Introduction

Transnational Identities 299
this in what they call “a transnational social field perspective on society” (Levitt
and Glick Schiller 181). They show that in contrast to the container model of
societies with its impermeable borders social fields are:
a set of multiple interlocking networks of social relationships through
which ideas, practices, and resources are unequally exchanged, organized,
and transformed […]. Social fields are multidimensional, encompassing
structured interactions of differing forms, depth, and breadth that are differentiated
in social theory by the terms organization, institution, and social
movement. National boundaries are not necessarily contiguous with the
boundaries of social fields. (Levitt and Glick Schiller 188)
This perspective allows for greater accuracy in the analysis of migrants’ social
behaviour, which is not limited by national borders. After all, as Vertovec points
out, for transnational migrants “[a]spects of life ‘here’ and life ‘there’ […] are constantly
monitored and perceived as complementary aspects of a single space of
experience” (Vertovec, “Migrant Transnationalism” 153-54) which could hardly
be captured if the focus was solely on particular nation-states. Transnational migrants
thus take part in several worlds simultaneously (Harzig 51; Levitt and Glick
Schiller 182; Vertovec, “Migrant Transnationalism” 149-50). Accordingly, the
social field perspective opens up a new space which does not limit social interactions
to either here or there but rather focuses on a state of being both here and
there at the same time (Beck, “Globalisierung” 58). 20 This perceived simultaneity
of lives in geographically separated places is one of the most important aspects of
this theory.
Moreover, the focus on transnational space does not only offers a new perspective
of migrants’ lives, but also depicts the wider implications of transnationalism.
It becomes apparent that non-migrants are equally affected by these developments
and can take part in transnational social space as well through contact
with migrants. Much research has been done on this aspect. Hence, Harzig and
Hoerder stress that “both worlds overlap in communities of origin, too” because
of migrants’ continued involvement in their countries of emigration (43). 21 Transnational
migration, for example, generates the development of networks between
migrants and non-migrants in the sending country (Hollifield 78; Levitt and Glick
Schiller 191; Portes 6). These facilitate migration because they “help to lower the
costs and the risks of migration” and also further intensify the linkage of both
countries (Hollfield 78).
20 Beck speaks of this space as “etwas Neues, Drittes”, a third space, as opposed to the two states
of ‘here’ and ‘there’ (“Globalisierung” 58). This inevitably evokes Homi Bhabha’s concept of
the third space which is, however, quite different from Beck’s and on which I will elaborate below.
21 This seems to be more pronounced in more recent forms of transnationalism, though, because
of technological advances (Harzig and Hoerder 44).