DOCSLIB.ORG

Constructing Colombian Migrants As Transnational Financial Subjects

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Constructing Colombian Migrants As Transnational Financial Subjects Migration, Remittances and Development: Constructing Colombian Migrants as Transnational Financial Subjects Gisela P. Zapata Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University. October 2011 Abstract In recent years, remittances have been hailed as potential drivers of economic development in migrant-sending countries. Over four million Colombians (around 10% of Colombia‘s population) reside abroad and the UK is their second most favoured destination in Europe. Approximately 100,000 Colombians live and work in London and, in turn, the UK is the fourth biggest source of remittances to Colombia. In recent years, the Colombian Government has introduced policies to make their citizens abroad an integral part of a reconstituted definition of the Colombian nation. It has sought to render migrants as agents of economic development by channelling their remittances towards ‗productive investment‘. The main component of this investment is mortgage-financed housing. To this end, the government has promoted ‗Mi casa con remesas‘, a model of housing finance for people who receive remittances periodically from their family members abroad, and sponsored housing/property fairs for Colombian migrants in their main cities of destination in the global north: Madrid, London, New York and Miami. This thesis situates the Colombian government‘s narratives around the use of remittances to finance housing investment within broader discourses of development and neoliberalism and the strategies and experiences of accessing housing articulated by Colombian migrants in London and their households in the Coffee Region of Colombia. Based on empirical data collected at both ends of the migration network, it argues that the conception of migrants as agents of development – and hence as transnational financial subjects – is tightly linked to wider attempts at the institutionalisation of the transnational social field. These attempts are embedded in ideologically-driven discourses of citizenship that privilege financial markets as the medium for individuals‘ and households‘ socioeconomic reproduction. Furthermore, they displace the responsibility for economic development from the state to its citizens (at home and abroad) and bring to the fore investment as the preferred mechanism for the ‗proper‘ use of remittances and through which migrant households‘ connection to broader circuits of capital and finance can be exploited. Although housing is a growing component of remittances expenditure, for the most part, Colombians in London are not embracing their newly-assigned financial subjectivities but are instead using alternative channels for housing acquisition and financing. II To my mother / Para mi mamá, Cielo III Acknowledgements First I would like to thank the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology and the School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at Newcastle University for giving me a scholarship to embark on this journey. I would also like to thank all the other institutions that believed in this research and provided funding for its completion: the Society for Latin American Studies, the Dudley Stamp Memorial Fund and the Developing Areas Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society, the New Economic Geographies Research Group and the Santander International Exchange Scheme at Newcastle University. I am very grateful to my supervisors, Nina D. Laurie and Jane S. Pollard, for guiding me through my journey into the wonderful world of Human Geography. Their critical eye and different but wonderfully complimentary perspectives have greatly enriched this thesis. I have tremendous gratitude to all the Colombian migrants in London and their families in Colombia, who so generously gave me their time and shared a part of their lives with me. I admire their courage and resilience and without them, this research would simply have not been possible. I am indebted to the Latin American migrant organisations in London that kindly embraced my research and allowed me to be part of their world. I thank the Human Mobility Group in Colombia for their warm hospitality and friendship and for providing me a space to work during my time in the Coffee Region. I am especially grateful to William Mejía for his brilliant wit, valuable insights and intellectual input. I thank my colleagues and friends in Newcastle for sharing their ideas, tricks, laughs and meals with me during these four years. A big thanks to all my friends scattered throughout the world for understanding my long silences and giving me encouragement from afar. Gracias/Obrigada to my family in Colombia and Brazil for their unconditional love and support from the other side of the Atlantic. I am especially grateful to my father and my brother, Eudes, for their relentless reminders to keep pushing forward and my nieces, for inspiring me to set a good example. Last but not least, I want to thank my husband, Cesar, for believing in me and always being there for me. I could not have done this without you: my love, partner and companion in work and play, amazing cook and editor in-chief. IV Table of Contents 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 1.2. Research Questions .................................................................................................... 4 1.3. Thesis Overview .......................................................................................................... 