Transnational Connections Research Articles

Early German-Aboriginal Encounters at the Central Australian Hermannsburg Mission, 1877–91

This article examines how the German Lutheran origins of the first missionaries at the central Australian Hermannsburg mission shaped the missionary-Aboriginal encounters between 1877 and 1891. An increasing number of studies examine the different ethnographic, linguistic and philosophical traditions that the German Lutheran missionaries brought to Australia. However, few scholars have examined how the Hermannsburg Mission Society’s mission approach was applied in central Australia. I argue that the missionaries were a non-lethal, but still colonial presence in central Australia. While the missionaries imagined that their evangelising work would be largely independent from colonial authorities, this article shows that the missionaries were in various ways entangled in the processes of Australian colonialism. By examining the transnational connections between the German and Australian histories of Hermannsburg, this article brings migration and Indigenous histories together.

Towards a Connected History of Political Exile in the Ibero‐Atlantic Space in the 1970s

Towards a Connected History of Political Exile in the Ibero‐Atlantic Space in the 1970s

The crisis of the conservative international order

Abstract The crisis of the liberal international order (LIO) is the dominant narrative of our time. It pervades scholarship, journalism and policy discussion, influencing the ways we see contemporary global tensions, future possibilities and political choices. This article argues that the current crisis is not simply a crisis of the LIO, but of the CIO—the conservative international order. The postwar order was not constructed by liberals alone. It was also built by conservative governments, politicians and intellectuals who were crucial parts of the domestic and international accommodations and alliances underpinning the postwar order. Today's crisis is to a large degree the result of the implosion that has transformed conservatism from a supporter of the LIO to one of its most powerful opponents. While this article focuses on the United States, the implications of the crisis of the CIO extend beyond America and require a fundamental rethinking of the conventional International Relations view of liberalism and the development of the LIO. The influence of the anti-liberal forces in American conservatism is supported by their transnational connections, allowing for powerful alliances that undermine mainstream conservatism and its historical support for the LIO. The crisis of the CIO, in short, is global.

A New Diaspora Space: Transnational Connections Among Polish Jews after the 1968 Antisemitic Campaign and Exile

The article discusses transnational dimensions of the aftermath of Poland’s March 1968 antisemitic campaign, which resulted in the exile of approximately half of the Jewish population of the country at that time. It highlights some typical aspects of the diasporic experience, sequencing them diachronically – early trajectories, e.g. coping with family separation, then the maintenance of community through organized reunions and global communication, and attempts at representation – and offers an overview of the networking efforts in terms of reintegration processes that can be seen as a collective response to the stigma of antisemitism and national exclusion. The article focuses on the experiences of the “March ’68 generation,” that is, those Polish Jews who were raised after the Holocaust and were young adults or teenagers at the time of the Jewish exodus from Poland in the late 1960s. The author explores autobiographic narratives, looking at how post-1968 diasporic experiences were remembered and interpreted and what significance exiles and non-exiles attached to these episodes of their lives. The inclusion of the non-émigré perspectives into the diasporic framework broadens the picture of responses to antisemitism by those affected. The core data come from three series of biographical interviews with émigrés and non-émigrés taken in 2001–2023, supplemented by selections from émigré press and other autobiographical accounts. The triangulation of research data was applied in a qualitative analysis of personally narrated life stories and of texts that reflect collective efforts at maintaining ties among people for whom the 1967–1968 antisemitic campaign, forced emigration, and the resulting separation were significant biographic and community changes. The article is a contribution to the historical sociology of Polish Jewry spanning the period of five decades, from the late 1960s political crisis in Poland’s communism to the 50th anniversary of the “March ’68 events” in 2018.

From China to Malaysia: Origins, Transnational Connectivity, Localization of Guan Gong Belief

Abstract In Malaysia, Guan Gong belief is widespread in temples, associations, restaurants, homes, and clan shrines within the Chinese community. Initially, Chinese migrants brought their ancestral homeland’s original Guan Gong belief and ritual traditions. The early transnational connections of Guan Gong belief included the transmission of incense and offerings and the flow of financial aid from practitioners back to China. These two aspects of transnational connections jointly facilitated the continuity and development of Guan Gong worship while also expressing an orientation towards China. The localization of Guan Gong belief in Malaysia exhibits distinctive cultural characteristics, including organizational types, geographical distribution patterns, trends in the establishment of Guan Gong temples, the evolution of Guan Gong godhood, the operational models of these temples, changes in worship rituals, and the diversity of auxiliary deities associated with Guan Gong temples. Guan Gong belief remains firmly rooted in its cultural subjectivity despite these cultural adaptations and variations. This research offers insights into the globalization of Chinese religious practices and their role in maintaining cultural subjectivity in Malaysia.

