Transnational practices in local settings: Experiences of citizenship among Bangladesh-origin Muslims in London and Birmingham

“跨国公民身份”（Baubock，1994; Fox，2005）已被概念化，以反映政治身份超越民族国家的过程（Basch et al，1994）。然而，跨越国界的政治身份在多大程度上可能受到国界内政治身份的影响，这仍然是一个相当大的学术争论问题。例如，有人认为，跨国联系阻碍了国家和地方认同的形成，对定居国的公民身份和融合构成了危险（Snel等人，2006年）。其他人则认为，反过来也可能是正确的。“政治机会结构”的概念表明，跨国做法发生在地方环境中，由不同地方的特殊机会和制约因素决定（Guarnizo和Smith，1998年; Mahler，1998年）。这偏离了大多数关于穆斯林跨国关系的文献，特别是其中的重点往往是人口的特征，或伊斯兰文化的特征，以一种忽视“社会和政治环境在塑造人们如何理解世界并对其采取行动方面的作用”的方式（Kundnani，2014，第10页）。该项目考虑了在伦敦和伯明翰的孟加拉裔穆斯林的本地和跨国公民经历之间的关系。它调查了当地的公民经验，涉及：（a）不同的定居历史;（B）不同的人口分布情况，包括种族集中程度、年龄、性别、社会经济背景、居住时间和入籍状况;（c）两个城市不同的社会和政治环境。该项目将研究这些地方政治身份如何影响跨国参与的过程，并考虑如何跨国身份和关系反过来通知地方政治主体性。它将借鉴“政治机会理论”的见解，但在两个关键方面与之不同。首先，以往的工作往往将移民人口视为同质群体，本项目将更加关注考虑各种问题如何因性别、世代和阶级的不同而产生不同的结果。其次，它将超越基于“正式身份”的公民身份特征，考虑社会政治参与的更“实质性”层面-法律的身份可能或可能不可能实现的社会、文化、政治或象征性“行为”（Isin和Nielsen，2008年）。这包括审查获得教育、就业、住房、保健和地方政治进程的机会。在每个地点，将对15个孟加拉家庭进行30次深入的半结构化访谈，访谈形式为同性父母/子女二人组。使用同性父母-子女二人组将有助于引出代际维度，并集中关注随着时间的推移的连续性和变化问题。此外，将在每个地点进行5次口述历史访谈和5次民间社会访谈，共进行80次访谈，并辅之以对两个实地地点的孟加拉社区进行人种学观察。在正在进行的“反恐战争”的背景下，以及越来越多的政治和媒体关注“本土”的安全威胁，英国穆斯林的跨国行为引起了特别关注。这为最近一系列关于处理从事政府不支持的跨国活动的英国国民的政策建议提供了依据，并使大量人受宪法保护的活动受到越来越多的监视（Kundnani，2014年）。因此，在公众辩论和公共政策实践中，跨国联系可能会影响当地的公民经验，但需要更多的研究来了解跨国活动如何位于当地的社会，文化和政治环境。

'Transnational citizenship' (Baubock, 1994; Fox, 2005) has been conceptualised to reflect the processes through which political identity transcends the nation-state (Basch et al, 1994). However, the degree to which political identities that cross borders may be informed by political identities within borders remains a matter of considerable academic debate. It has been argued, for example, that transnational ties represent an impediment to the formation of national and local identifications; a danger to citizenship and integration in countries of settlement (Snel et al, 2006). Others argue that the reverse may also be true. The concept of 'political opportunity structure' has come to suggest that transnational practices take place in local settings; shaped by the particular opportunities and constraints present in different localities (Guarnizo and Smith, 1998; Mahler, 1998). This deviates from the majority of the literature on Muslim transnational relations in particular, in which the focus is very often on the characteristics of the population, or the characteristics of Islamic culture, in a way that ignores "the role of social and political circumstances in shaping how people make sense of the world and then act upon it" (Kundnani, 2014, p.10). This project considers the relationship between the local and transnational citizenship experiences of Bangladesh-origin Muslims in London and Birmingham. It investigates local experiences of citizenship in relation to a) different histories of settlement, b) different population profiles in terms of ethnic concentration, age, gender, socio-economic background, length of residence and naturalization status, and c) the different social and political environments of the two cities. The project will examine how these local political identities influence processes of transnational engagement, and consider how transnational identities and relationships in turn inform local political subjectivity. It will draw on the insights of 'political opportunity theory' but depart from it in two key respects. First, previous work has tended to construct migrant populations as homogenous groups and this project will devote greater attention to considering how issues play out differently according to gender, generation and class. Second, it will move beyond characterisations of citizenship based on 'formal status' to consider more 'substantive' dimensions of socio-political engagement - the social, cultural, political, or symbolic 'acts' that legal status may or may not make possible (Isin and Nielsen, 2008). This includes examination of access to education, employment, housing, healthcare and local political processes. In each location, 30 in-depth semi-structured interviews will be conducted with 15 Bengali families in the form of same-sex parent/child dyads. The use of same-sex parent-child dyads will help draw out generational dimensions and focus the issues of continuity and change over time. In addition, 5 oral history interviews and 5 civil society interviews will be conducted in each location, producing a total of 80 interviews, complemented by ethnographic observation with the Bangladeshi community in both field sites. In the context of the on-going 'War on Terror', and an increasing political and media focus on a security threat that is 'home grown', the transnational practices of British Muslims have generated particular concern. This has fed into a range of recent policy proposals with respect to the treatment of British subjects who engage in transnational activities the Government does not support, and brings the constitutionally protected activities of a large number of people under increasing surveillance (Kundnani, 2014). In popular debate and the practice of public policy, therefore, transnational ties may affect local experiences of citizenship, but more research is needed to understand how transnational activity is situated in local social, cultural and political milieu.