around the globe, implementing an utopian notion of a world, where
everything is free-floating. In this regard, the evidence of 'financial flows' per-
fectly confirms the observation of increasing disentanglement of space and time. 5
While past generalised concepts of economy were mostly concepts of national
economies and hence contaminated with all the conceptual fallacies inherent in
the notion of 'nation-sate' (now rather suspicious, and altogether unfashionable),
the present financial system is usually perceived as a web of trans- or suprana-
tional circulations (Knorr Cetina/Preda 2005). Insofar, it is hardly astonishing
that finance is sometimes celebrated as the avant-garde of globalism. Although,
as a matter of fact, the financial policies of states and governments are still ex-
tremely important.
It is frequently argued (and dreaded) that due to disembeddedment, accelera-
tion and dematerialisation, as inherent in globalisation, geographies will become
obsolete or, at least, differences between specific venues will be levelled. Al-
though there is a number of examples for a worldwide harmonisation of stan-
2 See Knorr Cetina (2005), Knorr Cetina/Bruegger (2002).
3 Which in effect meant opening their financial markets to plug into the world
market.
4 Readily identifiable in the amount of information provided for, and news space oc-
cupied by financial markets in the media.
5 The term "time-space-compression" goes back to David Harvey's book The condi-
tion ofPostmodernity (1989).
 A GLOBAL CiTY-STATE OF FINANCE I 223

dards in some fields, the growing importance of local specifity conditioned by

globalisation is as well attested. Not every aspect of social or individual life is
swallowed by some abstract globality, and place does still matter. Far from being
a paradox, this co-occurence can be perceived as two sides of the same coin.
What is actually happening is a phase transition from one model of local and spa-
tial order- that of the nation-state -to another world order in which regions and
strategic cities are the nodal points for a new global map (Castells/Hall 1996).
Financial flows may seem to float freely and limitlessly across the globe, but
in fact they are restricted in many ways. They are mediated by banks, transna-
tional corporations, stock exchanges and governments; all of them are operating
in a specific local business environment that is determined by laws, taxes, general
infrastructure, stable or unstable political conditions and the trust solicited by the
image of a particular financial site. These conditions are essential for the enable-
ment (or disablement) of smooth financial flows, and these conditions are dis-
tributed unevenly around the globe. Some locations offer risks and raise barriers
for global financial business while others are appreciated for their promise of
chances and success. Thus, the more global financial flows animate phenomena
of disembeddedness, their circulation effect more embeddedness in specific
places at the same time (Thrift 1996: 231 ).
Here, the role of Global Cities (Sassen 2002) becomes crucial: Only these can
provide a satisfactory milieu for financial business and offer financial flows an
appropriate temporary home for investment. As Saskia Sassen (2005) and many
others have pointed out for a long time, the social connectivity and central func-
tions of a place are critical for the effective operation of the financial sector.
Most characteristics of a Global City are also central requirements for a financial
hub: An attractive infrastructure for the sophisticated demands of the highly edu-
cated transnational executive elite, a sense of cosmopolitanism, the availability of
elaborated technologies and the (perhaps virtual) neighbourhood of other impor-
tant strategic actors in the financial world. 6
Success in soliciting global companies, especially banks or even a stock ex-
change, is highly profitable for a city and also for its environments. Increasingly
and all over the world, Global Cities - as well as cities that aspire to this status -
find themselves in the role of rivals in the business of attracting investors and in
marketing themselves as perfect centres for global financial services. They all are
driven constantly by the need to produce and display competitive advantages in
the game of catching or channeling global financial flows.
Inasmuch as the global sector of finance is rated as a growing branch, and
combined with the view that the accommodation of a flourishing financial sector
will ensure an enhanced performance in other desirable and targeted develop-

6 Quite obviously, the meaning of these factors seems to be vague. But maybe it is
exactly the stretchability of these factors that makes them so attractive and hard-
fought in the Global Cities-game.
224 I STEPHANIE HERING

ments, 7 it is likely that competition of Global Cities for the status of prospective
host-locality of international finance will intensify. Moreover, in a globalising
world, in which distances between big cities are shrinking, there is no need to
privilege locations in the Western world anymore. Cities and regions from other
parts of the world in ascendance, starting with Asian localities, are now potent
candidates with good prospects in this competition.
The following analysis is guided by the assumption that Global Cities are
striving to stage themselves as attractive in accommodating financial nodal points
of global significance as possible, thus shaping a specific image of the city. The
self-projection must fulfil and display all the qualities that are required for a
Global City. But just meeting the demands is not sufficient. The city must also
imagine and project a specific 'otherness' or an aura of 'uniqueness' 8 that under-
lines the concrete locality and serves as an additional argument for a competitive
advantage; in short: to signal why it is better to invest here than somewhere else.

Singapore: General Background, Economy

and Finance

Singapore is hailed as a first rate achiever among the postcolonial states on the
basis of its successful development. It has been rising like a phoenix within a few
decades from the ashes of a poor run-down leftover of British colonial rule to be-
come a hypermodern country that even performs better, in terms of most 'devel-
opment-indicators'/ than many Western states.
Following independence in 1965, development was announced as Singa-
pore's primary objective. Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of modern Singa-
pore, accomplished this goal with firm, centralised and consistent leadership: He
set the agenda for contemporary Singapore and invented (t)his particular Global
City.
Development meant in the Singaporean context first and foremost economic
development. The first step on that road was rapid industrialisation, mainly with
electronic, chemical and petrochemical industries, followed quickly by a second
step with priority given to the encouragement of increasingly specialised, highly
professional and knowledge-based work. Aware of its dependency on the outside
and its resulting vulnerability, Singapore tried to play a sustainable role in the
world economic system by establishing the perfect pro-business environment
with political stability and good governance. The strategic impact of the govern-

7 As the World Bank has been preaching for a long time: World Bank Report (2001).
8 Like the distinctiveness of a trademark or brand - this aspect is highlighted in the
term "City-Branding".
9 Usually, such indicators can be divided in hard, economic indicators like the GDP
or the rate of inflation and soft social indicators like life expectancy, infant mortali-
ty or health care facilities etc.
 A GLOBAL CiTY-STATE OF FINANCE I 225

ment on the national economy cannot be overestimated. Developments are

planned and always keenly observed by the government. Some evaluate the
strong state-economy relationship pejoratively as a 'government driven econo-
my' or even 'state-capitalism' 10 (Worthington 2003). The Economic Develop-
ment Board (EDB) of Singapore 11 is one of the most powerful national institu-
tions. It was set up in the 1960s as part of the national government with the agen-
da of creating the infrastructure which attracts multinational corporations to in-
vest and start business in Singapore. The prime strategic purpose was to achieve
full employment and to promote economic growth.
The creation of a stable and prosperous financial sector to facilitate, if not to
stimulate further growth of the national economy has been a major strategic goal
since independence. The plan to transform Singapore into a primary financial
centre for East Asia was, however, not drafted before the late 1980s on the basis
of observations of the increasing internationalisation of trade and finance, and the
incipient discussion of globalisation (Koh Ai Tee et al. 2002). The Monetary Au-
thority of Singapore (MAS), which was established in 1971 to conduct central
bank functions, broadened its field of activity gradually and elaborated, in conse-
quence, various financial instruments and institutions for the development of the
financial sector. Extensive deregulation and liberalisation policies were intro-
duced along with tax incentives. The plan accomplished its purpose in motivating
foreign financial service firms to settle in Singapore and to mobil capital. 12 Since
the 1990s finance has been one of the most intensively fostered branches of the
service sector. The government places much emphasis on economic diversifica-
tion. After even broader deregulation and liberalisation moves since the mid
nineties and after the merger of the former stock exchanges SES and SIMEX to
the new SGX in 1999, Singapore is now assessed as a major regional and interna-
tional 'financial hub'. 13 Despite all the liberalisation and deregulation, Singapore
still has effective supervisory instruments in order to contain risk; hence it was
hardly affected by the recent Asian crisis.
Finance is rated as an increasingly important sector for the wealth of Singa-
pore (Blomquist 2005; Das 2004; Koh Ai Tee et al. 2002; Tan Chwee Huat
2004). Therefore Singapore's planners 14 are doing what they can to provide a per-

10 Or, alternatively, a strange mix between socialistic and capitalistic practices.

11 http://www.sedb.com. Although its 'mission' changed enormously over the years,
the EDB remains an important institution for Singapore's further strategic economic
and financial goals.
12 Singapore is the destination of the highest foreign direct investment flows in Asia.
Nevertheless, recently Singapore has also become an eminent source of outward in-
vestment (Blomqvist 2005: 85pp.).
13 Singapore is ranked by the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report
(2004) among the top ten financial markets in the world. The term 'financial hub' is
a recent catch-word used in the Global City-debate and -marketing; it describes fi-
nancial sites with enormous economic impact on a global scale. It is often used in
an affirmative way as self-description.
14 On the institutional level it is foremost EDB and MAS involved here.
226 I STEPHANIE HERING

feet general framework for the financial industry's boom. Singapore's pro-
claimed policy is not just to keep, but rather to expand its competitive advantage
as a preferred location for global financial business for the foreseeable future.
The Singapore government is pursuing this plan with amasing pragmatism and
with great confidence in its feasibility. Taking into account research results on
Global Cities, the internationalisation of finance and the increasing competition
of financial sites worldwide, Singapore realised early that turning itself into a
Global City would be essential for its future development prospects.
In a first step Singapore had to fulfill the seemingly universal requirements
for Global Cities. Insofar as Global Cities are perceived as primary locations for
key corporations, important institutions, prominent organisations and elite per-
sonnel, a salient infrastructure is needed. This includes on the one hand, e.g., a
wide variety of opportunities for distinguished consumption, an airport, high-
ranking educational facilities as well as, on the other hand, the provision for so-
cial, political, legal and economic stability. Singapore already offers all of this; it
is famous for its advantageous business environment with low taxes and an effi-
cient administration. In a second step all these amenities have to be communicat-
ed and displayed. They must be made visible and become obvious to the relevant
audiences; this is meant and subsumed by the term 'city-marketing'. Rhetorical
and visual strategies to demonstrate or point out the particular eligibilities as a
global (financial) site go along with the agenda of transforming Singapore into a
'financial hub' in terms of the concrete business condition for finance in Singa-
pore.
In addition to the 'hard amenities', a Global City must also engineer its im-
age, i.e. imagineer its local peculiarities and stage them as unique qualities one
will find nowhere but here in order to individual the locality and make it distinc-
tive among its competitors. How is Singapore achieving that?

Some Features in the Making of Singapore as a

'Global City of Finance'

On 21 August 2005 Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong ended his National Day ral-
ly speech 15 of two and a half hours on Singapore and its future with the invoca-
tion to build a 'vibrant Global City called home' (Lee Hsien Loong 2005). A
twofold claim is contained in this phrase: On the one hand the determination to
live a global existence, on the other hand the compliance with the human need to
construct a place one can identify with and even experience or 'feel' it as home.
In the following paragraphs I shall take a closer look at the constituting myths at
work here which put the idea of Singapore as a 'Global City called home' into ef-
fect.

15 For the transcript of the speech, see: www.gov.sg/NDR06Engspeechtranscript.pdf

 A GLOBAL CiTY-STATE OF FINANCE I 227

Singapore as Part and Parcel, or even the Avantgarde Location, of the

Asian Renaissance

The success-story of Singapore, its prospering economy (and especially its finan-
cial sector) is often explained by the self-ascribed cultural distinctiveness of the
place and the people. 16 This can be seen in the broader context of notions of a
'rising Asia' or an 'Asian come-back' 17 in the global networks of politics and
economic power. Western countries perceive this image with a strange mixture of
fascination and fear. When fear becomes dominant this perception is sometimes
expressed as 'Asian angst'. In accordance with their economic success, potent
Asian nations - at the moment especially China and India, in the 1990s rather the
East-Asian 'tiger-states' with Singapore among them - have developed a new
self-confidence. It is articulated in attempts to draw clear demarcation lines vis-a-
vis 'the West'. In this context the term 'occidentalism' (Buruma 2004) was
coined as an inversion of 'orientalism' (Said 1978).
In Singapore the official reinforcement of the so-called 'Asian values'
reached its apex during the 1980s and 1990s. What 'Asian values' exactly means
is not always clear, but a kind of Confucianism, i.e. a strong moral foundation of
society, political organisation and even the economy and an emphasis on family,
tradition and community is often associated with the term (Xinzhong Yao 2000;
Oldstone-Moore 2002). The eo-occurrence of this 'Asian values' debate and the
successful story of the financial hub's performance serve as an argument for the
supposedly obvious correlation between an Asian mindset and outstanding skills
in economic matters, financial business in particular.
Organised as a parliamentary republic after the British Westminster model,
Singapore's self-perception also contains the political concept of 'Asian democ-
racy' .18 This implies primarily putting 'community', not the individual, first. Ar-
guments for political decisions are formulated according to the central require-
ments of: What is good for the development of the people? What is preferable for
the development of Singapore as a whole? With this principle in the background,
harsh political and social controls 19 can be justified. This leads some critics to see
behind the glittering surface of Singapore's idiosyncratic style of democracy an
authoritarian, if not totalitarian one-party state under a benevolent dictator. Look-
16 This is best observable in official and governmental documents in and about Singa-
pore.
17 During recent years this debate has hit another peak of public dispute in Western
media. Moreover there is also a growing academic debate; but there were also a few
voices that highlighted the growing importance of Asia earlier, for instance Andre
Gunder Frank in his ReOrient (1998).
18 Lee Kuan Yew often justified this with the argument that Western democracy
would never work in Asia, because some of the inherent Western values would not
fit with 'Asian culture' and 'Asian mentality'.
19 Visible for instance in the high degree of censorship and control of media, draconi-
an punishments of deviant behaviour and the virtual absence of a civil society - in
comparison with 'Western' democracies.
228 I STEPHANIE HERING

ing at it more sympathetically, Lee Kuan Yew and his PAP party achieved a high
level of prosperity; critics also acknowledge the fast industrialisation and mod-
ernisation of the country, the speedy and continuous upgrading of infrastructure,
the efficient administrative system without corruption20 and the guarantees of sta-
ble political and economic terms and conditions. In its foreign affairs, Singapore
has always acted quite pragmatically and maintained during the Cold War area a
neutral openness to both sides. Some argue that the extremely output-oriented
political system in Singapore can only work because of its small size (territorial
and in terms of population) and that there is no magic formula, like an intrinsic
supremacy of agents of Asian values or Confucianism, that might be applicable
to other contexts.
There is much talk about Asian values, but in the case of Singapore the phe-
nomenon would probably better be named 'Chineseness': the traditions, values
and notions that are promoted in the Singaporean discourse are generally associ-
ated with Chinese culture. This pays tribute to the majority Chinese population in
Singapore and- against all official declaration- its cultural and political domi-
nance. In all these constructions the reasons and legitimacy of the location's suc-
cess are, however, relocated to a long past and their roots in an (imagined) strong
primordial identity of its people.

The Nation: 'Singaporean spirit' and a 'Long' History as a

Trading Nation

Although in its self-perception clearly an Asian nation, Singapore has also gener-
ated a strong national identity, a factor X that makes it 'truly Singaporean' and
glues people together. The social production of a Singaporean national spirit was
challenged by the problem that Singapore did not really have a pre-colonial past
to which the modem nation could trace back its roots. Not much is known about
the early, pre-colonial history of Singapore (Hall 1999). Most historic narratives
start with the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819. By that time, the southern
tip of the Malayan peninsula was part of the Johor sultanate, inhabited by only
some 150 Malayan and Chinese fishermen, pirates and traders. Raffles, an ex-
plorer and scholar travelling on behalf of the British East India Company, played
off the conflicting interests of local rulers and Dutch colonialists and established
Singapore as a nodal trading station on the British East-Asian route to China.
Subsequently large numbers of immigrants were attracted by the new hot spot.
Traders and workers from different regions populated the island. Singapore (or
this southemmost part of the former Malaya) represents an exceptional case in so

20 In publications of Transparency International Singapore is regularly ranked first as

country with minimal corruption. Very early Lee Kuan Yew recognised corruption
as a great problem, especially for developing countries, because it destroys trust -
he stigmatised corruption as a "social disease" and implemented strong policies to
inhibit and prosecute cases of corruption.
 A GLOBAL CiTY-STATE OF FINANCE I 229

far as the colonised arrived after the colonisers. Raffles promoted free trade,
blueprinted the whole city and errected buildings for the British government. The
population grew rapidly, and only five years (1824) after the British takeover the
first census counted 10.000 people. 21 Singapore was already quite cosmopolitan
in composition and Malayans, Chinese, Indian, European, American and Arab
people were registered.
The asserted Singaporean spirit is mainly based on the achievements of re-
cent history since independence. In this respect Singapore is a willensnation par
excellence. The national identity of Singapore consists of its very identity as the
(global) city. As in many other ex-colonies 'nation' and 'nationalism' have dif-
ferent meanings than in European history: Nationalism was predominantly wel-
comed, being experienced as liberation from and counteraction to foreign rule. 22
Nationalism is still perceived as an important and admirable attitude.
On the other hand, the Singaporean expertise in economy, trade and finance
is linked to its long history as a trading place and entrepot on the colonial East-
Asian trading route which commenced shortly after the Napoleonic wars and
ended with World War II. This 'long history' is, in fact, purely colonial- Singa-
pore is effectively a product of European imperialism (Ferguson 2003). Interest-
ingly and perhaps exceptionally, this colonial past is not loaded with negative
connotations. It is used instead in an affirmative manner to communicate the ad-
vantage oflocation. Colonial rule and imperialism enormously increased the vol-
ume of trade and plugged Singapore into the world market. Singapore is a prod-
uct of 19th century globalisation, a sort of 'Global City' since its very beginnings.
Consequently, the Singaporen national spirit is ambivalent. On the one hand
it is based on the achievements after independence, on the other hand it is recog-
nised that colonialism was a precondition for the nation and triggered its econom-
IC success.

The 'We can make it' -Attitude: Never say die!

The common attitude of the Singaporean people as publicly proclaimed is an im-

portant constituent of the city state's identity. The success-story 'from nothing to
world-class' is repeated at every possible opportunity - the story of a 'success
beyond imagination'. The predominant conviction is that 'we can do exceptional
things although we are small'- this will work with discipline, hard work and per-
petuallearning processes. Every Singaporean can and should make his/her con-
tribution to the continuous success of the nation, everyone has a place in it. Lee
Hsien Loong epitomised this point in his speech with: "It's good luck, it's good
government, it's strong people". He also mentions in this context Singapore's

21 50 years later there were more than half a million inhabitants. Today, ea. four and a
half million people live in Singapore.
22 In other words, Singapore indulges in the nationalism of the American Revolution
rather than the nationalism of ethnic groups in the Balkans.
230 I STEPHANIE HERING

Las Vegas-principle: innovation and enterprise, together with a fair portion of

human imagination - that was seemingly all it took to shape Singapore, a produc-
tive re-invention of itself in perpetuity.
The most remarkable thing in the recent history of Singapore perhaps is the
planning and implementing of a 'knowledge society' long before sociology dis-
covered the topic and elaborated the concept. Given that the country has no natu-
ral resources, and abhorring the prospect of becoming a low-wage country or
sweat-shop-nation and supplier of cheap and simple manufactured goods for the
developed world (like so many other former colonies) after the breakdown of the
shipping-and-harbour-industry during the first half of the 20th century, the gov-
ernment identified the people as its only valuable resource and placed a strong
emphasis on education and human resource23 development from the beginning.
Consequently, capital investment in this sector since the 1970s has been im-
mense.24
So far Singapore has experienced absolutely no trouble with this kind of so-
cial engineering: it just works fine. Success of the nation via its people functions
as a unceasing confirmation of the much valued concepts of education and train-
ing. The belief in the power of education is omnipresent: Everything can be
taught, everyone is educable, everyone can be trained, people are mouldable if
they only receive the right education. For the same reason Singapore is the loca-
tion of a extraordinary high frequency of public campaigns, that tell people how
to behave, how to become a better citizen, and so forth.
This whole notion was called the Las Vegas principle by the Singaporean
prime minister. The explicit reference to Las Vegas, the American gambling par-
adise and dream factory in the middle of nowhere (an inhospitable desert) is also
a link to the more general myth of the American dream, the rise from rags to
riches. The ideology that is behind this myth is the idea that everything is feasible
if you really want and only try hard enough. The impossible is possible. The
American dream, however, is organised around a strong individualism. In Singa-
pore the American dream is transferred to a more communitarian level: Not the
individual, but the society as a whole - according to the official values - is
trained and educated in order to ensure long-term profit. The mindset of this de-
clared official mentality is quite close to the ideas of neo-liberalism (Taylor
2004).

23 Or as Olds and Thrift note -not without a certain sense of admiration for the effec-
tive 'engineering' of a whole workforce: Singapore is "fashioning its citizens while
considering them openly as a mineral resource with attitude." (2005: 275).
24 This was a apparently a profitable strategy - Singapore has today the best educated
and strongest workforce in the world - in its own view but also something which is
continuously attributed from outside.
 A GLOBAL CiTY-STATE OF FINANCE I 231

The Sense of Cosmopolitism

The peaceful cohabitation of different 'races' and population groups in Singapore

is frequently used as evidence for its cosmopolitan climate; it underlines its quali-
fication as a truly Global City that is open to people from all parts of the world.
To be cosmopolitan is imperative for a Global City. 25 It must be stated that
the concept of cosmopolitism is under-elaborated in the Global City literature- it
remains nebulous. So possibly it is not Singapore's fault alone that in the dis-
courses about self-perception it is not absolutely clear what cosmopolitism really
means. Apparently the term is somehow used as a synonym for globality, as the
opposite of localism or nationalism. But this ideal could be in conflict with the
nationalism as it exists in Singapore. Because the city is the nation, there is no
option to perceive the concrete city abstracted from the broader framework of the
nation, as may work for other global cites and their relationship to the nations
they belong to (e.g. New York City- United States, or Shanghai- China). An-
other general objection that can be raised: How can a city be cosmopolitan, when
an attitude to the specific place is required, a sense of belonging (or non-belong-
ing)?
As is the case with the term 'cosmopolitism' in the globalisation literature, it
is probably more a diffuse but positive multiculturalism that is proclaimed here.
The celebration of its multiculturalism, once again, Singapore owes to its colo-
nial past. When the British were running short oflow-skilled labour, they import-
ed people from other colonies to Singapore. At first, the various ethnic groups
produced various problems. Violent rivalries and even race riots were frequent.
Being aware of the destructiveness of sub-group conflicts for an emerging nation,
the officials of modem Singapore always observed that danger closely and tried
to contain it with harsh anti-racism legislation. Paradoxically, this strong anti-
racism policy keeps the basic problem alive which it pretends to combat. This is
the conviction that human beings come in fundamentally different formats as eth-
nic groups. Still, Singapore lists in its population statistics Chinese, Indians,
Malayans, etc. - although they are all Singaporean. Segregated ethnic districts
were rebuilt (even if there was no surviving traditional structure at all, not a sin-
gle brick), just for folkloristic and tourism purposes. Singaporeans are accommo-
dated in HDB-flats, appropriately allocated to different race-groups to prevent
segregation and dissociation of a single group from the national community.
So the ethnic groups preserve their differences partly by decree - but mainly
those differences which can be consumed and enjoyed without causing too much
trouble, for instance different clothing styles, different dances and music, differ-
ent literatures and - very important in Singapore - different cuisines. Conse-
quently the officially desired version of cosmopolitism or multiculturalism is re-
duced to a great diversity of available food.
25 See e.g. the Global City Forum, a network for urban decision-makers: www.global-
cityforum.com.
232 I STEPHANIE HERING

To display openness, tolerance and an appetite for diversity is an essential

factor of the marketing-strategy for Singapore. In addition to the importance of
tourism, especially short-term shopping tourism during stopovers on the air-route
from Europe to the Far East and Australia and vice versa, 26 it is increasingly de-
pendent on immigration and a foreign workforce. Singapore has a great demand
for highly trained employees. Because of a low birth-rate over decades and the
fact that a number of highly qualified Singaporeans go abroad for work where
some of them eventually stay, a growing demand in skilled labour is expected.
Singapore is competing very hard with some other global locations for interna-
tional elite-personnel in business and research. Singapore also seeks immigrants
on a lower level, but always people who are capable of making a contribution to
the nation, people with entrepreneurial spirit.
In this respect, it may be that cosmopolitism has always been an utopian as
well as a pretended notion. In addition, a cosmopolitan ethos is also a perfect jus-
tification for Singapore's practice of exerting political and economic influence on
the whole region and of viewing for dominance in ASEAN.

The Versatile Dwarf

Breaking with Malaysia in 1965, Singapore gained the status of an independent

nation, but was now confronted with a number of problems and threats. It was
still a third world country with bad infrastructure, little capital, only a few indus-
tries and a largely impoverished and uneducated population. At that time it ap-
peared nearly impossible for such a small postcolonial country with no hinterland
and without natural resources to survive. Against this background the govern-
ment identified economic development as its prime ambition and central policy, a
goal which persists to date. For this purpose, a strong outward orientation was
unavoidable. Singapore's extreme dependence on its international and regional
environment has appeared to be a critical factor ever since (Blomqvist 2005: 50
pp.). This implies that the importance of Foreign Direct Investment during the
first decades of modern Singapore's existence was immense.
Singapore is small, but flexible. Involved in an unceasing coquetry with its
smallness, Singapore celebrates its weakness as a strength: vulnerability and de-
pendency on the world market are paradoxically the very qualities that facilitate a
competitive attitude and inhibits inertia or stagnancy. Singapore is a versatile
dwarf that always has to be watchful in a difficult and potentially hostile environ-
ment. It's a David-versus-Goliath story that Singapore retells, relying, once
again, on its positive ending (for David). Inherent in this simile is a militaristic
content. Singapore is in a constant war-like situation, always prepared for a fight,
for self-defence. The status quo is always at risk.