4 2. Migrants as Agents of Development: Financial Subjectivities, Transnational Processes and the Political Economy of Housing ......................................................... 6 2.1. Construction of subjectivities under neoliberalism ....................................................... 7 2.2. Subjectivities, financialisation and transnational migrant flows .................................. 12 2.3. Migrants as agents of development: a critical genealogy ........................................... 15 2.4. Framing migrants‘ transnational practices ................................................................. 19 2.4.1. Migrant Transnationalism: current scholarship ..................................................... 20 2.4.2. Defining migrant transnationalism ........................................................................ 21 2.4.3. Transnational social field: geographical scale ...................................................... 23 2.4.4. Transnational family: social unit of analysis ......................................................... 25 2.5. Institutionalising the transnational field ...................................................................... 27 2.6. Remittances, housing policy and development .......................................................... 30 2.6.1. Development discourses and the political economy of housing policy in Latin America ......................................................................................................................... 31 2.6.2. Housing: from consumption item to driver of economic growth ............................ 32 2.6.3. Political and economic significance of the housing sector .................................... 33 2.7. Concluding remarks .................................................................................................. 36 3. Migration, Remittances and the State: Situating Colombia in the Latin American and Global Contexts ..................................................................................... 37 3.1. Brief history of migration from Colombia .................................................................... 37 3.1.1. The great wave of migration of the 1990s: socioeconomic and political context ... 39 3.1.2. Migration from Colombia: current trends .............................................................. 42 3.2. Colombian migration to the UK .................................................................................. 44 3.2.1. Colombians in London: socioeconomic profile ..................................................... 48 3.2.2. Colombians in London: transnational practices .................................................... 51 3.3. The remittances market: an overview ........................................................................ 53 3.3.1. Remittances: the global context ........................................................................... 53 3.3.2. Remittances: the Latin American context ............................................................. 54 3.3.3. Remittances: a view from Colombia ..................................................................... 59 3.4. Migration and remittances: framing the state response .............................................. 62 3.5. Concluding remarks .................................................................................................. 65 V 4. Methodology: Tracing Migrants’ Transnational Practices along the Geography of the Migration Network ............................................................................................... 67 4.1. Why I decided to study Colombian migration to the UK ............................................. 67 4.2. Methodological Approach .......................................................................................... 69 4.2.1 Positionality: a critical
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Regional Migration in South America
    Human Development Research Paper 2009/12 Gender and Intra- Regional Migration in South America Marcela Cerrutti United Nations Development Programme Human Development Reports Research Paper April 2009 Human Development Research Paper 2009/12 Gender and Intra- Regional Migration in South America Marcela Cerrutti United Nations Development Programme Human Development Reports Research Paper 2009/12 April 2009 Gender and Intra-Regional Migration in South America Marcela Cerrutti Marcela Cerrutti is Former Director of the Center for Population Studies (CENEP), Buenos Aires Argentina. E-mail: [email protected]. Comments should be addressed by email to the author(s). Abstract This paper examines the process of feminization of South American intra-regional migration, with emphasis in the Southern Cone. It describes recent changes and trends, and addresses some of the most salient issues on the participation and experiences of female migrants. It deals with the social and economic reasons underlying the increasing autonomous migration of women, particularly on the interconnections between the South-American economic restructuring and the increasing demand of female migrants by the service and care sectors. Further issues are examined, such as the potential effects of the migration process on women’s empowerment; the emergence of global chains of care and its relation with long-distance motherhood; and the labor market experiences of female migrant. Finally, the report also deals with the dark side of the women’s migration: female trafficking. Keywords: gender, female migration, South American intra-regional migration. The Human Development Research Paper (HDRP) Series is a medium for sharing recent research commissioned to inform the global Human Development Report, which is published annually, and further research in the field of human development.
