Whatever Happened to Simultaneity? Transnational Migration Theory and Dual Engagement in Sending and Receiving Countries

Abstract

Twinn, S. (1997). An exploratory study examining the influence of translation on the validity and reliability of qualitative data in nursing research.

‘Race’ and HIV vulnerability in a transnational context: the case of Chinese immigrants to Canada

“…Seen through the lens of transnationalism theory, international migration is not simply a movement from point A to point B, or an event that ends with settlement; rather, it is a lifelong process involving immigrants' simultaneous engagement with both home and host countries (Levitt and Glick Schiller 2004;Tsuda 2012). Criticising nationally bounded thinking, or 'methodological nationalism' , as having little relevance in the context of immigrants' sustained ties with their homelands, Amelina et al (2012) argue that 'methodological transnationalism' allows us to better contextualise our research questions, because it '[encompasses] cross-border social relations without normatively assigning them a global saliency or universality' (7).…”

“…Against the background of a 'rising China' , with rapid advances in information and communication technology, and with their own settlement difficulties in the 'new' country, this generation of Chinese immigrants have maintained unprecedentedly close connections with their homeland through, for example, daily electronic communication, travel (including 'return migration'), business, the 'transnational' or geographically separated family and development of a transnational identity (e.g. Guo 2013Guo , 2016Lin and Tao 2012) sustained through cross-border connections and simultaneous engagement with both Canada and China (Levitt and Glick Schiller 2004;Tsuda 2012).…”

Migrants’ Multi-Sited Social Lives

“…According to the assimilationist perspective, homeland engagement and integration are found on a uni-dimensional spectrum and essentially rule each other out. Tsuda (2012) explains the assimilationist argument by the limited character of resources at hand. He states that time and money in particular are resources of limited kind, and if these resources are consumed for one purpose, there is less left for other purposes.…”

“…Conversely, the transnational perspective proposes that host country and homeland experiences can influence each other positively (Morawska, 2003;Levitt and Glick Schiller, 2004). Tsuda (2012) claims that integration in the host country may increase an individual's economic, social and cultural capitals, thus providing migrants with more opportunities, knowledge and incentives to contribute to their home country. In this paper, I seek to contribute to this debate by focusing on various components of the sociocultural dimension of migrant lives.…”

Intimacy, identity and relationship in the accounts of Chinese immigrants to Canada: the contribution of narrative analysis

“…As contemporary migrants' simultaneous embeddedness in both home and destination countries has come more into focus (Tsuda 2012), scholars are working to identify methods adequate to the investigation of transnational social spaces and belongings (RuokonenEngler and Siouti 2013). Marcus (1995) has provided important direction in this regard, advocating for approaches that 'follow the …' people, objects, metaphors, stories, biographies or conflicts.…”