26 Very much as, in the 19th century, when ships with the same destinations stopped
here to unload or load coal.
 A GLOBAL CiTY-STATE OF FINANCE I 233

A public advertisement for the Singaporean army popular in summer/ autumn

2005 provides an ironic validation of this assumption. In the middle of the poster,
a handsome young man in army uniform is shouldering a gun, in the background
lingers the scenery of downtown Singapore at night- high rise buildings fantasti-
cally illuminated. In huge white letters the message imprinted into this back-
ground reads: Compromise is not an option. The arguments are arranged around
the soldier, in white letters and a relatively small type of why the army is so im-
portant for Singapore and why young men should join it - one of the arguments
is: Because investors' confidence is key.

Conclusion

The case of Singapore shows very clearly that a Global City is not only defined
by hard factors, but also invented and socially engineered on a grand scale. The
making of Singapore as a 'Global City of Finance' is a process that consists of a
number of different strategies and rhetorics and not just the evidences of social
and economic hardware. Beside the hardware there is also adequate software re-
quired, consisting of everyday myths with an ideological driving force. In the
staging of the city-state as a Global City specific local strategies and articulations
of 'othemess' or 'uniqueness' are concomitantly inherent. The balancing of glob-
ality motifs and rhetoric oflocal specificity and cultural distinctiveness is notal-
ways possible without conflict. A closer look at some of the myths reveals quite
antagonistic conceptions at their core. Behind the nice image of a Global City, a
quite chauvinistic regionalism and local patriotism sometimes peeps up; which is
never too disturbing as long as the image- and rhetorics-machine is well-oiled
and works smoothly.
It seems as if the transformation of Singapore in a Global City-State of Fi-
nance works and continues to work. Singapore is doing fine, Singapore is pros-
pering. And indeed: Nothing works better than success to stabil a (self-) inven-
tion.

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 A GLOBAL CiTY-STATE OF FINANCE I 235

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The Transnational Management of
Hazardous Chemicals
ALEXANDRA LINDENTHAL

Introduction

Since the 1970s the number of environmental laws e.g. in the European Union
(EU) has increased. Nonetheless an effective protection of the environment re-
quires that societal actors assume responsibility and become active on this issue.
In particular, corporations whose activities have an effect on the environment are
brought to the fore, as is the case with those corporations that are involved in the
production, trade, processing and application of chemicals. This is because, as
chemical substances may have negative consequences for health and environ-
ment, it is necessary to handle them in a careful way. Harmful chemicals may
cause environmental problems if they reach the ecosystem, e.g. via their use in
consumer goods. Consequently, a safe management of chemicals is an important
condition for a global protection of the environment. Against this background,
this article concentrates on the corporation between the chemical industry - pro-
ducers, distributors as well as consulting firms - and the automotive industry -
car manufacturers and parts suppliers -which are linked by a value-added chain.
Both industries are involved in the production of automobiles and have to deal
with chemical substances. This value-chain section is not located in a single na-
tion state, it even transcends the borders of trade-areas like the EU, and hence it
could be regarded as a global production process. 1
In the article at hand I will describe some common practices and cognitive
structures in reference to the management or phasing out of hazardous chemicals
that have emerged in the chemical and automotive industry. 2 Further, I will give

I would like to thank the editors as well as Martin Koch for helpful comments on an
earlier draft of this article and Dorthe Hauschild and Tamara Brown for making the
text more readable. The author bears responsibility for any shortcomings.
2 The empirical study is based on an analysis of documents as well as on interviews
that were conducted with representatives of the automotive and chemical industry.
The interviews were carried out together with Olaf Dilling in the context of the re-
238 I ALEXANDRA LINDENTHAL

some reasons for this emergence. Since the production process analysed reaches
beyond the borders of nation-states, I regard these practices and cognitive struc-
tures as transnational. Of course, global business partners have to coordinate their
behaviour in order to make the successful production and selling of goods possi-
ble; this includes the management of hazardous chemicals. Beyond this, I am in-
terested in seeing if these transnational practices concerning the management of
hazardous substances also add to the protection of health and environment.
This article is composed of three parts. First, I will give some examples of a
transnational management of hazardous chemical substances appearing in the
chemical and the automotive industry which illustrate the emergence of world so-
ciety. Second, I will describe the extent to which these examples are indications
of emerging and changing common practices and cognitive structures. Further, I
will explain that these elements of a transnational management of chemicals can
count as self-regulation. Then, I will give a short explanation for its emergence.
Finally, I will conclude with the question of which other factors might explain
the emergence of a transnational management of chemicals and in how far these
factors contribute to the protection of health and environment.

The Transnational Management of Hazardous

Chemicals in the Automotive Industry and the
Chemical Industry

As denoted in the introduction, there are a lot of European laws concerning the
protection of the environment. With reference to the regulation of chemicals, the
European Economic Community adopted the first directive on classification,
packaging and labeling of dangerous substances in 1967. Currently, chemicals
are a field of activity of the European Unions' environmental policy. The direc-
tive on the management of end-of-life vehicles stipulates that vehicle manufac-
turers and material and equipment manufacturers must, among other things, en-
deavour to reduce the use of hazardous substances when designing vehicles and
make sure that components of vehicles placed on the market after July 2003 do
not contain mercury, hexavalent chromium, cadmium or lead (European Corn-

search project "Transnational Governance and International Law" at the collabora-

tive research center "Transformations of the State" (University of Bremen). The in-
terviews were arranged with representatives of corporations belonging to the auto-
motive and the chemical industry. All in all, ten interviews took place. Five inter-
views were conducted in the automotive industry (car producers and parts suppliers)
and five interviews were conducted in the chemical industry (producers and distrib-
utors of chemicals, one chemical consulting firm). The interviews were interpreted
according to qualitative-interpretive methods (Froschauer/Lueger 2003; Wemet
2000). Furthermore, environmental reports of corporations, corporation guidelines,
management standards and similar documents were analysed. The sources are avail-
able from the author.
 THE TRANSNATIONAL MANAGEMENT OF HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS I 239

mission 2000). Further, the directive on the restriction of the use of certain haz-
ardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment stipulates that from July
2006, new electrical and electronic equipment that are placed the market do not
contain lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated
biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) (European Commis-
sion 2002).
In the following section, I will demonstrate the efforts of corporations be-
longing to the chemical industry and the automotive industry relating to the man-
agement of hazardous chemical substances. Naturally, inter-organisational rela-
tions are most important for the survival of corporations that are involved in the
production of manufactured goods because they are in need of the other firms'
resources. This article pays attention not only to economic exchange relation-
ships, but also to non-economic relations like communicative activities (cf. Jang
1997: 328p), e.g. the transfer of knowledge, which may move up and down the
value chain. The corporations in the production chain that are analysed in this ar-
ticle are formally autonomous organisations that are connected to one another by
material and immaterial exchange processes. The relationships between the cor-
porations are formal, e.g. contracts between a supplier and a customer concerning
the design of a product, as well as informal, e.g. rather loose arrangements be-
tween a customer and a supplier to improve a suppliers' performance if a ranking
conducted by an automobile producer reveals undesired results.

International Material Data System/ Global Automotive Declarable

Substance List

The development of the automotive industry's international material data system

(IMDS), as well as the development of the global automotive declarable sub-
stance list are examples of a transnational management of chemical substances.
The IMDS was developed by European and American car producers and came
into operation in June 2000. Meanwhile, Asian automotive producers have at-
tached themselves to this system. The IMDS, a voluntary industry-led initiative,
files and administers all materials used in the automotive manufacturing chain
and collects chemical information (Fisher 2005). It is the goal of this initiative to
collect data on chemical substances that are a part of the automobiles produced.
This system is intended to make it possible for car manufacturers and their sup-
pliers to comply with the different national laws and private standards concerning
hazardous substances and, last but not least, to make the recycling of automobiles
easier. Suppliers have to produce these data, because they are constrained by law
and/or by their customers' delivery conditions. On the one hand, this system is
helpful to car producers: If a substance of concern is prohibited by law, a produc-
er knows which of its suppliers uses this substance and can call on to him to re-
move the substance from his products (Johnson Controls 2001). On the other
240 I ALEXANDRA LINDENTHAL

hand, the suppliers, using the database, are able to monitor the substances used in
their products. If a customer has any questions regarding the composition of the
products' parts, the supplier is able to answer them. Nonetheless, suppliers ini-
tially protested against this system, because they were of the opinion that a data
management system must allow them to protect their business know-how. In the
initial approach to dealing with declarable substances, each car manufacturer de-
veloped individual lists of substances and as a result, suppliers had to consider
multiple lists (Interview 2005).
After controversial discussions between the suppliers and the car producers,
the international "Global Automotive Stakeholders Group" (GASG) was formed.
It consists of automotive manufacturers and the suppliers of the automotive and
chemical industry. It is the intention of this stakeholder group to simplify the
communication and exchange of information in relation to the use of substances
in parts of automobiles all along the production chain. The GASG developed the
"Global Automotive Declarable Substance List" (GADSL). The GADSL, imple-
mented in 2005, is a globally uniform list of declarable substances. 3 The decision
to list a substance on the GADSL in based on clear criteria. A substance is listed
if it is regulated, is projected to be regulated by a governmental agency, or if it is
demonstrated - by testing under OECD guidelines - "that the substance may be
associated with a significant hazard to human health and/or the environment, and
its presence in a material or part in a vehicle may create a significant risk to hu-
man health and/or the environment" (GADSL). Accordingly, three so-called
"reason codes" have been developed to explain to the participating firms why a
substance was included in the GADSL. The first code means that a substance is
"legally regulated". The second code "for assessment" indicates that a substance
is expected to be regulated by government agencies, and "for information" de-
notes a substance:

"tracked for information purposes only, upon the decision of the GASG Steering Com-
mittee. After discussion at the GASG Steering Committee and on an exceptional basis,
[a car producer] may include an individual substance or family of substances on the list
under this reason code" (ibid., italics in original).

It is anticipated that the GADSL will be a part of the standards of car producers,
so the suppliers will have to consider only this list. According to official
statements, the purpose of this standard is to "help the automotive industry to
monitor the usage of these substances and to facilitate compliance with current

3 In April 2005, the GADSL replaced the "International List of Reportable Sub-
stances" (ILRS). Like the GADSL, it was the goal of the ILRS to summarise the
different requirements of the car producers concerning the declaration of sub-
stances. In contrast to the GADSL, the ILRS was planned without the support of the
automotive suppliers and the chemical industry.
 THE TRANSNATIONAL MANAGEMENT OF HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS I 241

and future regulations" 4 and to "help take into account customer requirements to
ensure sustainable products" 5 • Furthermore, it is the intent of the GADSL

"to become the company specific list for the declaration of parts composition within the
automotive industry. It provides a definitive list of substances requiring declaration with
the target of minimising individual requirements and ensuring cost-effective manage-
ment of declaration practice along the complex supply chain" (ibid.).

Empirical evidence shows a different picture. A global automotive manufacturer

who is represented in the GASG steering committee has its own restricted sub-
stance management standard (RSMS). This standard is, according to the firms'
portrayal, global and addresses all legislation on the restriction of substances as
well as its own strategy that "may go beyond substance restrictions and bans in
local markets." Compliance with this standard is part of the terms of doing busi-
ness with this car producer. It is the responsibility of the tier-one suppliers to pass
on this standard and all its requirements to the sub-tier suppliers. The RSMS ex-
ceeds the GADSL. Even after the implementation of the GADSL the RSMS stan-
dard is valid and will be updated. The automaker in question regards it as neces-
sary to exceed the existing standards of chemical regulation regarding e.g. the
passenger compartment. The suppliers anticipated this reaction of automotive
manufacturers. A common standard was in their best interest, because it would
have simplified the reporting processes. Complying with this global list would
have meant that all laws and the automotive standards were observed. However,
the suppliers are aware that they cannot guarantee that the car producers adhere
to the common standard and do not demand additional ones. They appreciate that
the global list was set up by the industry, because they believe that those actors
have a better overview than law-making institutions. The automotive suppliers
are of the opinion that the standards of the car producers that exceed the global
list, the GADSL, are unwarranted (Interviews 2005).

Material Safety Data Sheets

In short, material safety data sheets contain safety information on the handling of
hazardous substances. They provide essential information on chemicals in order
to minimise health or environmental dangers (cf. Ronit 2000: 91).
In the 1970s, companies in different industries began to provide their own
safety data sheets. For example, car producers and chemical distributors devel-
oped their own data sheets as they wanted to be informed by their suppliers on
the chemical composition of products as well as on the adequate handling of haz-

4 http://www.model.mds.eds.de/html/data!imds_standard101_ilrs.pdf, October 17,

2005.
5 http://gadsl.org/files/2005 _ Ver_l.O.pdf, October 17, 2005.
242 I ALEXANDRA LINDENTHAL

ardous chemicals. In the 1980s, the German chemical industry association (VCI)
and the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) developed asso-
ciation-specific data sheets. According to a voluntary initiative of the industry,
the safety data sheets were harmonised in Germany. At first, these harmonised
safety data sheets were not coordinated with foreign data sheets. The situation
changed with the European directive on safety data sheets. In the forefront of the
directive, the Federation of German Industries (BDI) arranged for a committee of
representatives of the VDA and the VCI to participate in the development of a
harmonised European safety data sheet. The VDA-data sheet can be said to be
the precursor of the forthcoming European data sheet. This can be explained by
the fact that as the European Commission, preparing the directive on safety data
sheets, was asking for adequate instruments, the VDA-safety-data sheet was
widely-used (Interview 2005). The directive determines that any person estab-
lished within the Community who is responsible for placing a dangerous sub-
stance or preparation on the market, whether manufacturer, importer or distribu-
tor, shall supply the recipient who is an industrial user of the substance or prepa-
ration with a safety data sheet (European Commission 1991).
The major difficulty with the data sheets is that information is often deficient
or even lacking or that the wrong data sheet has been used. This can be explained
by the fact that the design of safety data sheets is not similar in different regions.
So, for example, an Asian corporation that wants to export a dangerous substance
has to deal with different data sheets in the USA and in the European Union
(EU). If information on chemical substances is lacking, a European corporation
uses its personal contacts to its supplier outside of the EU to get the missing in-
formation in an informal way. In spite of these problems, safety data sheets are
currently more accepted than at the beginning; the corporations' staff pay more
attention to them. If they do not want to compile safety data sheets on their own,
corporations may contact chemical consulting firms - which emerged in the
1980s -that compile data sheets e.g. under the provisions of the aforementioned
directive (Interviews 2005).
Since the implementation of the directive on safety data sheets, the chemical
and automotive industries have not been inactive. E.g. some representatives of
automotive manufacturers and parts suppliers as well as a representative of a
global chemical producer participated in a committee dealing with the develop-
ment of an efficient electronic system to exchange European data sheets. Finally,
a harmonised data format was designed to reduce the corporations' burdens. Be-
fore, the data sheet was transmitted in paper form. This was an administrative
burden as the data is used for purposes such as compiling registers of hazardous
chemicals or operating instructions.
In the 1990s, a globally harmonised system (GHS) for hazard communication
was developed that includes a common approach on substance data sheets. Key
participants in developing the system include various governments and some in-
ternational organisations. Work on the GHS has been ongoing since the United
 THE TRANSNATIONAL MANAGEMENT OF HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS I 243

Nations' Conference on the Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro

(Silk 2003: 447). 6 In the case of safety data sheets, the harmonisation process was
able to build on the previous efforts of the industry to standardise the approaches
of the data sheets requirements. Thus, there was agreement on a sixteen section
data sheet (Silk 2003: 451). 7

Substitution Processes

A last example of an emerging industry-spanning management of chemical sub-

stances is the substitution of hazardous chemicals. In recent years, the automotive
industry began to substitute other chemicals for methylene chloride, a harmful
and presumably cancer-causing solvent. The European Union classifies this sub-
stance as , category 3 ', the category containing substances "that need attention
due to their possible carcinogenic properties for humans" (Tukker/Simons 1999:
38). A global automotive producer started the replacement of this prevalent sub-
stance together with a leading global producer of chemicals. Since replacing of
methylene chloride in repairing lacquers proved to be difficult, the car producer
first tried to play down the hazardousness of the substance, but the cancer-caus-
ing effect of methylene chloride was discussed in public and so the car producer
quickly searched for an adequate solution. The corporation contacted a global
chemical producer who developed a less harmful repairing lacquer. As this solu-
tion proved to be effective, the chemical producer promoted it and offered the
new lacquer to other producers of automobiles. Meanwhile, the substitution for
methylene chloride in repairing lacquers proceeded in the automotive industry. In
another case, a producer of lacquer developed a solvent-free lacquer and ceased
the production of lacquers with solvents, so its customer, a global automotive
manufacturer, had to purchase it (Interviews 2004, 2005).
Nonetheless, the car producers are critical on the substitution of substances.
They are of the opinion that it might be more reasonable to deal with a haz-
ardous, but well-known substance in a careful way than to use a substitute with-
out knowing how to handle it properly. Of course, the substitution processes may
fail. This was the case when a US car manufacturer demanded a product free of
nitrosamines, a cancer-producing substance, from a supplier outside of the USA.
The reason was that the US law prohibits this chemical substance. The supplier
regarded this demand as unfair and announced a price increase for the demanded
product. This caused the car producer to withdraw its demand.

6 According to an international agreement, "it is desirable to have as many countries

as possible adopt the GHS by 2008" (Silk 2003: 451).
7 These sections include, among other things, information on ingredients;
toxicological, ecological and transport information (Silk 2003: 451).
244 I ALEXANDRA LINDENTHAL

Transnational Practices and Cognitive Structures

The examples discussed above demonstrate that some common transnational

practices have been established and changed in the automotive and chemical in-
dustry - corporations have developed new ways of acting or have changed the
ways they act - and that a few changes in cognitive structures are observable.
Views,S norms, values, interpretations or goals of corporations have changed.
First, the international material data system as well as the global automotive
declarable substance list - which were invented by different industries and across
nation-state boundaries - exemplify how new practices have emerged in relation
to the management of chemicals. Also, some cognitive changes have become ap-
parent in this context. For example, the automotive industry thought that a com-
mon initiative to collect data on chemical substances was necessary and realised
this goal. There are some additional shared views and interpretations such as the
recognition of the automotive and the chemical industry that it is necessary to co-
operate and to produce a common standard, the GADSL. Thus, they shared and
realised a common goal. Yet, the views concerning the benefits of the GADSL
seem to differ among automotive producers and their suppliers. While the parts
suppliers appreciated the list due to its capacity to make it less difficult to comply
with laws and private standards, some car producers believed that their own stan-
dards were superior and should not be replaced by a common standard. Hence, it
is questionable if the GADSL would guide the behaviour of all involved business
partners. Second, the example of the material safety data sheets, illustrates that
common practices concerning the handling of safety information on chemical
substances emerged. The example shows that some common views and interpre-
tations were established, such as the intention to be informed on the composition
of products and their safe handling as well as the enhanced acceptance of safety
data sheets in the industry. Requests of different industries for a harmonised Eu-
ropean safety data sheet as well as the desire for an electronic exchange system
are examples of common goals. Third, the example of the replacement of harmful
chemicals demonstrates that practices and cognitive structures have changed.
This is true insofar as corporations worked together across the boundaries of
firms and industries to reduce environmental and health hazards. Referring to the
substitution of methylene chloride with another substance, it is important that the
substitute developed by chemical corporations and the automotive industry was
diffused throughout the industry by a chemical producer so the whole industry
was able to change its practices and benefited from it. Behind this, some cogni-
tive changes are observable. The chemical and primarily the automotive industry
turned out to be responsive to public concerns relating to environmental and
health dangers. The substitution of chemicals described can be referred to as a re-

8 Views may relate to "beliefs about desired product attributes, market structures,
appropriate ways of doing business, and the relative quality of member firms"
(Porac et al. 2002: 593).
 THE TRANSNATIONAL MANAGEMENT OF HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS I 245

alised goal of corporations in the automotive and the chemical industry. Yet, the
interpretations of the automotive manufacturers on the one hand and the interpre-
tations of their suppliers on the other hand seem to be different as the example of
the failed substitution process demonstrates. The automotive supplier was of the
opinion that the demand of the car producer to phase out nitrosamines in the pro-
duction of parts was just a strategic decision. Hence, he showed no understanding
that this phase-out would be reasonable for environmental and health reasons. Fi-
nally, both the American car producer and its supplier were not willing to bear
additional costs for a phase-out of nitrosamines voluntarily. It is an indication of
changing patterns of thought that some corporations of the chemical as well as of
the automotive industry argued that it might be reasonable to use a new, but un-
known substance instead of a hazardous but well-known substance.
In the field of chemical regulation, "pure" self-regulation, i.e. strictly au-
tonomous self-regulation, is rare because states or supranational organisations
like the EU attempt to influence the firms' behaviour by setting environmental
policy targets and/or by creating a framework designed to promote a particular
behaviour of private actors (cf. Rehbinder 1997: 2). Even though there are some
legal foundations, there are a number of possibilities for self-regulation in a
broader sense 9 as the examples illustrated above show and which will be sum-
marised in the following points. The cases of the IMDS and the GADSL show
that corporations established data systems that facilitate compliance with differ-
ent national laws and private standards; corporations are informed on new (for-
eign) laws and private standards as well as on new scientific evidence concerning
the consequences for health and environment by means of the said system. Thus,
they were in the position to react quickly to those changes. The case of the auto-
motive producer representing the strategy of exceeding existing public standards
of chemical regulation as well as the substitution of methylene chloride shows
that corporations go beyond existing legal requirements if they think they are in-
sufficient. Further, the car manufacturer monitored if its suppliers complied with
his requirements and ensured that they actively participated in communicating
these requirements throughout the value-chain. The example of the VDA-data
sheet illustrates that corporations developed a material safety data sheet on their
own initiative which was afterwards absorbed by law. Further, corporations man-

9 See the concept of Haufler who explains that self-regulation occurs "when those
regulated -in this case, corporations -design and enforce the rules themselves. The
rules that govern their behaviour are adopted voluntarily, either going beyond cur-
rent regulatory requirements or establishing new standards in areas in which gov-
ernment rules or standards are lacking" (Haufler 2001: 8). Knill and Lehmkuhl dif-
ferentiate between "regulated self-regulation" where both public and private actors
own a "high level of governance capacity" and "private self-regulation", here the
states' capacity to intervene is restricted and private self-regulation is dominant
(Knill/Lehmkuhl 2002: 93p.). (For the possibilities of governments to induce corpo-
rate self-regulation see Ruhnka/Boerstler 1998; for the relevance of monitoring and
sanctioning systems to sustain self-regulation see Ronit/Schneider 2000: 23p.)
246 I ALEXANDRA LINDENTHAL

aged to develop an electronic system for the exchange of European data sheets
without being obliged to do so. In addition, the international approach to harmon-
ising data sheets was based on previous industry efforts.
One reason for the emergence of a private management of hazardous chemi-
cal substances in the chemical industry and in the automotive industry is their in-
tention to enhance and not to endanger their reputation. For several decades,
chemical corporations have had a "very bad public image", because "[t]hey are
seen as causing environmental hazards" (Ronit 2000: 84p.). 10 Especially after
some momentous chemical accidents in the past, the public image of the chemi-
cal industry has deteriorated. Globally, the most well-known accident was the
one in Bhopal (1984) - regarded as the worst accident in industrial history -
where thousands of people died and thousands of others were injured when toxic
chemicals were released into the atmosphere (Greenpeace 2004; Nathan/Kovoor-
Misra 2002: 253). 11 The disaster caused widespread consumer protest against the
chemical manufacturer responsible (Kollman/Prakash 2001: 401), and the chemi-
cal industry reacted by establishing a global program to ensure the responsible
treatment of chemicals (cf. Nathan/Kovoor-Misra 2002: 250). This world-wide,
voluntary initiative of the chemical industry ("Responsible Care"), challenges
chemical companies "to improve all aspects of performance which relate to pro-
tection of health, safety and environment"(Druckrey 1998: 981). 12 The self-por-
trayals of corporations belonging to the automotive industry, concerning their at-
titudes towards the protection of the environment are similar to those of the
chemical industry. On their web sites, the automotive producers and their suppli-
ers point to their intention to protect human health and the global environment
and to their commitment to the concept of sustainable development. A reason for
the commitment to sustainable development, as pointed out by one of the global
car producers, is that the corporation wants to maintain and expand its societal
acceptance. Even though there have been no environmental or health scandals in
the automotive industry (cf. Bolli 2000: 55), the discussion of the risks of sub-
stances like polyvinyl chloride (PVC), brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and
phthalates also concerns the automotive industry as these substances are in their
products. 13

10 For the struggle of the chemical industry with its bad reputation since the 1960s see
also Ronit/Schneider 2000: 19.
11 The gas explosion in the Indian city of Bhopal is regarded as the worst accident in
industrial history. According to Greenpeace, in the first days after the incident 8.000
people died. Since then, more than 20.000 people have died from the direct or indi-
rect consequences of the catastrophe (Greenpeace 2004).
12 One aspect of"Responsible Care" is product stewardship. E.g. chemical distributors
pledge themselves to offer only products that can be transported, used and disposed
safely according to current knowledge.
13 A recent study of an Austrian environmental protection organisation analysed the
contaminant loads in new cars. According to the study, 98 chemicals pollute the air
of passenger compartments, among others, the phthalate DEHP, a potentially car-
cinogenic plasticiser, was detected (Global 2000, 2005).
 THE TRANSNATIONAL MANAGEMENT OF HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS 1247

Another reason for the establislnnent of a transnational management of chem-

icals is so-called lead firms. 14 Consequently, the IMDS was initiated by global
car manufacturers that built up communication channels among some of the
members of the value chain in question. As the example of the substitution of
methylene chloride by safer substances reveals, an automotive producer appeared
to act as a "pioneer" and thus contributed to changing practices and ideas in the
automotive and chemical industry. Last but not least, the car manufacturers pro-
duced changes in the value chain through their demands to be informed by their
suppliers on the composition of parts and their lists of restricted substances -
they were able to dictate to their suppliers the kind of chemical substances they
do not want to have in the delivered products. This is because the suppliers de-
pend on their orders. On the other hand the producers depend to a certain degree
on their suppliers' willingness to cooperate. This is the case if a car producer de-
pends on a special supplier and can not afford to switch to another one. Suppliers
of parts hesitate to exchange information with their customers because they are
afraid of revealing sensitive information on the composition of substances and
hence to endanger their competitive position.

