Migration and Death Ceremonies On St. Kitts and Nevis

Since British slave emancipation in 1838, Afro-Caribbean men and women of St. Kitts and Nevis in the Leeward Caribbean have emigrated and returned in order to sustain their local societies. Economic uncertainty and social oppression both at home and abroad have inspired Kittitians and Nevisians to develop mobile livelihood strategies in order to tap ever-changing sources of employment. Labor migrants from the two islands have therefore often resisted permanent commitments in any one direction except for occasionally returning home. These periodic returns are important to the local community because the migrants usually bring back money and gifts to kinsmen and friends. A related obligation, especially in recent years, has been for migrants to return to family funerals. Funeral attendance confers economic advantages on both permanent residents of St. Kitts and Nevis and the migrant workers abroad. The money and gifts brought back by returning migrants help sustain the local community. The returning migrants themselves are also assured a warm welcome in case they are forced to return in the future by changing conditions abroad, a not unlikely possibility. Local mortuary practices on St. Kitts and Nevis are therefore not simply symbolic displays but also important economic events.     

环境心理学视角下中国跨境流动人口的国家感研究

随着人文地理学的“情感转向”，地缘环境也开始指向情感研究。中国的家国情怀使“国家”不仅具有政治属性，也成为一个饱含情感与地方认同的概念。本文从地缘环境的情感要素入手，援引环境心理学理论与方法，探究跨境流动背景下的国家感影响因素。结论发现：①中国海外移民国家感受到个体与社会因素制约，包括年龄、学历、公民身份、出国时长、移居国GDP和文化认同；②国家软实力提升和包容多元的地缘政策利于提升客族文化认同进而增强海外移民的国家感；③居住、网络媒体环境变化及国家间的话语博弈会引发跨境群体重新审视流动前后所处的地缘环境，直接或间接重构国家感。本文既为促进跨境流动群体与国家之间的双向接纳提供新路径，也在情感地理学方法论层面提供新思路。     

跨国精英移民的日常生活实践与根植性家的营造

流动性背景下，跨国精英移民如何在迁入地实践、重构和感知家，以实现长久居留既是现实问题也是学术问题。本文援引“根植性家（rooted home）”的地理学概念，采用半结构化深度访谈和观察法等质性研究方法，以根植性类型的跨国精英移民为研究对象，探究其日常生活实践与家的营造。研究发现：①跨国精英移民对家的根植性理解并非意味着他们“不流动”，而是在流动中与“过去的家”保持联系与平衡。②跨国精英移民对家的根植性实践表现在使用怀旧性的日常生活实践策略，涵盖物质性、情感性和外部性维度，其中物质性维度较易实现，而情感性和外部性维度即使是精英移民也难以实现。③流动性加深了对根植性类型跨国精英移民对“过去的家”的认同，并影响其对现在和未来的家的感知和去向的思考。研究借助日常生活视角补充和完善了“根植性家”的理论与实证，也为跨国精英移民的深度研究提供了可供参考的范本。     

国际移民研究热点与华侨华人研究展望

论文从政治、经济、文化等层面对当今国际学术界国际移民研究的热点进行了评介,剖析重要概念,展望发展趋势,认为国际移民是全球化的一个系统性因素,唯有将国际移民置于全球化的大系统之内,方能准确认识其社会影响,正确评价其未来走向。同时结合国内华侨华人研究现状,对华侨华人研究总体水平进行了回顾,并就一些迫切需要深入探讨的问题进行了理性思考。     

Locating migrant Latinas in a diverse economies framework: evidence from Chicago

In this article I use an intersectional diverse economies framework and weak theory to build knowledge about migrant Latinas' economic spaces in Chicago. Drawing on qualitative data, I demonstrate how multiple and dynamic identities are linked to economic practices. I show that Latina migrants are not limited to capitalist or noncapitalist forms of economic engagement within neoliberal structures or to single spaces within or outside ethnic economies. Their multiple and dynamic practices shifted, as did their identities and geographies. I captured a snapshot of one migrant Latina economic community and provide insights about the nature and scale of its activities as well as the opportunities, and obstacles it faces. I propose future research and policy resulting from seeing economies differently. What kinds of programs might support collective economies and migrant Latina crafts? How might we re-envision workforce development programs if we see economies differently? What kinds of creative campaigns and advocacy do we need with new kinds of economies? More data and reflection on the nature and scale of intersectional identities within migrant (and other) economic communities and the geoeconomic ramification within those communities is needed. Furthermore, I call for the imagination of new global forms and practices that respond to the crisis that the current economic structures are facing.     

