Transnational communities maintain connections between their place of origin and place of settlement. Factors like improved transportation, international migration trends, and globalization have enabled transnationalism. Immigrants engage in transnational activities like sending remittances to families in their home countries, purchasing goods from their home countries, and participating in hometown associations. Studies measure the levels of transnational engagement through factors like remittance amounts, financial holdings in home countries, charitable help provided beyond remitting money, and support of hometown associations. Transnationalism represents a new understanding of immigrant communities compared to traditional views of one-way migration flows and assimilation in settlement countries.

1. Transnational
Communities- not your grandfather’s diaspora -
Boston Redevelopment
Authority
Alvaro Lima,
April, 2016

2. Traditional Understanding – The Migration Flow
ADMISSION:
Who? How many?
What kind?

3. poverty
stagnation
overpopulation
etc…
Traditional Understanding – The Migration Flow
WHY?

4. Country
Total
Population
(millions)
Population
from
Developing
Countries
(millions)
Percent of
Total
Population
Top Five
Source
Countries
(percent of
total)
Top Five Source
Countries
United States
Spain
France
UK
Netherlands
Portugal
Japan
281.4
40.8
58.5
58.8
16.0
10.4
127
28.4
1.5
3.7
3.0
1.2
0.5
1.2
10.1
3.7
6.4
5.1
7.6
4.5
1.0
45.2
44.2
20.4
30.1
48.6
62.8
69.6
Mexico, Philippines, Puerto
Rico, India, China
Morocco, Ecuador,
Colombia, Argentina,
Venezuela
Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia,
Turkey, Vietnam
India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Jamaica,
South Africa
Suriname, Turkey,
Indonesia, Morocco,
Netherlands Antilles
Angola, Mozambique,
Brazil, Cape Verde,
Venezuela
North Korea, South Korea,
China, Brazil, Philippines
Foreign-Born Population of Rich OECD Countries from Developing Countries
Source: Let Their People Come, Lant Pritchett, 2006

5. labor market
housing
education
etc…
Traditional Understanding – The Settlement (1)
ESOL
entrepreneurship

6. Contexts of Exit and Incorporation
Context of Incorporation:
Inclusion & Exclusion
Structures
Alien versus Citizenship
Rights
Government & Other
Support Systems
Race and Ethnicity
Structures
etc.
Context of Exit:
Education Level
Race & Ethnicity
Family Wealth
Urban versus Rural
Origin
Government & Other
Support Systems
etc.

7. New Understand - Immigrant Transnationalism

8. Drivers of Transnationalism
 Developments in the means of transportation and
communications have changed the relations between people
and places (costs);
 International migrations have become crucial to the
demographic future of many developed countries;
 Global political transformations and new international legal
regimes weakened the state as the only legitimate source of
rights;
 Fostered by global consumption, global production, and
immigration, cultural hybridization are substituting folkloric
romanticism and political nationalism enshrined as essences of
national cultures;

9. Transnational
platforms
New Possibilities – Transnational Platforms
Transnational
platforms

10. www.digaai.com

11. Projeto
Remessas -
Remittances

12. Measuring Transnationalism
The Six Ts of Transnationalism
Source: Transnational Engagement, Remittances and their Relationship to Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, Institute for the Study of
International Migration, Georgetown University, Manuel Orozco, Principal Investigator, 2003.

13. $875
$398
$331
$218
$-
$100
$200
$300
$400
$500
$600
$700
$800
$900
Brazil
Ecuador
México
Guatemala
Guyana
Dominican R.
Colombia
Nicaragua
El Salvador
Honduras
Cuba
Monthly Remittance by Nationality
$278 $274
$192 $188 $185 $177
$113
ABOVE AVERAGE
BELOW AVERAGE
AVERAGE = $294
45.4%
20.5%
17.8%
5.1% 4.9% 3.7%
1.6% 0.8% 0.2%
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
45.0%
50.0%
Foods and spices
Videos, DVDs, CDs
Clothing
Newspapers/magazines
Books
Alcohol
Cigarettes
Craft Items
Others
Purchasing of Nostalgic Products Among Brazilians
37.6%
28.9%
26.0%
5.5%
1.6%
0.3%
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
Does not
have / NR
Checking
account
Savings
account
Credit card Investment
account
Foreign
currency
savings
Financial Accounts in Country of Origin - Brazil
MEASURING
TRANSNATIONALIS
M

14. 46.6%
36.80%
27.0%
22.7%
20.0%
15.3%
14.0%
10.3%
9.1%
5.7%
3.7%
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
45.0%
50.0%
Guyana
Brazil
Ecuador
Honduras
Colombia
Nicaragua
Dominican R.
México
Cuba
El Salvador
Guatemala
Help Beyond Remittances
AVERAGE = 19.2%
ABOVE AVERAGE
BELOW AVERAGE
14
26.3%
12.4%
10.0%
6.7%
5.0%
4.0% 3.5% 3.3% 2.8% 2.4%
0.0%
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
Guyana
Brazil
Ecuador
Honduras
Colom
bia
Nicaragua
Mexico
Dom
inican
R.
Guatem
ala
El Salvador
Cuba
Support of Hometown Associations
AVERAGE = 6.7%
ABOVE AVERAGE
BELOW AVERAGE
MEASURING
TRANSNATIONALIS
M

15. MEASURING
TRANSNATIONALIS
M