Beyond the Borders of Lesotho: The Basutoland Congress Party’s Transnational Connections and its Political and Ideological Pragmatism, 1952–1970

This article contributes to the literature on international and transnational connections of liberation movements in southern Africa. It examines the understudied history of the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP) and its transnational connections in Africa and outside the continent. Based on research in Lesotho, South Africa, Eswatini, Egypt, Botswana, the UK and Ghana, the article shows how transnational networks of individuals and ideas widely influenced the BCP’s radical nationalism and proved essential for both the independence struggle and the period of exile after 1970. The article also shows how BCP leader Ntsu Mokhehle adopted a pragmatic approach to the different political models and ideologies he encountered abroad. In the case of Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana, the primary source of political and organisational experience for the BCP, Mokhehle always kept his political independence from the line dictated by Nkrumah himself. The same pragmatism was applied to the relationship between the BCP and different countries in the east and the west, as well as the delicate relationships between the BCP and Israel and the party and Egypt.

Immobility, remote education, and racism experiences of Chinese and Korean international students during COVID-19

This study examines international student experiences from two different yet intersecting dimensions: immobility and racism on campus during COVID-19. In addition to pre-existing challenges, COVID-19 introduced additional barriers to international student life. During the pandemic, international students encountered an unexpected remote education system designed to bridge their transnational connection with American higher education. This study aims to uncover the experiences of Chinese and Korean students and understand how COVID-19 further complicated their situations. The research reveals that international students also faced discrimination at various levels, exacerbated by heightened anti-Asian sentiments and the political climate during the pandemic. As hate incidents increased, international students began to recognize that educational institutions were not safe spaces but rather contact zones operating within power differentials. However, this study concludes that despite the intensified vulnerability caused by COVID-19, international students demonstrated resilience through various copying mechanism while finding this period of immobility meaningful.

Two views of Anglophone Southeast Asia: The Heinemann Writing in Asia series and Skoob Pacifica

This article surveys two important early publishers of writing from Southeast Asia with a regional reach and presents a case for understanding transnational connections based on publishing and writerly networks. Founded by Leon Comber in 1966, the Heinemann Writing Asia series emerged amidst a decolonizing Southeast Asia, publishing authors from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Besides being an important publication outlet for local writers without access to metropolitan publishing houses, the series arguably provided a regional outlet for works that fall outside the political rhetoric of national consolidation, while canonizing others from established literary traditions. The second half of the paper examines Skoob Pacifica, a London-based publishing imprint active between 1992 and 1994, paying specific attention to the two anthologies titled S. E. Asia Writes Back! and The Pen is Mightier than the Sword . The press was the first to position Southeast Asian writers and the region in opposition to the imperial metropole, in line with the rise of postcolonial studies in the Anglo-American academy. Significantly, Skoob Pacifica mirrors the earlier linguistic and geographical formation of the Heinemann series as a reflection of colonial linguistic legacies. By examining the affordances and limitations of Anglophone Southeast Asia through a materialist lens in the broader context of post independence and the Cold War, this essay makes a methodological case for understanding the region as a literary unit through its publishing networks.

Documenting resiliencies, aspirations, and cultural assets of migrant teachers with undocumented backgrounds

Theoretically framed by community cultural wealth, this study seeks to center and elevate the voices of teachers with undocumented backgrounds in New York City, highlighting their resiliencies, aspirations, and cultural assets. The findings suggest that these teachers (1) persisted in pursuing their educational/professional aspirations despite the hurdles, (2) nurtured transnational connections and sustained familial capital, (3) capitalized on their linguistic capital to build trusting relationships with students and their families, (4) cultivated students’ navigational and social capitals in pursuit of their academic achievement and community-building, and (5) utilized their resistant capital in their teaching to critique Eurocentric ideologies in social studies. By researching and theorizing these teachers’ personal, professional, and teaching lives of “not because of the system, but despite it” (González et al., 2003, p. 242) as rich and valuable assets, this study makes a significant contribution to the unexplored research field of migrant teachers with undocumented backgrounds.

A Road across the Jewish Cemetery at Weißensee: Transnational Connections and Citizens’ Protest in 1980s East Berlin

ABSTRACT This paper proposes a new history of Jewish community life and relations between Jews and non-Jews in the GDR, Western Germany, Israel and the United States through exploring the foiled plans for an expressway through the Jewish Cemetery at Berlin-Weißensee between 1976 and 1986. Drawing on existing historiography on the GDR’s Jewish communities and previously unconsidered archival documents, personal narratives and visual documents, the piece sheds new light on issues of agency, assent and dissident among the GDR’s Jews and beyond. The protests, I argue, pre-empted the GDR citizens’ rights movement that led into the falling of the Berlin Wall.

