Transnational Communities and Migration in the Age of Globalization

Currently, international migration entails a complex web of exchanges an movements of people, money, goods and information. A number of scholars have proposed the notion of transnational communities to help in arriving at new ways of understanding the migratory process within the current context of globalization. This article presents a critical evaluation of the transnational community model and identifies the principal theoretical and methodological challenges posed by this model. Particular attention is devoted to the way in which the relationship between globalization and the formation of transnational communities is conceptualized in this model, as well as these communities' potential for dealing with the economic, social, and political implications of globalization. The article closes with a discussion of the demands that this critical review of the transnational community model places upon public policy-making in the communities of origin and destination of transnational migrant workers