    [Show full text]
  • Crafting Colombianidad: Race, Citizenship and the Localization of Policy in Philadelphia
    CRAFTING COLOMBIANIDAD: RACE, CITIZENSHIP AND THE LOCALIZATION OF POLICY IN PHILADELPHIA A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by Diane R. Garbow July 2016 Examining Committee Members: Judith Goode, Advisory Chair, Department of Anthropology Naomi Schiller, Department of Anthropology Melissa Gilbert, Department of Geography and Urban Studies Ana Y. Ramos-Zayas, External Member, City University of New York © Copyright 2016 by Diane R. Garbow All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT In contrast to the municipalities across the United States that restrict migration and criminalize the presence of immigrants, Philadelphia is actively seeking to attract immigrants as a strategy to reverse the city’s limited economic and political importance caused by decades of deindustrialization and population loss. In 2010, the population of Philadelphia increased for the first time in six decades. This achievement, widely celebrated by the local government and in the press, was only made possible through increased immigration. This dissertation examines how efforts to attract migrants, through the creation of localized policy and institutions that facilitate incorporation, transform assertions of citizenship and the dynamics of race for Colombian migrants. The purpose of this research is to analyze how Colombians’ articulations of citizenship, and the ways they extend beyond juridical and legal rights, are enabled and constrained under new regimes of localized policy. In the dissertation, I examine citizenship as a set of performances and practices that occur in quotidian tasks that seek to establish a sense of belonging. Without a complex understanding of the effects of local migration policy, and how they differ from the effects of federal policy, we fail to grasp how Philadelphia’s promotion of migration has unstable and unequal effects for differentially situated actors.
    [Show full text]
  • Contemporary Muisca Indigenous Sounds in the Colombian Andes
    Nymsuque: Contemporary Muisca Indigenous Sounds in the Colombian Andes Beatriz Goubert Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2019 © 2019 Beatriz Goubert All rights reserved ABSTRACT Nymsuque: Contemporary Muisca Indigenous Sounds in the Colombian Andes Beatriz Goubert Muiscas figure prominently in Colombian national historical accounts as a worthy and valuable indigenous culture, comparable to the Incas and Aztecs, but without their architectural grandeur. The magnificent goldsmith’s art locates them on a transnational level as part of the legend of El Dorado. Today, though the population is small, Muiscas are committed to cultural revitalization. The 19th century project of constructing the Colombian nation split the official Muisca history in two. A radical division was established between the illustrious indigenous past exemplified through Muisca culture as an advanced, but extinct civilization, and the assimilation politics established for the indigenous survivors, who were considered degraded subjects to be incorporated into the national project as regular citizens (mestizos). More than a century later, and supported in the 1991’s multicultural Colombian Constitution, the nation-state recognized the existence of five Muisca cabildos (indigenous governments) in the Bogotá Plateau, two in the capital city and three in nearby towns. As part of their legal battle for achieving recognition and maintaining it, these Muisca communities started a process of cultural revitalization focused on language, musical traditions, and healing practices. Today’s Muiscas incorporate references from the colonial archive, archeological collections, and scholars’ interpretations of these sources into their contemporary cultural practices.
    [Show full text]
  • Gender and Intra-Regional Migration in South America
    Munich Personal RePEc Archive Gender and Intra-Regional Migration in South America Cerrutti, Marcela Center for Population Studies (CENEP) 1 April 2009 Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/19195/ MPRA Paper No. 19195, posted 13 Dec 2009 07:02 UTC Human Development Research Paper 2009/12 Gender and Intra- Regional Migration in South America Marcela Cerrutti United Nations Development Programme Human Development Reports Research Paper April 2009 Human Development Research Paper 2009/12 Gender and Intra- Regional Migration in South America Marcela Cerrutti United Nations Development Programme Human Development Reports Research Paper 2009/12 April 2009 Gender and Intra-Regional Migration in South America Marcela Cerrutti Marcela Cerrutti is Former Director of the Center for Population Studies (CENEP), Buenos Aires Argentina. E-mail: [email protected]. Comments should be addressed by email to the author(s). Abstract This paper examines the process of feminization of South American intra-regional migration, with emphasis in the Southern Cone. It describes recent changes and trends, and addresses some of the most salient issues on the participation and experiences of female migrants. It deals with the social and economic reasons underlying the increasing autonomous migration of women, particularly on the interconnections between the South-American economic restructuring and the increasing demand of female migrants by the service and care sectors. Further issues are examined, such as the potential effects of the migration process on women’s empowerment; the emergence of global chains of care and its relation with long-distance motherhood; and the labor market experiences of female migrant. Finally, the report also deals with the dark side of the women’s migration: female trafficking.
