Content uploaded by Patrick Sakdapolrak
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Patrick Sakdapolrak on Apr 20, 2020
Content may be subject to copyright.
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
1
Translocality: Concepts, applications and emerging research perspectives
1
Clemens Greiner & Patrick Sakdapolrak
2
3
Abstract
4
The employment of translocality as a research perspective is currently gaining
5
momentum. A growing number of scholars from different research traditions
6
concerned with the dynamics of mobility, migration and socio-spatial
7
interconnectedness have developed conceptual approaches to the term. They
8
usually build on insights from transnationalism, while at the same time attempting to
9
overcome some of the limitations of this long-established research perspective. As
10
such, translocality is used to describe socio-spatial dynamics and processes of
11
simultaneity and identity formation that transcend boundaries – including, but also
12
extending beyond, those of nation states. In this review we trace the emergence of
13
the idea of translocality and summarise the characteristics that different authors
14
associate with the term. We elucidate the underlying notions of mobility and place,
15
and sketch out fields of research where the concept has been employed. On the
16
basis of our findings, we conclude by proposing key areas where a translocal
17
approach has the potential to generate fruitful insights.
18
Key words: translocality, spatial theory, migration, transnationalism
19
20
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
2
Why write about translocality?
21
“Translocality” has come into vogue. As a catchword it appears in the writings of
22
scholars from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, such as geography (Castree
23
2004, Conradson and McKay 2007, Steinbrink 2009, Brickell and Datta 2011b,
24
Featherstone 2011, Hedberg and do Carmo 2012a, Verne 2012), history and area
25
studies (Oakes and Schein 2006b, Freitag and von Oppen 2010b), cultural studies
26
(Ma 2002, Bennett and Peterson 2004), anthropology (Escobar 2001, Appadurai
27
2003, Peleikis 2003, Marion 2005, Argenti and Röschenthaler 2006, Núñez-Madrazo
28
2007, Gottowik 2010, Greiner 2010) and development studies (Grillo and Riccio
29
2004, Zoomers and Westen 2011). Sometimes, translocality (or translocalism) is
30
merely used as a synonym for transnationalism. In most cases, however, it is used to
31
build upon and extend insights from this long-established research tradition. As such,
32
the term usually describes phenomena involving mobility, migration, circulation, and
33
spatial interconnectedness not necessarily limited to national boundaries. But what
34
can the idea of translocality offer beyond these obvious similarities? How is it defined
35
by those authors who employ it? Is it merely an extension of transnationalism, or
36
should it be understood as a theoretical concept in its own right?
37
In this review, we critically engage with these questions. We start by tracing the
38
conceptual relation between transnationalism and translocality and explore how the
39
latter serves to overcome some of the conceptual weaknesses of the former. We
40
then turn to the current literature in order to determine the similarities and differences
41
between the various current definitions of translocalism and to explore two central
42
dimensions of the concept: mobility and place. We briefly review research areas
43
where the concept has been applied so far, and by extension postulate that the
44
concept should be considered a research perspective in its own right (rather than
45
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
3
merely an extension of transnationalism). We conclude by pointing out some of the
46
concept's potentialities.
47
48
Expanding the concept of transnationalism
49
When theories of transnationalism emerged out of the necessity to conceptualise
50
social fields that increasingly transcended national borders and to challenge existing
51
concepts of nationhood and citizenship (Basch, Glick Schiller and Szanton Blanc
52
1995), they were primarily concerned with processes of de-territorialisation and
53
notions of spatially unbounded communities (Hannerz 1996, Castells 2000,
54
Appadurai 2003). While the concept of “rootedness”, understood as a firm
55
relationship between identity and territory, has been questioned in Social
56
Anthropology and related disciplines (Malkki 1992; Gupta and Ferguson 1992),
57
empirical studies point to a global (re-)emergence of territorialised notions of
58
belonging and of ethno-nationalist movements (Geschiere 2009), which have led to
59
an academic rediscovery of the importance of the local (Kokot 2007). Since the mid-
60
1990s scholars of transnationalism have engaged with more localised phenomena of
61
international migration (Ley 2004). This shift has been reflected in growing concerns
62
over “local-to-local relations” (Guarnizo and Smith 1998), “transnational urbanism”
63
(Smith 2001) and “cultural sites” (Olwig 1997), which contributed to more
64
territorialised notions of transnationalism, and highlighted the articulation of global
65
and local dynamics in specific localities such as cities, neighbourhoods, homes and
66
families. While transnationalism is clearly an attempt to overcome the limitations of
67
methodological nationalism (Wimmer and Glick Schiller 2002), the primary concern
68
still rests on the transgression of and exchange beyond national borders. The
69
concept furthermore remains deeply anchored in the notion of the world as formed
70
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
4
and ordered by a static framework of clearly distinguishable scales (Amelina 2010;
71
Verne 2012).
72
Authors applying the concept of translocality commonly base their writings on the
73
insights of transnational approaches. Following the shift toward a more “grounded
74
transnationalism” (Brickell and Datta 2011a, p. 3), they are concerned with local
75
contexts and the situatedness of mobile actors. At the same time, they expand their
76
analytical focus beyond the limits of the nation-state (Oakes and Schein 2006b) by
77
focusing on various other dimensions of border transgressions and on socio-spatial
78
configurations beyond those induced by human migration (Uimonen 2009, Gottowik
79
2010). This move has been long overdue for various reasons.
