Marianne Van Bochove
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GEOGRAPHIES OF BELONGING The Transnational and Local Involvement of Economically Successful Migrants Marianne van Bochove Geographies of Belonging The Transnational and Local Involvement of Economically Successful Migrants Meervoudig thuis De transnationale en lokale betrokkenheid van economisch succesvolle migranten Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam op gezag van de rector magnificus Prof.dr. H.G. Schmidt en volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties. De openbare verdediging zal plaatsvinden op donderdag 20 september 2012 om 9.30 uur door Marianne Elisabeth van Bochove geboren te Rozenburg Promotiecommissie Promotores: Prof.dr. G.B.M. Engbersen Prof.dr. J.P.L. Burgers Overige leden: Prof.dr. H.B. Entzinger Prof.dr. L.A.C.J. Lucassen Prof.dr. J.L. Uitermark Cover design by Erik Straver, sevenwords Cover painting by Ineke van den Hout Copyright © Marianne van Bochove 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author. Printed in the Netherlands Printed on FSC paper ISBN 978-90-819500-0-8 NUR 747 Acknowledgments When I started my study in Sociology at the Erasmus University Rotterdam ten years ago, I never thought I would become a PhD student one day. Investigating mi- nority and migration issues fascinated me, but I did not think it was possible to do that for a living. When I was offered the opportunity to write this dissertation, some people told me it would be better to discover the ‘real’ world instead of staying safe- ly within the university walls. I proved myself and others wrong. It is possible to make a profession of one’s personal interests, and although in the past year I have indeed mainly been surrounded by the walls of my office, throughout the project, I have learned much about important things happening outside. There are several people whom I would like to thank for their support during the course of this research. First of all, my supervisors Godfried Engbersen and Jack Burgers. Godfried encouraged me to make a flying start with reading, interviewing, and writing, which helped me to find my own way in the project. His comments on my theoretical approach and the interpretation of my findings were always con- structive and inspiring. Godfried also introduced me into the world of policy advis- ers and taught me a lot about presenting academic research in different forms and to different audiences. From the moment I became Jack’s student assistant, he told me I could do much more than I thought I could, which has been very important in the development of my academic skills. Jack and I have worked together on various top- ics, and his broad interest and detailed knowledge are an example to me. Our dis- cussions about my drafts always led to new insights, many of which are in this book. Two other colleagues in the Sociology Department deserve special thanks. The first years of this project, Katja Rusinovic and I closely worked together on co- ordinating the fieldwork and writing academic articles and policy reports. Her pre- vious experience with working on a large research project helped a lot. We started as colleagues and now we are also neighbors and friends. Friso van Houdt is the best office mate one can imagine. We often sat silently at our desks, working on our the- ses, but there was always time for a joke or a serious conversation. It was very stimu- lating to go through the different stages of the PhD trajectory together. Of course, this research could not have been done without the help of the re- spondents, who, despite their busy schedules, patiently answered all our questions. I also thank the members of the interview team, in particular Ibtissam Abaaziz and vii Fatih Topcu, both of whom conducted many interviews, and Ikram Taouanza, who besides being an excellent interviewer also contributed to the coding of the transcrip- tions. I thank the members of the Erasmus University Research Group on Citizen- ship, Migration and the City (CIMIC) for their comments on several drafts of my chapters and articles during our monthly paper discussions, and Joanne van der Leun, Leo Lucassen, and Aniek Smit for commenting on my work during the Cross- ing Borders master class at the Leiden University Institute for History. Just like the respondents in this research, I not only have important local bonds, but also valuable cross-border ones. By granting me a PhD scholarship in mi- gration studies, the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius gave me the opportuni- ty to meet PhD students from all around the world who are working on similar is- sues. The field trips to Morocco, Turkey, and the US were highly interesting and the annual students’ conferences very helpful. Compared with the other fellows, who often migrated themselves because of their research projects, being a Dutch national studying migration issues in the Netherlands, I am less of a globetrotter. However, I always felt like a locally rooted cosmopolitan during our meetings. I particularly thank Hamutal Bernstein, Basak Bilecen-Süoglu, Elitsa Molles, Evelyn Puga Aguirre- Sulem, and Kerstin Schmidt-Verkerk for their pleasant company and relevant litera- ture tips. In addition to the fellows, I wish to thank the members of the ZEIT-Stiftung staff and advisory board for their support: Joaquín Arango, Thomas Faist, Gunilla Fincke, Anna Hofmann, David Hollinger, Ayse Kadioglu, Christiane Kuptsch, John Mollenkopf, Peggy Levitt, Jens Schneider, Patrick Simon, Steven Vertovec, Christina Wagner, and Michael Werz. I am also grateful to Nicis Institute, the Municipality of Rotterdam, and the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS) for making this re- search possible. I thank Miriam Youngerman Miller for the language editing and my mother’s cousin Ineke van den Hout – probably the most transnational member of my family – for letting me use her painting Soulscape Mexico City 2000 on the cover of this book. Finally, I thank my parents, my sister Laura, and other loved ones for sup- porting me in my research, by asking me how it was going and, sometimes even more importantly, by not talking about it at all. viii Contents List of Figures and Tables ............................................................................................. xiii 1. Transnational Involvement and the Super-Diverse City ........................................ 1 Transnational involvement: addressing the questions what, who, and where ......................................................................................................................... 2 The substance of transnationalism ................................................................ 4 The subjects of transnationalism ................................................................... 8 The spheres of transnationalism .................................................................. 13 The super-diverse city as a strategic research site ............................................ 18 Aim, research questions, and outline of this book ........................................... 21 2. Location, Methods, and Fieldwork ............................................................................ 27 Rotterdam: demographic, economic, and political conditions ....................... 27 The demographic context ............................................................................. 28 The economic context ................................................................................... 35 The political context ..................................................................................... 38 Research design ..................................................................................................... 42 A mixed methods approach .......................................................................... 43 Selecting and recruiting respondents .......................................................... 45 Conducting the fieldwork ............................................................................ 49 Internal and external validity ...................................................................... 50 Introducing the respondents ............................................................................... 53 Male-female and knowledge worker-spouse ratio ........................................ 54 Age distribution ........................................................................................... 54 Length of stay and generation ..................................................................... 55 The parents’ country of birth ....................................................................... 55 Religion ........................................................................................................ 56 Job type and education level ......................................................................... 57 ix 3. Staying for Stability or Moving for More ................................................................ 61 Employment characteristics ................................................................................. 62 Economic sectors .......................................................................................... 62 Business contacts, job levels, and salaries ................................................... 67 Roads to Rotterdam .............................................................................................