Political economic reorganization among non-state societies: A case study using Middle Holocene mortuary data from the Cis-Baikal,Russia

The extraordinary record of prehistoric funeral activities in Russia’s Cis-Baikal region provides an opportunity to study changes in political strategies that boreal forest hunter–gatherers employed at these events in the Middle Holocene. I use published data on burial treatments (quantities of grave goods, presence of exotic materials, burial layouts) from 10 Late Neolithic (henceforth referred to as “LN,” 4000–3000 BC) and 11 Early Bronze Age (“EBA,” 3000–2000 BC) cemeteries to explore important and previously undetected shifts in the ways that funerals during these periods articulated with political life. LN groups used funerals to emphasize affiliation with corporate institutions, while EBA funeral participants employed political strategies focused on displaying wealth. Current evidence indicates that groups on the western peripheries of the Cis-Baikal started employing semi-nomadic pastoral subsistence practices at the time of the LN-EBA transition, and I suggest that these groups presented new opportunities for Cis-Baikal inhabitants. Interactions with mobile, food-producing groups may have indirectly stimulated indigenous populations to redefine funeral gatherings as venues appropriate for cultivating long-distance economic and political support through competitive displays of wealth.     

Blending ‘home’ and ‘away’: young Israeli migrants as VFR travelers

This study explores the nexus between migration and tourism by focusing on the experiences of young Israeli migrants who engage in return-visits to their country of origin. The experiences of the migrants are examined with respect to transnational theory, VFR (visiting friends and relatives) travel and conceptualizations of ‘home’ and ‘away.’ The migrants’ sense of ‘being at home’ is deconstructed in terms of familiarity with place, privacy and situational control, and sociability in associations. The findings of this multidimensional analysis reveal that the young migrants’ experiences of ‘home’ and ‘away’ is transformed across time in accordance with their sense of adaptation in the receiving country. While in terms of familiarity with place and sociability in associations the sense of being at home is weakened considerably, it is actually strengthened in terms of privacy and situational control. These findings stress the complexity of VFR experiences in the context of transnational migration.     

(Mal)Development in Central America: Globalization and Social Change

This article develops a globalization framework and a model of transnational processes for analysing social change and development, and then applies the model to Central America. The analysis emphasizes determinacy, in the last instance, of social forces in historic developmental outcomes, and documents how social forces in struggles in an emergent transnational environment have shaped Central America's changing profile within the global economy and society. Revolutionary movements, a new class structure, US geo-political considerations, and the internationalization of East Asian economies, have all contributed to a new model of development; from the 1960s into the 1990s the national model of development is being replaced by a transnational model. Maquiladora garment production, tourism, non-traditional agricultural exports, and remittances from emigrant workers are coming to eclipse traditional agro-exports as the most dynamic economic sectors linking the region to globalized circuits of production and distribution. The article also examines Central American migration to the US and gender dimensions of the new transnational model of development.     

The security of Africans beyond borders: migration,remittances and London's transnational entrepreneurs

This article provides an overview of selected aspects of how the economic security of growing numbers of Africans is linked to international migration. It first examines the emergence since 2005 of a new international policy discourse emphasizing the positive economic benefits of migration through remittance flows, the transfer of ideas and inward investment by migrants. The article outlines European policy responses to the recent upsurge in illegal Africa migration across the Mediterranean and examines the reaction of African governments and the Africa Union to increased migration and the enhanced dependence of African economies on remittance flows. The final section highlights the way in which the accelerated settlement of Africans in the UK prefigures longer term changes in the UK's relationship with Africa.     