Conclusion

Above, two reasons were given as an explanation for the emergence of a transna-
tional management of hazardous chemical substances: the interest of the chemi-
cal and the automotive industry in having a good reputation and the existence of
lead firms that initiated changes concerning the management of chemicals. Of
course, there are some other reasons that might explain why corporations engage
in the responsible transnational management of chemicals: a careful handling of
chemicals reduces risks and contributes to a smooth production; the increased
skepticism of the firms' employees who have to handle chemical substances and
thus the risk of a lawsuit; the awareness that consumption patters have changed
and that the demand for ecologically suitable products has risen. On the other
hand, it might be the case that corporations are responsive to societal signals on
what is an acceptable behaviour and what is not and that they recognised the en-
vironmental consequences of their practices and accordingly have changed their
patterns of behaviour to contribute to the protection of the environment (cf. Re-
hbinder 1997: 2; Ronit/Schneider 2000: 22). To evaluate if economic interests or
values and norms explain the emergence of the transnational management of

14 According to Gereffi, lead firms "can be located upstream or downstream from

manufacturing [ ... ], or they can be involved in the supply of critical components
[ ... ]. What distinguishes lead firms from their followers or subordinates is that they
control access to major resources (such as product design, new technologies, brand
names, or consumer demand) that generate the most profitable return in the indus-
try" (Gereffi 2001: 1622).
248 I ALEXANDRA LINDENTHAL

chemicals - or if the truth lies somewhere inbetween - is beyond the scope of

this article.
Nonetheless, the changing and emerging practices concerning the manage-
ment of hazardous substances show that the self-regulation of private actors may
have some positive effects for the environment and/or for human health. If haz-
ardous substances are known or even avoided, not only the employees of corpo-
rations involved in the manufacturing of cars but also consumers will be protect-
ed against health risks. Finally, the disposal or recycling of automobiles will be
less complicated and more environmental-friendly. In some other cases, empiri-
cal examples reveal that self-regulation is useful for the efficient coordination of
production processes, but the environmental benefits are questionable. Hence, it
may be beneficial for suppliers that it is difficult for car manufacturers to exceed
the GADSL; however it may prove to be unfavourable for environmental rea-
sons. This raises the question of whether or not thinking has changed in favour of
an enhanced awareness of environmental aspects. One should not take it for
granted that the American car manufacturer asked its supplier for a nitrosamine-
free part merely because the American law requires a phase-out of nitrosamines.
It is by all means possible that the demand was based on environmental consider-
ations as well. But the fact that the car producer was not willing to accept higher
prices seems to challenge this.
However, against the background of vanishing borders and the fact that the
resources of nation-states are limited, multinational corporations may choose to
solve environmental problems by designing and establishing adequate rules and
procedures among themselves. Here, their specialised knowledge, financial and
management potential as well as their transnational organisational structures (cf.
Messner/Nuscheler 2003: 16p; Cutler et al. 1999: 4p) may hopefully be con-
ducive. The empirical cases have shown that corporations identified realms
where self-regulation in relation to the transnational management of chemical
substances was feasible and necessary and hence created corresponding arrange-
ments. At the same time, it also became apparent that - as e.g. the cases of the
IMDS and GADSL showed - it is difficult for practices and ideas to diffuse
across the boundaries of industries. Further research will be necessary to deter-
mine which factors complicate the diffusion of practices and ideas in transnation-
al value chains.

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Hermeneutik, Opladen: Leske Budrich.
IT Usage and
Transnational Identity Formations
'Do you really talk about emotions on the
phone .. ?': Content of Distance Communication
as a Structuring Moment of the Modern
World Society
MAGDALENA N OWICKA

I ntrod u cti on

Distance communication tools as a mean of spanning and sustaining personal

networks, as well as network analysis and the metaphor of a network have long
been a focus of transnational studies (Vertovec 2001). There have also been at-
tempts to make these concepts and objects of study fruitful and interesting to the
world society approach. Despite the fact that the two approaches emphas differ-
ent dimensions of the issue, they are not necessarily contradictory. If we define
society as "the inclusion of all possible contacts" (Luhmann 1984: 33) the net-
work perspective can be informative for the model of the modem world society
(Stichweh 2006; Holzer 2005). Transnational studies investigate the exact forms
and contents of social networks, which can tell the world society approach adher-
ent about their local density and heterogeneity, connectivity and clustering and
thus about the structure of world society (Stichweh 2003). Illustrative is the as-
sumption that the modem world society is characterised by universal accessibility
- in principle, anybody can be an addressee (and a source) of communication
(Fuchs 1997). However, there can be many societal barriers to the possible scope
of a social relationship - it is who the participants of social exchange are. From
this perspective, distance communication tools -their form and availability- de-
termine the exact form of social relationships yet their nonexistence does not
question the existence of the modem world society (Holzer 2005: 320p). Dis-
tance communication tools make the social networks possible, insofar they allow
the disembedding of communication from physical eo-presence (Lubbe 1996).
Yet, social networks do not emerge in a vacuum but they are predetermined by
particular social specifications on which kind of communication and with which
addressee is relevant. Therefore, neither the scope of social networks directly, nor
254 I MAGDALENA Now1cKA

the availability of distance communication tools, structure the world society.

Rather, other factors, for example 'mental maps' of the social world and in par-
ticular, the way potential contacts are localised, determine the world society's
structure. Watts (2003) identified geographical location and profession as two
such key factors for selecting communication partners.
However, with few exceptions (Knorr-Cetina/Bruegger 2002), no studies
look at structures and dynamics of the modem world society from the microper-
spective of individual behaviour (Herkenrath et al. 2005). The world society ap-
proach has so far given little attention to the question of the defining qualities of
the world society, focusing rather on its quantities. The qualitative studies have
been a domain of transnational approaches, which, however, scarcely think in
more global terms. Moreover, there is more confusion than consensus on the role
of long-distance communication tools for the formation and structures of globally
spanning social networks. The world society approach sees the spreading of new
communication technologies as a substitute for the geographical mobility of peo-
ple (Stichweh 2005), which might be true in terms of getting in contact with peo-
ple over geographical distance but is controversial with respect to networks al-
ready existing. Another interpretation, which can be located within the transna-
tional approach, is that Internet based exchange platforms play a key role in cre-
ating new social interconnectedness and the emergence of 'new imagined com-
munities' (Baym 1995; Jenkins 1997; Miller/Slater 2000; Georgiou 2002; Pana-
gakos 2003) or 'global village' (McLuhan!Powers 1992) or 'world polity' (Mey-
er 2005). In turn, the distinction between mobility and immobility (Bon/3/Kessel-
ring 2001; Kesselring 2001), and 'here' and 'there' is said to be irrelevant; bor-
ders seem to disappear and the new space opens out in which the old social order
has been replaced by relational complexity (Urry 2004). The opponents of these
approaches point to a simplified understanding of space in which the local and
the global, as well as place and space are dychotornic, and to the neglected role
of various non-spatial boundaries (Berking 1998; Berger 1999; Berker 2003;
Massey 2005; cf. Nowicka 2006a). Focusing on individual life courses, some au-
thors (Escobar 1996; Dutton 1999; Jordan 1999; Smith/Kollock 1999) critic pes-
simistic approaches that perceive in the development of computer mediated com-
munication a danger to mutual trust and collective identity (Tarrow 1998). They
also contradict the technological optimism and the opinion that ITC can replace
face-to-face interactions (Schwartzman 1989; Boden!Molotch 1994).
There is thus a great need for a grounded empirical research on the exact
structures of the modem world society and the involvement of the media of dis-
tance communication. The following paper wants to make a contribution to this
subject by focusing on the group of transnationally mobile professionals and their
small-scale social networks. A rich literature on migrants and diasporas has en-
hanced our understanding of practices that stretch beyond one locality, and cap-
tured how migrants negotiate significant aspects of their lives across borders
(Dezalay 1990; King 1990; Glick Schiller et al 1992; Basch et al. 1994; Chan
 'Do YOU REALLY TALK ABOUT EMOTIONS ON THE PHONE .. ?' I 255

1997; Cohen 1997; Smith/Guamizo 1998; Vertovec/Cohen 1999; Faist 2000;

O'Riain 2000; Colic-Peisker 2002; Hannerz 2003, to name a few). However, this
growing literature has focused on enforced migration, large communities, identi-
ty formation and integration in host societies, and little interest has been given to
the more informal and interpersonal connections established and sustained by
mobile professionals. Further, the premature conclusion that, in the era of dis-
tance communication tools, mobility and spatial dispersal do not have any nega-
tive effects on individuals' social networks needs to be tested against the empiri-
cal data.
The research which focused on family networks has addressed the relation-
ship between spatial ruptures and the negotiation of changes in the gender divi-
sion of labor, gender relations and ideologies and intergenerational relations
within the family (Landolt/Da 2005) but not on the relationship between spatial
distance and proximity, use of distance communication tools, and forms of social
interaction with family and friends. Similarly, the research on mobile profession-
als has focused on the consequences of their mobility for family life and the
forms and geographical spread of their social networks (Pelizaus-Hoffrneister
2001; Schneider et al. 2002) or on general patterns of sociability, especially on
inclusion of foreigners and locals into the networks (Kennedy 2004). There is
scant debate on the spatiality of family practices (Kivisto 2003), in particular on
the relationship between mobility and changing notions of home and away (Now-
icka 2007).
In the following, I consider mobility and distance communication as two as-
pects of social networking and ask how they complement each other. I look at
how the mobile individuals handle their relationships under the condition of geo-
graphical dispersal. In particular, I investigate two types of relationships my in-
terview partners sustain with their immediate family (spouse, children, parents
and siblings) and friends. These two situations were distinguished by my inter-
view partners according to how physical and emotional distance and proximity
interplay.
Further, I look at how distance communication tools' contribute to mainte-
nance of informal social networks. I argue that content of transmitted messages is
crucial for sustaining such networks. Under the conditions of almost umestrained
access to high quality distance communication media (due to diminishing finan-
cial costs), other factors such as time efficiency structure the world society. Also,
other 'residual boundaries' (Berker 2003) to social networks can be identified,
such as language, territorial bond, or cultural and life style differences. These
should be understood not as barriers to connectivity but as the structuralising mo-
ments of the modem world society.
I begin with picturing the context of the empirical study and the description
of the sample studied. In particular, I discuss the individuals' mobility practices
and their inclusion in complex institutional arrangements and the way their lives
are internationalised. I briefly describe their access to distance communication
256 I MAGDALENA Now1cKA

tools. Focusing on distance communication, I do not lose sight of motivation for

travel. This brings me to the first claim that communication in distance and prox-
imity are not interchangeable. I carry on analysing each of the relationships' type
and the roles the geographical distance and proximity and distance communica-
tion have in them. In the last section, I summar the identified transnationalisation
of social networks and individualisation of life styles and their temporal fragmen-
tation. In conclusion, I combine these results with the findings on distance com-
munication and ask how distance communication can soften or sharpen the ef-
fects of physical distance for remote relationships.

Mobile Transnational Professionals and

Their Environment

For a growing number of professionals mobility belongs to their daily routine.

Highly-skilled workers move to undertake a job abroad when in danger ofunem-
ployment at home, to pursue their careers or to perform their work tasks. They
are involved in overlapping multiple social worlds and interpersonal networks,
both private and professional, which are the outcome of their mobility and which
can also be a reason to become or stay mobile. Every relationship of mobile peo-
ple is potentially temporally remote: they may be present at home for three weeks
and then leave for six weeks to come back and stay a month. The relationship to
their spouses and children, but also to clients and work colleagues takes place in
momentary proximity and it is affected by their regular absences. Their geo-
graphical mobility may thus mean to them a change in forms and intensity of
contact to their nearest and dearest.
The particular group I studied is highly mobile employees of an international
organisation, one of the specialised agencies within the United Nations system
(later on referred to as the IO). The study was conducted between December
2002 and September 2004 and relied on two-to-three-hour-long problem-centered
interviews, accompanied by a short questionnaire. I did not restrict my research
to any particular location but spoke to the interviewees in their places of their res-
idence and at their business travel destinations. If a meeting was not possible, we
phoned, which was the case five times. I interviewed six women and seven men
between 31 and 64 years of age. At the time of the interviews, nine people were
married, two of them for the second time. There was one widow and one single
person in the sample. One interviewee indicated having a steady life partner and
another having a girlfriend. Ten people have children; five of them have (also)
adult children who do not live with them anymore (some of them live in a differ-
ent country). All interviewees have higher education, and most of them complet-
ed university with an M.A. degree. Spouses of eight interviewees were profes-
sionally active, two of them worked from home, and one was retired.
 'Do YOU REALLY TALK ABOUT EMOTIONS ON THE PHONE .. ?' I 257

All of them are migrants and frequent travelers. One group can be distin-
guished. This is the group of those who travel between 100-170 days in a year, to
five to seven countries in which they conduct projects (usually over five to seven
years). Such short trips are one to four weeks long (only one interviewee travels
only to one country in Africa but for one to three months). These individuals re-
side generally longer (5-15 years) in one country, usually in the USA, but also in
Eastern Europe. A second group consists of individuals who undertake three to
five years long assignments in a third country, from where they also travel, but
less extensively (usually once a month to neighboring countries, and three times
a year to the USA). However, in the course of their lives, the two options of re-
settlement and extensive mobility mix: some individuals had traveled extensively
for a couple of years and then undertook a foreign assignment. On average, the
interviewees re-settled two to nine times between countries and continents. My
interview partners come originally from South America, Turkey, the Middle
East, the USA, Western (continental) Europe, non-continental Europe and Cen-
tral and Eastern European countries. They were residents of all continents, and
they travel (or used to travel) to various continents, except to Australia. Impor-
tantly, the migrants do not separate from their spouses and children but move
with them to another country. The IO provides extensive support to these fami-
lies through job searches for spouses and care and schooling opportunities for
children.
Distinctively, they dwell in a de-nationalised environment. The disembedded-
ness from nation-states is the result of immersion in the organisational networks
of the United Nations system, with its own pension and health programs, as well
as exclusion from national taxation schemes. Unlike migrants living in diasporas,
my informants go abroad alone or with their immediate family only (when re-set-
tling); and they tend not to sustain links characteristic to 'transnational social
spaces'. Typically, 'transmigrants' uphold close relationships to communities of
origin while being well-integrated into the host society. For example, they con-
tribute financially to the development of their hometowns, and are engaged in lo-
cal politics (Glick Schiller et al. 1992; Basch et al.l994; Pries 2001). This is not
the case in my sample. While my informants wish to maintain close links with
family and friends at home, it is not their main concern to sustain cultural bonds
with the home country. Also their dependency on home-bonds and on local eth-
nic groups is very weak (which seems typical of highly qualified and middle
class professionals- cf. Kennedy 2004).
The technical networks of the organisation guarantee to the individuals anal-
most unlimited access to the modem distance communication tools, which can be
used for business and private purposes: videoconferencing, satellite phone con-
nections, or mobile computers with Internet access. The IO owns a satellite net-
work for remote communication. It permits reducing the costs for the whole or-
ganisation but also for its employees, who are allowed to use the connections,
above all phones, for private reasons. For example, they may call via the main
258 I MAGDALENA Now1cKA

board worldwide, paying only for a basic outgoing connection. The IO has a well
developed Intranet. Many of the internal transactions and processes take place
electronically. The IO's field offices are equipped with special rooms for visiting
employees who can use a docking station, Internet access, printers, etc. All the
mobile employees are equipped with laptops. In this context the choice of the
form of communication belongs to the individual.
The availability of distance communication tools in the offices may be the
reason why most of my interview partners are not too well equipped at home.
Many of them take their business laptops home, and usually they own a personal
computer but they use Internet from home only occasionally, typically for shop-
ping or as a source of information (for example route planners or telephone
books). Many of them do not carry a mobile phone with them, and if they do they
try to switch it off as often as possible, and do not take business calls after hours.
On the other hand, the limited private use of such equipment is a result of their
protection of their private sphere. Usually, the mobile individuals have even less
time at their disposal than their immobile colleagues, and they try to spend this
time entirely with the family. They dedicate their spare time to their hobbies,
which they carry out either at home or outdoors. Many like gardening and taking
of their house, or do individual sports. This precious time should be exclusively
devoted to those who are closest to them.

Motivation to Travel or: From Whom Are You Remote?

One of the most important questions for my research was why people are mobile.
In the context of this paper, this question is relevant as far as the individuals' de-
cision to become or stay mobile means a choice of from whom they are remote.
They conduct projects in distant countries. This means their clients are remote.
When deciding to travel, they decide for a physical proximity to them. At the
same time, they become remote to their families, who stay at home. A closer look
at the individuals' motivation to travel demonstrates some of the issues of remote
communication, which I discuss in greater detail when focusing on my intervie-
wees' private relationships.
One reason why my interviewees decide to travel are the deficiencies of dis-
tance communication tools. It is expected that physical mobility can be replaced
by virtual mobility, it means that instead oftraveling, the individuals use distance
communication tools to manage their tasks in far destinations. The IO makes
three options available to it's employees: they can choose to move to a third
country where they stay three to five years and perform their work while residing
there; they can undertake an assignment which enables them to reside in the
USA, where the IO's headquarters is located and from there they travel regularly
to the countries where they participate in projects. They can also choose to stay
in their place of residence (usually in the IO's headquarters location) and do their
 'Do YOU REALLY TALK ABOUT EMOTIONS ON THE PHONE .. ?' I 259

work from 'behind the desk'. All three options are equally supported by the 10. It
means someone who does not want to travel (due to family circumstances like a
birth of a baby or health problems) can find another, qualitatively equal, assign-
ment within the organisation that does not require them to travel.
However, all the interviewees agree that travel is necessary because nothing
can replace personal encounters with people and places. They say "no best equip-
ment can replace traveling" (Il: 51; 14: 57t They see several reasons for this:
First, people- their clients and cooperation partners - are used to communicate
face-to-face and they do not want to rely on videoconferencing (14: 57). More
importantly, however, one can benefit more from the "personal touch" that face-
to-face meetings give. Further, the interviewees believe that:

"You can use videoconferences when there is kind not a very difficult or controversial
issue to be discussed which are also on the further agenda, when you have to convince
people then it is better to meet people face-to-face it is videoconferencing are great just
to update, to get people informed, but if it is a very critical issue, when you have to con-
vince people then I would still say face-to face discussion in order really to have very
detailed discussion." (13: 36)

They admit that videoconferencing is an improvement to telephone conference or

e-mail because one can see people, their faces, expressions, behaviour, and their
body language (13: 152). Observing body language is necessary to understand
their motivations and decisions (I3: 57). Yet travel and personal encounter in-
volves another aspect: one meets not only people when traveling, one meets
places (16: 26). Lenka2 says that she meets people who are not her direct clients
or counterparts with whom she could not communicate by e-mail, phone or
videoconference but who are affected by the projects she supervises. When she
sees what she contributed when preparing the project, a bypass constructed or a
bridge built, and when she talks to people who use this infrastructure and thank
her for this contribution, she feels satisfaction. She feels rewarded for her efforts
and it compensates for her hard work. She is then motivated to continue (16: 40).
Reiner confirms this saying that one gets a much better understanding of the situ-
ation of a particular person (a client, an addressee of a project) when visiting a
project site. Being physically present in the "field", he talks to people, for exam-
ple taxi drivers, with whom he otherwise would not have a possibility to commu-
nicate. He also observes beggars on the street or passing people laughing, and
these impressions cannot be replaced by talking, he stresses (12: 57). Rainer's
words point to the very important issue that communication is not only about
talking and that the forms of communication are not exchangeable. The issues,
problems and situations he and his colleagues deal with, when supervising a

The numbers in brackets stand for interview and paragraph number respectively.
2 The names of all the interviewees and of geographic destinations have been
changed to assure anonymity.
260 I MAGDALENA Now1cKA

project, are too complex. Not only it is necessary to see people's faces when they
talk to get a full picture of their reactions but it is often necessary to talk to other
people, and to see their environment. Therefore, videoconferencing is a poor sub-
stitute for travel, and can be used only when travel is not possible for some rea-
sons (12: 65).
His words make clear that distance communication disconnects people from
their environments. When communicating by phone or Internet the partners do
not get an impression of how the other lives, how the other fits into the surround-
ings, and how the location may influence this person. Being physically present in
a place gives one a much better understanding of the situation of a particular per-
son. When in place, you can talk to many people, recogn their moods, and get an
idea of people's living conditions. You can participate in the stories of others.
This knowledge increases the satisfaction my informants feel when performing
their professional tasks. Otherwise, they experience others as anonymous recipi-
ents of their decisions, who are 'caught in the moment', without their own per-
sonal histories, immobilised and atemporalised, extracted from spatial and tem-
poral contexts. We can say thus that the spatial distance increases the emotional
distance between people by the means of abstracting them from the particularities
of place.
The same does not apply to the communication between the eo-workers with-
in the IO, either those who sit in a neighboring office or building or who work in
another country. Contrary to what has been said so far, the interviewees use
mostly e-mail to communicate within teams, and they rarely meet personally. Be-
sides e-mail, phone, and sometimes also audio-conferencing are the tools used to
contact colleagues (Il: 23), depending on what needs to be communicated. Usu-
ally, teams exchange documents and other information, and coordinate meetings;
seldom, they discuss problems on the phone. One of the reasons for this differ-
ence may be a clear division of tasks and responsibilities between the work col-
leagues, which makes their behaviour predictable. The risk of misunderstandings
and the anxiety that they could negatively influence a relationship is much lower
in this case. There is no necessity to establish trust since the roles assigned to
partners govern their relationships. Should a conflict nevertheless occur, there are
conciliation mechanisms in place in the organisation.

Private Social Networks

My interview partners live with the constant anxiety that they may lose contact
with their friends when they resettle. Many of them moved out from their par-
ents' house as students and never came back, as a result of having moved to an-
other country right after graduation. Since then, they rely on distance communi-
cation tools to keep in touch with their family and friends:
 'Do YOU REALLY TALK ABOUT EMOTIONS ON THE PHONE .. ?' I 261

"You know, we live in such a world practically without borders. One day I am at this
continent, the other day somewhere else ... It is natural that we do not end friendships.
Of course, we do not see each other so often, but we contact per e-mail, we talk on the
phone. It is not like in nineteenth century when you went to America, got on board of
such damper and you cried because you thought you go forever." (112: 52)

Those who travel over one hundred days a year use distance communication
tools to stay in regular contact with the immediate family: wife, husband, and
children. The availability of distance communication does not make their mobili-
ty unnecessary. It makes it possible. Knowing that they can communicate when
traveling, bridging the distance to their nearest and dearest, it is easier for them to
decide to leave home for a time.

Families under the Condition of Remoteness

Despite this, the interviewees complain that their contact with family is quite ir-
regular due to mobility. The temporal dimension is of key importance to mobile
individuals. First, their contacts to their nearest and dearest suffer due to (real or
experienced) time shortages and squeeses (Southerton et al. 2001) anyway. When
they are not on trips, they work long hours and have little leisure time available
for activities with their families. When they are away, this possibility does not
exist at all; they just manage to call their spouse at the end of their work day only
if time zones allow for it. Secondly, every trip fragments the private time they
spend together with the family, in physical proximity, when the family members
hug, kiss, play together, go shopping, or get involved in hobbies. This time is di-
vided over the year into short periods. Thirdly, time delays are a problem to indi-
viduals. Often, it is easy to maintain contact either by e-mail or telephone, one
can be reached almost in every location. However, not just the fact of informa-
tion exchange, but immediate reaction, is important. Reiner says he carries a mo-
bile phone with him case his wife needs to get in touch with him:

"I do that because I would like to be in touch, I don't want to miss anything important
and also I would like to be contactable in cases of emergencies. Before 1990 when I was
in Africa it was really difficult to stay in touch. And I was out of touch with my family
for a week or more. That was not really very good - when the child was sick or your
wife wasn't able to find a certain file or there was something urgent .. .It gives the im-
pression that she had to manage on her own. That was quite a problem. It is much less
so these days. But still it is an issue. This traveling, the amount of traveling I do is a
burden on a family." (12: 53)

The reaction time is important insofar an immediate response carries an emotion-

al message with it. A delayed reaction makes an impression of less involvement
262 I MAGDALENA Now1cKA

and understanding of the problem and its urgency. Someone who replies with a
delay misses a great dose of immediate and strong emotions on a particular, con-
troversial or difficult, issue.
Scarcity of time disrupts the seemingly trivial personal contacts because it
disturbs the daily routines. Routine interactions play a significant role in the
maintenance of close relationships and defining the roles in each relationship
(Duck 1988). How important they are becomes visible first when mobile people
decide to change their work assignment to travel less. This is often the case for
young mothers, but also other interviewees use this option (15). Many decide to
reduce the number and duration of trips when it becomes a clear burden on their
families, like Martin (I3) who reduced his amount of travels by forty percent
when his wife gave birth to their daughter.
However, the interviewees differ in their judgment on whether irregular con-
tact is more destructive to relationships with their direct or extended family or to
friends. Some claim that their families suffer dramatically from their physical ab-
sences referring to their spouses and children. Others say that no matter what, the
family members maintain their close ties; they usually mean their parents and
siblings. Relationships with the extended family are usually not considered too
problematic. Sporadic visits to family members and regular phone calls are suffi-
cient to maintain contact and there is little danger of weakening ties. All the in-
terviewees bridge the distance to their parents with the help of the telephone.
Ludmila calls them regularly in spite of the costs because this way she feels com-
fortable- "I try not to set barriers myself', she says (17: 51). For those whose
friends and families live in the USA, regular contact is even easier because it is
cheaper - they use the IO's satellite system to make private calls. One can call
for free via the IO's satellite in the US; calling the local number is then free of
charge, and long-distance connections are much cheaper than through commer-
cial networks (14: 109).
Men tend to see their relationship to their parents and relatives as less diffi-
cult than women do. Women tend to be more sensitive about distance between
family members and often regret being far from their parents. Although their re-
lationship remains intimate, they miss daily contact with their parents; they are
worried that they may not be present in case of emergency, and they miss
parental advice and warmth. "You cannot call Mum non-stop when you cook and
you are not sure what to put in a pot", says Lenka (16: 70).
Due to physical distance, individuals need to be more flexible in their life ar-
rangements, and they also need to be well organised. They also need to flexibly
react to any possibility to meet their extended family members face-to-face:
many interviewees combine business travels with visits to their parents (15, Ill).
Visits to the parental home of both partners are, on the other hand, arranged so
that the time is divided equally between both families, thus requiring certain reg-
ular schedule. Many of the interviewees say, they always spend summer holidays
in the country of a husband, and winter in the country of his wife's family, and
 'Do YOU REALLY TALK ABOUT EMOTIONS ON THE PHONE .. ?' I 263

then one week a year by themselves in a third 'neutral' country. Not without im-
portance is their wish to let their own children get to know their grandparents, as
well as the country and culture of their parents' origin.

