Constructing transnational social spaces among Latin American migrants in Europe: perspectives from the UK

Abstract

This paper examines the construction of transnational social spaces among Latin American migrants living in the UK in relation to their multiple connections with homelands and other European countries, especially Spain. Drawing on Bourdieu’s forms of capital approach, it explores how transnational practices underpin the functioning of these spaces in relation to how civic, economic, institutional cultural and social capital are mobilized, converted and depleted. It highlights the need to move beyond conceptualizations of negotiating capitals across simple home-destination connections and instead acknowledge that transnational social spaces comprise complex linkages among migrants across more than one border with evidence of important linear moves via intermediate countries on their way to their destination.