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emphasizes the importance of people within networks by focussing onthe “multiple ties and interactions linking people or institutions acrossthe borders of nation-states” (1999, 447). Portes, Guarnizo and Landoltdelimit the concept of transnationalism to occupations and activities thatrequire sustained contacts over time across national borders (1999, 218).Other authors emphasize the flow of immaterial things such as ideas andfeelings of solidarity across boundaries (Clifford 1994) that serve to formtransnational identities.What these definitions have in common is their emphasis on the linkagesthat bind people living in different countries. A major contribution of theliterature on transnationalism has been that it recognizes the individualmigrant as a member of a larger whole that extends beyond geographicalboundaries. This conceptualization of transnationalism has methodologicalconsequences. Hannertz (1998) explains that in most transnational cases,the most relevant unit of analysis is the network, or what others havecalled transnational communities, villages (Levitt 2001), or circuits (Rouse1992).Simultaneity is considered to be a second distinguishing feature oftransnational linkages (Levitt and Glick Schiller 2004). New technologies(airplanes, telephones, satellite technology, faxes, and computers) makemovement and communication between large distances possible with muchgreater frequency, speed, and regularity, and in larger numbers than evenjust fifty years ago (for overview articles see Ethnic and Racial Studies,1999 22(2); Vertovec 2001, Mazzucato et al. 2004). This facilitates thepossibility for people to be simultaneously engaged in both their homecountry as well as in the other countries where they have lived or are living.Simultaneous engagement enables linkages between dispersed peopleto tighten, new livelihood opportunities to emerge, social institutionsto change, and hybrid identities to develop. These changes have led toqualitative differences in how migrants, the cities in which they live, andtheir home communities are impacted by migration (Foner 1997).Thus simultaneity and networks are two important aspects that come outof theoretical transnationalism literature. Below we investigate how theseaspects have been operationalized in methodologies used by transnationalstudies.71The simultaneity of flows means that at least two locations need to beincorporated into one research field. This has been operationalized in twoways. One is by situating research in one geographical location, usually