Publication details
Transnational Migrations: Cross-Border Ties, Homes, and Theories
| Title in English | Transnational Migrations: Cross-Border Ties, Homes, and Theories by Csaba Szaló |
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| Year of publication | 2008 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Citation | |
| Description | Theories of transnational migration made clear that incorporation of migrants in a host society and maintaining attachments to their native country are not binary oppositions. In this paper, I employ Michel Foucault’s theory of discourse as well as Pierre Bourdieu’s reflexive sociology to reconstruct epistemological presuppositions which underlie various theories of transnational migration. I argue that theories of transnational migration during three waves of their formation switched from political and epistemological radicalism of critical anthropology to an ironic sociological criticism of methodological nationalism. This metamorphosis of interpretive strategies is explained as a result of internal dynamism of the scientific field. In the paper, I focus on the concept of transnational social fields taken up by theories of transnational migration to reformulate the processes of assimilation and identity formation by conceiving migrants’ simultaneous engagement in and orientation toward their original and new home. The paper concludes with a discussion of the theoretical implications of my findings in the context of the reflective turn in social sciences. |
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