Transnational Cross-Border Family Ties: Diasporic Lives of Bangladeshis in Italy and Beyond

Mohammad Morad

doi:10.3390/genealogy5040106

Abstract

The scope of this paper is to gain a better understanding of how Bangladeshi migrants in Italy maintain transnational family attachments, across multiple destinations, with the home country as well as with several host countries. The data comes from fieldwork in Northeast Italy. Research methods include in-depth interviews and participant observation. The findings reveal that a high proportion of Bangladeshi migrants maintain a variety of transnational and diasporic ties with their family and friends living in the country of origin and different European countries. These include family obligations, remittances, establishing businesses back home, visits and communication. They also preserve their national identity in this host society by maintaining cultural ways of belonging and through religious practices and involvement in Bangladeshi politics. The findings have also shown that Italian Bangladeshi families work to foster transnational family ties among the new generations born in Italy, who have little knowledge of their ancestral country. On a final note, this paper argues that transnational connections with the homeland play an important role in shaping the diasporic lives of Bangladeshis in Italy.

Highlights

Transnational Cross-Border FamilyAcademic discussion concerning diasporas in the era of globalization has been gaining momentum
It was not until the 1980s that the issue of the diaspora became a recognized field of academic research (Brubaker 2005), since when its meaning and uses have grown in a number of ways (Morad et al 2014; Brubaker 2005; Sheffer 2003; Safran 1991)
While the classical notion of diaspora involves an involuntary migration, the newer notion refers to any kind of dispersal—voluntary and involuntary migration

Summary

Introduction

Transnational Cross-Border FamilyAcademic discussion concerning diasporas in the era of globalization has been gaining momentum. Drawing on the same logic, Sheffer (2003) identifies a number of labour migrants as diasporas, such as Bangladeshi, Pilipino, Indian, Greek, Haitian, Italian, Korean, Mexican, Turkish, Polish, Salvadorian, Pakistani, Vietnamese, and many other labour migrants who are working outside their country of origin. In their argument, transnational homeland attachment has been considered a key characteristic in the formation of a diaspora (Morad et al 2014; Sheffer 2003; Cohen 1997; Safran 1991).

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Conclusion