Transnational Migration and Diaspora Studies: a state of the art
Hegoa, Bilbao, 2025Cuadernos de Trabajo/Lan-Koadernoak Hegoa (98)1130-9962
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The 1990s have marked a transnationalist turn in the study of migration, with the migrant subject seen as increasingly bound both to the country of origin and that of settlement. The focus of Migration Studies, up to that point, had been that of studying migration from a Northern American and European perspective, in other words that of the country of settlement. Studies on transnational migration widened the scope by questioning the basics of Migration Studies.
At times crossing over and at others in parallel, various authors within the field of Migration Studies and beyond, became interested in the notion of diaspora, through essentialist as well as postpositivist perspectives. This working paper contributes through a state of the art analysis of the evolution of the subfield of Transnational Migration and the field of Diaspora Studies within the broader Migration Studies scholarship with the objective of discussing the similarities and differences of these lines of study. Through a critical reading of the secondary sources explored in the text, the increasing importance given to migrants as socially and politically active agents is brought to the fore.
1. Introduction
2. International Migration Studies: interdisciplinarity
2.1. The evolution of Migration Studies
2.1.1. Origins of Migration Studies in European migration to the United States
2.1.2. Migration Studies in Europe
2.2. Different schools of thought in Migration Studies
2.2.1. Economic theories of migration
2.2.2. The historical-structural approach and world systems theory
2.2.3. The transnationalist turn within Migration Studies
2.3. Theories of assimilation, acculturation and integration
2.3.1. Acculturation
2.3.2. Assimilation
2.3.3. Integration
3. From International Migration Studies to Transnational migration and Diaspora Studies
3.1. Transnational migration
3.1.1. Definitions and characteristics of transnational migration
3.1.2. Formations within transnational migration
3.1.3. Multiscalar approach in transnationalism
3.2. Diaspora Studies
3.2.1. Definitions and characteristics of diasporas
3.2.2. Different theoretical perspectives within Diaspora Studies
3.2.3. Diaspora linkage to the country of origin and that of settlement
3.3. Diasporas and transnational migrants: separation parallelism or interlinkage?
4. Conclusions
5. Bibliography