Lost boys,invisible girls: stories of Sudanese marriages across borders

Forced migration challenges and changes gender relations. The transnational activities of refugees resettled in the West create gender asymmetries among those who stay behind. This article explores the transnational marriages of young southern Sudanese women (‘invisible girls’), who either stayed in Sudan or remained in refugee camps in Kenya, to Sudanese men who were resettled to America, Canada or Australia (‘lost boys’). Incorporating gender as a relational category into the analysis of transnational practices that migrants and refugees engage in is important. The article argues that there is a need to put feminist analysis at the centre of transnational processes resulting from (forced) migration. It looks at the connections between different geographical locations, the impacts of the migration of young refugee men on bridewealth and marriage negotiations and the gender consequences for young women, men and their families. It is argued that transnational activities, such as marriage, contest, reconfigure and reinforce the culturally inscribed gender norms and practices in and across places. Transnational marriage results in ambiguous benefits for women (and men) in accessing greater freedoms. Anthropological analyses of marriage need a geographical focus on the transnational fields in which they occur. The article seeks to deepen understanding of the nuanced gendered consequences of transnationalism. It shows how gender analysis of actions taken across different locations can contribute to the theorisation of transnational studies of refugees and migrants.     

World City Network Integration in the Eurasian Realm

A team of authors from the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) research network explores the main empirical features of the global economic integration of Eurasia through an analysis of the (shifting) position of that macroregion's key cities. More specifically, they examine the gateway roles played by key cities in four major subregions—China, the former Eastern Bloc (FEB, i.e., Central and Eastern Europe), former Soviet Union (FSU), and India—in the channeling of transnational flows of capital, goods, knowledge, and people in 2000-2008, focusing on the globalization of firms in the financial and business service sectors. Although cities in the four subregions share a common recent history of transition from closed and state-centered to open and market-based economies, the study reveals the persistence of distinctive geographical idiosyncrasies in their connections across the globe. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F020, F200, O180, P300. 4 figures, 3 tables, 1 appendix, 39 references.     

Transnational turnout. Determinants of emigrant voting in home country elections

A wide majority of countries acknowledge non-resident citizens' right to vote in elections in their country of origin. However, classical turnout theories do not take into account how electoral mobilisation has expanded into a transnational political field that reaches beyond national state borders. This paper analyses the determinants of emigrant turnout based on an original dataset of 25 countries of origin and each of the counties of residence where these voters reside. We find that emigrant communities from developing democracies experience a steep political learning curve that prompts their participation in home country politics, especially if they reside in countries with solid democratic institutions and linkages with their host societies. Our research also shows that remittances not only indicate commitment to family members’ welfare in home countries, but positively influence participation in home country politics.     

移民网络、社会资源配置与中国东北新移民--美国旧金山湾区田野调查札记

在田野调查访谈的基础上,本文以美国旧金山湾区的中国东北新移民为研究实例,对社会资本和非制度性的社会资源配置在当代中国的跨国移民活动中所扮演的具体角色进行考察和分析。本文认为,近年来迅速崛起的东北新移民已开始成为当代中国国际移民潮的主要成员之一。近10多年来东北地区之所以会出现大规模移民海外的现象,其中既有古典经济学移民理论所提出的经济层面的原因,也有中国社会内部制度变迁的深层因素。而非制度性社会资源配置机制中的强、弱两种关系网,尤其是海外新移民社会中的弱关系网络,则对当代东北人的跨境迁徙活动及其在海外移居社会寻找工作等方面做出了莫大的贡献。     

Host economy impacts of transnational retail: the research agenda

The last decade has witnessed an acceleration of retail foreigndirect investment into a range of emerging markets across EastAsia, Central and Eastern Europe and Latin America, led by asmall cohort of food and general merchandise retailers fromWestern Europe, and to a lesser extent, North America. Whilethese investment flows have had profound developmental impactsin host economies, research in this area is still in its infancy.This article therefore maps out a detailed research agenda withrespect to the host economy impacts of transnational retailing.After setting the scene empirically and conceptually, the articleconsiders different dimensions of these impacts on retail competitiveness,supply chain dynamics, consumption practices and consumer/civilsociety, institutional and regulatory frameworks and, reciprocally,on the retail transnational corporations themselves. It concludesby calling for a concerted interdisciplinary research effortinto this important and understudied aspect of economic globalization.     

