Description

Article written by 2010 DPDF Multiculturalism, Immigration, and Identity in Western Europe and the United States fellow Jessica Sperling, featured in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Volume 40, No. 7:

This article utilises a grounded theory approach to develop the notion of inter-destination transnationalism, or transnational connections between emigrants in different destination societies, utilising empirical study of 1.5- and second-generation Dominicans and Colombians living in Madrid. It conceptualises inter-destination transnationalism as distinct from transnationalism connecting sending and destination societies, identifies the existence of such connections, outlines the means and process of maintaining such transnational links, and highlights their implications for individuals’ orientational bifocality. This broader geographical understanding of transnationalism is increasingly relevant given the growing number of migration destinations, which provides a basis for such links, and the increasing ease and lowering costs of long-distance communication and travel, which increases the facility of such links. This study’s empirical focus on the 1.5 and second generation is additionally important; this group is understudied relative to the first generation in transnationalism research, but is of great significance for the shape and implications of long-standing transnational ties, and of particular relevance to inter-destination transnationalism.