Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Implications of Social and Economic Mobility for Transnational West African Migrants in Spain

虽然移民和返回移民有着悠久的历史，但我们当代世界廉价的通信和运输系统使跨国主义——在两个或两个以上的社会中维持当前的社会生活——得以蓬勃发展。在过去的二十年里，非洲移民到西班牙的人数显著增加，尤其是在巴塞罗那这样的城市地区。在非洲移民适应西班牙社会环境的同时，他们通过寄钱给亲戚、探亲、投资土地和住房、投资企业、加入家乡协会等方式与原籍国保持联系。非洲移民参与跨国活动的情况因其融入西班牙的程度，特别是其移民身份和职业而异。在巴塞罗那的劳动力市场上，西非移民可以获得的金钱资源以及这些移民的法律地位是他们跨境活动差异的主要原因。文化人类学家的这篇论文研究项目检验了这样一个假设，即在东道国具有更大的社会和经济流动性的移民将表现出更广泛和更频繁的跨国活动。它以西班牙巴塞罗那为例，考察了不同类型的跨境活动中的移民融合。为了理解一体化与跨国活动之间的关系，研究人员和西班牙合作者将测量西班牙经济中的整合水平；社会适应水平；非洲移民跨境活动的类型；以及参与这些活动的频率。研究人员还将从长期居住在西班牙的人的子样本中收集生活史，以分析定居过程中跨境活动的变化。这项研究除了对年轻社会科学家的教育作出贡献外，其更广泛的影响是它将提供关于移民政策和接收的社会背景如何影响移民融入东道国社会及其随后的跨国活动的新知识。西班牙和其他跨国活动率高的国家的决策者和服务提供者将对这些知识感兴趣。

While migration and return migration have a long history, our contemporary world's inexpensive communications and transportation systems have allowed transnationalism-the maintenance of current social lives in two or more societies-to flourish. In the past two decades the immigration of Africans to Spain has increased significantly, especially to urban areas such as Barcelona. At the same time as African immigrants adapt to the social environment of Spain they remain connected to their countries of origin through sending money to support relatives, visits to home, investing in land and housing, financing entrepreneurial ventures, and membership in hometown associations. African immigrants' participation in transnational activities varies depending on their level of integration in Spain, particularly their immigration status and occupation. The monetary resources available to West African immigrants in Barcelona's labor market and the legal status of those immigrants account for much of the variance in their cross-border activities. This dissertation research project by a cultural anthropologist tests the hypothesis that immigrants with greater social and economic mobility in the host country will demonstrate a wider range and greater frequency of transnational activities. It examines immigrant integration in diverse types of cross-border activities in the case of Barcelona, Spain. To understand the relationship between integration and transnational activities, the researcher and Spanish collaborators will measure the level of incorporation in Spain's economy; the level of social adaptation; the types of cross-border activities African immigrants practice; and the frequency of engagement in these activities. The researchers will also collect life histories from a sub-sample of those with long-term residence in Spain in order to analyze changes in cross-border activities over the course of settlement. The broader impacts of this research, in addition to its contribution to the education of a young social scientist, is the new knowledge it will provide on how immigration policies and the social context of reception affect the integration of migrants into their host society and their subsequent transnational activities. This knowledge will be of interest to policy makers and service providers in Spain and other countries with high rates of transnational activities.