Friendships and Mobile Life-Styles

When asked to describe their social networks the interviewees indicated the na-
tionality and place of residence of their friends, which allowed them to draw their
'social maps'. Most of interviewees stay in touch with friends from school or
university. The closer the ties used to be, the better the chance that the friendship
survives the distance, note the interviewees (I5: 125, 141). Typically, they accept
that their friendships evolve with time and see it as a normal development. They
relate this change in the nature and form of a friendship and the intensity of con-
tacts to an evolving life situation rather than physical distance. Reiner who has
lived abroad (in several countries) for over thirty years says that one develops
different interests and different perspectives, so: "after a number of years" he dis-
covered he "might not have much in common" with his old friends and relatives
(I2: 81 ). In particular, the experience of mobility, frequent changes of residence
and exposure to many different cultures disembedds the interviewees from their
old networks. Some of my interview partners, however, point to the role of phys-
ical absence from friends. Rodrigo believes that after some ten years of being
outside of the home country one has to accept that certain contacts, especially
those based on professional interests and business co-operation end. It is possible
to maintain the interest in one person's life over a longer time but this link has to
be emotional; in other cases a friendship ends (Il3: 86). Steven, on the other
hand, considers mobility as a positive factor in shaping his own social networks;
because of frequent changes of residence, he gains possibilities to decide with
whom to stay in touch with and with whom not (I4: 121).
Generally, the interviewees judge keeping contact with friends as requiring a
lot of effort. Some friendships end with time because the contact is not as regular
as it used to be or because not many people are able to express emotions when
talking on the phone only or writing e-mails (not to mention that not everybody
has e-mail access, though these days it is rarely a problem because everybody has
a telephone). The interviewees emphas that direct unmediated contact is the most
important to them and their friends (Il: 49). Diego says it is perhaps easier to
maintain contact with friends in the age of Internet and e-mails - but, in practice,
keeping in touch regularly is difficult. Thus, he re-defined true friendship:

,True friends is that you may not see each other for four, five years, you may actually
only once or twice a year write a short note, and then you see each other after four years
and it is as you never stopped seeing each other. Because things start clicking immedi-
ately. And that is very rare, it doesn't happen very often but when it happens, at least in
264 I MAGDALENA Now1cKA

my definition then you know it is a real friend. And then it has to work both ways as
well." (110: 98)

A friendship under condition of spatial dispersal is also affected by temporal rup-

tures. This has tremendous consequences for the mobile individuals. Mobile peo-
ple have to re-establish their relationships to friends again and again. They need
to make effort to ensure that people do not forget them, that they stay integrated
(14: 65) despite being absent. Both parties in this relationship need to be patient:
Ludmila says that her friends are tired of waiting to organ a party on the particu-
lar weekend that she happens to be back in town. Her foreign language teacher
resigned from their meetings because she was away too often, and the irregular
lessons were of little benefit to either of them. The interviewees usually give up
hobbies, which they would share with a group, like team sports or playing in a
music band (!3: 86). Rather, they find hobbies which they can do alone, without a
need to coordinate the activity with friends. For example, they go to a gym, read
books, take care of their own garden, or go jogging regularly (12: 47). Mobile in-
dividuals prefer to spend their time at home and to dedicate their attention to their
immediate family. "When you travel, your favourite place is home", says Lenka
(16: 98). Their social engagements are reduced to sporadic informal meetings. All
of my interview partners have resigned from memberships in associations. Tolga,
for example, is no longer a member in the society which supports young people
from her home country. Although she thinks it is a very important activity, she is
only able to be a passive member. This option is satisfactory neither to her nor to
the society. Life styles of mobile individuals become individualised, and their so-
cial practices are fragmented for longer periods of time.
However, the role of spatial ruptures can be relativised when we look at other
important events in interviewees' lives. Such "growing apart" between old
friends is not confined only to relationships in which one or both friends are mo-
bile. Many adult persons experience friendship as significantly structured by the
challenges of everyday life: coordinating couples' activities, aligning family
compositions, pursuing careers, and matching different schedules (Sigman 1991;
Rawlins 1994: 285). These can be reinforced by extensive mobility. However,
many interview partners stress that their circle of friends and acquaintances has
changed because of the demands of family life, especially children. When chil-
dren are born the circle of friends evolves. First one has less spare time, is more
constrained, or cannot stay late in the evening. Second, one chooses friends who
also have children so that when meeting them, the kids can play together (15: 73).
Martin, the young father and a father-to-be for the second time, notes with some
sadness that his criteria for meeting people are driven almost exclusively by chil-
dren (!3: 92). On the other hand, when one has children, it becomes more impor-
tant to maintain contact with the family in the home country. Although some ties
may become weak, other are refreshed and reinforced.
 'Do YOU REALLY TALK ABOUT EMOTIONS ON THE PHONE .. ?' I 265

Another aspect relates to certain homogenisation of social networks. Their

friends are typically transnational professionals as well; many work in the 10,
they are also expatriates. Martin estimates that some one-thirds of his friends are
international (!3: 56). Lenka's friends are mostly international, too: they are ei-
ther colleagues she met in the 10 or in embassies or in the neighborhood (16: 84).
She notices that "somehow foreigners stick together" (16: 86). Atanas estimates
that only 10 percent of his neighbors are "local" people, the rest are migrants like
him (Il2: 46). Tolga mostly meets parents from the international school her chil-
dren attend (15 110). But these "people come and go", says Lenka (16: 80). She
lost many friends because they moved on, and she stayed, at least for a time, or
the opposite. It is characteristic of this group that their friends are often as mobile
as they are.

Physical and Emotional Distance: What Can and What

Cannot be Said

The problem of keeping in touch over longer time and distance is about the con-
tent of a transmitted message: about what can be said on the phone, what can be
written inane-mail, and what has to be said when looking into somebody's eyes.
The interviewees emphas that e-mails are good for exchanging and informing.
They transfer photos or interesting articles (12: 85), they update friends about the
most important events, and they coordinate meetings with them. Martin, for ex-
ample used to send e-mails like postcards, but "those days are over". He is flood-
ed with e-mails and has no time to answer them. He says "the whole communica-
tion traffic is getting too much and it doesn't reflect the substance. It is really
hell" (!3: 152). Only when he plans to go to a country where some of his friends
live, does he send them a short e-mail and agrees on the time and exact place of a
face-to-face meeting. Everybody accepts this and he thinks it does not affect the
relationship too much (!3: 156). He regularly forwards them some pictures to
keep them updated on the recent developments in his life. "This is nice and help-
ful", says Reiner, who prefers to call people. He says he is not too good in writ-
ing, and neither is his mother nor his siblings. Tolga agrees: she talks regularly to
her friends back in Turkey. They chat about children and work. This is much
more interesting and allows for more possibilities for spontaneous response than
e-mail (15: 73). However:

"A real serious communication by phone is very limited. Do you really talk about your
emotions or really things that are important for you over the phone? You talk about the
weather, how are the kids, Hmm .... pretty much superficial things or let's say logistical
things also. But not really the real stuff." (12: 83)
266 I MAGDALENA Now1cKA

Each tool is suitable for different purposes, and it enables a different kind of
communication. The best is the face-to-face meeting (I8: 195), because most ele-
ments of communication are non-verbal. One can read the emotions of the other
and show emotions and make sure they are understood correctly. The second is
voice: on the phone one can hear the person and recogn the tone of his or her
voice and also their reactions -joy, sadness, and anger. E-mail is like a letter:
one can deduct only some moods from the choice of words (I6: 76). The last is
therefore the least personal (I9: 64) and therefore the interviewees use e-mails for
simple messages, coordination of meetings, and short updates. Despite the fact
that e-mails give the recipient the freedom of replying when it is the most suit-
able to her or him, there is also a danger that e-mails will disappear in the traffic.
Especially when business e-mails are a priority, personal messages to friends of-
ten go unanswered for a longer time (I8: 191). The interviewees point to an im-
portant feature of e-mail communication which is the possibility of control. The
receiver can always decide when to answer and can think over an answer (I8:
193). One can plan when to write to whom and what. E-mail remains thus a tool
of communication in business and has only a supplementary role in the private
life of the interviewees. They tend to communicate primarily on the phone with
their families and friends. The possibility of immediate response seems to be an
important factor in the choice of this media of communication.
The interviewees tend to 'return' to traditional forms of distance communica-
tion. In spite of having access to modem systems, they would rather phone (Ver-
tovec 2004). They often decide to hand write Christmas greetings to give the
message a personal touch (I9: 66) instead of sending an e-mail. They mostly use
the IO's networks, though they rarely carry their laptops home or have a business
mobile phone. They separate business and private life, try to avoid bringing work
home and would rather spend their spare time outdoors, gardening, jogging or
meeting friends instead of using a computer or Internet. They do not have private
e-mail accounts (I2: 87), they trust that the IO will not control their e-mails flow.
Very few interviewees use Internet at home. So, then for shopping (I6: 149, !3:
78), especially for rare things like special cameras or gifts for relatives in another
country. Sometimes they use search engines to plan their travel.
The choice of media of communication relates to the type of attachment con-
necting people (Doring/Dietmar 2003). The more intimate the private relation-
ship, the richer, synchronic and more personalised is the medium chosen, for ex-
ample telephone for family talks, especially when emotions are to be shared. E-
mails are chosen when delay in time is an advantage or when practical issues
should be discussed. In business, written media are chosen to minim the risk of
misunderstandings and secure transmission, but only when a relationship has al-
ready been established. When making contact for the first time, and when com-
plicated issues which require proving the partner's understanding of the situation,
and to assure the partner of own trustworthiness, richer media like videoconfer-
 'Do YOU REALLY TALK ABOUT EMOTIONS ON THE PHONE .. ?' I 267

encing are used. When one's roles are clearly defined and for coordination in
teams, e-mails seem to satisfy all participants.

Conclusions

The empirical findings prove that mobility influences individuals' life courses
and patterns of socialisation. However, this influence is quite ambivalent. Several
other factors, for example birth of a child, may have a comparably large impact
on individuals' social networks and daily practices. Mobility is relevant as far as
it leads to a geographical spread of families and friendship networks, and a shift
in temporal dimension of social practices. Several processes could be identified
as a consequence of mobility. First, the analysis of the empirical material shows
that practices and also social contacts of the interviewees become individualised.
The interviewees tend not to participate in group activities, but rather meet irreg-
ularly with individuals whenever they have time. Secondly, their social networks
are transnational, in terms of the nationalities represented and the locations in-
volved. Though often enjoyed, the transnationalisation of social networks is not
an aim of the interviewees. It is enforced by institutional settings like the IO, in-
ternational schools, or expatriate communities, and mobility, which makes them
spread around the globe.
One aspect of transnationalisation is that the interviewees social with people
like themselves, people who have a similar background and life style and who
can better understand them easier than their sedentary neighbors or colleagues.
The specific experience of mobility, the frequent absences from home and lack of
time lead to the situation when the individuals feel emotional distance from their
local communities and also to those whom they left behind. Their relationships
are in constant danger of misunderstandings and conflicts, resulting also from
language barriers. In the place, where the individuals settle for certain periods of
time, their attachment to people and their surroundings is temporary, and they
tend to develop new acquaintances mostly among their international colleagues
and neighbors. Often, they avoid socialising with work colleagues, who often
take more of the role of a guide in a foreign country than of a good friend. De-
spite the fact that the foreigners stick together, individuals of the same nationality
are more likely to get together (16: 88). New friendships usually follow their own
rules. Much of how they develop is accidental; also, "the chemistry between peo-
ple" (14: 97) is more important than other factors.
The spatial distance from old friends and to families enforces a certain flexi-
bility in the mobile individuals. They use every occasion to visit their nearest and
dearest. On the other hand, they may also establish a greater regularity in their
long-distance contacts, for example to fairly distribute their attention to families
in more than one country. The pressure of mobility often causes social networks
of mobile people to be very fragile, despite the fact that they are constantly con-
268 I MAGDALENA Now1cKA

cemed with keeping in touch with people. Many friendships end with time; they
break down as a result of a lack of common daily activities, and the imperfection
of distance communication.
Distance communication tools are believed to mitigate the negative effects of
mobility and spatial ruptures. However, the literature has focused on the geo-
graphical dispersal and technical connectivity. The interviews with the mobile
transnational professionals confirm that they use distance communication tools
daily for bridging the spatial distance. Yet they are often less successful in bridg-
ing emotional distance. Distance communication has several limitations. Not the
accessibility of media but the comfort of its usage, its quality or language are
among the barriers to communication. Temporal aspects, however, seem to be
even more important. Pressure for coordination, temporal fragmentation of social
practice, and shortages of time spent in physical proximity matter much to indi-
viduals. Especially in emergency and conflict situations temporal delays in re-
sponse to problems are a serious issue to mobile people.
Mobility does change the form, scope and content of social networks. Para-
doxically, however, the social networks of the mobile individuals may not be
dramatically different from the social networks of less mobile professionals who
work in any company operating transnationally, and who travel for private rea-
sons only. Mobility seems to rather restrict their networks than to enlarge them.
The internationalisation of social network may be related to profession to a
greater extent than mobility. One thinks here of transnational social networks of
scientists (Berker 2003; Scheibelhofer 2003) or j oumalists (Pelizaus-Hoffmeister
2001) but also of other, more sedentary groups (Mau 2007).
When establishing new acquaintances my informants rely on face-to-face
meetings, which may accidentally give rise to a friendship. They are quite tradi-
tional technology users; they do not enlarge their networks with help of distance
communication tools. Possibly, their mobile life style hinders them in this aspect
-they are steadily confronted with new places and people (despite that they may
not communicate with them), which is quite stressful. Their non-travel time is a
quality and relaxing time which they dedicate to dwell in familiarity and coziness
of own house and family.
The relationship between physical movement and the use of distance commu-
nication tools is quite complex. One thing determines the other - mobile people
who are absent try to be present from a distance and rely on phone or e-mails to
achieve it. The deficiencies of distance communication tools may however in-
crease their motivation to travel to project sites. Possibly, their physical mobility
hinders their 'virtual' mobility, when they choose to visit their parents despite a
large geographical distance rather than increase the frequency of phone conversa-
tions.
When focusing on interviewees' practice of communicating from a distance, I
could observe a split into the two separate worlds, in which my interview part-
ners live: a 'virtual' one, where business and private coordination is managed
 'Do YOU REALLY TALK ABOUT EMOTIONS ON THE PHONE .. ?' I 269

(however often with some difficulty), and a 'real' one, where intimate or difficult
business matters are shared. The 'virtual' world is characterised by an increasing
simplicity; on contrary, the 'real' world is very complex. This division is not the
same as the one of private and public or private and business spheres. The divi-
sion between them is marked by change in content and quality of transferred
messages. In the first, messages tend to 'disappear' in huge information traffic,
many of them remain unanswered, and despite the flow of information taking
place, communication often does not. In this world, certain functions are exer-
cised: coordination, documents and information sharing, updating, scheduling,
etc. The tool chosen depends on type of the task which needs to be performed: e-
mails for co-ordination of meetings, audio-conferencing for agreeing with a
group of people, videoconferencing for solving minor problems and updating, the
telephone for exchanging reactions, etc. Location matters here little. 'Real' life is
handicapped by extensive mobility. When a person relocates over a long dis-
tance, there is an anxiety that the intimacy of relationships with those left behind
will deteriorate. The distance communication tools are a poor replacement for
physical proximity, as they do not offer the same 'richness' of communication
(Jaffe/Aidmann 1998: 180). In this world, physical and temporal proximity gain
in importance as a factor influencing intimacy in the relationship.
The distance communication tools are an important component of each re-
mote relationship. However, their power to mitigate the physical distance is im-
perfect, and this, as I claim, because they insufficiently alleviate the temporal as-
pects of social practices of mobile individuals. They may have power to 'reduce'
the geographical distance between family members and friends in the sense that
geographical distance does not necessarily mean loss of intimacy and emotional
detachment. Yet the temporal aspects of each relationship remain affected by
physical distance in such a way that intimacy and emotional proximity are in
danger. Remote relationships are affected more by time shortages and temporal
ruptures, which enforce more effort in assuring synchronisation and coordination
than by physical distance. The temporal aspects determine an individual's mem-
bership in social groups, both in small scale networks as well as larger communi-
ties, which has to do with participating in the spatio-temporal trajectories more
than being physically present in a place.
We may also look at mobility not as a reason for spatial dispersal of social
networks, and distance communication not as a mean of mitigating the negative
effects of spatial ruptures but look at both as means of sustaining social net-
works. If the fact that certain networks are more durable than others is the result
of the constant effort put in their maintenance, this is the result of a conviction of
all parties involved that this effort is worth it. Kinship networks are quite durable
because mobile individuals take the effort to sustain them, also in situations of
physical distance, by means of travel (if possible and/or necessary) or by means
of distance communication (if possible and/or necessary). Professional networks
based on varying interests and commonalities may not be worth such an effort
270 I MAGDALENA Now1cKA

because both, mobility and communicating at a distance are not easy. They are
both time and energy consuming.
When we then finally try to think of mobile professionals' social networks in
terms of their structure, we need to go beyond geographical patterns of distribu-
tion of network members. Transnational social networks are quite complex in
terms of their geographical distribution as well as their temporal structure. We
can identify their internal transnationalisation at the level of the nuclear family
(binational marriages are quite common), as well as within a single locality (ex-
patriate communities and international neighborhoods, international work envi-
ronment); we can also recogn their pluri-local spread at various levels - family
networks dispersed across continents; friendships between people of different na-
tionalities residing in various countries; professional networks stretching beyond
borders of one organisation and one country. We also need to consider durability
and intensity of such connections, and how they vary in time. The interplay of
geographical mobility and use of distance communication tools determine the ex-
act form of these connections insofar as they influence the temporal patterns of
social life.

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Does lt Matter Where You Are?- Transnational Migration,
Internet Usage and the Emergence of Global Togetherness
HEIKE M6NIKA GKESCHKE

The new media influence the course of communication -

and possibly its content- in ways that are unknown to
date. This is precisely why they can create new modes and
types of sociality over time. Both for methodological and
factual reasons, it is thus the task of social sciences to in-
vestigate these new media in terms of their own logic and
dynamics, to describe the forms of interaction and com-
munication that they create and to show how they influ-
ence, shape, create or hinder processes of society-building
(Bergmann/Meier 2003: 430, my own translation).

Introduction

This paper contributes to the development of concepts useful for studying global
complexities, i.e. the realisation of the 'World Society', by exploring emerging
Internet based forms of global togetherness. By focusing on the complex interre-
lations between migration movements on the one hand and the progressive
'shrinking of distances' through communication technologies on the other, I seek
to uncover some of the "global micro-structures" (Knorr-Cetina/Bruegger 2002)
that constitute the evolving World Society. This paper draws on data from ethno-
graphic research. The case study consists of www.cibervalle.com, 1 an online dis-
cussion forum that connects Paraguayans from all over the world. During the first
phase of generating data from the virtual scene, the practice of interrelating local
and virtual settings has emerged as a striking phenomenon within this field. In
order to comprehend this multilayer techno-social formation properly, a multi-sit-
ed-ethnographic approach has been developed, which relates the data gathered on

The online-discussion forum's name and the nicknames of the users were changed
as a means of preserving the participant's identities.
276 I HEIKE M6NIKA GRESCHKE

the online discussion forum to data, which was collected face-to-face in some of
the places of residence of some of the participants, i.e. in Paraguay, Buenos
Aires, California and Germany. The methodological implications of generating
and analysing data in a pluri-local and computer-mediated field of research are
discussed elsewhere (Greschke 2007b). In this paper I will focus rather on some
theoretical and conceptual problems arising from the observations I made during
my fieldwork in different parts of the global life-world Cibervalle.
Most of the members of the Cibervalle-community did not know each other
when they accessed the online-forum for the first time. Over the years, however
some communicative practices have developed within Cibervalle, that allude to
the emergence of global forms of living together. By means of sharing everyday-
life practices with their distant counterparts, the communication in Cibervalle -
despite the geographical dispersion of its members -has reached a high degree of
proximity and intimacy. While the degree of engagement differs from one user to
the next, the formerly anonymous socio-electronic network has become a com-
munity based on solidarity and trust for many of the participants. But how can we
imagine people living together although they are not sharing the same geographi-
cal space?
In the following I attempt to illuminate the meaning of "living together",
while being physically apart by exploring some of the communicative forms that
have been developed by the members of Cibervalle. Particularly, I will focus on
the interactions between advancing technologies and the social practices of their
usage on the one hand, and the relation between eo-present and mediated forms
of communication, on the other hand. By doing so, I hope not only to uncover the
techno-social requirements for global communication but to exemplify further
some of the emerging techno-social hybrid forms that enhance global together-
ness. Assuming that most of the readers are unfamiliar with techno-social forma-
tions like Cibervalle I begin with a short story about an ordinary daf within the
Cibervalle-community. As its members reside physically in different parts of the
world, some travelling will be necessary to catch a glimpse of how the Ciber-
valler@s3 are doing living (Sacks 1984) globally together.
Have a good trip!

2 The story must not be misunderstood as an account of a factually happened day in

Cibervalle. As a matter of course it is impossible to be physically at different places
at the same time, as the story may suggest. This mode of story telling may be best
described as 'faction'. Faction is a geme that combines facts with fiction. It was in-
troduced by Truman Capote (1965) in the novel "In cold blood". Describing every-
day-life in Cibervalle demands fictive elements as it consists of the interrelation of
different physically grounded as well as virtual spaces. Nevertheless, the story is
based on 'facts' as it relies on data gathered through participant observation in dif-
ferent places. It is in some measure a 'thick description' (Geertz 1973) of some of
the main practices and patterns of globally shared everyday-life I could observe in
the field.
3 The suffix @s can be used in written Spanish to include both the masculine and the
female gender in only one noun.
 DoEs IT MATTER WHERE You ARE? I 277

Everyday life in Cibervalle:

Monday morning, 8 o' clock: In a small California town Angela is getting up. On her
way to the bathroom she casually boots up her computer. After brushing her teeth she
goes back to the bed room and logs herself into the instant messenger program she is us-
ing. Having a quick look at her buddy list tells her which of her friends are online at
present. When she starts the browser she directly enters "Cibervalle", the Paraguayan
virtual community she belongs to. A brief glance over the current topics is sufficient to
catch up on what has happened within her community while she was asleep. Then she
starts her daily work routine with getting the children up. She is sitting in the kitchen
having breakfast with the kids when she suddenly hears the familiar sound that notifies
her of someone who is trying to communicate with her through the messenger. As she
approaches the computer she finds a private conversation window popped up on the
screen. Her brother sends his greetings to her. He recently left Paraguay and went to
Spain and he wants to tell her that he was able to get a job as a construction worker.
They have a brief chat until she has to interrupt the conversation to look after her bick-
ering children.
At the same time, in Paraguay's main city, Eduardo is making himself comfortable
in front of the computer screen at his work place. He enters Cibervalle and looks briefly
through the current topics. After a busy morning at work he takes advantage of his
lunch break to get ahead with this year's fundraising campaign. The online community
usually organises one at Christmas time. Suddenly a private conversation window pops
up on the screen, it is Angela saying hallo. The kids are absorbed in their game, so she
uses the opportunity to get current information about the Christmas fundraising. This
year, Eduardo tells her, the fundraising campaign will be in support of a children's
home in Asunci6n. Some of the local Cibervalle - members went there yesterday to
meet the person in charge and some of the children. Through their messenger-conversa-
tion he sends her the link of the topic he just created, so she can have a look at the im-
ages Eduardo took during the visit. Underneath the photos she finds the list of food and
basic utilities, which are most urgently required at the children's home. After checking
some details, she asks for his bank data and agrees to support the campaign financially.
They say goodbye and Angela closes her conversation window feeling slightly sad be-
cause this year she won't be able to attend the event personally.
In Buenos Aires, Iwashita bangs the door to the apartment she shares with her Ar-
gentinean boyfriend. Impatiently she waits for her computer to boot up just to directly
enter Cibervalle. Disregarding the new topics, which were being discussed while she
was taking the last exam of this term, she immediately writes a new topic. She almost
cries while expressing what happened to her just one hour ago. She does not even care
about typing errors but just opens the thread. Then she walks into the kitchen and pre-
pares some Terere 4 She approaches her computer again and pushes the refresh button.
She already finds answers from some of her friends in Paraguay, USA and Argentina.
They all feel sorry for her and try to comfort her because she failed the exam. Especially
Belen, one of her compatriots in Argentina supports her impression that she failed the
exam because of being a Paraguayan migrant and she advises her to make a complaint
4 Beverage on the basis of Paraguayan herbs. Drinking Terere is usually considered
as one of the Paraguayan's main cultural practices.
278 I HEIKE M6NIKA GRESCHKE

about her examiner. After reading the comments Iwashita feels somewhat relieved. She
turns to a private IM conversation with Belen in order to talk over the possibilities of
disputing the result of the examination.
At 1.00 p.m. In~ enters a Cyber cafe in Asunci6n and logs herself onto the messen-
ger-program. She is going to meet her boyfriend Tomas in New York. They usually
spend their lunch break together. Asunci6n and New York share the same time zone, so
time- coordination is no problem at all. While waiting for him to show up, she examines
the current topics in Cibervalle. In Eduardo's topic, she writes her name into the list of
participants for the Christmas campaign. Suddenly she realises that the current contribu-
tions of her boyfriend are signed with the lP of his home access. Maybe he has not gone
to work today? Immediately, she sends a message to his mobile phone, which he uses to
keep himself logged onto the messenger permanently. Her mobile phone rings prompt-
ly. Tomas tells her that he went to the doctor this morning, because he had suffered
from stomach pain the whole night. They have a brief chat, Iren suggests (that he) take
some of the yuyos 5 she had sent him recently for preparing Terere and they arrange to
meet at the same time as every night to chat before they end the conversation. There is
still some time left to create a get-well-topic for Tomas. Promptly there are some re-
sponses from other members expressing get-well wishes and concerns about their
friend. Right at the moment when she is about to log herself out of the messenger a win-
dow pops up on the screen: Rafael from Switzerland is worried about Tomas after read-
ing her topic and asks her for more information. She tells him everything she knows as
quickly as she can type, logs out of the messenger and hurries back to her work place. In
the evening, when she arrives home from work, she enters her room straight away to
boot up her computer and to log onto the messenger. Tomas is already waiting for her.
He rests on his bed with the computer in reach. Iren is able to see him, because he is us-
ing a web cam. So she activates hers as well. They chat about this and that. There is
trouble again, with a new member on the electronic bulletin board. They assume that it
is not really a new person but a regular member, enrolled with an unknown nickname,
making waves and messing around with the community. Then they start to play chess
through the messenger-program. At the end it is Iren who wins the game. Triumphantly
she glances at the webcam, Tomas returns her look laughing with a twinkle in his eye.
Tomorrow she won't stand a chance, he presages. They wish one another a good night,
before Iren logs herself out of the messenger, shuts down her computer and switches off
the light.

