Transnational Debt Circuits and Migratory Routes: Migrant Remittances, Economic Exchanges and Debts in Switzerland

Abstract

Drawing on the socioeconomics of debt recently developed by Guérin and Venkatasubramanian, and the work of Zelizer on commercial and remittance circuits, we suggest the concept of transnational debt circuit to account for the different forms and functions of private debt during the migration journey. Based on around fourty qualitative interviews with migrants in Switzerland, we show that transnational debt circuits integrate different economic, moral, and social experiences. They can be part of investment or emancipation strategies, can involve various forms of solidarity, can be caused by a lack of cognitive or social capital, or can involve targeted canvassing of specific communities.