1 / 8

Self-employment between two worlds. Migrants’ economic transnationalism

Self-employment between two worlds. Migrants’ economic transnationalism. Maurizio Ambrosini, University of Milano. Economic transnationalism. A form of “ globalization from below ”? A new phenomenon ? The antecedents : diasporas and middleman minorities

apollo
Download Presentation

Self-employment between two worlds. Migrants’ economic transnationalism

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Self-employment between two worlds. Migrants’ economic transnationalism Maurizio Ambrosini, Universityof Milano

  2. Economictransnationalism • A formof “globalizationfrombelow”? • A newphenomenon? • The antecedents: diasporas and middlemanminorities • The background: self-employmentofmigrantsasanemerging trend in alldevelopedcountries • Diversification and stratificationofmigrants’ activities

  3. Migrants’ % on total self employment in some countries (OECD, 2006)

  4. A typology of different forms of transnational economic activities • Circulatory transnationalism • Connective transnationalism • Commercial transnationalism • Symbolic transnationalism • an intensity scale of the involvement in transnational activities and links: from circulatory transnationalismto symbolic transnationalism

  5. A case of circulatory transnationalism: couriers along East routes • An ethnographicstudy in Milano (station ofCascina Gobba) • The clients: transnationalfamilies and mothering at a distance • The objects: the giftssymbolizing the absent: help, functional, showymeaning • The economic side: smallisefficient • Notonlyinformality: differentlevelsoforganizationof the activity in differentnationalgroups • The creationof a weekly market

  6. Between commercial and symbolictransnationalism: “ethnic” shops and activities in Milan and Genoa • analysis of 52 cases, 32 in Genoa and 20 in Milan • The difficulty to separate traded goods from their symbolic content • The clients: natives and migrants • The stratification: from informal (and also illegal) activities, to luxury goods for elite clients • The complex trips of the traded goods • The local context matters: differences between Milan and Genoa

  7. A case ofcontrastedtrasnationalism • Phonecentersrapidlygrew and the declined in Italiantowns, aboveall in ethnicdistricts • Theyhavebecome the objectofstrictregulations (regionallaw in Lombardy, localrules in Turin) and inspections • Fearsofcoveringterrorism, launderingmoney, or simplydisturbing the natives: gatheringofstrangersaround the shops, also in the evening

  8. Conclusion: the ants of globalization • a privileged viewpoint in order to observe a world on the move: the actors of the space-time compression • The mobility of people, the mobility of imagination • A wide range of actors and activities • A contribution to make more clear the meaning of “transnationalism”

More Related