1. Migrations,
transnationalism and
the locus of research
Multi-locality and the shift
from “sites” to “fields”
“Nuevos retos del transnacionalismo en el estudio de las migraciones” Giulia SINATTI
Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona Università Milano-Bicocca
14-15 Febrero 2008 Goldsmiths College

2. Transnationalism: a
“methodological threat”
for research ?
1. Innovations of transnational theory
2. From the study of sites to the study
of fields
3. Implications for research practice

3. 1. Innovations
of transnational
theory

4. Beyond
transnationalism: a
world of flows …
once distant places
are increasingly
connected

6. A new interest within
the social sciences …
Deterritorialisation
(Appadurai)
Disembedding (Giddens)
Time-space
compression (Harvey)

7. … in migration studies …
migrations are conceived as
increasingly connected to the
homeland (Glick Schiller, Basch,
Szanton Blanc 1992)
transnational occupations and
activities require regular cross-
border social contacts, sustained
over time (Portes et al. 1999)
migrant transnationalism is framed
by States, their boundaries and
regulations

8. Innovative features of the
transnational approach
Migrants are simultaneously
conceived as im-migrants as well as
e-migrants
Broader analytical framework includes:
sending, transit and receiving
contexts
and the circulation of not only people,
but also ideas, symbols and goods
along the same circuits

9. 2. The locus of
research:
from „sites‟
to „fields‟

10. From sites to fields
Scholarly focus breaks away from
geographic constraints and
becomes dispersed in time and
space:
social space of post-modernism
(Rouse); transnational social fields
(Glick-Schiller); cultural sites (Olwig);
transnational social space (Faist,
Pries)

11. Researching fields,
rather than sites …
… requires simultaneous attention for
phenomena taking place in various
localities and is traditionally
associated with multi-sited
fieldwork, conducted at both ends of
the migration trail

12. Theorising multi-sited
research
Attention for relationships within
as well as between individual
sites
Revival of comparative
committment within migration
research
Ethnography goes transnational!

13. Manchester
School: the
Rhodesian
Copperbelt

14. Chicago
School:
urban
sociology
Louis Wirth, The Ghetto
Nels Anderson, The Hobo

15. Ethnography of the
transnational

16. 3. Practicing
multi-sited
research

17. Constructing a
multi-sited field
Follow the actors (focus on people)
Follow the thing (focus on objects)
Follow the metaphor (focus on ideas)
Study the technology
Study a place (of passage)

18. Managing
research practice
Choice of sites
Finding a balance between sites
Being a mobile researcher
Negotiating field access
Differing cultural competence
Piecing together different
ethnographies

19. The end
giulia.sinatti@unimib.it
g.sinatti@gold.ac.uk