From Binary Perspectives to Context-Sensitive Approaches: Changing Trends in Scholarship on Political Islam in Turkey, Tunisia and Indonesia

This article deals with changing trends in scholarship on political Islam in Turkey, Tunisia, and Indonesia. Over the past decades, studies on political Islam have undergone significant changes, shaped by dynamic political contexts and theoretical frameworks. This article highlights changes in academic perspectives regarding political Islam within diverse global and national contexts. In Turkey, scholarship has shifted to analyzing interplays between secularism and political Islam under the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The post-Arab Spring in Tunisia has spurred academic investigations into the involvement of Ennahda with democracy and secular state institutions amid political instability. In Indonesia, scholars have examined various manifestations of political Islam represented by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in the context of democratic processes. This article is a literature study, based primarily upon scholarly works on political Islam, it argues that scholarship on political Islam in the three countries witnesses changes, from binary narratives to more context-sensitive approaches, reflecting the evolutionary nature of political Islam in dynamic political landscapes. Initially perceiving political Islam as ideologically rigid, various studies now acknowledge the engagement of Islamist parties in democratic processes and their adaptation to gender issues, integration into transnational connections, and dynamic interplay with secularism. This article reveals that the moderation theory can be an analytical tool for scrutinizing changing trends in studying political Islam.

The Role of Hip-Hop in Community Building and its Influence on Cluj-Napoca’s Young Urbanites “Concrete Rockers”. A Case Study

This article examines the cultural influence of hip-hop on urban youth in Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania (Romania), through a case study of the “Concrete Rockers” Association. This dynamic group is deeply involved in hip-hop activities, with a particular emphasis on breakdancing, its core focus, as well as organizing hip-hop events such as “One May Jam”—the group’s flagship event. Here, members and special guests participate in various hip-hop activities like DJing and graffiti art. By exploring the motivations and experiences that drive these individuals to engage with hip-hop, we aim to gain insight into their roles as both consumers and practitioners of this culture. The article further investigates how group affiliation and identity are formed within this vibrant and close-knit community, while also exploring the Concrete Rockers’ aspirations to become prominent representatives of hip-hop in Transylvania. Our findings, based on primary data, offer a deeper understanding of hip-hop’s role in shaping the identities and lives of young adults in Cluj-Napoca, highlighting the local adaptations and transnational connections of this global movement and underscoring the positive impact hip-hop has on these individuals.

Autobiography of a Print Venture: A Short History of Ahmed İhsan and Associates

Servet-i Fünun (The Wealth of Sciences), published from 1891 to 1942, was the most prominent illustrated journal published in the Ottoman Empire, with a publication life that extended into Republican Turkey. The translated excerpts are from a promotional booklet about the journal and its publishing establishment. Published in 1912, the booklet was likely authored by the founder of the journal Ahmed İhsan (1868–1942). It provides insight not only into the making of this specific journal, but also informs us about the modern media environment and the global printing economy, with its many transnational connections, within which it emerged.

Love and Beauty on the Battlefield: Transcultural Influence and Transformation from Naoko Takeuchi’s <em>Sailor Moon</em> to Anglophone Young Adult Fantasy

Despite the considerable popularity of the 1990s animated television series Sailor Moon around the world, English-language research has largely neglected the original manga. Naoko Takeuchi’s major success with the girls’ manga series, Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon (1991-1997), launched her into the spotlight in Japan and, to this day, its eponymous 14-year-old protagonist remains the quintessential ‘magical girl’ character. To understand the success of the series and, in particular, how Takeuchi’s innovations with the adolescent female heroine and her narrative journey resonated with young female readers globally, a comparison can be made between Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon and Takeuchi’s lesser-known companion work, Codename: Sailor V (1991-1997). This often-forgotten series was initially written as a one-chapter short story, whose success inspired Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, and was later developed into a prequel for the more successful work. In the extended version of Codename: Sailor V, Takeuchi’s original heroine undergoes a unique process of reversal, being progressively undermined until she is appropriate to serve as a secondary character in Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. Examining the two texts with a particular eye to each protagonist’s personal characteristics, supernatural abilities, social connections, and narrative arcs provides insight into the attributes of the heroine’s journey that Takeuchi considered essential for a true ‘chosen one’. These features persist in present-day magical girl stories, as well as related works produced around the world, including popular Anglophone YA fiction, and examining their origins can provide a richer understanding of the transnational connections between stories for girls around the world.

