After reading the three articles by Schiller, Basch, and Waldinger I find my mind reeling at the complexities involved with studying the boundless identities of what are called transmigrants. Anecdotes as well as surveys must be used to help identity and research patterns, either or proves inadequate. What nation does an immigrant really call their home? Do immigrants supersede the idea of people belonging to one specific nation-state? The idea of a transmigrant hits home with me. In my own home as well as those of my friends, there has always existed a (however minimal) communication with parent’s relatives back home, but I’ve never given it much thought until these readings. Globalization and the reality of immigration break down national barriers and facilitate a larger global social network.
I found the context of these transmigrant identities fascinating as well. Depending on the economic, political and social conditions of back home, an immigrant is either less or more likely to keep up ties, and in a certain way.
One point in Waldinger’s piece that made me smile was about how the first waves of immigrants that came to America were met with hesitation but later on the same immigrants became part of the highest levels of society. Even though there have been naysayers and complainers about the more recent wave of immigrants, in the future they will be among the many reasons that America excels as a nation.
