A shifting yet grounded transnational social field: Interplays of displacement and emplacement in African migrant trajectories across Central America

Abstract

In this article, we draw on the volatile complexity of African migrant trajectories in Central America to broaden the scope of transnational scholarship. These trajectories are characterised by mobilities as well as immobilities, taking shape in particular local contexts. By focusing on the interplays between displacement and emplacement that are part of these trajectories, we aim to increase our understanding of the extent to which migrants still ‘on the move’ experience both temporal embeddedness and cross‐border connectedness, thereby acknowledging and unravelling transnational lives as they ‘touch the ground’ en route. To do so, we build on long‐standing scholarly commitments in Central and South America and recent field research in Costa Rica. We go into selected empirical cases to discuss the dynamics of travelling, dwelling and travelling again as part of African migrant trajectories across Central America. We then explore the value of a ‘shifting’ transnational social field perspective and indicate some challenges for future trajectory research.

Raising the suspicion of a non-autochthonous infection: identification of Leishmania guyanensis from Costa Rica exhibits a Leishmaniavirus related to Brazilian north-east and French Guiana viral genotypes

“… 31 Costa Rica has also been an important Central American hub of recently increased African and Asian transit migration across Latin America, directly from their home countries or from in-between destinations such as Brazil. 32 ) Migrants are known for their continuous movement through the border, taking part in temporary jobs on this side of the crossing. Moreover, there has never been a report, until now, of a L. ( V. ) guyanensis strain as the one characterised in this instance, whose clustering and sequence similarities indicate a classic genotype of L. ( V. ) guyanensis ( Fig.…”

Following, Othering, Taking Over

“…The presence and visibility of African and Caribbean travelers in Central America has recently increased. Their north-bound journeys are often illegalized, rerouted, and halted for indefinite periods of time (Drotbohm and Winters 2021). For migrants like Stella, part of their journey consists of crossing the Darién jungle between Colombia and Panama, following the paths of predecessors such as Colombian refugees (Girot 2002) in extremely dangerous and exhausting conditions.…”

Transnational, translocal, and transient: Economic communities of Arab entrepreneurs in Yiwu, China

“…Despite an accumulation of literature on ethnic, immigrant, and transnational entrepreneurship, significant gaps of knowledge still exist. First, most of these studies are based on the experiences of North American and European cities that host large numbers of immigrants from less-developed countries (Drotbohm & Winters, 2021;Hujo & Piper, 2010). In these cities, entrepreneurship is often regarded as a springboard for socio-economic upward mobility or a way to coping with discrimination and marginalisation in the open wage labour markets.…”

“…The study is a direct response to the call for a geographic shift in migration studies that have largely been based on migration from the Global South to the North (Drotbohm & Winters, 2021). Central to our analysis is how Arab merchants act as migration sponsors, recruiters, entrepreneurs, and community leaders to maintain their economic communities while engaging with the hierarchies that simultaneously across multiple geographic and political boundaries.…”