80
Firstly, from a historical standpoint, in much of the Global South nation-building is a
81
recent phenomenon, while interregional exchange dates back much further (for
82
example throughout the Arab world or within the Indian Ocean region; Freitag and
83
von Oppen 2010a, Verne 2012). Secondly, international boundaries in many former
84
colonies were drawn arbitrarily and enforced only poorly, as a consequence of which
85
the distinction between domestic and international migration is almost rendered
86
obsolete. In much of Africa, for example, “international migration sometimes involves
87
relatively shorter distances and less social heterogeneity (…) and fewer barriers than
88
internal migration” (Adepoju 2006, p. 28). Thirdly, the focus on transnational
89
movements has led to the neglect of internal migration, which makes up the bigger
90
share of global migration dynamics (Trager 2005). According to recent estimates of
91
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) there are currently about 740
92
million internal migrants worldwide, while the number of international migrants is
93
comparatively small; only 214 million (UNDP 2009, p. 21). Fourthly, socio-economic
94
disparities and spatially uneven development, which are often considered major
95
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
5
push-and-pull factors in international migration (Faist and Reisenauer 2009), not only
96
occur between nations but are also apparent within national borders. Lastly, research
97
on transnational migrant communities shows that migrants’ everyday social practices
98
are informed by their localised experiences. Significant articulations, therefore, have
99
to be understood as local-to-local interactions (Smith 2001, Núñez-Madrazo 2007).
100
Against this background, some authors consider translocality as the more general
101
concept (Hedberg & Do Carmo, 2012), and Freitag and von Oppen (2010a, p. 12)
102
aptly remark that transnationalism appears to be merely a special case of
103
translocalism.
104
105
Defining Translocality
106
Scrutinizing the growing literature on translocality, one is confronted with a multitude
107
of terms, revolving around notions of mobility, connectedness, networks, place,
108
locality and locales, flows, travel, transfer and circulatory knowledge. Some authors
109
seek conceptual coherence by synthesising these terms with reference to different
110
bodies of social theory (e.g. Bourdieu, Giddens) (e.g. Steinbrink 2009; Brickell and
111
Datta 2011; Greiner and Sakdapolrak 2012), while others use translocality as an
112
“umbrella term” to describe mobilities and multiple forms of spatial connectedness
113
(e.g. Grillo and Riccio 2004; Ma 2002).
114
Along these lines, Tenhunen (2011: 416, n.1), for example, defines translocality as
115
relations that “extend beyond the village community”. For Mandaville (2002, p. 204),
116
translocality is a “space in which new forms of (post)national identity are constituted.”
117
Similarly, Freitag and von Oppen (2010a, p. 5) use translocality as a descriptive tool
118
that refers to the “sum of phenomena which result from a multitude of circulations and
119
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
6
transfers.” As such, they use this perspective to challenge the regional limitations
120
often implicit in area studies, and emphasise that the world is constituted through
121
processes that transgress boundaries on different scales, which results in the
122
production and reproduction of spatial differences. A translocal perspective enables
123
research into these processes in a more open and less linear way, and captures the
124
diverse and contradictory effects of interconnectedness between places, institutions
125
and actors. It overcomes the “limitations of nationalist historiographies” and facilitates
126
a non-Eurocentric understanding of global history as constituted by processes of
127
“entanglement and interconnectedness” (Freitag and von Oppen 2010a, p. 1).
128
Focusing on the multiple forms of mobility in contemporary China, Oakes and Schein
129
(2006b) deploy the term translocality to capture the implications of these dynamics.
130
Translocality is defined as “being identified with more than one location” (Oakes and
131
Schein 2006a, p. xiii). As such, the concept is used to simultaneously address
132
localities and mobilities within a holistic context. In a similar vein, authors such as
133
Brickell and Datta (2011a) use the concept to develop an agency-oriented approach
134
to these dynamics. They draw on Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and social fields to
135
address the agents’ “simultaneous situatedness across different locales” (ibid, 4).
136
Through the notion of habitus, as Brickell and Datta (2011a, p. 13) highlight, the
137
translocal, where multi-scalar engagements of mobile and immobile actors are
138
formed by “localized context and everyday practices”, emerges at the same time as
139
the “material, spatial and embodied”. In translocal social fields, which are
140
characterised by uneven power relationships, mobile and immobile actors negotiate
141
and struggle over power and positions through the exchange of various capitals
142
which are valued differently across different scales (e.g. Kelly and Lusis 2006). This
143
view acknowledges what Massey (1991, p. 25) coined the “power geometry of time-
144
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
7
space compression”, which draws attention to questions such as who moves and
145
who does not, how power relations are differentiated in flows and movements, and
146
how power and powerlessness are experienced simultaneously in different locations.
147
Hedberg and do Carmo (2012a) employ translocality to facilitate an understanding of
148
the relational dimensions of space created through mobility. Such an approach
149
overcomes the notion of container spaces and the dichotomy between “here” and
150
“there”, between “rural” and “urban” (Steinbrink 2009, Greiner 2010). Translocality
151
thus refers to the emergence of multidirectional and overlapping networks that
152
facilitate the circulation of people, resources, practices and ideas. Steinbrink (2009)
153
draws on Giddens’ Structuration Theory (Giddens 1984) to point out that translocal
154
networks are both structured by the actions of the people involved and at the same
155
time provide a structure for these very actions (see also Greiner and Sakdapolrak
156
2012).
157
With regard to scale, Verne (2012, p. 17) emphasises that translocality does not only
158
mean the addition of a translocal scale between “the global” and “the local”. This, she
159
argues, would merely reify the notion of hierarchical and clearly distinguishable
160
scales implicit in studies on transnationalism. Instead, a translocal perspective draws
161
on insights gained from research on scales (e.g. Smith 1995, Agnew 1997, Delaney
162
and Leitner 1997, Swyngedouw, 1997), which has shown, as Brown and Purcell
163
(2005, p. 609) summarizes, that socio-spatial scales are a) not given a priori, but
164
rather socially produced, b) simultaneously fluid and fixed and c) fundamentally
165
relational. In acknowledging these insights, the translocal perspective acknowledges
166
“intermediary arrangements, fluidity and intermingling processes” (Verne 2012, p. 17-
167
18) crucial for the understanding of the dynamic quality and effects of various socio-
168
spatialities (Amelina 2010).
169
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
8
To sum up, authors use translocality to capture complex social-spatial interactions in
170
a holistic, actor-oriented and multi-dimensional understanding. The central idea of
171
translocality is aptly synthesised by Brickell and Datta (2011a, p. 3) as “situatedness
172
during mobility”. Authors engaging in the development of a translocal perspective
173
seek to integrate notions of fluidity and discontinuity associated with mobilities,
174
movements and flows on the one hand with notions of fixity, groundedness and
175
situatedness in particular settings on the other. Beyond this, however, what kind of
176
mobilities and movements are authors referring to when writing about translocality?