    [Show full text]
  • Immigrants in Boston Imagine Allthepeople: Thousands Moretoleavethecountry
    imagine imagine all the people: all the Colombians in Boston Though emigration from Colombia people has been a significant social force dating back to the 1960s, when it was primarily economically motivated, it has increased markedly in recent years due to political turbulence and instability in Colombia. It is estimated that between 1996 and 2003, 1.6 million Colombians left their home country and did not return. Nearly half of this number migrated between 1999 and 2001, which corresponded with both a significant drop in Colombia’s Venezuela and the United States have gross domestic product and a surge long been the most popular destina- in its unemployment rate. By 2001, tion for Colombian emigrants and con- unemployment reached 18% in urban tinue to be so today. Florida, because centers, where the bulk of Colombians of its close proximity to Bogota, has reside. Another contributing factor been a natural destination for many to emigration from Colombia are the Colombians arriving in the United increasing acts of violence targeting States. From there Colombians have civilians in the country’s decades old begun to disperse nationally, with sig- civil conflict over territorial control, nificant numbers moving up the east particularly over coca-growing re- coast to New York, New Jersey, and gions. The situation surrounding this Massachusetts.1 conflict has both displaced thousands of people and acted as a catalyst for thousands more to leave the country. Immigrants in Boston Colombian CITY OF BOSTON Thomas M. Menino Mayor New Bostonians Series March 2011 imagine population share 39% of Colombians Results from the 2005-2007 American Boston’s foreign-born population Community Survey (ACS)2 show that include Vietnam, El Salvador, Cape 10 are between the there are approximately 584,000 for- Verde, Jamaica Brazil and Mexico.
    [Show full text]
  • Colombian Immigrant Experiences
    FRAGMENTED TIES: COLOMBIAN IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCES by Carolina Valderrama-Echavarria A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History Boise State University May 2014 © 2014 Carolina Valderrama-Echavarria ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE COLLEGE DEFENSE COMMITTEE AND FINAL READING APPROVALS of the thesis submitted by Carolina Valderrama-Echavarria Thesis Title: Fragmented Ties: Colombian Immigrant Experiences Date of Final Oral Examination: 20 December 2013 The following individuals read and discussed the thesis submitted by student Carolina Valderrama-Echavarria, and they evaluated her presentation and response to questions during the final oral examination. They found that the student passed the final oral examination. John Bieter, Ph.D. Chair, Supervisory Committee Errol D. Jones, Ph.D. Member, Supervisory Committee Sergio Romero, Ph.D. Member, Supervisory Committee The final reading approval of the thesis was granted by John Bieter, Ph.D., Chair of the Supervisory Committee. The thesis was approved for the Graduate College by John R. Pelton, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate College. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A magnificent blend of mentors, family, and friends were instrumental in the development and completion of this thesis. I must first thank Dr. John Bieter, my adviser and committee chair, in helping with the completion of this thesis. His guidance served to polish me into the scholar that I have become. Second, many thanks to Dr. Errol D. Jones and Dr. Sergio Romero, who dedicated their advice and support over the course of years, for which I am eternally indebted. They generously gave their time and effort to seeing this through.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Central Florida STARS
    University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2007 Let The Children Come To Me Andrea Ramirez University of Central Florida Part of the Creative Writing Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Ramirez, Andrea, "Let The Children Come To Me" (2007). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 3310. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/3310 LET THE CHILDREN COME TO ME by ANDREA RAMIREZ B.A. University of Central Florida, 2002 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of English in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2007 © 2007 Andrea Ramirez ii ABSTRACT My thesis, a collection of personal essays, explores my parents’ affinity towards their native Colombia and how this connection to their homeland, through their faith and their customs, affected my definition of self. When I think about my parents’ emigration from Colombia to the States, I picture the illustrations in the Bible I had as a child: the couple running from Sodom and Gomorra, running away from the place they had always known and holding on to each other. My parents, like the couple in the Bible, were in the middle of nowhere when they first set foot on the cold, concrete streets of New York City.
