In Exile and in Touch

Linda Bakker,Jaco Dagevos,Godfried Engbersen

doi:10.5117/cms2014.3.bakk

Linda Bakker, Jaco Dagevos + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5117/cms2014.3.bakk

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Abstract

Studying transnational behaviour, i.e. interactions between the sending and receiving countries of international migrants, is especially interesting for refugees given their migration motive and history. Due to the flight, resources are lost and returning to the home country is often not an option; both are factors that might limit transnational behaviour. The central aim of this study is to explain the patterns of transnational behaviour for refugee groups in relation to their integration process. For this we use a large scale dataset (N=3950) which contains information on Somali, Iranian, Iraqi and Afghani refugees in the Netherlands. Along the lines of the ‘resource dependent’ thesis the analyses show that individual capacities, such as employment and Dutch nationality, are of major importance in explaining transnational activities of refugees. Second, this paper shows that the economic and social situation in the origin country should be taken into account for understanding the differences in transnational activities among refugee groups.

Highlights

Interactions between the sending and receiving countries of international migrants are gauged in the concept of ‘transnationalism’. Glick Schiller et al (1992) conceptualized it as ‘social processes whereby immigrants create social fields that cross geographic, cultural and political borders, and develop multiple familial, economic, social, organizational, religious, and political relations that span nations’
Besides the resources that are available to refugees in the host country, we argue that the resources available to the stay-behinds in the origin country can affect for example the demand for remittances (Lindley, 2008)
In this paper we aimed to explain the performance of transnational activities of the four largest refugee groups in the Netherlands in a comparative perspective

Summary

Introduction

Interactions between the sending and receiving countries of international migrants are gauged in the concept of ‘transnationalism’. Glick Schiller et al (1992) conceptualized it as ‘social processes whereby immigrants create social fields that cross geographic, cultural and political borders, and develop multiple familial, economic, social, organizational, religious, and political relations that span nations’. COMPARATIVE MIGRATION STUDIES migrants show that immigrants are increasingly leading dual lives; they maintain various transnational ties and find new ways for economic mobility via cross-border networks (Levitt and Jaworsky, 2007; Portes et al 2002). Refugees’ possibilities to stay in contact with the origin country and the possibilities to return to the home country might be limited because the internet and phone network is not widely dispersed. Besides such practical reasons refugees might fear to perform any kind of transnational behaviour due to the threat of personal persecution (Mascini et al 2012). Their perception of and identification with the home country might be distorted due to the ruling regime; they might no longer want to be involved with the origin country (Díaz-Briquets and Péréz-López, 1997)

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