The Making of the World Society Real on the Level of

Interaction -the Role of Transnational Migration and Means of
Global Communication

In 1998, Appadurai already spoke of "a growing number of diasporic public

spheres" (22), produced by electronic media, which link together individuals
across national boundaries. Three years later Karim still had to claim that "the
application of new communication technologies by diasporic groups has largely

5 Paraguayan medicinal herbs, used for preparing tea and Terere.

 DoEs IT MATTER WHERE You ARE? I 279

escaped scholarly scrutiny" (2001: 645). More recently, the new media has been
addressed in some studies in the field oftransnational research which seek to illu-
minate various diasporic public spheres. Accordingly, the potential of the Internet
for political empowerment and as ways of negotiating ethnic or national identity
has taken centre stage in these studies (Graham/Khosravi 2002; Panagakos 2003;
Adams 2004).
Despite this, not every person involved in migration, or having transnational
ties and practices, necessarily engages in politics. And concerns about belonging
to a specific ethnic or national group are just one possible aspect of the transna-
tional population's everyday-life. Besides being a technological tool for creating
public discursive spheres, the Internet consists of an advancing set of means of
communication that is used increasingly for creating and maintaining social rela-
tions at a distance. Referring to the increasing use of e-mail for maintaining rela-
tionships in dispersed social networks, Georgiou (2002) stresses the significance
of sharing everyday-life experiences for maintaining a sense of community.
Miller and Slater assume the Internet constitutes "an inexpensive way not only
for families to be in touch, but to be in touch on an intimate, regular, day-to-day
basis that conforms to commonly held expectations of what being a parent, child
or family entails" (2000: 56).
In other words, it may be helpful to widen the perspective in this field in or-
der to account for the implications of the increasing internet usage oftransnation-
al populations. This is helpful not only in terms of political practices but rather to
show the consequences for everyday-life. How, for instance does the specific use
of the Internet alter senses of love and attachment, family life and other kinds of
intimate social relationships? Drawing on the Trinidadian case Miller and Slater
(2000) demonstrate how the Internet facilitates the reintegration of the Trinidadi-
ans basic social institution 'family' which at first had been challenged by mass
emigration. As these studies demonstrate, the Internet turns out to be a conve-
nient tool for the translocal maintenance of formerly locally embedded intimate
relationships, which were formed on the basis of eo-present interaction.
In the case of Cibervalle however, any kinship between the participants is un-
likely. On the contrary, users from all over the world incorporate themselves into
the socio-electronic network even when they do not have any personal relations
within the group. Furthermore, in contrast to the above mentioned studies which
tend to assume the existence of a community with common interests regarding
political issues and future perspectives of the 'homeland' as a starting point of
the virtual performances, the Paraguayan online discussion forum started neither
with a thematic focus nor to reach a common (political) goal. The beginning of
this community was an electronic bulletin board, linked to a Paraguayan web
portal, provided by an entrepreneur who did no more than provide the platform.
One of the principal users explains:
280 I HEIKE M6NIKA GRESCHKE

"The first time I entered the forum there were only five users. I have the number 6
haha. There was nobody, not even a hair moved. I began to invite friends, that's how
the forum began to grow." 6 (Manuela, Asunci6n, e-mail interview, my own translation).

More astonishing appears to be the fact that over the years the members have
made themselves comfortable within Cibervalle. They have not only turned the
former anonymous socio-electronic network into a community, basing on soli-
darity and trust, they also have intimately connected the electronic bulletin board
with their physically embedded life-worlds thereby transforming the virtual space
into a globally shared part of their everyday-life-worlds.
So far it has become obvious, that the development of 'World Society' is nei-
ther imaginable without the actual movement of people nor without the use of
communication technologies. Particularly in the context of migration, the avail-
ability of distance-shrinking communication technologies becomes crucial in
terms of creating and maintaining links between sites of being and sites of be-
longing. The complex interactions between the various means of communication
in use and the specific communicative practices developed in transnational mi-
gration contexts in turn, seem to engender various forms of social life and bring
about new global types of social relations and sociality. Therefore, these kinds of
social relations at a distance are considered as a fundamental source for compre-
hending the growing global linkages between individuals -that is to say, the re-
alisation of World Society on the level of interaction. From a system theoretical
point of view however, interaction is supposed to occur only between physically
eo-present counterparts. The presence of the body is considered a particular con-
dition that needs to be differentiated from other forms of communication. Physi-
cal eo-presence according to system theory implicates not only perceiving the
other but the reflexive awareness about mutual perception as a condition that al-
most necessarily leads to communication between eo-present actors. This is be-
cause the bodily presence delivers extra information that is perceived by the
counterparts. In order to avoid that this information is being interpreted in an un-
favourable manner the actor has to correct his self-presentation according to the
assumed perceptions and expectations of the eo-present observers (Kieserling
1999: 122).
Global connections and relations on the other hand, are impossible to imagine
without mediated forms of communication. With regard to World Society studies
this narrow concept of interaction poses a problem. If interaction is always based
on physical presence, how are we supposed to analyse global patterns on the lev-
el of interaction? The daily practices by which the Cibervaller@s organise their
community-life across any distance suggest reconsidering not only the meaning
of interaction and eo-presence but also the relationship between presence and ab-

6 "Cuando entre la primera vez a! foro habia solo 5 usuarios yo tengo el numero 6 jaja
no habia nadie ni !as moscas volaban empeze a invitar amigos y asi empez6 a haber
mas gente".
 DoEs IT MATTER WHERE You ARE? I 281

sence, interaction and communication and different modes of mobility. As will

be demonstrated in the following, the communicative forms that I have observed
in Cibervalle do indeed conflict with the system theoretical concept as they con-
tain crucial elements of interaction, even without fulfilling the condition of eo-
presence of the bodies. Social life in Cibervalle relies on a complex relationship
between different means of communication in use, including different technolo-
gies on the one hand and occasional physical encounters of eo-presence on the
other hand. In this regard I refer to Urry, who claims that central to sociology
should be both the analysis of those processes by which such eo-presence is only
on occasions and contingently brought about, and the forms of socialities in-
volved when one is not involved in ongoing daily interaction, but with which a
sense of connection or belonging with various 'others' is sensed and sustained.
One should investigate not only physical and immediate presence, but also the
socialities involved in occasional eo-presence, imagined eo-presence and virtual
eo-presence (2003: 256).
Let us take a closer look at the communicative practices in use in order to
identify the patterns that constitute this kind of "strange and uncanny life on the
screen" (Urry 2002: 267) and hence to qualify how senses of eo-presence are al-
tered by virtual communication.

The Techno-Social Architecture of Global Togetherness

Online-forum. It may be helpful to begin with examining the system infrastruc-

ture of the online discussion forum as a source that influences computer-mediat-
ed communication and the social organisation of the users (Baym 1995). At the
time of writing, Cibervalle has existed for more than six years. The forum is open
to the public, that is to say everyone can read the discussions anonymously, but
only registered members are allowed to contribute comments. In other words, be-
sides the active participants in this social setting, there is another social role in-
volved, the anonymous observer. This refers to the participants' reflexive aware-
ness about a potential global public, which somehow influences their social ac-
tions. Furthermore, the moderator's role and status differ from the other partici-
pants as he or she is authorised to make sure that every member obeys the rules.
In order to accomplish this task, the moderator is enabled to delete topics or par-
ticular contributions, as well as to ban a nickname, that is to say, to prevent his or
her active participation in the forum. To register, a nickname and an e-mail ad-
dress are required. There are two ways of contributing. One can propose a new
topic for discussion by starting a new thread or participate in ongoing discus-
sions. On the forum's main page there is a list of currently debated topics. This
provides the users with some information about the topics, like title, the author's
282 I HEIKE M6NIKA GRESCHKE

nickname and the country of access, 7 as well as the number of contributions to

the topic and the number of visits. The topics or discussion threads provide more
information about the participants. Below the particular comments the author's
nickname and again the image of the national flag reflecting the IP-address is dis-
played, as well as the date of issue, and the total number of the nickname's con-
tributions in the forum.
Unlike other internet-based communicative gemes like chat or e-mail, the
discussion forum provides temporal freedom and the choice between syn-
chronous and asynchronous communication. Users, who are online at the same
time, are able to communicate with others in real time. However, users - if they
do not spend so much time on the Internet or they are not able to be online at the
same time as their counterparts -are still able to reconstruct ongoing discussions
and to make contributions. This is because the discussion threads remain dis-
played and the postings can be read in their chronological order as long as the
discussion goes on. In brief, the condition of asyncronicity allows for global
communication between actors who live in different time zones (Stegbauer 2000:
25). Synchronicity, on the other hand, leads to time and space compression, and
enables real time communication regardless of the distance between counterparts.
In the case of the Paraguayan online-forum, it seems as if these features have
provided the technological conditions for the development of a global communi-
ty. The forum bridges temporal and geographical distances. It is able to unify
people despite different degrees of involvement and may hence create a sense of
togetherness, even under the condition of geographical dispersion.
A participant who lives in Spain posted the following quotation. She ad-
dressed the forum's community to share a difficult moment in her life. She found
out that a person she loved had died and on the same day she lost her job. Her
topic received many responses, all of them expressing compassion and support.
This is the response that she posted as she entered the forum two days later:

"Without you, what would I do?!!! THANK YOU A THOUSAND TIMES! ... today I
start work in an Italian restaurant and after reading this page again and again I am now
going there full with energy and power .. Now I feel like I have many brothers and sis-
ters all over the world. Kisses for all of you!! I love you a lot and whatever I may be
able to do for you, do not hesitate to ask for it!" (Betty, Barcelona, Cibervalle-forum,
my own translation) 8

7 In fact, the image of the national flag reflects the IP-address of the provider in use
which does not always coincide with the participant's place of access. In any case
many users do not know this and assume that the national flag indicates the place of
residence of the participants.
8 "jSin ustedes .. que haria?!!! MIL GRACIAS! ... hoy empiezo a probar en un restau-
rant italiano .. y despues de leer y leer y leer otra vez esta pagina me voy llena de
energia y fuerzas .. ahora me siento como si tuviera muchos hermanos por todo el
mundo un be so a todos!! les quiero mucho y lo que yo pueda por ustedes no duden
en pedirme!"
 DoEs IT MATTER WHERE You ARE? I 283

This statement exemplifies a second important aspect of the online forum, name-
ly its basic orientation in the members' every-day lives. Unlike other online dis-
cussion forums, the Paraguayan virtual community does not limit the postings to
any thematic focus. In fact, most of the activities in this forum reflect shared ev-
eryday-life concerns: talking about the film one saw last night, discussing where
to get the most authentic ingredients for preparing sopa paraguaya, 9 telling jokes
and laughing together, inventing forum-games and playing together, teasing each
other, debating forthcoming elections, exchanging opinions about homosexuality,
abortion, or religious beliefs, sharing happy or difficult moments in life, dis-
cussing concerns about the future perspectives of Paraguay, and so forth. In
short, the forum reflects a wide range of topics and socialising activities that usu-
ally take place in families at lunch time or, among friends who meet each other
on the plaza central, on the town square. Many of the users consider Cibervalle a
central part of their life-worlds, where a significant part of their socialising activ-
ities take place.

"It's true that, unconsciously, Cibervalle turns into your everyday-life. At least once a
day you have to stop by, in order to know what's going on. You enter because you need
to know if everybody feels fine or if someone's having heartache, or because you want
to see Eduardo' s current hairstyle ... etc. etc .... " (Carmen, France, Cibervalle-forum,
my own translation). 10

However, the participants do not spend all their time in front of the screen, ob-
serving the scene or posting comments. Once Cibervalle is entered and the cur-
rent activities are reviewed, the actors usually leave the website open and get in-
volved in their daily tasks in their physical environments. Every now and then
they approach the computer and push the refresh button in order to update the
news. In other words, the users engage at least in two different social contexts at
the same time and they have to coordinate their activities in the virtual and the lo-
cal setting.

Instant Messenger. The members of Cibervalle do not only communicate via the
online forum. For more private chat, as well as for specific requests that need to
be discussed instantly, they also do instant messaging. Instant messenger (IM)
defines a program that enables instant communication between two or more peo-
ple over a network such as the Internet. Most programs can be downloaded from
the WWW as freeware. The IM program used by most of the Cibervalle members
enables one to add and remove the e-mail addresses of contacts who one likes to
network with. When logging into the IM, a window pops up (the so called buddy

9 A typical dish in Paraguay.

10 "La verdad que sin darte cuenta cibervalle se convierte en tu dia a dia, por lo menos
una vez a! dia tenes que pasar a ver que hay , si estan todos bien , si no le duele el
corazon a nadie, si como se peino hoy Eduardo para ir a! trabajo ... etc etc .. "
284 I HEIKE M6NIKA GRESCHKE

list) in which the collection of names shows which of the contacts are currently
online. When clicking on one of the names, a second window pops up (the pri-
vate conversation window) which is used to send instant messages to one's coun-
terpart. On the screen of the addressed counterpart another window pops up dis-
playing the message that has been sent. Besides the visual information, the pro-
gram emits a sound every time a message is received or one of the contacts logs
in. IM is also used for discussing current topics 'in private' and events both of
the counterparts can follow simultaneously on the discussion forum. For exam-
ple, one sends the link for a topic through the IM to other members, because he
or she wants the others to read and post a comment or to exchange opinions
about the respective topic before commenting on it. The communication dis-
played in the public forum thus tends not only to be influenced by private con-
versations. By combining different technologies, common interests are produced,
which in turn constitute a shared social space.

Global Interaction? - The Relation of Global Means of

Communication and Global Physical Movements in the
Evolving World Society

Angela's practice of using the messenger, as described in the short story above,
exemplifies another pattern of use I observed during my fieldwork in the places
of residence of some of the users: the users do not only log into the messenger
when they actually want to chat with someone. Rather they log in to know which
of their contacts are currently online and also to be communicatively reachable
for the others. Then they turn to their daily routine and come back to the screen
from time to time to have a brief chat, or to see who has logged in, when they
hear the sound. For these cases, the IM program provides some tools for commu-
nicating the actual status of the user. On the buddy list one can choose between
"coming back soon", "out to lunch", "away", "on the phone", etc. Before leaving
the screen the user communicates his or her temporary absence. This is in order
to avoid confusion in the case that someone would address her while she is not
able to answer.
Logging oneself into the instant messenger means seeing who is online as
well as being aware that one is being "seen" by the others. Whether one is sitting
in front of the screen exchanging messages the whole time or not, the very fact of
being within reach, accompanied by the reflexive awareness of mutual perception
enhances a sense of proximity and the impression of sharing the same space. This
reflexive awareness, in turn, entails the need for correct self-presentation accord-
ing to the assumed perceptions and expectations of the eo-present observers.
More precisely, when a user feels the need for communicating her temporary ab-
sence from the screen she anticipates that the counterparts will perceive her as
 DoEs IT MATTER WHERE You ARE? I 285

present and that she could be addressed by someone who in turn may misinter-
pret her missing answer.
Entering Cibervalle is like opening up an additional techno-social space with
globally shared common interests that overlay the users' local environments and
which has to be coordinated with the social relevant details at face. The practice
of keeping the page open and refreshing the screen from time to time, may en-
hance the imagination of approaching and distancing one's self (but not leaving!)
a social space created and maintained by the communicative activities of its
users. This virtual space and the social activities within it, however, go on inde-
pendently of the actual participation of the individual user. Chatting with other
members via IM about what is going on in Cibervalle as much as joint travel
through the online forum may even strengthen the perception of sharing the same
space. In fact, this spatial formation is structured through timely coordination
rather than in geographical terms. Both, instant messenger and the online forum
enhance the sense of being together even if the counterparts are actually separat-
ed by thousands of miles.
At the first glance, it seems as if computer-mediated communication has been
superseding eo-present encounters. The Internet technologies in use enable the
users to be in touch on an intimate, regular and day-to-day-basis not only with
distant friends and family but also with the social life going on in their place of
origin. Apparently, there is no need to travel; the communication within the
shared virtual space seems to be a functional equivalent of being physically to-
gether in the same place. From a system theoretical perspective on the current
state of globalisation, there is nothing astonishing about this assumption. Stich-
weh argues that

"communication is becoming world communication to the extent that communication

substitutes migration for the communicative accessibility of the world. In this respect,
world communication is considered as a functional equivalent for the incessant move-
ments of persons across the globe" (Stichweh 2005: 5, my own translation).

The central meaning of communication in system theory leads Stichweh to the

assumption that, even if the historical realisation of World Society at first was
based upon migration, distance-shrinking communication technologies are now
considered to be the fundamental carriers of the global social system. Although
Stichweh exemplifies his argument by drawing on working practices in transna-
tional enterprises and scientific contexts, he presupposes that "it could be demon-
strated that in many other social systems communicative networking has been re-
placing travel and migration" (ibid: 12, my own translation).
However, people still travel. Current statistics allude to an increasing travel
and migration movement across the globe. The International Organisation for
Migration states that "without the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the number
of international migrants worldwide would have risen by 18 million in
286 I HEIKE M6NIKA GRESCHKE

1970-1980, 27 million in 1980-1990, and 21 million in 1990-2000" (IOM 2005:

380). Drawing on the worldwide increasing scale oftraveling in the last 50 years
-e.g. 25m in 1950 to 700m in 2000 international passenger arrivals each year-
Urry points to the apparently contradictory simultaneity of increasing global
movements and the spread of global communication (2003: 157).

Local Meetings. Even in Cibervalle the virtual activities are just one side of the
coin. This is because the members regularly meet each other face-to-face. Locat-
ing each other in order to meet personally in fact is one of the fundamental prac-
tices I was able to observe in this field. The forum provides the chance for net-
working with compatriots who may currently live at the same geographical loca-
tion or nearby, not only for emigrated Paraguayans. For both those at home and
abroad, the virtually formed relationships seem to stimulate the need for face-to-
face encounters. By organising, regular meetings in their respective localities of
residence, so called encuentros , the virtual relations are translated to local con-
texts whenever possible.
By exploring the particulars of mediated vs. eo-present communication, Urry
demonstrates the significance of eo-present encounters for creating and maintain-
ing social networks. As face-to-face encounters afford access to the eyes of the
other, they are considered the most direct and reciprocal form of interaction.
"Eye contact enables and stabilises intimacy and trust, as well as the perception
of insincerity and fear" (2003: 164). The informational thickness of physical eo-
presence is reached because

"conversations are made up of not only words, but indexical expressions, facial ges-
tures, body language, status, voice intonation, pregnant silences, past histories, antici-
pated conversations and actions, turn-taking practices and so on" (Urry 2003: 164f).

Besides the embodied particulars, Urry highlights place and time aspects of eo-
presence. Sharing the same location in a specific moment and experiencing a
place with one's own senses, "physically walking or seeing or touching or hear-
ing or smelling a place" (2002: 261) is considered to be a crucial base of eo-pres-
ence and explains the increasing need for physical travel enhanced by the spread
of global means of communication.
Nevertheless, in Cibervalle the face-to-face-relationships, initially enabled by
the electronic network, by no means substitute for the virtual ties. Rather the lo-
cal sub-groups which have been evolving along the way in different parts of the
world share the events they organise at the local levels afterwards with the global
community. That is to say, soon after a local meeting occurs, the group reports
about it on the electronic bulletin board on the basis of some images of the partic-
ipants and their activities. The distant members of the global community respond,
expressing gratitude for sharing the event with them and they usually add some
charming or funny comments to the images. In so doing, the events that are first
 DoEs IT MATTER WHERE You ARE? I 287

enacted by local sub-groups are reconstructed on a global level as a collective ex-

perience of the whole community.
In this regard, I want to highlight one of the main findings of my research,
namely the fact that the sense of the local events seems to be strongly shaped by
the delayed reconnection with the virtual level. Particularly, the meetings in
Paraguay may be taken as performances of everyday-life in Paraguay which are
addressed to the people abroad. Accordingly, many of the users living abroad de-
scribe Cibervalle as "a window to Paraguay", through which they not only keep
themselves up to date regarding current political and social issues but rather keep
themselves involved in their socio-cultural context of origin on a regular, inti-
mate and day-to-day basis. With Cibervalle, Paraguayans in Spain, Japan, USA,
France, etc ... find an easy and inexpensive way to take daily trips to Paraguay,
irrespective of their actual geographical distance to their place of origin. 11
Again, although "virtual travel" (Urry 2002) may "ease nostalgia" and "make
one feel closer to home", as some participants explain, it seems also to enhance
the need for occasional meetings. For not only the members located geographi-
cally near-by have the habit of meeting each other personally. Whenever one of
the distant members spends his or her holidays in Paraguay, the local groups or-
ganise welcome meetings for the visitor. These meetings, again, are collectively
reconstructed and shared with the whole community.
In brief, "meetingness" is assumed to be a fundamental feature of the Ciber-
valle-community, since

"moments of physical eo-presence are crucial to patterns of social life that occur 'at-a-
distance' [ ... ] 'Meetingness' and thus different forms and modes of travel, are central to
much social life, a life involving strange combinations of increasing distance and inter-
mittent eo-presence" (Urry 2003:156).

Conclusion

I have demonstrated that social life within Cibervalle is based on a complex rela-
tionship between different forms of communication, enhanced by specific combi-
nations of physical, imaginative and virtual travel. The practice of interrelating
local events (the meetings) with virtual events on a global level (the meeting's
collective narrations) transports the members of the group imaginatively to the
localities of residence of their counterparts. The possibility for daily travel to the
places of one's origin is assumed to be particularly important for Paraguayans
abroad, as it is hard to obtain any images or information about this country
through the mass media. The specific use of IM and online forum at the same
time, enables joint travel through a shared virtual space in real time, as well as
creating experiences of virtual eo-presence encounters. This kind of computer-

11 These findings are elaborated in detail in my doctoral thesis (Greschke 2007b ).

288 I HEIKE M6NIKA GRESCHKE

mediated eo-presence seems to dissolve the boundary between physical presence

and total absence.
The specific use of intemet technologies in the context of Cibervalle, in brief,
entails new technologically mediated forms of sociality, which are challenging
classical concepts of interaction and eo-presence as well as altering senses of
space and living together. Instead of drawing on apparently clearly bounded con-
cepts, my research calls for a closer examination of the complex interactions be-
tween global means of communication, social practices of usage, eo-present en-
counters and various means of mobility, in order to explore the ongoing process
of global structuring.

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The lndernet -A German Network in a
Transnational Space
URMILA GoEL

Communicating Across the World

It is an Indian portal also for foreign Indians, who can

get an insight into the German scene. [ ... ]Like I ex-
press myself in the world, thus the Indian community
expresses itself in the world: We are there as well!
Not only Canada, Great Britain and India, we are also
there! We Indians in Germany also do something! We
have a cultural scene and we also have our value, our
pride, our commitment and our activity. That is the
Indemet for me. That is what the Indemet incorpo-
rates for me. 1

In these words Jay, a rap mus1c1an whose parents migrated from India to
Germany, enthusiastically explains to me the importance of the intemet portal
http://www.theinder.net, called the Indernet. Later in the interview he comes
back to this idea and concludes with "The Indemet unites! The world becomes
smaller!"
Jay's enthusiasm fits well with the observation that transnational media tech-
nologies, and in particular the intemet, (cf. Karim 2003; Hannerz 1996; Glick
Schiller et al. 1997: 126) are able to connect migrants scattered around the world
(Doring 1999: 267; Mitra 1997; Mannur 2003) and give the marginalised a voice
(Doring 1999: 148; Miller/Slater 2000: 3; 18; Mandaville 2003: 135). The inter-
net contributes to making the world smaller as it enables everyday togetherness
across national borders (Miller/Slater 2000: 55-84; Greschke in this volume) and

This is a quote from an interview I conducted in the course of the research project
"The virtual second generation" (see http://www.urmila.de/UDG/Forschung/for
schungindex.html). I conducted all interviews in German and have translated as
well as anonymised the quotes for this article.
292 I URMILA GaEL

lets discourses and images travel quickly between different regions of the world
(King 2003: 179). According to Jay the virtual space Indernet is connecting "In-
dian communities " 2 around the word. This is also the impression of the 'white ' 3
journalist Manuel: "Already the fact that there is an English version and a Hindi
version makes it possible for Indians around the world to communicate. I think
also the choice of topics, i.e. Indian films and music and so on, are encouraging
this."
However, both my observation of the Indernet and most of my interview
partners do not support Jay's and Manuel's impressions. The virtual space the In-
dernet does not indicate any significant interaction with those marked as Indians
beyond the German-speaking countries. It neither provides evidence for a world-
wide representation of the German cultural scene nor do debates and discourses
from other parts of the world seem to be received through it in Germany on a sig-
nificant scale. In contrast the Indernet seems to be very much focused on the
German context. In this it differs considerably from virtual spaces like the one
analysed by Greschke in this volume, where interactions across borders are ev-
eryday practices. In this article I will discuss, in which ways the Indernet is
nonetheless part of a transnational space and how Jay's and Manuel's impres-
sions can be interpreted. I will do so from the perspective of racism theory4 and
as an outsider to the debates around transnationalism, hoping that this outsider
perspective might add productive insights to this volume and the discussions
about world society.
In the following I will first provide basic information about the Indernet and
my research methods, then I will describe the intemet portal's localisation
through the German language, before I finally return first to Manuel's and then
Jay's impression of worldwide communication facilitated through the Indernet.