Between national identity and transnational connections: the case of a Chinese temple in Brunei Darussalam

ABSTRACT This article examines how Teng Yun Temple, the oldest sanctioned Chinese temple in Brunei Darussalam, navigates assimilation pressures in a Muslim-majority country while upholding religious orthodoxy and cultural identity through transnational ties with its ancestral land. Serving as a symbol of ethnic Chinese identity, the temple is a bastion of Chinese religious and cultural heritage in a conservative country where political power and cultural space available for non-Malay/Muslims are circumscribed. This article delves into Teng Yun Temple’s strategies to adapt religious practices and maintain transnational connections in response to restrictive state regulations. It highlights the agency of Brunei’s Chinese minority in preserving their culture and religious practices, showcasing the role of the temple in the country’s religious diversity. The case study sheds light on local and transnational dynamics within a Southeast Asian Chinese religious organization, revealing how a religious minority navigates identity and state policies.

Ecumenical Social Activism and Transnational Connections Between Brazil and Britain: Practitioner Perspectives on Networks and Power

Ecumenical Social Activism and Transnational Connections Between Brazil and Britain: Practitioner Perspectives on Networks and Power

ASSEMBLING GOD’S “LAST BEST HOPE”: THE EXPANDING REACH OF THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES

Anti-gender activism is at the heart of contemporary geopolitics, and leading advocates are increasingly leveraging transnational connections. Since 1997, the World Congress of Families has become a premier venue for anti-gender advocates of the “natural family” to interact through its robust conference system. We introduce the World Congress of Families Dataset containing the speakers, organizations, and locations from all global and most regional conferences from 1997 through 2022, which we gathered across a series of archival sources. Across descriptive and network analyses, we document the key organizations and individual leaders involved in the World Congress of Families, and we show that the network has grown substantially. Although actors from the United States are overrepresented, regional leadership is becoming more common as the network spreads, especially across post-Soviet and African countries. Our investigation provides a new resource for understanding how anti-gender advocates coordinate, disseminate, and institutionalize anti-gender scripts on a global scale.

From remittances to representation: the Asian diaspora in development and politics

Purpose Through its transnational networks, the Asian diaspora builds a bridge between the nations of origin and the host countries, greatly contributing to growth. To advance development initiatives in Asia and elsewhere, it is imperative to acknowledge the potential and complexity of these networks. The purpose of this study is to investigate how Asian diaspora-created transnational networks contribute to development outcomes. It aims to comprehend the ways in which these networks impact the social, cultural and economic development of both the host and home countries. The economic, social and cultural contributions made by the Asian diaspora and their international networks are evaluated in this study in relation to development. Design/methodology/approach The existing literature review emphasises the diverse role of the Asian diaspora in development, including remittances, investment, knowledge transfer and cultural exchange. Findings It recognises the potential of diaspora engagement in development projects, but there are still gaps in understanding the dynamics of transnational networks and their influence on development outcomes. This study aims to uncover the complex ways in which the global networks of the Asian diaspora contribute to development. Identifying the factors that help or hinder their effectiveness will provide policymakers and development practitioners with insights to harness these networks for sustainable progress. Originality/value Understanding the networks will have significant ramifications for both the host and home nations. It will highlight the significance of transnational connections in fostering economic, social and cultural development in Asia and how crucial it is to use the Asian diaspora’s transnational networks to their full potential in the larger conversation about connection and global development.

(Re)Tracing pre-pandemic connections: Immaterial materialities of parcel-sending and visits home in Moldovan transnational families

This article discusses the elusive materiality of staying connected across borders. Objects brought in suitcases during visits home, images of objects sent via private parcel vans, and objects talked about but never sent all embody this connection. Using the concepts of trace and propinquity to presence the departed migrant and the objects used in family practices, I discuss relational proximity in degrees of nearness, considering seemingly immaterial traces of people and objects in material terms. Drawing on ethnographic examples of Moldovan private parcel van service users, I show how progressively immaterial transnational connections forged before the COVID-19 pandemic continued to create relations even in the absence of visits home during lockdowns.

Posts and Pathways: Social Media and Migration

This paper provides a comprehensive literature review on the relationship between social media and migration. It discusses the role of social media in shaping migration behaviors, experiences, and outcomes, as well as its influence on pre-migration planning, integration processes, and transnational connections. The review categorizes research into three main themes: social media in pre-migration information, influence on migrants' incorporation into host societies, and the preservation of transnational ties among immigrant communities. Theoretical frameworks are applied to understand these dynamics, particularly affecting social capital (Bourdieu, 1986), transnationalism (Glick Schiller et al., 1992), and agency (Castells, 2009). By synthesizing interdisciplinary findings, this paper aims to provide a conceptual foundation focusing on the importance of social media in the migration process. The conclusion suggests avenues for further exploration, particularly concerning the implications of digital divides on migrant experiences and highlights the implications of social media interactions for both migrants and host societies, ultimately suggesting directions for future research.