Unsettling connections: transnational networks, development and African home associations

Abstract

With the transnational turn in the social sciences attention has now turnedto 'global civil society', 'transnational civil society', 'transnational networks' and, most recently, 'migrant' or 'diasporic civil society'. Claims

Collective Transnational Power and its Limits: London-Based Nigerian Organisations, Development at ‘Home’ and the Importance of Local Agency and the ‘Internal Diaspora’

“…While discourses of diaspora and development tend to overlook or underplay local agency (Mercer et al 2008(Mercer et al , 2009Thieme 2008), this study has shown that local actors and institutions can be not only key intermediaries for diasporic intervention but also the leading drivers of development at 'home' . A conceptual framework is therefore required that can incorporate both internal migration and local agency into understanding the development role of diasporas, and here I propose the adoption of a translocal perspective.…”

“…Actors based at 'home' and in the 'internal diaspora' are far greater in number than their overseas counterparts and their relative spatial proximity means that they can interact much more intensely with the local institutions that lead development in the community. As Mercer et al (2009) argue, proximity would appear to remain a distinct advantage in engaging the development of 'home' despite the supposed 'death of distance' in this global age. Moreover, we have seen that local actors and the 'internal diaspora' can also mobilise considerably more financial and political capital than international diaspora organisations.…”

“…Consequently, as a number of authors have started to acknowledge, these discourses have given little attention to development contributions made by local actors and internal migrants (Brickell and Datta 2011;King and Skeldon 2010;Mercer et al 2008Mercer et al , 2009Page 2011;Thieme 2008). This not only obscures forms of agency and mobility that occur within national boundaries but also has the potential to overplay the significance of the transnational.…”

The ties that bind: the role of migrants in the uneven geography of international telephone traffic

“…Hence domestic actors may draw upon foreign diaspora to advance economic and social development (Margheritis 2007;Mercer et al 2009). As a form of state-led transnationalism (Elrick and Ciobanu 2009), governments have also been known to proactively make use of 'ethnic' networks in foreign countries, e.g.…”

Transnational Islamic charity as everyday rituals

“…The role of religious motivation in migrant development engagements -such as those connected with Islamic charity -is relatively under-researched, as opposed to the more established fields of study on religion and migration (Levitt 2003(Levitt , 2007, or religion and integration (Foner and Alba 2008;Kivisto 2014). Studies on migrant development engagements often focus on where and how, including organizational dimensions, and on why migrants choose to engage (Brinkerhoff 2012;Mercer et al 2009). Questions about motivations are central in the remittances literature, where identifying the degree to which altruism or self-interest is a driving force has been an important quest (Lucas and Stark 1985).…”