Transnational mobilities and return migration

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This chapter examines return migration from a transnational lens in order to highlight the crucial linkages between return, return migration and transnational mobilities. From a transnational approach, it becomes clear that return migration involves fluid and multi-directional patterns of cross-border mobility. The chapter first draws extensively from the burgeoning literature on ancestral returns, ethnic return migration and homeland visits in order to introduce notions of transience. Returns are not always permanent but rather can be seen as an element of sustained transnational mobility. Second, the chapter considers the post-return experiences of transnational migrants who have left their homes temporarily for work or education in order to explore crucial issues of reintegration, adaptation, social remittances, and identity negotiations. Transnational identities and linkages emerge as crucial in shaping returns. Finally, the chapter paves the way for a more critical understanding of the gender and generational relations involved in transnational returns and reflects on the emotional dimensions of transnational returns as an idealised but provisional form of mobility.