177
And how are the notions of situatedness and groundedness conceived? In the
178
following sections, we address these questions.
179
(Im)mobilities, movements and flows
180
Central to the notion of translocality is a holistic perspective on mobilities, movements
181
and flows, and the way in which these dynamics produce connectedness between
182
different scales. The majority of studies are primarily concerned with movements of
183
people. This concern is not restricted to transnational migration but also includes
184
various forms of internal migration as well as commuting and everyday movements
185
both within cities and between rural and urban areas (Hedberg and do Carmo
186
2012b). Many authors, however, are not concerned with mobile actors alone. They
187
also pay attention to those segments of the population that are considered immobile,
188
as they form a crucial dimension of connectedness (Brickell and Datta 2011a, Rau
189
2012). For Sun (2006, p. 240), this includes paying attention to those who “talk,
190
speculate, and fantasize about certain places” and to those who “remember
191
experiences of familiar places”. Such perspectives remind us that translocal spaces
192
are constantly co-produced by mobile and immobile populations. The often arduous
193
negotiation of physical co-presence by multiply located actors regarding, for example
194
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
9
participation and non-participation in important social occasions, is a central aspect in
195
what Conradson and McKay (2007) describe as translocal subjectivities.
196
Although movement of people is of prime concern in many studies, this is but one
197
aspect of translocality. The concept also refers to material flows, such as those of
198
remittances (Long 2008) and goods (Verne 2012), and symbolic flows such as
199
movements of styles, ideas, images and symbols (Ma 2002, Lange and Büttner 2010,
200
Reetz 2010). One aspect of this latter dimension of translocality is the visualisation
201
and imagining of linkages between places, what Brickell and Datta (2011a, p. 18)
202
refer to as “translocal imagination.”
203
For an understanding of these connections, networks are of particular concern, as
204
they facilitate repeated flows of knowledge and communication, and of political,
205
cultural and economic activities between places (Hedberg and do Carmo 2012a).
206
Migrants and non-migrants are embedded in these networks, which are as much an
207
outcome of as a precondition for translocal practices (Steinbrink 2009). The position
208
of actors within these networks, in turn, influences the access those actors have to
209
various resources (Zoomers and Westen 2011). Research on migration, both
210
international (e.g. Singer and Massey (1998) for the case of undocumented border
211
crossing of Mexican migrants) and internal (e.g. Peth (2012) for the case of rural-rural
212
labour migration in Bangladesh) has vividly pointed out the role of networks in
213
overcoming mobility barriers and facilitating border transgression. At the same time
214
these studies also show the exclusionary power of networks for those actors who
215
have insufficient resources, be they financial, cultural or symbolic, to be able to
216
access them (e.g. Kothari 2002). Dissatisfied with conventional approaches to
217
networks, McFarlane (2009, p. 566) suggests a notion of “translocal assemblages” as
218
an alternative way to conceive of spatial connectedness as mediated by processes of
219
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
10
disassemblage and reassemblage of “history, labour, materiality and performance”.
220
In a similar vein, Verne (2010, p. 23-31) departs from the shortcoming of a
221
conventional understanding of networks and proposes the metaphor of “rhizome”
222
(Deluze and Guattari 1976) as a means by which to grasp the complexity, dynamics
223
and relationality of translocal connectedness.
224
225
Places and locales
226
Common to most writings about translocality is an analytical focus on “place” as the
227
setting of grounded movements. This emphasis, however, appears to be driven by
228
diverse motives. While some authors (Freitag and von Oppen 2010) use translocality
229
to challenge notions of spatial boundedness implicit in area studies, others use it to
230
bring the local context back into deterritorialised conceptions of movement and flow
231
(Smith 2011). Translocality appears, then, as a concept serving both ends. It implies
232
a “transgressing” of locally bounded, fixed understandings of place and at the same
233
time emphasises the importance of places as nodes where flows that transcend
234
spatial scales converge. Referring to Doreen Massey’s work on “Power Geometries”,
235
Brickell and Datta (2011) imagine translocal places as “articulated moments in
236
networks of social relations” (Massey 1999: 22). A translocal perspective focuses at
237
the same time on both “what flows through places” and “what is in them” (Verne
238
2010: 19). The relational nature of place as dynamic (i.e. not static) and constituted
239
through linkages to the “outside” (i.e. not bounded) (Massey 1991, p. 29) thus
240
appears to be commonly accepted in approaches to translocality, whereas
241
perspectives on the processes of the social and cultural production of place differ in
242
both scope and theoretical approach.
243
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
11
For some authors a translocal perspective provides a vehicle to engage with
244
subjective and phenomenological dimensions of place-making. Situatedness during
245
mobility, according to Brickell and Datta (2011a), is embodied and experienced in
246
places. Places, as Oakes and Schein (2006b, p. 18) put it, are defined by subjective
247
“meaning, history, and practices” that transcend various spatial scales. While these
248
hermeneutically inspired approaches to translocality revolve around questions of
249
identities, narratives, imaginaries and symbolic representations (Freitag and von
250
Oppen 2010a, Hall and Datta 2010, Lambek 2011, Verne 2012), others expand their
251
conceptual scope to include the material and physical dimensions of place (McKay
252
2003).
253
Hedberg and do Carmo (2012a, p. 3), for example, state that a translocal approach
254
facilitates understanding of the role of mobility in “connecting and transforming
255
places.” In a similar vein, Greiner and Sakdapolrak (2012) stress the need to focus
256
on how scale-transcending practices materialise and become inscribed into the
257
physical environment, for example in land-use patterns, agricultural practices or built
258
environments. Building on concepts from Structuration Theory, they refer to locales
259
as the settings for social interaction. Processes of “time-space distanciation”
260
(Giddens 1984, p. 171), through mobility and movements, stretch these locales
261
beyond places, whereby they eventually become trans-locales through the
262
establishment of routine activities.
