I found this chapter about transnational ties to be very interesting because it introduced a much broader and more historical view of transnationalism than I had previously considered. The main point of the reading was that transnationalism, which I interpreted to mean belonging to, living, or participating in more than one country simultaneously, has been a way of life for many emigrants for a long time, but it wasn’t necessarily called by that name. Early examples of transnational immigrants include Italians who came to the United States to work and sent the money back to their families, many of whom returned to Italy a few years later. Russian Jews mostly came to America to stay, but many of them still considered themselves as part of the larger Jewish diaspora community. Nowadays, people with transnational ties come from all over the place to the United States (and other countries) for an innumerable amount of reasons.
There are a few important differences between transnationalism now as opposed to a hundred years ago. The biggest difference is modern technology. Because of modern technology, travel from one country can take a few hours to a few days, while a hundred years ago transnational travel took weeks. Contact a hundred years ago consisted of letters which could take months to years to reach the destination, versus contact now is as simple and instantaneous as dialing a number or typing and hitting send on an e-mail or various social networking websites.
Not only is it easier to be transnational, but it is profitable. People can open up businesses and buy homes in other countries while managing them from abroad. Some banks encourage foreign financial activity. That’s not to say that everyone, everywhere is transnational. The boundaries separating countries are thinning as more and more people become active in the international world, but it costs money to do this.
Upon reading this chapter, I was concerned about who is going to look after the people who have no money in each of the societies in which people with money are going transnational. Transnationalism sounds like it is a bit of an escape route. When the economic climate turns foul in one place, they can go somewhere else. What about people who don’t have money? They are stuck! Who’s going to take care of them if everyone with money is leaving? I know it’s more complicated than that, but it makes me wonder . . .