2 For a critical discussion of the imagination of an 'Indian community' in Germany

see Goel (2007a).
3 I use the term ,white' to mark the normally unmarked social position of symbolic
and practical privilege in the racist reality of contemporary Germany (Mecheril
2004: 199). It indicates that a person or a group of persons participates in the privi-
leges of the racist system. While the privileged are hardly aware of their 'white'
privileges, those who are racialised perceive and have to deal with them everyday.
The power system and mechanisms of exclusion based on the construction of the
'white' and the racialised are analysed in the Critical Whiteness Studies (in Ger-
many in particular Eggers et al. 2005; TiJ3berger et al. 2006), on which I base my
analysis. I am aware that the term 'white' is prone to evoke essentialised notions
about biological differences between persons. Nonetheless, I consider the term
'white' as the analytically most productive term in the German context at the mo-
ment to make the privileged position visible.
4 My approach is based on theorists like Mecheril (2003), Rommelspacher (1995) and
Terkessidis (2004) as well as on the Critical Whiteness Studies and postcolonial
theory (for example Steyerl/Gutierrez Rodriguez 2003 or Broden/Mecheril 2007).
 THE INDERNET I 293

The lndernet

The intemet portal the Indernet was founded in the summer of the year 2000 by
three young men, who were socialised in Germany and are marked as Indians
there. 5 They had already created private websites and wanted to develop their
skills through a meaningful project. The campaign 'Kinder statt Inder '6 provided
them with a starting point for the latter. First they just collected some of the car-
toons7 online, but soon they decided to establish their own network of Indians,
hoping to thus get into contact with others socialised like them in Germany and
marked as Indians there. The English project description 8 introduced the intemet
portal as follows:

"We are a young Indian intemet community and portal, founded in July 2000, named
"the InderNet" ("Inder" is the German word for an Indian, so it becomes an "Indian
Network"). [ ... ]Our goal is to bring people via intemet together, encourage communi-
cation among each other, promote and support projects and to provide you with infor-
mation on India. [ ... ] Our target group is primarily 2nd generation Indians living in Ger-
many."

5 Most of the editors and users of the Indemet are categorised most commonly as In-
dians (of the second generation). Many identify themselves as such, some identify
as Germans, Indo-Germans, German Indians, Asians, Desis, foreigners, Kanaken,
etc. Many have relatives in India, some in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or some
other country of the former British empire. Others do not know of any relatives out-
side of Germany. What is common to them is on the one hand that they were so-
cialised primarily in Germany, live in Germany and plan to live in Germany. On the
other hand they share the experience of being considered Indians by others in Ger-
many. As my analysis takes the approach of racism theory (cf. Mecheril 2004:
176-200) I will not use a term referring to an ascribed origin outside Germany to
categorise these editors and users of the Indemet but will rather refer to the process
ofracialisation they experience in Germany. Thus, I will talk of people socialised in
Germany and marked (by numerous physiognomic and social attributes) as Indians
in Germany. For a discussion of how social and physiognomic attributes play a cen-
tral role in whether people are considered to belong to a particular natio-ethno-cul-
tural context or not see Mecheril (2003: 211-212). For a discussion of claims and
contestations of 'Indianness' in Germany see Goel (2008).
6 In the summer of 2000 the German IT industry was experiencing a lack of skilled
professionals. The German government thus announced the introduction of a 'Green
Card' scheme to attract foreign IT experts and in particular referred to Indians. The
conservative opposition started a campaign against it, which was soon known as
'Kinder statt Inder' (which translates to children instead of Indians). This was the
first time that people marked as Indians were at the centre of a racist campaign in
Germany.
7 The public debate about the 'GreenCard' scheme was accompanied by a plethora of
cartoons, many of them using the image of a 'Computer Indian' or working with the
German play of words Indemet, which joins the term internet with Inder (which is
German for Indian).
8 http://www.theinder.net/presentation/presentation-eng.htm, September 30, 2001
294 I URMILA GaEL

Through skilful networking and luck the founders were able to make the
project known among others active in organising events and spaces for those
socialised in Germany and marked as Indians there. The Indernet thus gained not
only a wider audience, but also more content and new editors. The intemet portal
grew fast in users, editors and content and by the time I conducted my interviews
in the year 2004 it was established as a space of the second generation (Heft/Goel
2006), known not only to young people marked as Indians and socialised in
Germany but also to migrants from South Asia and 'white' Germans interested in
India. In the summer of the year 2007, at which point I am (re)writing this
article/ the Indernet seems to have passed its zenith.
I got to know the founders of the Indernet and thus the intemet portal at a
networking seminar, which I organised together with others for the German-
Indian Society, in November 2000. Since at this point I was already collecting
material and writing about people marked (like me and my father) as Indians in
Germany, I started to observe the virtual space shortly afterwards. I applied for
research funds some time later and began a full-time research project on the
Indernet in spring 2004. Since then I have been surfing the virtual spaces with
few exceptions at least once every day, have occasionally participated in forum
discussions, contributed articles to the editorial section, been on few occasions in
the Indernet chat, have exchanged personal messages and emails with other users
and attended offline events. My participation was, however, mainly one of a
distanced lurker, 10 staying most of the time an observer and hardly considering
myself part of the Indernet. Starting in 2004 I conducted more than 80 open
interviews about the Indernet with the founders, editors and users as well as with
observers and people, who know of the intemet portal but do not use it. Most of
the interviews were conducted face to face with me travelling to meet my
interview partners. When this was not possible, either because the interview
partner wanted to stay anonymous or I did not have the resources to meet her or
him, I also conducted online interviews. For contacting interview partners I used
my own networks among people socialised in Germany and marked as Indians
there, contacted Indernet editors and users and followed other interesting traces
found on the intemet portal. In doing so I was guided by the principles of
grounded theory, adapting my approach, methods and analysis in accordance
with the empirical material and my theoretical deliberations.

9 This is a total reformulation of a paper presented at the conference "The Making of

'World Society'" at Bielefeld in November 2005. I thank Eva Gerharz for her criti-
cal comments, which induced me to rethink my arguments fundamentally.
10 A lurker uses a virtual space, but does not post herself and thus is hardly visible to
the other users.
 THE INDERNET I 295

A Space in German

The project description of the Indemet refers to Indians and India, the domain
name includes the German term for Indians, the logo is a stylised Indian flag. The
main reference point of the Indemet quite clearly is India. The English project
description refers to "a global information and communication platform" 11 and
the intemet portal starts in three languages (German, English and Hindi), thus
supporting Jay's and Manuel's impression of the Indemet being a part of a
worldwide Indian network. But a closer look questions this impression. In the in-
teractive parts German is the clearly dominant language, there are almost no
posts in English and very seldom any in another Indian language. The English
version of the Indemet has little and the Hindi version hardly any content. 12
Deepak, one of the three founders, comments this as follows:

"At the beginning the portal was really trilingual. All news were translated into all three
languages. But then we stopped because it was too much work and in fact only two
people or so per day were interested in the Hindi version, so we left the navigation in
Hindi and [ ... ] took the English home page for the Hindi version as well. [ ... ]In the
meantime I think there are always about eight people per day, who enter the Hindi
version. And one does not know, whether they want to read Hindi or whether they are
just interested to see, what Hindi looks like. I do not think that it is a serious content
transferring medium [ ... ]"

It is also a lot of work to translate all the articles into English, thus the update of
the English version is always a bit behind. Thus everything is only available
100% on the German version.
At the time of the interviews the impression of trilinguality was preserved by
the entrance page giving one the choice of the three languages. For users, who
entered only the German version like Manuel, 13 it appeared that there were alter-
native offers in the other languages. Today this impression should be weaker
since, some time in the year 2006, the entrance page disappeared and the user
now enters directly the German version. 14
My interviews show that the choice of German as the dominant language is
decisive for the success of the Indemet. The most common answer I got, when I

11 http://www.theinder.net/presentation/presentation-eng.htrn, September 30, 2001

12 The Indemet is not the only ethnically defined intemet portal in Germany, which
uses German as the main language. Androutsopolous (2006: 9-12) mentions also
http:/!iran-now.de, http://www.greex.net, http://www .asia-zone.de and http://www.
dimadima.de.
13 Manuel admitted his ignorance about the Hindi and English version in the inter-
view: "I know in particular, I have to admit, the German version. There is also the
English and the Hindi version. But I do not know these, I have at least failed to
check."
14 From which the user, however, can still change to the English and Hindi version.
296 I URMILA GaEL

asked what was special about this particular internet portal, was that it is a Ger-
man-language virtual space. German is the language that those socialised in Ger-
many, are most comfortable with. It is the language, which they read with the
least effort and in which they can express themselves best as Deepak among oth-
ers explained to me:

"There is the medium German language. The people, we want to reach, they know
German. [... ] Naturally one does not know a foreign language as well as one's own
mother tongue. And I want to express myself in my mother tongue, when I am writing
an article, it should be rhetorically interesting and not only providing facts, and thus I
prefer German."

No other language could be used to the same effect. English is for most of the ed-
itors and users of the Indernet a foreign language, which they have learned in
school and use seldom in their everyday lives, and there is no Indian language
they could use alternatively as Martin, one of the early editors, explains:

"The special thing is that it is an online community, which because it is in German,

reaches all Indians. Because India is a country, in which there are so many languages. If
the Indemet was only in Hindi, then I think not so many people would come. Because
the people, the generation, which grows up here, they grow up with German and many
do know a little bit of Malayalam or a bit of Hindi or some other language, but the
language, which they learn here, in the school, is German. And the Indemet uses
German in order that everybody understands it. Also, an Indian from the North does not
understand the languages from the South or from the West or East."

What Martin does not say explicitly here is that many of the editors and users
(like himself) do not know any Indian language at all. He was adopted from India
as a small child and has been brought up with German, Vietnamese and French. I
myself grew up with German and English. Only at university did I start to study
the basics ofHindi, which is the mother tongue of my father. Thus, German is re-
ally the only language which is understood by all those socialised in Germany
and marked as Indians there.
The choice of this language shapes the nature of this virtual space and makes
it different from other virtual spaces marked as Indian across the world (eg. Mitra
1997 or Gajjala 2004) and others in Germany. The latter include the mailing
group GINDS: Indians in Germany, 15 which is used mainly by IT professionals,
the internet portal http://www.indianfootball.com, which was founded by a young
man socialised in Germany and marked as an Indian there, or the matrimonial
service http://www.shaadi.com, on which many young people socialised in
Germany and marked as Indians there are registered. All of the latter use English
as their main language, a language which is spoken in India and connects people

15 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GINDS/, September 11, 2007

 THE INDERNET I 297

marked as Indians across the world. 16 These virtual spaces thus enable worldwide
interaction and can reach people, the Indemet fails to cater for as Deepak is
aware:

"In the editorial team it was always a discussion in how far we will include the
Computer Indians and especially how we will do that. We would, for example, have
needed to promote the English version. For which we did not have the resources. [ ... ]
and due to the language barrier the Computer Indians are already excluded somewhat."

Whoever is uncomfortable with German can read only few articles in English on
the Indemet and can access information about India much better on other web-
sites. In the forum and the chatroom one can interact in English (or another Indi-
an language), but there will only be few other users, who will interact readily in
these languages, and the majority of the discussions will not be accessible. One
can contribute articles in English 17 , but this will be a unidirectional involvement
in the virtual space. In my observation there are few users, who do not know Ger-
man and try to interact on the Indemet. I have observed none, who became a reg-
ular user actively interacting with others. In my interviews I was, however, told
that some of my interview partners contacted Indian migrants on the Indemet
chat. Others met migrants, at events marked as Indian in Germany, who found
out about these events on the Indemet.

Connecting (with) Germany

The English project description 18 (despite the language barrier) claims to have a
global audience: "We do also have [ ... ] members from India, UK, USA or
Switzerland." This is supported by the membership list of the Indemet in early
2004. 19 While most of the 442 members were based in Germany, eight had indi-
cated a residence in India and even fewer in other non-German speaking coun-
tries. Manish, who went for his postgraduate studies from Germany to the US is
one of them:

"When I registered as a member, I was one of the very few abroad. The others were
naturally Germans. I used to look at the list occasionally. There were some from the

16 Like Spanish connects people marked as Paraguayans across the world in the virtual
space, as analysed by Greschke in this volume.
17 There was a regular colunm in English called Usha's corner (for example http://cul-
ture.indian-network.de/ushascomer/usha_indianidentity.htm, September 12, 2007).
As there is no further information available about the author Usha, I do not know
where she is based and how she made contact with the Indemet. At the time of writ-
ing this article the Indemet is looking for a new colunmist.
18 http://www.theinder.net/presentation/presentation-eng.htm, September 30, 2001
19 On http://www.indien-netzwerk.de/logo/mitglieder/mitglieder.htm, March 27, 2004
there used to be a list of people who had filled in a membership form.
298 I URMILA GaEL

neighbouring countries like Switzerland, but one could count them with one hand. And
at some stage, I still remember it, there were also Indians there, Indians from India. And
a few from North America, I think[ ... ] I did not want to lose my connections with the
Indian community in Germany. And through the Indernet I was always up to date about
what was happening among the Indians in Germany."

Nikhil, another user from Germany told me that he particularly enjoyed using the
Indernet, while he was doing a practical training in India:

"It was in the time, when I was in India, when I started to appreciate the internet as
such. Because of the distance. Because I had an email address and could email people.
And I could chat with them on msn and so on. The value of the internet was more
apparent, because I was so far away and could keep the contacts nonetheless. Thus,
while I was in India, I also went on the Indernet often in order to know what was
happening in the Indian community. [ ... ] And also to write in the guestbook. It was
funny to leave messages there and to enter as a location Bangalore. Or to write how I
like it there and what I have done today or whatever could be of interest to Indians."

This was echoed by Ishvar, a very active user, who was brought up in Germany
and pursued his studies in Great Britain. Like the other two he used the Indernet
to keep up to date about what happened among those socialised in Germany and
marked as Indians there. As he wrote me in the email interview: "I consider Ger-
many my home. 20 There I grew up and maybe I will settle there for work (let's
wait and see)."
The editors of the Indernet observe who is using the internet portal and take
pride in the international participation, as the interview with the editor Ranjan il-
lustrates:

"The community spirit is that everyone can be together, that everyone can communicate
with one another. That there are no boundaries anymore. That it crosses borders. [ ... ]
There are people, who come from England, there are people who come from ... I don't
know. Do you know Ishvar? He comes from Britain and I asked him how he came to
know the Indernet. He is Indian, born in Germany and went to England to work there."

But it is not only the crossing of international borders which is important for
Ranjan. In the quote above I have omitted the following passage:

"One, for example, knows that there are many Indians in Cologne or in Frankfurt or in
urban areas and one knows, if one goes on the Indernet, for example in the forum, one
meets people from all over Germany."

20 He uses the German term Heimat, which has a much stronger sense of belonging-
ness than the English term home.
 THE INDERNET I 299

Only after stressing the fact that the Indemet connects those socialised in Ger-
many and marked as Indians there within the country does Ranjan look across the
national border. In this emphasis on networking in Germany he is joined by most
of my interview partners. The user Maya, for example, told me:

"The Indemet is unique in being a link between Indians of the second generation, which
is at the same time modem and German inspired, as it also does not deny the Indian
roots. [... ] It provides a German perspective on India."

Important for Maya, and for most others, is that the Indemet links Germany and
India, in a way she likes to identify with. The interesting point is that Maya has
never lived in Germany, that she has been socialised and lives in Switzerland.
Puzzled by her reference to a German perspective I asked her whether she con-
sidered herself part of this. She answered:

"There is no Swiss perspective on Indian things ... In Switzerland everything differs

from district to district. The Indians in the district Aargau are so different from those in
Base! or Ztirich. They are worlds apart. And the French and the Italian Switzerland
cannot be compared anyway. There is no Swiss perspective. I think the German Swiss
perspective is very similar to the German. [... ] The German Swiss can be compared
more with the Germans than to the rest of Switzerland. [... J Everything cool comes
from Germany. Germany is the big brother and everything that happens, happens first in
Germany.[ ... ] Switzerland is always a subchapter of Germany."

In fact, there are several very active users as well as registered members of the
Indemet, who were socialised in either Switzerland or Austria and are marked as
Indians there. In discussions they sometimes point out to other users that the lat-
ter's assumptions that everyone is based in Germany is wrong and that, for exam-
ple, if a question like "Do you prefer to live in Germany or India?" is posted,
then Austria and/or Switzerland should be included as well. Sometimes they also
stress their regional identity by writing their posts in Swiss or Austrian German.
In general, however, the German language- as well as the absence of a compara-
ble intemet portal in Switzerland or Austria - seems sufficient to make them part
of the Indemet.

The Topics of the lndernet

The Indemet offers two kinds of information: first, information about India and
secondly, information about things marked as Indian in Germany. 21 The latter is
what Manish, Nikhil and Ishvar mentioned as being particularly important to

21 There is hardly ever any information provided about issues directly connected to
Austria or Switzerland.
300 I URMILA GaEL

them while they were away from Germany. It is also what many of those based
in the German-speaking countries consider as the most important aspect of the
Indemet. 22 The intemet portal allows its users to learn more about which things
marked as Indian happen in Germany through an events calendar, reports about
events and the discussions in the forum. Thus they get to know both what is be-
ing discussed and where they can participate offline themselves. This information
is sought not only to actively interact, but also to just get to know more about
what can be considered Indian in Germany. The Swiss user Maya, for example,
told me:

"The great thing was in the beginning: Until that time I only knew the British Indian
community. It was very interesting for me to see, how the German community differs
from the British. Because the British community is very much closed towards the
British. I saw that among my relatives, who are much more traditional [... ] While the
German Indians out of necessity, because there are not so many Indians, are more open
towards the German culture. I found that interesting. That there is such a blend."

Maya, like some of the other users, has relatives in the UK and other countries
around the world. When she visits them, she observes how they define and culti-
vate their Indianness, which differs considerably from her positioning in Switzer-
land. She thus seeks a further comparison and uses the Indemet to get to know
more about others, who are marked as Indians in German-speaking countries.
She, like others, emphasises the differences she sees among those marked as In-
dians in Germany and in countries with a larger presence of people thus cate-
gorised. It seems that her feeling of belongingness to those marked as Indians in
Britain is considerably less than to those in Germany. Ishvar, who is using the In-
demet to keep in contact with those marked as Indian in Germany and who lives
in a British university town tells me: "There are masses of Indians here. One is
no exception anymore. There are certainly also communities here, but I do not
have contact with them." It does not seem important for him, to get into contact
with the local networks. His point of reference remains Germany.
The focus on Germany can be noticed also in the information provided on the
Indemet about India. Hardly ever is there an article, which was written by some-
body based (at least temporarily) in India23 and only seldom are sources based in
India quoted. There is hardly any news about Indian domestic issues and in con-
trast, for example, to the mailing list GINDS hardly ever issues, which are cur-
rently debated in India, are taken up on the Indemet. Much of the information
provided is very general, giving basic facts about India24 or Hinduism25 or provid-

22 This is true also for several of the ,white' observers (like the journalist Manuel) I
interviewed. They told me that they were using the Indernet mainly to get to know
more about people marked as Indians in Germany.
23 The Indernet claims to have an India office since 2006, but so far I have noticed
only one article written there.
 THE INDERNET I 301

ing a list with Indian names and their meanings. 26 Many reports are taken from
German media and thus mirror the latter's interests. In general the selection of
topics seems rather haphazard depending on the interests and skills of the edi-
tors.27 Thus, while many of my interview partners told me that they appreciate the
information provided by the Indernet, all those with a more detailed interest in
India said that they rather prefer to refer to other sources such as Indian newspa-
pers online.
Some are also users of the German-language internet portal http://www.sued-
asien.info, which is an official cooperation partner of the Indernee 8 and was
founded shortly before the Indernet by students whose studies have in some way
to do with South Asia. The aim of this internet portal is to provide well
researched and critically edited information in German about the South Asian
countries. Most of the editors are 'white', several travel regularly to South Asia
and some have lived there. One of the 'white' editor, I interviewed, had
originally volunteered as an editor for the Indernet and then changed to
suedasien.info. She not only preferred the academic approach of suedasien.info
but also feared that as a 'white' person, she did not fit into the Indernet team.
This contrasts with the perspective of Jule, a 'white' user of the Indernet I
interviewed, who feels very much accepted in that virtual space:

"Yes, I know suedasien.info. I have printed lots of their articles.[ ... ] I think it is great, a
lot of knowledge is communicated, but on the interpersonal level[ ... ] it is better on the
Indernet. [... ] There I have the impression, these are people who participate, who listen
to me. [ ... ] suedasien.info [ ... ] is somehow dead [... ] more like a book and the Indernet
is more open. There one can communicate with people."

While thus the Indernet is able to bind some 'white' users/ 9 it has failed despite
several attempts 30 to attract young Indian migrants, who are IT professionals, on
a significant scale. Observing the mailing list GINDS shows that this is not only
an issue oflanguage but also of topics. On GINDS the contributions are predomi-
nantly about the practicalities of migration to and life in Germany. The topics in-

24 For example http://www .indien-netzwerk.de/navigation/landleute/bharat-ki-khoj/

bharat-ki-khoj.htm, September 12, 2007.
25 For example http://culture.indian-network.de/religion/artikel/hinduismus2.htm, Sep-
tember 12, 2007.
26 For example http://culture.indian-network.de/gesellschaft/artikel/maennl-namen-
deu.htm, September 12, 2007.
27 The Indernet is organised fully on a voluntary basis. All the editors work full-time
or are students with limited time available for their editorial work. Most of them
have neither a training in journalism nor any formal education on Indian issues.
28 The cooperation so far seems restricted mainly to linking each other and very sel-
domly exchanging articles.
29 In fact, among the most active users in the forum there are several 'white' users.
30 For example, by providing an own section "New in Germany" (http://forum.indian-
network.de/viewforum.php?f=18, September 12, 2007).
302 I URMILA GaEL

elude where there are job opportunities, how to apply for a residence permit,
what to do about insurance, how to find accommodation and also offers to sell
furniture or other household equipment, all of which are absent on the Indernet.
From time to time debates from India, for example about a controversial Muslim
painter, are also discussed in GINDS. Although there are common users it only
rarely happens that issues travel from GINDS to the Indernet or the other way
round.

A Space for Those Socialised in Germany

Among the different virtual spaces marked as Indian in Germany, the special
thing about the Indernet is that it is a space of those socialised in Germany and
marked as Indians there for those socialised in Germany and marked as Indians
there as I was told in many of the interviews. As I have argued elsewhere (Goel
2005, 2007b, 2007c; Heft/Goel 2006) the Indernet is an own space in a society
perceived as being racist, which is helpful in dealing with experiences of racist
exclusion. 31 The user Fatima illustrates this as follows:

"I also went through phases, when I was almost depressive, because I thought: 'Oh no,
where do I belong?' A conflict of identity, when one does not know, where ... what am
I? You look into the mirror and you see somebody with black hair. You go outside, talk
to people and when you listen to yourself, you think: 'Yes, naturally. For myself, I am
German.' When I listen to myself thus, but as soon as, I don't know ... there are small
things said by others, by friends, small remarks like 'How is it done at your place?'
Then it is again: 'Oh no, I am different after all.' And then I found other people with
this conflict of identity on [ ... ] the Indemet. There one can talk with each other,
exchange experiences. A bit of survival training: how does one deal with this?" 32

Fatima thus highlights the importance of meeting others with the same experi-
ences of exclusion on the Indernet and being able to discuss with them. The In-
dernet facilitates this as racist othering is virtually absent there and a sense of na-
tio-ethno-cultural familiarity 33 exists. Mary, an early editor, describes the latter as
follows: "There are small examples, in which one can see the familiarity that ex-
31 For an analysis of experiences of racism by people socialised in Germany and
marked as Indians there see for example Mecheril (2003), Goel (2006) or Paske
(2006). The experiences are mostly those of banal racism (Terkessidis 2004). They
are encountered in everyday interactions (Battaglia 1995; Ferreira 2003) as well as
in legislation, institutions and public discourses (Mecheril 2003).
32 A detailed analysis of the interview with Fatima can be found in Goel (2005).
33 Mecheril (2003) coins the term natio-ethno-cultural to refer to notions of nation,
ethnicity and culture, which are used to categorise people in and define their
belongingness to Germany. The Indemet users share similar experiences concerning
this categorisation, while with respect to others such as gender, sexuality or class
they might lack commonality.
 THE INDERNET I 303

ists among Indians without having to explain what it is to be Indian". She later
returns to this, when she explains what she considers special about the internet
portal: "It is a platform for young people to get to know each other, for young
people from Germany to get to know Indians, who are born and brought up like
them, and to get to know each other without a need to explain." 34
The Indernet is a space, where the (multiple) natio-ethno-cultural belonging-
ness (Mecheril2003) of those socialised in Germany and marked as Indians there
is the norm. It allows the (imaginary) movement between different contexts of
belongingness and thus constitutes -as Mecheril (2004: 73) in an adaptation of
Ludger Pries' work argues- a transnational space. Here the logic of univocal be-
longingness, which constitutes the basis both of nation states and of racism
(Mecheril 2003), is circumvented. Here the users can feel, express and negotiate
a simultaneous belongingness to India and Germany (and more natio-ethno-cul-
tural contexts 35 ) at the same time, and can expect to be understood and accepted
in this without many questions. Here they experience being valued as and can de-
velop pride in being socialised in Germany and marked as Indians there (as Jay
wants the world to notice). Here the national borders can be crossed discursively,
while staying localised in Germany and without necessarily having to interact
with people based in other regions of the world. Those, who are longing for the
latter, use other (virtual) spaces like shaadi.com, indianfootball.com or interna-
tional networks of relatives and friends as well (or exclusively).

