Migrants’ new transnational habitus: rethinking migration through a cosmopolitan lens in the digital age
Nedelcu, Mihaela
In: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2012, vol. 38, no. 9, p. 1339-1356
This article puts forward a cosmopolitan reading of international migration, focusing on the role played by ICTs in generating new ways of living together and acting transnationally in the digital era. After underlining some of the complex dimensions of the transnational debate and the limits of methodological nationalism, I will argue that revisiting the national–transnational nexus by... More
Add to personal list- Summary
- This article puts forward a cosmopolitan reading of international migration, focusing on the role played by ICTs in generating new ways of living together and acting transnationally in the digital era. After underlining some of the complex dimensions of the transnational debate and the limits of methodological nationalism, I will argue that revisiting the national–transnational nexus by adopting an ‘inclusive cosmopolitan’ stance would lead to a better understanding of the dialogically ubiquitous condition of the modern migrant. An analysis of Internet use by Romanian professionals in Toronto and their transnational families will shed light on the mechanisms through which ICTs produce connected lifestyles, enhance the capacity to harness otherness, and facilitate socialisation beyond borders, thus generating new transnational habitus.