These trans-locales provide the context and
263
setting for action that is extended and increasingly influenced by remote interaction.
264
The production of trans-locales implies a strong temporal dynamic, as they are
265
constructed and dismantled along what Giddens (1984, p. 132) terms “time-space
266
trajectories.”
267
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
12
To sum up, whatever the specific theoretical conceptions of place or locales may be,
268
they are always conceived of as important arenas of scale-transcending interaction.
269
Translocal approaches, therefore, usually acknowledge a primacy of place (Casey
270
1996) while at the same time they break with essentialising notions of spatially
271
bounded territorial units.
272
273
Empirical application of translocality
274
Translocal approaches are applied to enhance the understanding of various
275
phenomena related to the production and re-production of social spatial
276
configurations, covering such issues as international and internal migration, identity
277
formation, media-use and knowledge transfer as well as local development
278
processes. This list is far from being comprehensive, but it provides an overview of
279
translocality’s range of potential applications.
280
A great majority of studies focus on the multifaceted dimensions of international
281
migration (Peleikis 2003, Velayutham and Wise 2005, Sinatti 2006, Núñez-Madrazo
282
2007, Chacko 2011, Leung 2011). Increasingly, however, studies also focus on the
283
highly dynamic rural-urban interactions that constitute translocal fields within national
284
boundaries. In southern Africa, where many internal migration patterns are a product
285
of the political system of Apartheid, these patterns have largely persisted into the
286
post-1990s era. Steinbrink (2009) uses a translocal approach to describe how such
287
patterns of rural-urban interaction impact on the ability of households to cope with
288
and adapt to livelihood risks, and how those patterns are sustained. Greiner (2011)
289
reports from Namibia, a country equally affected by apartheid, about how
290
remittances, part-time pastoralism and other migration-related patterns of
291
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
13
translocality induce processes of socio-economic stratification. In a similar vein, Long
292
(2008), Steel, Winters and Sosa (2011) and McKay (2003) use a translocal approach
293
to elucidate the social impact of rural-urban migration and remittances in Peru,
294
Nicaragua and the Philippines respectively.
295
The analysis of translocal rural spaces, however, is not limited to areas of the Global
296
South. The contributions in a recently published volume on “Translocal Ruralism” by
297
Hedberg and do Carmo (2012a) are concerned with translocal phenomena in
298
Europe. The editors direct attention to various forms of migration (internal and
299
international) and mobility (e.g. daily commuting) in order to demonstrate that
300
geographically peripheral regions of Europe are engaged in a constant process of
301
functional reconfiguration. Here, translocal approaches are applied to challenge
302
notions of stagnation and isolation often associated with rural spaces (Do Carmo and
303
Santos 2012, Guran-Nica and Sofer 2012, Papadopoulos 2012, Rau 2012).
304
Translocal social spaces are, however, not only produced by refugees (Stenbacka
305
2012) and (labour) migrants (Papadopoulos 2012), but also by musicians (Ma 2002),
306
communities of ballroom dancers (Marion 2005) and amateur football players
307
(Steinbrink 2010), amongst others.
308
The volume “Translocal Geographies. Spaces, Places and Connections” edited by
309
Brickell and Datta (2011a) uses scale as the main structuring dimension to illustrate
310
the multiplicity of translocal affiliations. The contributions present experiences of
311
multi-scalar and multi-sited translocal geographies at the scale of home and family
312
(Brickell 2011, Tan and Yeoh 2011, Hatfield 2011) and neighbourhoods (Centner
313
2011, Datta 2011, Wise 2011) as well as that of the city (Chako 2011, Christou 2011,
314
Page 2011). As Brickell and Datta (2001a, p. 19-20) summarise, the volume
315
highlights how the local and local-to-local connections exist across a variety of scales
316
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
14
and points to the importance of considering the material and embodied practices of
317
migrants for gaining an understanding of translocality.
318
Another area of focus of translocal research is that of identity in the context of
319
intensifying mobility (de Lima 2012, Stenbacka 2012). Using Cameroon and
320
Tanzania as examples, Page (2011) shows how globally operating home-town
321
associations become differentially enmeshed with localised identity politics in the
322
migrant sending areas. The volume “Translocal China”, edited by Oakes and Schein
323
(2006b), explicitly addresses such multifaceted questions of identity against the
324
background of contemporary China. They point out that people and institutions have
325
become translocal in the recent era of reform and rapid socio-economic
326
transformation. While the subject of the movement of people is often taken up in
327
addressing questions of identity (Chongyi and Changzhi 2006, Schein 2006, Sun
328
2006, Greiner 2010), some authors apply a translocal approach to expand the focus
329
beyond the topic of migration.
330
As such, translocality is also applied to study the use of media and the circulation of
331
knowledge and ideas in globally operating networks. Focusing on the spatial
332
organisation of high-tech innovation in Germany, Lange and Büttner (2010), use a
333
translocal approach to map out the possibilities for and restrictions on translocal
334
knowledge-transfers which result in differential spatial knowledge formations. The
335
flow of information, ideas and opinions through the internet, and its influence on
336
identity formation, is taken up by Gan (2006), who shows how young mothers in
337
China use online parenting forums to construct and negotiate their new identities as
338
mothers alongside their identities as career women. The role of the internet in
339
producing translocal “relations and imageries” is also reflected by Uimonen’s (2009)
340
study on art college students in Tanzania. The changing patterns of translocal
341
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
15
communication facilitated by mobile phones, and their impact on political practices
342
(protests and riots), is illustrated in a case study by Tenhunen (2011) from West
343
Bengal. Analysing poems as a symbolic and material expression of translocality,
344
Sun’s (2010) study on migrant workers in China’s industrial south reveals how
345
movements by this group are marked by a sense of alienation, displacement and
346
disenchantment. The exchange of symbol and images among transnationally
347
operating South Asian Muslim groups is described by Reetz (2010). He employs a
348
translocal perspective to illustrate the production of “alternate” globalities that position
349
themselves against Western-dominated and economy-centred activities.