The Difficulty to Think Multiple Belongingness

But this (multiple) natio-ethno-cultural belongingness is difficult to think for

those, who are socialised with the belief in univocal belongingness to only one
natio-ethno-cultural context. The 'white' journalist Manuel is obviously puzzled
by what he observes on the Indernet when he talks about an online discussion
about the Indian elections:

"One can see that the political development in India is observed [... ] it shows that the
second and third generation voluntarily occupies itself with political discussions in their
original home country 36 [ ••• ] This shows clearly that there is a bond. [... ] It is important
to recognise this need to discuss, which is actually also surprising. If one considers that
many Indians were probably born and brought up in Germany, and thus political

34 Battaglia (1995) and Ferreira (2003) show how racialised people have to explain
themselves in every-day interactions and how this constitutes experiences of racism.
35 This is the case, for example, for the users based in Austria and Switzerland, and
also for users like Fatima, who feels a belongingness also to Pakistan and Great
Britain (Goel 2005).
36 Manuel uses throughout the interview the German terms Heimatland and Heimat,
which express a much stronger natio-ethno-cultural belongingness than the English
terms home country or home.
304 I URMILA GaEL

discussions in Germany should be more important to them, because their education and
development takes place in Germany. And also political decisions in Germany are more
fundamental and important, influencing the people more. But one sees in the
discussions, as if they still affect them as much. This shows how strong the roots and
the identification with the original home are."

This quote shows that Manuel is aware that, for those who were born and so-
cialised in Germany, this geographical space and the political decisions there are
important. He emphasises the point that the latter will influence the lives of those
living in Germany fundamentally. He also sees that those marked as Indians in
Germany (and called Indians by him throughout the interview) also have a bond
to India. But this double bind surprises him ("which is actually also surprising"),
he does not seem to consider it a natural outcome of the (multiple) natio-ethno-
cultural belongingness. From one discussion about an Indian election he infers a
strong identification with what he calls their original home. Doing so Manuel ig-
nores, that discussions about Indian politics form only a small part of the forum
debates on the Indemet as well as that there are also numerous discussions about
German politics (and probably many more in other spaces). It seems as if he con-
siders it possible to identify with only one natio-ethno-cultural context fully,
when he continues this line of thought later in the interview: "The high degree of
identification with the original home shows in the reverse that obviously the inte-
gration in the new home is not 100%." If one is considered as Indian by Manuel,
then being interested in India seems to show that one does not fully belong to
Germany. 37 Throughout the interview he keeps referring to the users of the Inder-
net as Indians, who have their roots and original home in India, who form a com-
munity across the world, who prefer partners from these communities, 38 who
have identity problems in Germani 9 and about whose skill in German he is sur-
prised.40 He is thus continuously reproducing the racist dichotomy of 'us' (the
Germans) and the 'other' (the Indians) as mutually exclusive and in doing so
refers to those, whom he considers to be Indians despite their birth, socialisation
and residence in Germany, to India.
Against this discursive backdrop it is not surprising that he takes the seeming
trilinguality of the Indemet and the discussions about Indian films and music 41 as

37 While Manuel probably does not see his own belongingness to and integration in
Germany diminished by his interest in Indian politics.
38 For example: "I can imagine well, one always hears this, that families, Indian
families like it and support it, when their own children choose a partner who suits
them, who has the same background."
39 For example: "The distancing [to Germany, ug] indicates a problem, which obvi-
ously occurs for many people of this population group, i.e. that they have difficul-
ties with their identity."
40 For example: "The way they formulate it is very good. It is perfect German, if one
knows that this page is made by migrants."
41 In fact, discussions about Hollywood films and music constitute a large part of the
Indemet and can be interpreted as an important point of reference and identification
 THE INDERNET I 305

an indication of worldwide communication in an Indian community. This seems

to arise much more from his imagination of those marked as Indians than from
what can be observed on the Indernet, and fits the general political atmosphere at
the moment, which Karim (2003: 15) describes as:

"[ ... ] the loyalty of minority ethnic groups living in Westem countries is becoming
suspect and their transnational connections and relationships are coming under scrutiny.
The multiple and hybrid identities of diasporic members are under renewed pressure to
conform to the mythic notion of a monolithic populace of the traditional nation state."

The lndernet and the World

But it is not only the 'white' observer Manuel, who considers the Indernet to en-
able worldwide communication. The same notion is also found in the English
project description and is prominent in Jay's enthusiastic praise of the Indernet.
Why do the editors claim this although they know that the actual interaction is
rather insignificant? And why does the musician Jay consider this one of the ma-
jor achievements of the internet portal?
On the one hand, it is part of the joint imagination of the internet portal. The
internet gives those socialised in Germany and marked as Indians there a new
possibility to position themselves in the global context. 42 The Indernet does so by
linking Germany and India. Located in Germany it assumes a shared natio-ethno-
cultural belongingness to a place called India. 43 This not only links its users to the
people in India but also to others across the world, who are marked as Indians,
and are thus seen both by nationalist and racist ideology44 to share this belonging-
ness. In its English version the editors position the Indernet in this transnational
network centring on India with the slogan "Germany's Premier NRI Portal" 45 ,
thus defining their users as Non-Resident Indians (NRI). The seeming trilinguali-

for those socialised in Germany and marked as Indians there, in particular since in
recent years Hollywood films and music have become increasingly popular in Ger-
many and are now valued more than they used to be. However, by now it, seems
that the discussions on the Indernet about film and music are dominated by 'white'
fans, who want to share their passion with others.
42 Miller/Slater (2000: 18-21) analyse this as part of the dynamics of positioning.
43 Clifford (1994: 311-312) argues that diaspora consciousness is developed negative-
ly through experiences of exclusion and positively through an identification with an
imagined community.
44 See van der Veer (1995) for a discussion of the forms of belongingness of people
marked as Indians abroad to India and Glick Schiller et al. (1997: 126-127) for the
Greek policy of binding all people marked abroad as Greek to Greece.
45 On http://www.theinder.net/eng/ September 14, 2007. The German slogan is differ-
ent and translates as "India portal for Germany" (http://www.theinder.net/deu/
September 14, 2007).
306 I URMILA GaEL

ty of the internet portal opens this space symbolically to all NRis and illustrates
that the editors consider it part of a transnational space.
On the other hand the Indernet is more than a virtual space. For those actively
involved in it, it opens up new possibilities. The editors of the Indernet can, as
journalists, approach people they would not otherwise contact. Those, who had
been looking to the British Asian music scene for identification46 can through the
Indernet, come closer to their idols. Already in 2001 Bobby, who was at this time
an Indernet editor, interviewed the British musician Apache Indian. Other inter-
views with international artists marked as Indians followed from time to time.
While the frequency of such articles was too low to make the Indernet a prime
source for this information, it still showed that the internet portal was able to ap-
proach international stars and that these considered the German audience impor-
tant enough to give an interview. They, at least for the time of the interview, took
notice of those marked as Indians in Germany and this makes Jay say: "They
gave interviews. They know there is a scene in Germany. They think this is great.
We are heard and that is amazing." Even more importantly it provided the Inder-
net editors with contacts to artists marked as Indians abroad. Bobby used these
when he left the Indernet and founded his own event agency, which to all appear-
ances successfully promotes international artists marked as Indians in Germany
and organises dance parties marked as Indian. Jay considers Bobby's activities
important beyond Germany (and traces them back to the Indernet):

"The British slowly respect the German scene. After all the English scene has grown
through Germany. [.. ].We are proud that we have boosted the Desi 47 scene. It was us!
Punjabi MC grew through Germany. He played in Hamburg [ ... ] and then Bobby
invited him to Germany. [ ... ] Bobby did all the translations for Punjabi MC, all the
promotion in Germany. That is interesting. We Indians here, we boost everything there.
[... ] They [the British artists] have all their own radio shows. And everything through
Germany and all report about Germany, but more about Bobby's parties, but they report
about German. [... ]all through the Indemet. Bobby was interviewing as an editor of the
Indernet."

Jay is thus able not only to assert a worldwide audience for the German music
scene, of which he is a part, he is also able to claim that those socialised in Ger-
many and marked as Indians there gave a boost to the British scene 48 , thus locat-

46 In the interview Jay, for example, told me about the British musician Apache Indi-
an: "He was the first, who spoke about Indians, who live in the West and the East
... He was the first Indian, whom I heard, who did that. I have always been an Indi-
an rap musician, but I did not know Indian rap musicians and then I got to know
Apache Indian and his music. He has given me a lot."
47 Desi is a term used to describe those, who are marked as Indians and live abroad.
48 Jay is my only source claiming that the British Asian scene was boosted through the
Indemet and Bobby. Bobby himself did not make such a rather doubtful claim in his
interview with me.
 THE INDERNET I 307

ing himself actively in the transnational music scene, discursively proving his
value and legitimising his pride.
To what extend there is interaction among the artists across national borders,
to what degree artists marked as Indian and placed outside Germany are really
observing the German scene and which role the Indernet plays in this, I cannot
tell from my observation of the internet portal. For the users the interaction re-
mains rather marginal, but for those actively involved like Bobby or one of the
editors of the Indernet, who in the summer of 2007 acted as official press repre-
sentative for the German tour of a famous Indian singer, it might well be of major
importance. For some the Indernet actually seems to have facilitated communica-
tion in the transnational space referring to India.

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Are We All Transnationalists Now?
JoANNA PFAFF-CzARNECKA

Currently, we can look back at fifteen years of transnational research. The

transnational paradigm for studying migration and the social (trans)formations
instigated by connectivity is certainly a success story - as the rapidly expanding
number of studies reveals. The spanning of social relationships beyond borders
into new sites and places, continuous spatial movement as an important facet of
social life and multiplication of formal memberships and belonging increasingly
characterise the social realm all around the world. These trends are well captured
in this volume which aptly demonstrates that our conceptual tools geared at
grasping the new complexities and subtleties have been considerably refined
since the early 1990s. This volume is a valuable collection of contributions com-
bining theoretical and methodological approaches as well as precise empirical
analyses conducted in manifold social fields. I see it as a timely contribution to
transnational research, demonstrating its strengths and innovative potential. At
the same time, this volume uncovers an important problem entailed in transna-
tional research which I would like to discuss in this short essay. Given the nov-
elty of the transnational paradigm, it is oriented by one strong bias that requires
closer attention. In the pages that follow, I shall argue that the transnational
paradigm privileges an overtly optimistic picture of emerging global connectiv-
ity, celebrating in its analyses visions of world-spanning ties of mutuality and
collective attachments. It highlights the emergence of bridging ties as well as of
communicative channels, while neglecting ruptures, distances as well as bound-
ary dynamics that are part and parcel oftransnational processes.
To put it simply: In order to establish the transnational condition, today, it
was necessary to stress the relatedness between people and social realms in a
world-spanning perspective. However, if we agree that the transnational
paradigm is a powerful tool for describing the simultaneity of globally expanding
social relations, as well as decentred processes of localisation, then the obstacles
to connectivity demand closer attention. These deserve our attention not as an an-
omaly, but rather as an intrinsic element of transnational processes. Thomas
312 I JoANNA PFAFF-CZARNECKA

Faist's reflections (this volume) on the overtly enthusiastic prognoses formulated

by system theory scholars conceptualising the world society as of one communic-
ative space, without producing empirical evidence to substantiate this claim,
point in the direction of my argument. Urmila Goel's careful analysis of the In-
demet (this volume) brings the discrepancy between a celebratory discourse de-
ployed by users of new communicative media, on one hand, and the restricted
impact of the new technologies, on the other, to light. By drawing upon the ana-
lyses presented in this volume, I intend to highlight the obvious strengths of this
approach and then proceed to some apparent weaknesses and blank spots in
transnationalist research that the authors of this volume have addressed. A ten-
sion is expressed in the title of this essay: The transnational research carried out
from industrial centres is biased, suggesting that human life around the globe is
characterised and perceived as being forged in and reinforced through transna-
tional ties. But what is the state of the "transnational condition", today?

The Importance of the Transnational Paradigm

Transnational studies provide scholars with refined analytical tools for studying
social dynamics in a world increasingly characterised by globality. I follow Nina
Glick Schiller's distinction between the terms "transnational" and "global". In
her view (2007: 449), speaking about transnationalism or transnational process
means to "emphasise" the ongoing interconnection or flow of people, ideas, ob-
jects and capital across the borders of nation-states. These flows take place in
contexts in which the state shapes but does not contain such linkages and move-
ments. In contrast, the term "global is best deployed for those world system phe-
nomena that affect the planet, regardless of borders and local differences" (ibid.).
Following this distinction, studies in the transnational field focus on micro and
mezo-constellations that come about under the conditions of globality (see
Lachenmann, this volume). They privilege processes that are usually ignored by
globalisation or world society studies, i.e. actor-centred perspectives, localisation
as well as boundary dynamics. As Faist argues (this volume), transnational stud-
ies serve as an important corrective to the overtly systemic and top-down-ap-
proaches deployed by world society as well as systemic analyses in the field of
globalisation research.
Neither global expansion, nor peoples' movements, nor cultural transfers are
recent phenomena. The "transnational condition" is an ongoing, intensifying pro-
cesses of social exchanges in the field of politics, economy, environmental con-
cerns (see Lindenthal in this volume), social security and artistic production.
Scholars working in the fields of globalisation, world society as well as transna-
tional studies, increasingly concur on this point. The novelty of the transnational-
ist approach is its insistence (demonstrated throughout the work of Ludger Pries
 ARE WE ALL TRANSNATIONALISTS Now? 1313

2008) upon the simultaneous embeddedness in distant localities as well as its

providing conceptual space to encompass migrants living in more than one soci-
ety. The proponents of this paradigm are silent, though, regarding whether
transnationality is seen by them as the norm in migration, or as one important
formation among those who migrate. The former is usually implied, as revealed
by Glick Schiller's critique of multiculturalist as well as (neo )assimilationist ap-
proaches that focus upon national constellations and suggest that peoples' move-
ments mean the permanent abandoning of one place for another. Transnationality
as a general feature of migration is seen by her as an intrinsic element of past so-
cieties that has been intensified and become more visible in recent times.
One of the biggest problems of transnational studies is simultaneously also
one of their major strengths. Transnationality is observed as occurring and
shaped in a wide range of societal spheres. International and national orders, leg-
al systems, capitalist expansion, global cultural flows, modernity, social move-
ments, wars and resistance, to name just some of the most frequently mentioned
topics, all provide important contexts for studying transnationality. Social sci-
ences encounter in these circumstances the problem of extending their research to
diverse and distant fields of inquiry, putting their conceptual tools to severe tests.
At the same time, corrections to established methodologies have become neces-
sary- which is a welcome occasion to re-think some of the basic disciplinary as-
sumptions. In particular, social anthropology embraced for a long time a holistic
paradigm that postulated the cultural boundedness of societies, their homogeneity
as well as their static character. It invented the notorious "anthropological
concept of culture" that many scholars working in this field abandoned a long
time ago, but that is nowadays used largely outside the discipline in essentialising
discourses of culture. Sociology, as other neighbour disciplines, is prone to meth-
odological nationalism (Wimmer/Glick Schiller 2002), conceiving of societies in
their boundedness within borders of the nation-state while neglecting the sub-
stantial scope of transnationality shaping the social live. The advantage the
transnationalist perspective offers is then given by its quest to develop conceptual
tools for analysing cultures in their processual capacities (Wimmer 2005) and so-
cieties in their complexities - as interactive spaces constituted through trans-re-
gional exchanges.
Given the problem of how to study societies in their multi-sited locations -
by which I do not only mean multi-locality in spatial terms, but also the simultan-
eous shaping of social relations by different types of formations and organisa-
tional levels - transnational approaches deployed in social anthropology as well
as in micro-sociology (see Lachemann in this volume) are well advised to start
off from actor-centred, interactionist approaches that focus upon individuals,
small collectivities as well as personalised networks, and only then cautiously
proceeding to their embeddedness in societal formations on a larger scale (while
systemic and quantitative approaches in political sciences and sociology provide
complementary perspectives). This technique was successfully developed by the
314 I JoANNA PFAFF-CZARNECKA

team of the Manchester School, centred around Max Gluckman, Clyde Mitchell
and others. Mitchell's analysis of the Kalela dance (1956) is one of the finest ex-
amples of how a micro-analysis of a leisure activity in a Southern African town
can be used to demonstrate broad processes of (late) colonial influence on Afric-
an societies. These processes include industrialisation, urbanisation as well as
emerging urban-rural inter-linkages resulting from labour migration. This pro-
cedure resembles peeling an onion in reverse. The analysis of social interactions,
on the occasion of group singing and dancing, gradually reveals the larger and
larger implications of the meanings of songs as well as of the perfomative acts
that mimicry the colonial society's hierarchy and shed light on ethnic categorisa-
tions that are shaped through the urban co-existence of migrant workers.
It was the Manchester School that alerted social anthropologists to interac-
tionist perspectives, used in particular for studies of conflicts, by means of the
extended case study method. This approach allowed scholars working in this
field to observe the transformative properties of conflict for social orders. Fur-
thermore, partly building upon studies of the Chicago School, this team produced
rich ethnography challenging simplifying assumptions on migration and integra-
tion. This school provides us with analytical tools useful for studying transna-
tional relations which were taken up in other disciplinary fields and in other na-
tional contexts. Among them is situational analysis based in observing social in-
teractions in a diachronic perspective, i.e. in the extended case-study method (on
parallel research in France, see Salzbrunn, this volume).
The Manchester School contributed furthermore to the elaboration of the
concept of network for micro-sociological research, applying mostly qualitative
research methods. The concept of social network was brought into social anthro-
pology from other disciplines, while the concept of "social field" developed by
the Manchester School spread to other "scientific communities" and is currently
informing transnational studies well beyond the disciplinary boundaries of social
anthropology (see, Lachenmann, this volume). Today, Alejandro Portes (2001:
812) focuses upon "dense networks across political borders created by immig-
rants in their quest for economic advancement and social recognition". Glick
Schiller (2007: 455) defines "social field" as an "unbounded terrain of multiple
interlocking egocentric networks". According to her, the term "network" is best
applied to chains of social relationships that are egocentric and are mapped as
stretching out from a single individual. "Social field" is a more encompassing
term than "network", "taking us to a societallevel of analysis" (ibid.).
In the sphere of transnational studies, the notion of "transnational social
spaces" is frequently evoked in a metaphoric manner, denoting relationships, as-
pirations as well as imaginations between those who travel as well as those left
behind at home. In this sense, it denotes dense interactive horizons, but does not
pay sufficient justice to the social constitution of interactive processes. In this
vein, despite the fact that life on the move is a phenomenon restricted to less than
10 % of the global population, almost everybody is becoming a transnationalist.
 ARE WE ALL TRANSNATIONALISTS Now? 1315

Almost everybody forms part of social constellations that are shaped in diverse
ways by migration practices: through remittances that can play a decisive role in
a family's or community's well-being as well as in all those places where the
"locals" are confronted with "newcomers" in manifold sites of social interaction.
When we go one step further in the transnationalist conceptualisation, in
terms of imagining the world, in relating to other spaces, in the - arguably often
very restricted, but nevertheless - enlarged radius of movement and communica-
tion (almost) everybody becomes a transnationalist. The old and new means of
communication, paired with the available transportation technologies provide
people around the globe with a significantly heightened awareness of globality as
the very basis of local concerns as well as of converging cognitive frames (see
Lindenthal's contribution). With communications occurring increasingly beyond
the scope of face-to-face exchanges as Greschke (this volume) argues, the sense
of immediacy is significantly hightened. One could even speak of a "celebratory
mode" of connectivity- in particular embraced by those involved in transnation-
al communicative networks. With the reinforced reflexivity on globality, actors
increasingly conceive of global processes in relation to their own concerns. Their
own radius of action is significantly shaped by distant events. Wars, conflicts and
calamities are often evaluated with regards to one's own well-being.
Simultaneously, problems and cases of injustice, but also new social projects
evolving in distant places may instigate a sense of solidarity and involvement.
Therefore, transnational solidarity networks, religious dynamics as well as new
social movements can create new transnational social fields. These dynamics are
buttressed by the easy availability of information and a heightened sense of im-
mediacy. Thus connectivity appears as one of the major properties of social dy-
namics in the current world society. It does not come as a surprise that transna-
tional studies have greatly contributed to revealing the importance oftransnation-
al flows, the ensuing reflexivity as well as local positionings vis-a-vis global
spectators (as analysed by Hering in this volume). However, looking back at the
scope of research in this field, it is worth while asking whether the major thrust
of research does not cover up dimensions in social relations that are significantly
less smooth, less self-evident and more problematic than the term suggests.

Transnational Research Designs and Their Problems

Transnational studies have thus far neglected the necessity to make a close exam-
ination of the ruptures, inequalities, power differentials and conflicts entailed in
transborder social relations. The thrust of research has so far been geared towards
observing how social relations expand in space and time, with scholars mostly
trying to demonstrate the durable character and salience of kin and community
ties. In order to examine these interconnections methodological choices were ne-
cessary that, to some extent, have narrowed the scope of interest. In the follow-
316 I JoANNA PFAFF-CZARNECKA

ing, I shall concentrate on some weaknesses in this field that have not yet re-
ceived sufficient attention. Above all, it is my contention that while rejecting
methodological nationalism, transnational research still tends to endorse method-
ological ethnicisation. This comes about through some problematic choices in re-
search designs.
Above all, (too) many studies select communities as their social units of ob-
servation and take their internal solidarity for granted. In a similar vein, while ob-
serving transnational relations, as in the realm of transnational activism, solidar-
ity tends to be taken simultaneously as explanans as well as as explanandum (see
Radcliffe et al. 2002).
Secondly, distances and boundaries are not sufficiently taken into account.
The transnational research postulates for very good reasons that spatial distances
are to be seen as social constructions. Space-time-compression (Giddens 1991,
following Karl Marx) is indeed a feature of contemporary societies that has
greatly accelerated in recent decades. Nevertheless, as Vattimo (1992) argued
already long time ago, societies continue to be differentiated by unequal distribu-
tion of resources which makes for substantial differences in the speed with which
people move. While the ability to communicate has been significantly enhanced,
transportation is still a scarce commodity for those persons with low income. For
many migrant workers as well as for political refugees (though usually for differ-
ent reasons) as well as their kin and eo-fellows, spatial distances and/or political
boundaries continue to be a crucial feature affecting their existence - whereas the
oversimplifying terminology of transnationality covers up the internal problems
in kinship and friendship relations (this issue was already taken up in the intro-
duction to this volume).
Thirdly, most studies concentrate on the transnational social spaces while
neglecting processes of localisation, i.e. confrontations with persons, groups and
organisations in localised contexts that are characterised by diversity, persistence
of social boundaries, limited access to valued resources as well as being prone to
conflict and contestation. This issue has been thoroughly criticised by Glick
Schiller and <;:aglar (forthcoming): Their concept of rescaling constitutes an im-
portant corrective to the mainstream transnationalist approaches. Salzbrunn's
contribution in this volume recapitulates the thrust of their critique, so that I shall
not repeat their arguments here. Instead, I shall concentrate on the related concept
of belonging, discerning three major problems.
First. On ethnicisation and (putative) solidarity in transnational social spaces.
While there are important exceptions of course, many research designs are prone
to methodological ethnicisation by selecting distinct categories of people as their
object of observation- i.e. members of religious congregations, ethnic or nation-
al groups -and following them around the globe. Such a choice may well reflect
persisting boundaries in social interactions. These may be true in the case of ir-
regular migration, when migrants find little opportunity to enter into communica-
tion with members of the "societies of arrival", with their employers (beyond tak-
 ARE WE ALL TRANSNATIONALISTS Now? I 317

ing their commands and receiving salaries), or with migrants coming from other
places of origin. Still, rather then taking this state of affairs for granted, research-
ers should be careful in selecting their units of analysis. As difficult as it may be,
other units of analysis would be more likely to reveal whether the concentration
of communications within one's own group of origin is really the norm in ob-
served situations; if so, whether it was deliberate or enforced, and if not, who
were other interaction partners and which resources and strategies made for par-
ticular choices. Is social life really as ethnicised as researchers as well as ethnic
activists are trying to convince us? If so, when is the concentration upon interac-
tions among one's own peers regarded by actors as their own choice and when is
it seen as forced?
Social relations in transnational spaces tend to be perceived as harmonious
and solidary. The transmigrants as well as those who remain at home appear in
many studies as characterised by commonality of interest, mutually accepted di-
vision of labour as well common aspirations and expectations. When inequality
and power differentials come into the picture, these are usually described as in-
stigated by the "systemic colonisation of the life-worlds" (Habermas 1981), i.e.
of capital and state as impinging upon individuals and collectivities. That market
transactions are realised in social relations is all too often ignored. The very fact
that migrants may compete among themselves for jobs, that new sources of in-
come may destabilise relations within families and households; that those who
remain at home, on one hand, and the transmigrants, on the other hand, are likely
to enter into conflicts over the use of remittances as well as the modalities of
sharing diverse types of assets finds little space in the available analyses. Res-
cher's analysis of gender conflicts ensuing in transnational social spaces (in this
volume) provides telling examples of substantial re-arrangements in kin and
household constellations. His and other analyses continue to highlight the fascin-
ating fact that the capitalist world's economy necessitates the maintenance of
family ties and allegiances among persons spread across the globe. Scholars like
Keamey (2004) have described how capitalism has contributed to stabilising tra-
ditional kinship and local structures while taking advantage of these formations.
In a similar vein, Germana D'Ottawio's contribution in this volume provides a
very timely analysis of the mutual reinforcement of interpersonal reciprocity ties
and capitalist expansion in the field of human reproduction. Her study reveals the
possibility that the problems entailed in these constellations, facing relatives,
friends and neighbours, have not received sufficient attention so far.
Transmigrants and those remaining at home tend to be depicted as sharing the
same goals, interests and political attitudes. While following discrete groups of
people engaged in their daily activities, scholars are prone to concentrate on net-
works sharing political convictions and endeavours. But transnational space is
forged by networks of diverse political allegiance. "Local societies" do not ne-
cessarily share political ideologies. On the contrary, factionalism, i.e. political
group formation cutting across socio-economic lines and often stabilised through
318 I JoANNA PFAFF-CZARNECKA

