Building bridges of various sorts: Old and new migrant transnationalism among Uruguayans in Spain

Abstract

This study explores emigrants' motivations to form associations, their activities and engagement with home politics, and whether diaspora policies impinge on their practices. It focuses on Uruguayans abroad, who are a relevant case of migrant transnationalism. Building upon qualitative methods, it investigates their associational life in a main destination: Spain. The findings contribute to expand our knowledge of a relatively less studied diaspora, document associations' transnational activities and evolution and revisit debates on the dynamics of diaspora politics and transnational engagements with home/host politics, which in this case remain intermittent and fragmented, albeit intense and highly localized. The notion of building bridges of various sorts emerges as a signifier that gives meaning to individual and collective engagements. This opens new research venues and contributes to analytical refinement as to incorporate migrant transnational practices that are not neatly patterned, sustained in time and simultaneously identifiable in host and home contexts.