350
Another area of investigation explores the implications of translocality for
351
development (Helvoirt 2011, Noorloos 2011). In the article “Translocal Development,
352
Development Corridors and Development Chains” by Zoomers and Westen (2011), in
353
a special issue of the International Development Planning Review, translocality is
354
applied to redefine notions of locally bounded development. The contributions in the
355
Review highlight how local-to-local connectedness produces both opportunities for
356
and constraints upon people in their struggle for better livelihoods. The possibilites
357
available for and difficulties encountered by development cooperation below the level
358
of the state, such as formalised municipal partnerships (Bontenbal and Lindert 2011)
359
or development projects of migrants’ associations (Grillo and Riccio 2004, Page and
360
Mercer 2012), are addressed by several authors from a translocal perspective.
361
Kaag’s (2011) case study from Chad, for example, examines the work of Islamic
362
NGOs from the Arab world in Africa. While rather limited in financial volume and
363
economic impact, the study highlights the nevertheless important political and moral
364
implications that result from the NGOs’ work in connecting the umma (Islamic
365
community). Pointing to the fact that development is often related to practices of
366
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
16
accumulation through extraction, expulsion and marginalisation of local populations,
367
authors such as Banerjee (2011) and McFarlane (2009) highlight the emancipatory
368
potential of translocality. The exchange of ideas, knowledge, practices, materials and
369
resources across places, they argue, is a resource that enables local social
370
movements to resist or challenge development paths or change them in their favour.
371
Similarly, using a case study from inhabitants of a squatter settlement in Lisbon,
372
Portugal Horta (2002) illustrates how translocal forms of migrants’ grassroots
373
organizations have become crucial in their practices of collective mobilization to
374
negotiate their interests.
375
376
Conclusion: Translocalism – an approach in its own right
377
Translocality has been applied as a way to comprehend the tension between mobility
378
and locality and to enhance understanding of this relationship, which characterises
379
an increasing number of socio-spatial dynamics. The approach builds on insights
380
from the longer-established research tradition of transnationalism, but seeks to
381
overcome the latter’s limited focus on the nation state. This analytical expansion, we
382
have argued, was both necessary and overdue. Writings on translocality direct
383
attention to various forms of mobility beyond the movement of people. Building on a
384
relational notion of place, these writings place a strong emphasis on the micro level
385
and local-to-local dynamics to explain socio-spatial phenomena.
386
Translocal approaches exhibit several commonalities with research on “grounded
387
transnationalism”. Although many authors do not differentiate tranlocalism from
388
transnationalism, let alone designate it as an analytical concept in its own right, we
389
nevertheless consider that the approach warrants consideration as an emerging
390
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
17
research concept. Based on our review of existing concepts and empirical
391
applications, we argue that translocality has the potential to address important issues
392
in socio-spatial research. We conclude this review by outlining some of these areas.
393
Firstly, translocality can serve as a fruitful starting point from which to challenge
394
dichotomous geographical conceptions (Agnew 2005), such as space and place,
395
rural and urban, core and periphery.
396
Secondly, the actor-oriented focus on the social production of translocality enhances
397
a more explicit discussion of the temporal dynamics, path dependencies and time-
398
space interconnections of socio-spatial dynamics. The concept thereby offers a more
399
nuanced perspective on how these processes are socially differentiated, and is
400
sensitive to the role of “power in relation to flows and movements” (Massey 1991, p.
401
25f).
402
Thirdly, the shift away from a primary concern with the nation state directs attention
403
to alternative historiographies of globalization.
404
Fourthly, translocality emphasises significant spatial scales beyond the national
405
entities and their specific non-hierarchic interactions and configurations. In particular,
406
it highlights the importance of networked places, which are, in Doreen Massey’s
407
words (1991: 28), “constructed on a far larger scale than what we happen to define
408
for that moment as place”.
409
Fifthly, translocality facilitates research on mobilities beyond human migration. By
410
addressing flows and circulations of ideas, symbols, knowledge, etc., it offers a
411
stimulating perspective from which to engage with subjects such as the impact of a
412
globalising world on non-migrants, and the co-production of connectedness by
413
mobile and immobile populations.
414
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
18
Finally, by placing an explicit emphasis on local conditions, translocality draws
415
attention to transformations of the physical and natural environment (e.g. farming
416
systems, urban areas, riparian zones). In so doing, translocal research can engage in
417
the discussion on global environmental change and strengthen the importance of the
418
mobility of people, concepts and resources within the debate. To conclude, this
419
review demonstrates that translocality is a dynamic and emerging field of research
420
which is both a suitable and a timely means by which to address socio-spatial
421
dynamics in an increasingly mobile world.