    [Show full text]
  • As Colombia Emerges from Decades of War, Migration Challenges Mount
    4/17/2017 As Colombia Emerges from Decades of War, Migration Challenges Mount Published on migrationpolicy.org (http://www.migrationpolicy.org) Home > As Colombia Emerges from Decades of War, Migration Challenges Mount As Colombia Emerges from Decades of War, Migration Challenges Mount APRIL 13, 2017 PROFILE By Dayra Carvajal In December 2016, Colombia formally brought to a close a 52-year civil war that resulted in the deaths of more than 220,000 people, the flight of more than 7.6 million within and beyond the country’s borders, and an incalculable cost to the economy and public well-being. Approved by Congress after four years of negotiations between the Colombian government and the left-wing rebel group known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the historic peace deal ended the longest-running civil conflict in the Western Hemisphere, one that has taken a huge toll on Colombian society, most profoundly in the area of migration. Violence-driven displacement in rural areas has given Colombia the dubious distinction of hosting the most internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world, with 7.3 million individuals registered as of 2016—more than 15 percent of the national population. In addition, hundreds of thousands of Colombians are estimated to live abroad as refugees, primarily in neighboring countries. Ongoing violence by other guerrilla and paramilitary groups is making return difficult for these refugees. Historically known for large-scale emigration, Colombia experienced little immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries as a result of conditions including political violence, recurring economic crises, excess labor, and poor infrastructure.
    [Show full text]
  • Colombia English Final Sept 6
    Final Document - Colombia Possibilities and Perspectives of Indigenous Peoples with Regard to Consultations and Agreements within the Mining Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean: Thematic Exploration Prepared by Gladys Jimeno Santoyo August 2002 Research Team: Gladys Jimeno Santoyo, Omaira Mindiola, Julio Barragan, Claudia Puerta Indigenous Advisory Committee: Armando Valbuena Gouriyu, Gabriel Teodoro Bisbicus, Arregoces Conchacala, Victoria Ballesteros The North-South Institute is a charitable corporation established in 1976 to provide professional, policy- relevant research on relations between industrialized and developing countries. The Institute is independent and cooperates with a wide range of Canadian and international organizations working in related activities. The contents of this study represent the views and the findings of the author alone and not necessarily those of The North-South Institute’s directors, sponsors or supporters or those consulted during its preparation. © The North-South Institute/L’Institut Nord-Sud, 2002 55, Murray Street, Suite 200 Ottawa, Canada K1N 5M3 Tel: (613) 241-3535 Fax: (613) 241-7435 Email: [email protected] Web: www.nsi-ins.ca Copies are available from The North-South Institute, and can also be downloaded at www.nsi-ins.ca National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Jimeno, Gladys Possibilities and perspectives of Indigenous Peoples with regard to consultations and agreements within the mining sector in Latin America and the Caribbean : thematic exploration : final document, Colombia / prepared by Gladys Jimeno S. Translation of: Documento final, Colombia : pos ibilidades y perspectivas de los pueblos indígenas en relación con las consultas y concertaciones en el sector minero en América Latina y el Caribe.