Transport Infrastructure,Agglomeration Economies,and Firm Birth: Empirical Evidence from Portugal*

Abstract. This paper uses municipality‐level data to study firm birth in Portugal from 1986 to 1997. This is a period of significant improvements to the Portuguese motorway network raising important questions as to its impact on the spatial pattern of firm birth. The paper focuses on the effect of such large‐scale road investment together with the role played by agglomeration economies for firm birth in 13 industry sectors and 9 service sectors. Motorways increase the attractiveness of locations close to the new infrastructure for most sectors. However, marked differences among sectors exist in the way transport improvements affect geographical firm‐birth concentration. The results also indicate that a more diversified local economic environment encourages firm birth, but little evidence is found for agglomeration benefits stemming from sectoral specialization at the local level.     

Exercising Exit,Voice and Loyalty: A Gender Perspective on Transnationalism in Haiti

This article explores gendered patterns of migration and transnationalism in Haiti. A combination of factors has prompted extensive rural–urban migration and emigration over the last three decades: violence, repression, economic collapse and the implementation of neo‐liberal reforms have left many Haitians with few options other than to seek a new life elsewhere. Although many Haitians abroad naturalize and take citizenship in host countries, emigration does not mean that ties to their homeland are severed. Indeed, a substantial number of Haitians remain intimately connected to Haiti, visiting, sending remittances and gifts, investing in land and exercising political voice in Haiti and in their country of residence. This article focuses on the gender dimension of Haitian migration and transnationalism drawing on Hirschman's typology of exit, voice and loyalty. These options are uniquely gendered. Although most analyses of transnational citizenship focus on men, women and women's movements in Haiti have also benefited from transnational organizing and the transnational links forged over the past three decades. Through migration, women have participated in changing the financial architecture and political landscape of Haiti. Expressions of voice and loyalty by women are challenging traditional gender roles in Haiti and contributing to an emerging transnationalism that has profound effects on Haitians and their communities at home and abroad.     

High-skilled Return Migration and Knowledge-based Development in Poland

It is by now well known that return migration of the highly skilled can have a significant impact on knowledge-based development in the regions to which they return. Whereas previous research has mainly focused on developing and newly industrializing countries, this paper looks at high-skilled return migration in an East European transformation economy, namely Poland. In our paper, we propose an analytical framework which integrates migration theory and regional development perspectives. Based on narrative interviews with high-skilled return migrants in Warsaw and Poznań, we show that high-skilled return migrants have an impact on economic development by acting as both investors and innovators, i.e. that they transfer and successfully integrate financial means as well as different types of knowledge into these local economies. Furthermore, the Polish example illustrates that social relations and institutional context are crucial in understanding how high-skilled return migrants contribute to knowledge-based development.     

Employment growth and regional development: industrial change and contextual differences between Denmark and Sweden

This paper explores the potential drivers behind uneven regional development in the context of employment growth in Denmark and Sweden. In particular, we are interested in the roles of urbanization, industrial change and the rise of the new economy as manifested in the growth of the two economies in 2002–2007. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to analyse the impact of a number of key industrial sectors on regional employment growth in the two countries. The empirical analysis is based on longitudinal matched employer–employee data retrieved from official registers in each economy from 2002 to 2007, a period of strong national growth following the crisis of early 2000. Our findings indicate that the two economies follow a similar pattern in addressing total employment growth; but looking at changes in employment levels across the national borders of these two relatively similar open economies, we find that, although in general these economies react relatively similarly to changes, embarking on a narrower analysis of the individual sectors reveals marked national differences. This indicates that context matters in the analysis of regional economic dynamics in terms of structure, system and policy.     

Bereavement from afar: transnational grieving and the emotional geographies of migration

ABSTRACT

This exploratory article aims to contribute to scholarship on migrants’ experiences of bereavement and grief through the loss of a parent in their country of origin. It considers how transnational bereavement and grieving relate to the ever changing emotional geographies of migration and transnational families. Empirical material is drawn from a research project conducted with Latin American and Latino-British families living in the north of England, particularly from narratives presented by sons and daughters who had experienced such bereavements. Middle generation migrants may express: a continuing bond with a deceased parent as part of their emotional support network; regret at missing the death of the parent and the reinforcement of ambivalent emotions regarding their migration project; boundary ambiguity towards the transnational family; and a sense of physical distance from the family home as a geographical cure which allows working through the grieving process and troubling changes in family configurations.