422
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
19
References
423
Adepoju, A. (2006). Internal and international migration within Africa. In: Kok, P., Gelderblom, D., 424
Oucho, J. O. and van Zyl J., (eds), Migration in South and Southern Africa. Cape Town: HSRC 425
Press, pp. 26-45. 426
Agnew, J. (2005). Space:Place. In: Cloke, P. and Johnston, R., (eds), Spaces of Geographical Thought: 427
Deconstructing Human Geographies Binaries. London: Sage pp. 81-96. 428
Amelina, A. (2010). Scaling Inequalities ? Some Steps towards the Social Inequality Analysis in 429
Migration Research beyond the Framework of the Nation State. Bielefeld. 430
Appadurai, A. (2003). Modernity at Large. Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis; London: 431
University of Minnesota Press. 432
Argenti, N., and Röschenthaler, U. (2006). Introduction: Between Cameroon and Cuba: Youth, slave 433
trades and translocal memoryscapes. Social Anthropology 14(01), pp. 33-47. 434
Banerjee, S. B. (2011). Voices of the Governed: towards a theory of the translocal. Organization 435
18(3), pp. 323-344. 436
Basch, L., Glick Schiller, N., and Szanton Blanc C. (1995). Nations Unbound. Transnational Projects, 437
Postcolonial Predicaments, and Deterritorialized Nation-States. Basel: Gordon and Breach 438
Publishers. 439
Bennett, A., and Peterson, R. A. (eds) (2004). Music scenes: local, translocal & virtual. Nashville: 440
Vanderbilt University Press. 441
Bontenbal, M., and Lindert, P. v. (2011). Municipal partnerships for local development in the Global 442
South? Understanding connections and context from a translocal perspective. International 443
Development Planning Review 33(4), pp. 445-461. 444
Brickell, K. (2011). Translocal Geographies of “home” in siem reap, Cambodia. In: Brickell, K. and A. 445
Datta (eds), Translocal Geographies: Spaces, Places, Connections. Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 23-446
38. 447
Brickell, K., and Datta, A. (2011a). Introduction: Translocal Geographies. In: Brickell, K. and Datta, A., 448
(eds), Translocal Geographies Spaces, Places, Connections. Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 3-20. 449
— (eds) (2011b). Translocal Geographies. Spaces, Places, Connections. Farnham: Ashgate. 450
Casey, E. S. (1996). How to Get from Space to Place in a Fairly Short Stretch of Time: 451
Phenomenological Prolegomena. In: Feld, S. and Basso, K. H., (eds), Senses of Place. Santa Fe: 452
The School of American Research, pp. 13-52. 453
Castells, M. (2000). The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture. Oxford: Blackwell. 454
Castree, N. (2004). Differential geographies: place, indigenous rights and ‘local’ resources. Political 455
Geography 23, pp. 133–167. 456
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
20
Centner, R. (2011). Ways out of crisis in Buenos Aires: Translocal landscapes and the activation of 457
Mobile resources. In: Brickell, K. and Datta, A., (eds), Translocal Geographies: Spaces, Places, 458
Connections. Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 109–124. 459
Chacko, E. (2011). Translocality in Washington, D.C. and Addis Ababa: Spaces and Linkages of the 460
Ethiopian Diaspora in Two Capital Cities. In: Brickell, K. and Datta, A., (eds), Translocal 461
Geographies Spaces, Places, Connections. Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 163-178. 462
Christou, A. (2011). Translocal spatial Geographies. Multi-sited Encounters of Greek Migrants in 463
Athens, Berlin, and New york. In: Brickell, K. and Datta, A. (eds), Translocal Geographies: 464
Spaces, Places, Connections. Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 145-162
465
Chongyi, F., and Changzhi, Z. (2006). Openness, change, and translocality. New migrants' 466
identification with Hainan. In: Oakes, T. and Schein, L., (eds), Translocal China. Linkages, 467
Identities, and the reimaging of space. New York: Routledge, pp. 74-92. 468
Conradson, D., and McKay, D. (2007). Translocal Subjectivities: Mobility, Connection, Emotion. 469
Mobilities 2(2), pp. 167-174. 470
Datta, A. (2011). Translocal Geographies of Farnham. Belonging and “otherness” among Polish 471
Migrants after 2004. In: Brickell, K. and Datta, A. (eds.), Translocal Geographies: Spaces, 472
Places, Connections. Lodon: Ashgate, pp. 73-92. 473
De Lima, P. (2012). Boundary crossing. Migration, belonging/'unbelonging' in rural Scotland. In: 474
Hedberg C. and Do Carmo M. R., (eds) ), Translocal Ruralism Mobility and Connectivity in 475
European Rural Spaces. Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 203-218. 476
Delaney, D. and Leitner, H. (1997): The political construction of scale. Political Geography 16 (2), pp. 477
93-97. 478
DELEUZE, G. and GUATTARI, F. (1976). Rhizome. Minuit: Paris.
479
Do Carmo, M. R., and Santos, S. (2012). Between marginalisation and urbanisation. mobilities and 480
social change in Southern Portugal. In: Hedberg C. and Do Carmo M. R., (eds) ), Translocal 481
Ruralism Mobility and Connectivity in European Rural Spaces. Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 13-34. 482
Escobar, A. (2001). Culture sits in places: reflections on globalism and subaltern strategies of 483
localization. Political Geography 20, pp. 139-174. 484
Faist, T., and Reisenauer, E. (2009). Introduction: Migration(s) and Development(s): Transformation 485
of Paradigms, Organisations and Gender Orders. Sociologus 59(1), pp. 1-16. 486
Featherstone, D. (2011). On assemblage and articulation. Area 43(2), pp. 139-142. 487
Freitag, U., and von Oppen, A. (2010a). Introduction. "Translocality": An Approach to Connection and 488
Transfer in Area Studies. In: Freitag, U. and von Oppen, A., (eds), Translocality: The Study of 489
Globalising Processes from a Southern Perspective. Leiden: Brill, pp. 490
— (eds) (2010b). Translocality: The Study of Globalising Processes from a Southern Perspective. 491
Leiden: Brill. 492
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
21
Gan, W. (2006). "Net-moms" - a new place and a new identity. In: Oakes, T. and Schein, L., (eds), 493
Translocal China Linkages, Identities, and the reimaging of space. New York: Routledge, pp. 494
155-165. 495
Geschiere P 2009 The Perils of Belonging. Autochthony, Citizenship, and Exclusion in Africa & Europe 496
Chicago, University of Chicago Press. 497
Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society. Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Cambridge: 498
Polity Press. 499
Gottowik, V. (2010). Transnational, Translocal, Transcultural: Some Remarks on the Relations 500
between Hindu-Balinese and Ethnic Chinese in Bali. Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in 501
Southeast Asia 25(2), pp. 178-212. 502
Gupta A., and Ferguson J. (1992). Beyond "Culture": Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference. 503
Cultural Anthropology 7(1), pp. 6-23. 504
Greiner, C. (2010). Patterns of Translocality: Migration, Livelihoods and Identity in Northwest 505
Namibia. Sociologus 60(2), pp. 131-161. 506
— (2011). Translocal Networks and Stratification in Namibia. Africa: Journal of the International 507
African Institute 81(4), pp. 606-627. 508
Greiner C., and Sakdapolrak P. (2012) Rural–urban migration, agrarian change, and the environment 509
in Kenya: a critical review of the literature. Population & Environment, pp. 1-30 (online first) 510
Grillo, R., and Riccio, B. (2004). Translocal development: Italy–Senegal. Population, Space and Place 511
10(2), pp. 99-111. 512
Guarnizo, L. E., and Smith, M. P. (1998). The Locations of Transnationalism. In: Smith M. P. and 513
Guarnizo L. E., (eds), Transnationalism from Below. New Brunswick, London: Transaction 514
Publishers, pp. 3-34. 515
Guran-Nica, L., and Sofer, M. (2012). Migration dynamics in Romania and teh counter-urbanisation 516
process. A case study of Bucharest's rural urban fringe. In: Hedberg C. and Do Carmo M. R., 517
(eds) ), Translocal Ruralism Mobility and Connectivity in European Rural Spaces. Heidelberg: 518
Springer, pp. 87-102. 519
Hall, S., and Datta, A. (2010). The translocal street: Shop signs and local multi-culture along the 520
Walworth Road, south London. City, Culture and Society 1(2), pp. 69-77. 521
Hannerz U. (1996). Transnational Connections: Culture, People, Places. London: Routledge. 522
Hatfield, M. E. (2011). British Families Moving Home: Translocal Geographies of Return Migration 523
from Singapore. In: Brickell, K. and Datta, A. (eds), Translocal Geographies: Spaces, Places, 524
Connections. Lodon: Ashgate, pp. 55-70. 525
Hedberg, C., and do Carmo, R. M. (2012a). Translocal Ruralism: Mobility and Connectivity in 526
European Rural Spaces. In: Hedberg, C. and do Carmo, R. M., (eds), Translocal Ruralism 527
Mobility and Connectivity in European Rural Spaces. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 1-9. 528
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
22
— (eds) (2012b). Translocal Ruralism: Mobility and Connectivity in European Rural Spaces. Dordrecht: 529
Springer. 530
Helvoirt, B. v. (2011). Globalisation and regional development chains: the impact of Metro Cebu on 531
regional development in the Central Visayas, Philippines. International Development Planning 532
Review 33(4), pp. 389-407. 533
Horta, A. P. B. (2002). Transnational Networks and the local politics of migrants grassroots 534
organization in post-colonial Portugal. Transnational Communities Programme Working 535
Paper Series No. WPTC 02-03. Oxford. 536
Kaag, M. (2011). Connecting to the umma through Islamic relief: transnational Islamic NGOs in Chad. 537
International Development Planning Review 33(4), pp. 463-474. 538
Kelly, P. & T. Lusis (2006): Migration and the transnational habitus: evidence from Canada and the 539
Philippines. Environment and Planning A 38, pp. 831-847. 540
Kokot, W. (2007). Culture and Space – anthropological approaches. Ethnoscripts 9, pp. 10-23. 541
http://www.ethnologie.uni-hamburg.de/de/pdfs/Ethnoscripts_pdf/es_9_1_artikel1.pdf (last 542
accessed 20 December 2012). 543
Kothari, U. (2002). Migration and Chronic Poverty. Manchester: Institute for Development Policy and 544
Management, University of Manchester. 545
Lambek M. (2011). Reflections on hermeneutics and translocality. ZMO Working Papers No. 4. : 546
Berlin: Zentrum Moderner Orient. 547
Lange, B., and Büttner K. (2010). Spatialization Patterns of Translocal Knowledge Networks: 548
Conceptual Understandings and Empirical Evidences of Erlangen and Frankfurt/Oder. 549
European Planning Studies 18(6), pp. 989-1018. 550
Leung, M. (2011). Of corridors and chains: translocal developmental impacts of academic mobility 551
between China and Germany. International Development Planning Review 33(4), pp. 475-552
489. 553
Ley, D. (2004). Transnational spaces and everyday lives. Transactions of the Institute of British 554
Geographers 29, pp. 151-164. 555
Long, N. (2008). Translocal Livelihoods, Networks of Family and Community, and Remittances in 556
Central Peru. In: Iom and Ssrc, (eds). Geneva, New York: International Organization for 557
Migration and Social Science Research Council, pp. 37-68. 558
Ma, E. K.-w. (2002). Translocal spatiality. International Journal of Cultural Studies 5, pp. 131-152. 559
Mandaville, P. (2002). Reading the state from elsewhere: towards an anthropology of the 560
postnational. Review of International Studies 28(01), pp. 199-207. 561
Marion, J. S. (2005). "Where" is "There"?: Towards a Translocal Anthropology. Anthropology News 562
46(5), pp. 18-18. 563
McFarlane, C. (2009). Translocal assemblages: Space, power and social movements. Geoforum 40(4), 564
pp. 561-567. 565
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
23
McKay, D. (2003). Cultivating New Local Futures: Remittance Economies and Land-Use Patterns in 566
Ifugao, Philippines. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 34(2), pp. 285-306. 567
Massey D. (1991). A Global Sense of Place. Marxism Today, pp. 24-29. 568
— (1999). Power-Geometries and the Politics of Space and Time. Hettner Lecture 1998, Department 569
of Geography, University of Heidelberg. 570
Noorloos, F. v. (2011). A transnational networked space: tracing residential tourism and its multi-571
local implications in Costa Rica. International Development Planning Review 33(4), pp. 429-572
444. 573
Núñez-Madrazo, C. (2007). Living ‘Here and There’: New Migration of Translocal Workers from 574
Veracruz to the Southeastern United States. Anthropology of Work Review 28(3), pp. 1-6. 575
Oakes, T., and Schein, L. (2006a). Preface. In: Oakes, T. and Schein, L., (eds), Translocal China 576
