The migration motive and transnational engagement nexus. A case study of transnational families between Cuba and Germany

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the impact of migration and transnational families on social transformations in the country of origin. It links the analysis of structural forces such as economic, political and social transformations that promote emigration with family-household strategies, and simultaneously analyses the impact of migrants’ transnational activities on social transformation in the country of origin. Based on a biographical, family-historical, multi-sited study on migration and transnational families between Cuba and Germany, I develop a typology, which shows how the impact on the sending society is linked to the transnational engagement and remittances of migrants, which in turn is linked to the migration motive. Cuba, as a developing country in a process of socioeconomic transformation shaped by emigration and dependence on migrants’ economic remittances, provides an especially interesting regional context in which to explore the impact of migration on social transformations. This theoretical model, which describes the nexus between migration motive and transnational engagement, provides new explanations for the interconnectedness of migration motives, transnational engagement and social change in the country of origin. This leads to an improved understanding of the impact of migration on social transformations and of transnational families as agents of social change in the country of origin.