Rethinking remittance: The socioeconomic dynamics of giving for migrants and nonmigrants

Abstract

The World Bank notes that officially recorded remittances reached $689 billion in 2018, including $529 billion to low‐ and middle‐income countries. While these figures are mind‐boggling and potentially render the act of migration as a clear decision, they do not communicate the social challenges that result for movers and nonmovers around migration and remitting. Our article is organized to better understand the complexities that surround remittances and the act of remitting. Based on research in Mexico and Tajikistan, we argue that while remittances are critical to household successes and can create a pathway to growth and economic success, they can also destabilize and undermine local practices as movers and nonmovers rethink life; engage in new kinds of labor; and reconsider their roles, responsibilities, and more. In the second part of our article, we argue that the dynamic effects of remittances are minimized and ignored, while their role in driving economic development is celebrated. Understanding remittance practices demands that we rethink academic boundaries and use ethnographic work to reconsider the centrality that development and economic growth often hold in our evaluations.