    [Show full text]
  • Culture Box of Colombia
    COLOMBIA CONTENIDO CONTENTS Acknowledgments .......................3 Introduction .................................6 Items .............................................7 More Information ........................56 Contents Checklist ......................83 Evaluation.....................................84 AGRADECIMIENTOS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Contributors The Culture Box program was created by the University of New Mexico’s Latin American and Iberian Institute (LAII), with support provided by the LAII’s Title VI National Resource Center grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Contributing authors include Latin Americanist graduate students Adam Flores, Charla Henley, Jennie Grebb, Sarah Leister, Neoshia Roemer, Jacob Sandler, Kalyn Finnell, Lorraine Archibald, Amanda Hooker, Teresa Drenten, Marty Smith, Maria Jose Ramos, and Kathryn Peters. Project management, document design, and editorial support were provided by LAII staff person Keira Philipp-Schnurer. María Clara Herrera Rekow generously collected materials for the Culture Box of Colombia. Sponsors All program materials are readily available to educators in New Mexico courtesy of a partnership between the LAII, Instituto Cervantes of Albuquerque, National Hispanic Cultural Center, and Spanish Resource Center of Albuquerque - who, together, oversee the lending process. To learn more about the sponsor organizations, see their respective websites: • Latin American & Iberian Institute at the University of New Mexico • Instituto Cervantes of Albuquerque • National Hispanic Cultural Center • Spanish Resource Center of Albuquerque SOUTH AMERICA COLOMBIA INTRODUCCIÓN INTRODUCTION Any attempt to box in a country’s culture is necessarily problematic. Colombia is no exception, and for many years, the country has been subjected to just that. In contemporary times, discussions of Colombia have been largely dominated by la Violencia, promulgating images of Colombia does provide a necessary context to many of the current issues in the country.
    [Show full text]
  • Migration Policy in Colombia
    4. In transit: migration policy in Colombia Beatriz Eugenia Sánchez Mojica olombian migration policy is currently undergoing a process of profound transformation. Despite the fact that, at least since the second half of the 20th century, Colombia has been a country of Cemigration, such population movements have been subject to only minimal regulation. At the same time, immigration policy has traditionally been underpinned by national security concerns, evidenced by the fact that, until 2011, the body responsible for controlling movements into and out of the country, and for maintaining information on foreign nationals, was the former Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad (Administrative Department of Security − DAS) – an agency with responsibilities that included intelligence and espionage. Until the beginning of the 21st century, the combination of Colombia’s regulatory framework with factors such as a decades-long internal armed conflict, the oversupply of labour, successive economic crises, and the absence of an effective internal communications infrastructure led to a panorama characterised by population expulsion and extreme difficulty in attracting immigrants. Today, however, that panorama is changing. The Colombian government is seeking to open itself up to immigration and build links with its citizens living abroad. This transformation responds primarily to an increased interest in implementing an economic model in which foreign investment and the extractive industries are central. According to this model, immigration is an asset for development and growth, the expectation being that it brings highly qualified workers to the country as well as leading academics and researchers and, above all, investors who will inject capital into the extractive sector, which lies at the heart of the economic model.
    [Show full text]
  • International Migration, Remittances and Housing Strategies Among Transnational Migrant Households in Colombia
    INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, REMITTANCES AND HOUSING STRATEGIES AMONG TRANSNATIONAL MIGRANT HOUSEHOLDS IN COLOMBIA Abstract Migration has been recognised as one of the main strategies that families use for the production and reproduction of their livelihoods. In this sense, remittances can be understood, in the broader context of transnational family relationships, as an integral part of these livelihood strategies. In recent years, it has become evident that migrant families’ transnational relations and practices encompass all aspects of social life and have much broader effects on institutional, economic, social and cultural processes in communities and nations at both ends of the migration network. Although the debate on international migration and remittances in Latin America has advanced considerably in recent years, much remains to be understood about the multiple causes and consequences of migration and in particular, about the role of migrants as central agents in the transnational maintenance and reproduction of their families (CEPAL, 2007), as well as how these transnational ties are interwoven with other social, political and economic processes. This paper aims to fill this lacuna by examining Colombian migrants’ transnational practices along the geography of the Colombia-United Kingdom migration network, with particular reference to the intended and unintended socioeconomic outcomes that are generated by their use of remittances to finance housing investments and how these shape the long term livelihoods of migrant households in Colombia’s Coffee Region. This is important in light of calls for multi-sited empirical research that follows the transnational flows and connections of people, money and information across space (Faist, 2007; Levitt & Lamba-Nieves, 2011) and the need for understanding the extra-economic aspects of remittance behaviour (Batnitzky, McDowell, & Dyer, 2012; Goldring, 2004).
    [Show full text]