Linkages, Identities, and the reimaging of space. London: Routledge, pp. xii-xiii. 577
— (eds) (2006b). Translocal China. Linkages, Identities, and the reimaging of space. London: 578
Routledge. 579
Olwig, K. F. (1997). Cultural sites. Sustaining a home in a deterritorialized world. In: Olwig, K. F. and 580
Hastrup, K., (eds), Siting Culture The shifting anthropological object. London: Routledge, pp. 581
17-38. 582
Page, B. (2011). Fear of Small Distances: Home Associations in Douala, Dar es Salaam and London. In: 583
Brickell, K. and Datta, A., (eds), Translocal Geographies Spaces, Places, Connections. 584
Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 127-144. 585
Page, B., and Mercer, C. (2012). Why do people do stuff? Reconceptualizing remittance behaviour in 586
diaspora-development research and policy. Progress in Development Studies 12, pp. 1-18. 587
Papadopoulos, A. G. (2012). Transnational immigration in rural Greece. Analysing the different 588
mobilities of Albanian immigrants. In: Hedberg, C. and Do Carmo, M. R., (eds), Translocal 589
Ruralism Mobility and Connectivity in European Rural Spaces. Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 163-590
184. 591
Peleikis, A. (2003). Lebanese in Motion. Gender and the Making of a Translocal Village. Bielefeld: 592
transcrip. 593
Peth, S. A. (2012). Migrationspfade und Arbeitsräume in Bangladesch - Translokale Lebenssicherung 594
in einer sich wandelnden (Um)Welt. Department of Geography: Rheinische Friedrich-595
Wilhelms-Universität Bonn. Unpublished Master Thesis. 596
Rau, H. (2012). The ties that bind? Spatial (immobilities) and the transformation of Rural-Urban 597
Connections. In: Hedberg, C. and Do Carmo, M. R., (eds), Translocal Ruralism Mobility and 598
Connectivity in European Rural Spaces. Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 35-55. 599
Reetz, D. (2010). 'Alternate' Globalities? On the Cultures and Formats of Transnational Muslim 600
Networks from South Asia. In: Freitag, U. and Von Oppen, A., (eds), Translocality: The Study 601
of Globalising Processes from a Southern Perspective. Leiden: Brill, pp. 293-334. 602
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
24
Schein, (2006). Negotiating scale. Miao women at a distance. In: Oakes, T. and Schein, L., (eds), 603
Translocal China Linkages, Identities, and the reimaging of space. New York: Routledge, pp. 604
213-237. 605
Sinatti, G. (2006). Diasporic Cosmopolitanism and Conservative Translocalism: Narratives of Nation 606
Among Senegalese Migrants in Italy. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism 6(3), pp. 30-50. 607
Singer, A. and Massey, D. S. (1998). The Social Process of Undocumented Border Crossing among 608
Mexican. International Migration Review 32 (3), 561-592. 609
Smith, M. P. (2001). Transnational Urbanism. Locating Globalization. Malden, Massachusetts 610
— (2011). Translocality: A Critical Reflection. In: Brickell, K. and Datta, A., (eds), Translocal 611
Geographies Spaces, Places, Connections. Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 181-198. 612
Steel, G., Winters, N., and Sosa, C. (2011). Mobility, translocal development and the shaping of 613
development corridors in (semi-)rural Nicaragua. International Development Planning Review 614
33(4), pp. 409-428. 615
Steinbrink, M. (2009). Leben zwischen Stadt und Land. Migration, Translokalität und Verwundbarkeit 616
in Südafrika. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. 617
— (2010). The Role of Amateur Football in Circular Migration Systems in South Africa. Africa 618
Spectrum 45(2), pp. 35-60. 619
Stenbacka, S. (2012). "The rural" intervening in the lives of internal and international migrants. 620
Migrants, biographies and translocal practices. In: Hedberg, C. and Do Carmo, M. R., (eds), 621
Translocal Ruralism Mobility and Connectivity in European Rural Spaces. Heidelberg: 622
Springer, pp. 55-72. 623
Sun, W. (2006). The leaving of Anhui. The southward journey toward the knowledge class. In: Oakes, 624
T. and Schein, L., (eds) , Translocal China Linkages, Identities, and the reimaging of space. 625
New York: Routledge, pp. 238-262. 626
— (2010). Narrating Translocality: Dagong Poetry and the Subaltern Imagination. Mobilities 5(3), pp. 627
291-309. 628
Swyngedouw, E., 1997b. Neither global nor local: glocalization and the politics of scale. In: Cox, K. 629
(Ed.), Spaces of Globalization. Guilford Press, New York, pp. 137–166.
630
Tan, B. A. L., and Yeoh, B. S. A. (2011). Translocal Family Relations amongst the Lahu in Northern 631
Thailand. In: Brickell, K. and Datta, A. (eds), Translocal Geographies: Spaces, Places, 632
Connections. Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 39-54.
633
Tenhunen, S. (2011). Culture, Conflict, and Translocal Communication: Mobile Technology and 634
Politics in Rural West Bengal, India. Ethnos 76(3), pp. 398-420 635
Trager, L. (2005). Introduction: The Dynamics of Migration. In: Trager L., (ed) Migration and Economy 636
Global and Local Dynamics. Walnut Creek: Alta Mira Press, pp. 1-45. 637
Uimonen, P. (2009). Internet, arts and translocality in Tanzania. Social Anthropology 17(3), pp. 276-638
290. 639
Accepted for publication in Geography Compass
25
UNDP (2009). Human Development Report 2009. Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and 640
development. United Nations Development Programme, New York 641
Velayutham, S., and Wise, A. (2005). Moral economies of a translocal village: obligation and shame 642
among South Indian transnational migrants. Global Networks 5(1), pp. 27-47. 643
Verne, J. (2012). Living Translocality. Space, Culture and Economy in Contemporary Swahili Trade. 644
Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. 645
Wise, A. (2011). “You wouldn’t know what’s in there would you?’ Homeliness and ‘Foreign’ Signs in 646
Ashfield, Sydney. In: Brickell, K. and Datta, A. (eds), Translocal Geographies: Spaces, Places, 647
Connections. Lodon: Ashgate, pp. 93-108. 648
Wimmer, A., and Glick Schiller, N. (2002). Methodological nationalism and beyond: nation–state 649
building, migration and the social sciences. Global Networks 2(4), pp. 301-334. 650
Zoomers, A., and Westen, G. v. (2011). Introduction: translocal development, development corridors 651
and development chains. International Development Planning Review 33(4), pp. 377-388. 652