patron-client-relationships, is a wide-spread phenomenon in local societies

around the globe. Transnational activism tends to reinforce local conflict lines
while local factions are likely to impinge upon their supporters in transnational
social spaces. Such phenomena can be observed for instance in the case of the In-
dian anti-dam movement (Pfaff-Czarnecka 2007) where party politics, economic
interests, environmental or human rights concerns instigate local divisions in di-
verse camps. Gandhi draws our attention to the deeply entangled nature of nego-
tiations in the course of the Narmada project in Gujarat: "Resistance is a process
of negotiation between actors who operate from particular positions along a spec-
trum of power relations. Complex, horizontal engagements of convergence and
disengagement rather than static relations of dominance "from above" and resist-
ance "from below" characterise the relationship between the state, adivasis and
activists" (Gandhi 2003: 486).
Radcliffe et al. (2002) draw our attention to such movements' unruly, com-
plex, and partly contradictory character. On the basis of a study of indigenous
and political transnationalism in the Andean region, they argue against a simple
"meeting of above and below" model, as reflected in many over-enthusiastic
transnationalist models. They suggest that the "issue networks" they have ob-
served operate simultaneously on diverse levels, and are full of entanglements
and contradictions: "political transnationalism represents the entanglements of di-
verse ethnic, class and geographically dispersed institutionalised and politicised
social actors around the notion of indigenous needs, and the policy and political
frameworks through which to address these needs. .. . We find entanglements
around gender hierarchies, political affiliations, notions of professionalism, and
cultural authenticity" (Radcliffe et al. 2002: 3). "In practice, the work on Andean
indigenous transnational issue networks demonstrates that the interests, agendas
and practices constitutive of transnational indigenous development are radically
heterogeneous" (Radcliffe et al. 2002: 14).
Secondly, while acknowledging the persisting salience of state institutions re-
inforcing the territorial boundedness, the actual process of transgressing borders
has not yet received sufficient attention in transnational research. The thrust of
studies concentrates rather on those for whom borders either did not constitute an
obstacle, or on those who managed to cross them. Those unable to pursue
transnationallife, hindered by the insurmountable thresholds of national boundar-
ies are hardly ever objects of inquiries - despite the fact that the wish to move
across borders is an important element of their life. While political science and
social geography are already dealing with this theme, the importance of boundar-
ies needs to become an object oftransnational studies in other disciplines.
Some people experience closed doors when they seek access to a new coun-
try, and for others national boundaries can be problematic when temporary per-
mits and national social security systems do not match. Yet other groups of
people thrive on the existence of (physical) state boundaries, for instance by en-
gaging in smuggling. This transnational way of life would come more fully to
 ARE WE ALL TRANSNATIONALISTS Now? 1319

light if social science research would pay more attention to the question of how it
is affected by the crossing of national boundaries. The notion of "trans-border",
that is frequently evoked, highlights rather the lowering of thresholds when
people shift between countries and their institutions rather than the human cre-
ativity exercised in dealing with borders as part of a transnational way of life.
Spatial dynamics have always posed difficulties for social science research.
Transnational analysis has taken them under consideration more than other fields
of social science research. This was made possible in particular by drawing upon
the constructivist approaches elaborated in cultural geography as well as by in-
sisting upon the constitution of space through social interactions. The construct-
ivist understanding of space attaches priority to mental maps that may signific-
antly reduce distances or even render them unimportant. But the annihilation of
space through time in our current imagery often lacks confirmation in actual so-
cial practices. The availability of new communication technologies is changing
our sense of the immediacy and the form of human exchanges. Still, the means of
communication as well as of transportation are not equally available to all and we
are still in the process of establishing when face-to-face communication matters
and when other forms of exchange are sufficient. The differences in the ease with
which people can travel from place to place are significant. "Being there" has not
ceased to be important - as is shown by numerous examples of transnational
politics (see Faist's insistence on the importance of face-to-face communication).
The importance of spatial distances and the problem of immediacy through
spatial dislocation have been particularly well demonstrated in transmigrants'
political action. Transnationalist research has highlighted so far the multiplication
of political attachments as well as long-distance political involvement. But the
problematic sides of these dynamics need also to come to light. While some mi-
grants lose interest in the politics going on in places of their origin, others tend to
acquire more nationalist or particularist positions regarding politics in their
places "of origin". This can be seen in the example of the Hindutva movement,
i.e. in the Hindu-extremist violence actions against members of other faiths in In-
dia- best exemplified in the case of struggles over the spiritual sites in Ayodhya,
North India that were hugely supported, financially as well as ideologically,
through transnational networks. The forms of involvement and the consequences
of political action are very different if you are on the spot, or far away from it. It
is one thing to send money and express moral support to eo-fellows engaging in
local political struggles, and another thing to actually fight, risk bodily harm or
death, and bear the consequences. The concept of simultaneity developed by
scholars who document that migrants increasingly engage in transnational polit-
ical networks, in their homelands as well as in new locales, requires therefore
some additional consideration. The literature is largely silent on the problem of
simultaneous political involvements in contexts of differing immediacy. Eva Ger-
harz' study makes therefore an import contribution to this field when she ob-
serves the increased intensity in exchanges between Jaffna and the Tamil dia-
320 I JoANNA PFAFF-CZARNECKA

spora while simultaneously highlighting processes of closure and of re-affirma-

tion of boundaries, localities and identities.
Thirdly, transmigrants have a problem of belonging. Transnational studies
obscure this fact. Indeed, their basic assumption is that transmigrants simultan-
eously belong to different social configurations by forming part of a transnational
social space. I should like to problematise the concept of transnational social
space, not by questioning the existence of what it denotes, but rather by drawing
attention to the delicacies of belonging in a world on the move. I should like to
suggest that problems of belonging are relevant at the places of origin as well as
at the places of arrival. And certainly, the relations in the spaces in-between, i.e.
during journeys, in exchanges between people living in diverse local contexts as
well as in transnational networks are prone to rupture, conflict and to problematic
contestations.
The problem of formal membership in transnational spaces has already at-
tracted a lot of attention in the debates on dual as well of multiple memberships.
Institutions have not yet been attuned to the continuous flux of people and the
resulting necessity to readjust. But some important innovations have taken place.
The regional integration of Europe has significantly reduced the importance of
national borders between the member countries, but important boundaries still re-
main, for example in the field of social security systems. Some countries such as
Germany have reduced obstacles to dual citizenship. Nevertheless, citizenship re-
mains an important problem for many people seeking access and residency per-
mits in countries of arrival, with legislation discriminating more and more
between "haves" and "have-nots". On the other hand, collective duties attached
to formal membership may cause problems at the places of origin- as powerfully
argued by Ramble in the case of Northern Nepalese communities. Local com-
munities dwelling in marginal locations often dread losing members. Con-
sequently, those who out-migrate are frequently challenged to either come back
on a regular basis, or to provide financial support - under the threat of losing
membership and the benefits of local solidarity entailed in formalised collective
attachments.
Belonging through material attachments is another field worthy of further
consideration. The current research tends to concentrate on transnational and
translocal networking in the field of finance. Investments in transnational space,
loans as well as donations, are certainly important features of the world society.
However, from the point of view of migrants, having material possessions at dif-
ferent locales can be cumbersome. Belongings can keep people attached to places
that they wish to abandon- as was repeatedly experienced in Nazi Germany, for
example, when houses, industries and libraries prevented Jews from leaving early
enough to establish a safe existence elsewhere. Also, the social relations of own-
ership and division of labour can prove to be very problematic: Those who re-
main at home can exert pressure upon labour migrants to provide goods for con-
spicuous consumption, rather than opt for long-term investments. Glick Schiller
 ARE WE ALL TRANSNATIONALISTS Now? I 321

(2007) rightly argues that kin networks maintained between people who send re-
mittances and those who live on them can be fraught with tension. Often, migrant
families living away from their place of origin need to make choices in money al-
location between the material well-being of their nuclear families and the de-
mands put upon them by broader kinship and friendship networks in their com-
munities of origin. Time and time again migrants have discovered upon coming
home that money they earned under severe conditions was entirely spent by relat-
ives during their absence. Those who remain at home are likely to develop metro-
politan imageries of capitalist consumption which can bolster the unproductive
use of remittances. Enhanced status considerations are yet another feature of
transnational social spaces. These are often mentioned in the relevant studies, but
we still know little about their impact upon social relations in kin and communal
relations.
Cultural identity, the third dimension of belonging, can become a pawn used
in social relations in the transnational space. Transnational attitudes oscillate
between two extremes. On one hand, there are cosmopolitan attitudes (that
however tends to be elitist as Janoschka highlights in this volume), transcultural
rapprochements as well as to reflexive hybridity or creolisation. On the other
hand, identity politics can reinforce particularist positioning (on their dynamics
in shifting contexts, see Zirh's analysis in this volume); hence, social closure can
be the direct result of transnational encounters. These can be caused by the mi-
grants' experiences of exclusion and marginalisation at places of arrival. This ex-
perience may buttress nostalgia, but also occur through emotional blackmail ex-
erted upon the transmigrants who may possibly wish to establish durable ties in
new contexts far away from their original homes by those living there and seek-
ing their support. We may ask therefore: When is culture "what goes without say-
ing" (an important form of belonging as tacit understanding), when is it located at
the very root of people's identity, and when is it a representational devise (i.e. be-
longing made explicit)? Whether belonging is made to serve as a tool of collect-
ive representation depends upon the social relations structuring the transnational
space. In this field also, transnational studies open up a broad and fascinating
scope for future research.
If we wish to abandon the metaphoric facets of the transnational space
concept and establish it as being composed of multi-scalar social relations and
transactions, then a closer examination of the social ties making up its fabric is
necessary. For instance the term "transnational communities" that informed a lot
of research in the early phase of the transnational studies has diverted scholars'
attention from some major features of transnational social life. At first glance,
"community" denotes equality, sameness and social harmony. But when we look
beneath collective representations of commonality, then inequality, conflict as
well as mechanisms of negative reciprocity may come into the picture. In this
vein, transnational social spaces can be cosy, instigating a warm sense of mutual-
ity, but also can confront members with restrictions and a lot of pressure- within
322 I JoANNA PFAFF-CZARNECKA

and beyond communal boundaries. A historical perspective is required here in or-

der to grasp the processes of stratification within migratory streams.
The localisation theory developed by Glick Schiller and <;:aglar (forthcoming)
provides an important corrective to transnationalist approaches when we reflect
on the social relations of belonging in transmigrant situations. The problem of
migrants' belonging has been discussed time and again in integrationist ap-
proaches, but for a long time it was neglected in transnational research which
privileged the observation of migratory dynamics, ignoring local attachments at
places of "arrival". In dealings with authorities, in interactions at schools and in
kindergardens, relations reaching across cultural boundaries, i.e. those forged
between the "locals" and the "newcomers", become very important. Salzbrunn il-
lustrates this point in her contribution to this volume. Joint activism can signific-
antly buttress the mutual sense of belonging, but in other instances, the "locals"
may wish not to relate with the newcomers. Therefore, "translocal" relations can
result in new constellations of reciprocity, but they often tend to be confronta-
tional and put pressures upon newcomers who more often than not may feel that
they do not entirely belong- and never will. However, alliances can be created
around the notion of belonging to a neighbourhood without regards to national
background, especially in multicultural neighbourhoods like Belleville/Paris. But
more often than not, the condition of not-belonging comes about through ex-
tremely diverse assessments by all the social actors involved in a given "transna-
tionalist situation". While many transnationalists (in particular, scholars examin-
ing the transnational dynamics) oscillate towards cosmopolitan positions (even
very tacit ones), a significant number of locals acquires xenophobic attitudes.
The "right to cultural difference", based upon the "anthropological notion of cul-
ture" challenges overtly optimistic depictions of multiple belonging in transna-
tional space.
This short tour d'horizon was intended at underlining my contention that
transnational studies have contributed greatly to our knowledge of how people
relate in the world society and the ensuing transformations. It is obvious that the
transnational condition is by no means confined to those who frequently cross
borders. The transnational research has powerfully suggested that a myriad of
direct as well as indirect connections exist between disparate individuals and col-
lectivities that do not even know about each other, but are shaped by action and
events taking place in other parts of the globe. But we need to accept that the
constellations of connectivity as well as the configurations of multiple belonging
in transnational social spaces, today, confront everybody with challenging op-
tions and choices and, with new conflict potentials and uncertainties, that schol-
ars are just starting to explore.
 ARE WE ALL TRANSNATIONALISTS Now? I 323

References

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Transnational Social Movements and Tribal Peoples contesting India's Nar-
mada Project." Global Networks 3/4, pp. 481-95.
Giddens, Anthony (1991) The Consequences of Modernity, Chicago: Stanford
University Press.
Glick Schiller, Nina (2007) "Transnationality." In: David Nugent/Joan Vincent
(eds.) Companion to the Anthropology of Politics, Oxford: Blackwell, pp.
448-467.
Glick Schiller, Nina!<;:aglar, Ayse (forthcoming) "Towards a Theory of Locality
in Migration Studies: Migrant Incorporation and City Scale." In: (id.) (eds.)
Rescaling Cities (working title), Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Habermas, Jiirgen (1981) Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns, Frankfurt a.
M.: Suhrkamp.
Kearney, Michael (2004) Changing Fields of Anthropology: From Local to
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Mitchell, Clyde (1956) The Kalela Dance. Aspects of social relationships among
urban African in Northern Rhodesia, Manchester: Manchester University
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Pfaff-Czarnecka, Joanna (2007) "Challenging Goliath: People, Dams, and the
Paradoxes of Transnational Critical Movements." Political and Social Trans-
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Portes, Alejandro (2001) "Transnational Entrepreneurs: the Emergence and De-
terminants of an Alternative form of Immigrant Economic Adaptation."
WPTC-01-05.
Pries, Ludger (2008) Die Transnationalisierung der sozialen Welt, Frankfurt a.
M.: Suhrkamp.
Radcliffe, Sarah/Laurie, Nina/Andolina, Robert (2002) "Indigenous people and
political transnationalism: globalization from below meets globalization from
above?" WPTC-02-05.
Vattimo, Gianni (1992) The Transparent Society, London: Polity Press.
Wimmer, Andreas/Glick Schiller, Nina (2002) "Methodological nationalism and
beyond. Nation state formation, migration and the social sciences." Global
Networks. A Journal ofTransnational Affairs 2/4, pp.301-334.
Wimmer, Andreas (2005) Kultur als Prozess. Zur Dynamik des Aushandelns van
Bedeutungen, Wiesbaden: Verlag fur Sozialwissenschaften.
Contributors

Anghel, Remus Gabriel (MA), is a PhD student in Sociology at the University

of Bielefeld, a member in the DFG Research Training Group "World Society -
Making and Representing the Global", and a participant in the International
Graduate School in Sociology. His PhD thesis is a comparative study of Romani-
ans' transnational practices in Western Europe, in Nuremberg (Germany) and
Milan (Italy). He is currently employed at the Romanian Institute for Research on
National Minorities, Cluj Napoca, Romania. His research interests are migration,
transnationalism, globalisation and post-socialism.

D'Ottavio, Germana (PhD), received the PhD degree in 2006 in Social Policy
and Local Development at the University of Teramo (Italy) with a dissertation
titled: Women On The Bus: Domestic and Care Workers Transnational Mobility
Strategies in the Enlarged Europe. Case Studies in Poland and Southern Italy.
She graduated with a M.A. in Political Science from the University of Urbino
(Italy) and her thesis in cultural anthropology dealt with the impact of fair trade
on the living condition of artisans in Kenya.

Faist, Thomas (Prof. PhD), is Professor of Transnational Relations and Devel-

opment Studies at the Department of Sociology, Bielefeld University (www.com-
cad-bielefeld.de). He received his PhD from The Graduate Faculty, The New
School for Social Research. Thomas Faist was Willy-Brandt-Guest Professor at
the University of Malmo and DAAD Visiting Professor at the University of
Toronto. Formerly, he developed and directed the Program in International Stud-
ies in Political Management (ISPM) in Bremen. He is the deputy editor of The
Sociological Quarterly and a member of the editorial board of the journals Eth-
nic and Racial Studies, Migration Letters and the International Journal of Indian
Diaspora. His research focuses on international migration, citizenship, and social
and development policies. Currently, he is involved in research projects on envir-
onmental degradation and forced migration and on transnationalisation and social
326 I THE MAKING oF WoRLD SociETY

transformation. His recent book publications include Dual Citizenship in Europe:

From Nationhood to Societal Integration (Ashgate 2007; reprint 2008), Citizen-
ship: Discourse, Theory and Transnational Prospects (with Peter Kivisto, Black-
well, 2007), and Dual Citizenship in a Globalizing World: From Unitary to Mul-
tiple Citizenship (Palgrave Macmillan 2007; reprint 2008).

Gerharz, Eva (Dr.), is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology, University of

Bielefeld since 2007, where she also received her doctoral degree. She studied
sociology, political science, law and education in Bielefeld, Wiirzburg and
Leiden (NL). She has been a member of the DFG Research Training Group
"World Society - Making and Representing the Global". Her main fields of re-
search are development and reconstruction, globalisation, transnationalisation
and migration. She is doing fieldwork in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and worked
at the Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu,
Nepal as a research associate.

Goel, Urmila (Dr.), is a post-doctoral researcher in social and cultural anthropo-

logy based in Berlin (Germany). She conducted her research at the European
University Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder (Germany), at the University of New Eng-
land in Armidale (Australia) as well as at the University of Bergen (Norway).
Currently she is Fellow in the Jacobs Summer Research Group 'Youth - Migra-
tion -Religion' at the University of Ziirich (Switzerland). Her research interests
cover in particular the consequences of racism and heteronormativity as well as
the strategies to deal with these power inequalities both by the marginalised and
the privileged. She bases her work on critical racism theory, critical whiteness
studies as well as gender and queer theory and conducts her ethnographic work in
particular among those marked as South Asians in Germany. Currently she ana-
lyses ethnographically the interdependency of racism and heteronormativity.
More information can be found on her website www.urmila.de.

Greschke, Heike Monika (Dr.), has studied Social Work, Sociology, and Social
Anthropology in Koblenz and Bielefeld (Germany), and in Seville (Spain). As a
member of the Research Training Group "World Society - Making and Repres-
enting the Global", financed by the German Research Community (DFG) she
worked on her doctoral dissertation Daheim in www.cibervalle.com - Ethno-
graphie einer globalen Lebenswelt, submitted in July 2007 at the Department of
Sociology, Bielefeld University. At the moment she is engaged in the scientific
supervision of a pilot program for "effect-oriented improvement of youth welfare
services", financed by the German Federal Government. Her main research in-
terests are ethnography, ethnomethodology, transnational migration and youth
welfare services.
 CoNTRIBUTORS I 327

Hering, Stephanie (Dipl. Soz.), is a sociologist (Dipl. Soz., University of Biele-

feld 2002) and presently working on her dissertation on the architectural self-
presentation of global finance at the University of Basel. From 2003-2007 she
did research on a project on the sociology of finance: Die visuelle Semantik der
globalen Finanzokonomie, directed by Prof. Dr. Urs Staheli, funded by the Swiss
Nation Science Foundation (SNF). Since 2007 she has been a lecturer for soci-
ology at the Institute of Architecture and Planning, University of Liechtenstein.
Research interests are Sociology of Finance, Sociology of Architecture, Postcolo-
nial and Global Studies and Sociological Theory. Stephanie Hering lives in
Zfuich, Switzerland.

Janoschka, Michael (Dr.), currently works as a Lecturer at the Institute of Hu-

man Geography of the Goethe-University of Frankfurt/Main (Germany). His re-
search interests mainly focus on migration processes in a globalised world and
the role of identity politics and citizenship practice in geographical and political
conflicts. Furthermore, his research concentrates on urban transformation pro-
cesses and governance, identity politics in shrinking cities and strategies of
private urban governance. Michael Janoschka is a graduate geographer from the
Humboldt-University of Berlin and received his Dr. phil. at the University of
Frankfurt.

Lachenmann, Gudrun (Prof. Dr.), studied sociology, political science and eco-
nomics (after finishing her education and working as a translator). Former re-
search fellow at German Development Institute, Berlin, Africa Division, doing
policy research, advice and training; since 1992 Professor at the Department of
Sociology, Sociology of Development Research Centre (professor emeritus since
3/2006). Her current research interests are global and local networking for engen-
dering development policy, civil society, transformation processes, women's and
peasant movements in Africa, engendering the embeddedness of economy, meth-
odology of multi-level field research and empirically grounding globalisation and
localisation theories. Her empirical research is carried out mainly in francophone
West Africa.

Lindenthal, Alexandra (PhD), is a research associate in the project "Transna-

tional Governance and Interlegality" at the collaborative research centre 597
"Transformations of the State" (University of Bremen). As a political scientist
she is doing empirical research on public-private partnerships in the context of
sustainable development. For example, she analyses to what extent the Marine
Stewardship Council, a private standard-setting organisation, contributes to solv-
ing the problem of overfishing. Furthermore, she asks the question of how far do
nation states react to private solutions to global problems like overfishing and de-
forestation. Before her current position, Alexandra was a research associate at the
Universities of Bielefeld, Oldenburg and Bremen. Her research topics are organ-
328 I THE MAKING oF WoRLD SociETY

isationallearning, environmental policy and international relations. Recently, Al-

exandra completed her PhD project at the International Graduate School in Soci-
ology (IGSS) at the University of Bielefeld. The English title of the dissertation
is Leadership in International Relations. The European Union in the Internation-
al Regime for Climate Change. The thesis will be published at the beginning of
2009.

Nowicka, Magdalena (Dr.), is a research assistant at the Institute of Sociology

at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, where she obtained
her doctoral title in 2005. She is a graduate of the Philosophical Department of
the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and the Center for Europe of the Warsaw
University, Poland. Her recent publications include Transnational Professionals
and Their Cosmopolitan Universes (Campus, Frankfurt a. M. and New York
2006) and Van Polen nach Deutschland und zuriick. Die Arbeitsmigration und
ihre Herausforderungen fiir Europa (Transcript, Bielefeld 2007). Her research
interests encompass sociology of migration, space, cosmopolitanism and Euro-
pean society.

Pfaff-Czarnecka, Joanna (Prof. Dr.), is Professor of Social Anthropology in

the Department of Sociology at Bielefeld University. She held academic posi-
tions at Zurich University as well as Bonn University and was a Visiting Profess-
or at the University of Tokyo as well as Research Fellow at the Oxford Uni-
versity. She wrote her PhD thesis on "Power and Ritual Purity. The Hindu Caste
System and Ethnic Relations in the Process of State-formation in Nepal." and her
Habilitation thesis on "From Subjects to Citizens. Ethnopolitology of Develop-
ment in Nepal-Himalaya." at Zfuich University. Her main research areas are
political anthropology, ethnicity, integration- and minority research, democratisa-
tion processes in sub-national contexts, legal anthropology (in particular: human
and minority rights), cultural change and inter-cultural communication and social
anthropological perspectives on processes of globalisation. Her publications in-
clude (written together with Nandy, A./Rajasingham, D./Gomez, T.) (1999) Eth-
nic Futures. State and Identity in Four Asian Countries. New Delhi : Sage; (ed.
with C. Caduff ); (1999) Rituale heute: Theorien, Kontroversen, Entwiirfe, Ber-
lin: Reimer; (2005) "No end to Nepal's Maoist rebellion." Focaal, European
Journal of Anthropology 46, pp. 158-168; (2005) "Das Lokale als Ressource im
entgrenzten Wettbewerb: Das Verhandeln kollektiver Reprasentationen in Nepal-
Himalaya." In: Zeitschrift fur Soziologie, Sonderheft "Weltgesellschaft" Stutt-
gart: Lucius & Lucius, pp. 479-499.

Rescher, Gilberto (Dipl. Soz.), is a doctoral candidate at the International

Graduate School in Sociology at the University of Bielefeld. He studied soci-
ology in Bielefeld with a special focus on sociology of development. There he
graduated with a diploma thesis on local negotiation of processes of decentralisa-
 CoNTRIBUTORS I 329

tion in Nicaragua. His research and practical experiences include extended field-
work on the Philippines, in Nicaragua and Mexico and work experience in gov-
ernmental and non-governmental institutions in Mexico. As part of his doctoral
project he is currently working on the processes of political transformation in the
Valle del Mezquital, a rural area in Mexico. His research interests include local
political processes, development, transnationality, gender and ethnicity, mainly
with a focus on Latin America.

Salzbrunn, Monika (Dr.), teaches sociology and anthropology at EHESS and

the universities of Paris XII, Tours and Bielefeld. She wrote her binational PhD
dissertation on Transnational Politics of West African Muslim Migrants in
France and Germany. This work was awarded two doctorates: a French doctor-
ate in Anthropology from the EHESS in Paris and a German doctorate in Soci-
ology from the University of Bielefeld. She is currently doing research on festive
events and rituals in the context of migration, and is leading the French Team in
the European GEMMA project on policy-making, gender and migration (FP 7),
at EHESS Paris. She was an Emmy Nother fellow of the German Research
Foundation at the Institute of World Society Studies of the University of Biele-
feld and is a member of the French research centres CRIA (UMR 8131 Centre
National de Recherche Scientifique/EHESS, Paris), MIGRINTER (International
Migration), Poitiers, and "Cultures et Societes en Europe", Strasburg. She has
published more than 20 articles on Muslims in Europe and the USA, transnation-
al networks, gender issues and festive events in French, English, German and
Italian.

Zirh, Besim Can (MSc), graduated from METU Sociology (B.A) and Political
Science (MSc). He is currently doing PhD at UCL in the Department of Anthro-
pology and is also affiliated with METU Department of Sociology as a research
assistant. His research interests include transnational migration and diaspora poli-
tics. He is specifically studying Turkish migration to Europe. His PhD project
aims at comparing Alevi associations in three European cities (London, Berlin
and Oslo) in the framework of transnational practices, border-crossing activities
and identity (re-)formation in different migratory contexts.
 Global Studies

Rem us Gabriel Anghel, Peter Lindner

Eva Gerharz, Gilberto Rescher, Der Kolchoz-Archipel im
Monika Salzbrunn (eds.) Privatisierungsprozess
The Making of World Society Wege und Umwege der
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im Beitrittsdiskurs Lisbeth Zimmermann (Hg.)
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 Global Studies
Helen Schwenken Christian Berndt,
Rechtlos, aber nicht Johannes Gliickler (Hg.)
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