Migration and the Village Lifeworld: Exploring the Ambivalence of the Migration Act

Abstract

What makes village migration so special when it comes to transnational engagement? Indeed, collective remittances and hometown organising are widely observed among communities of rural origin, but hardly so among those of urban background. I have met hometown groups from all over Punjab, Kabylia or the Souss plain areas, but none were from Amritsar, Chandigarh, Agadir or Tizi Ouzou. In this chapter, I would like to show that this very specificity is not to be found in what people do, organise or mobilise once abroad, but in the very conditions that shape their migration. The reason why people migrate informs the nature and content of the relationships they maintain with the homeland. The disconnection between migration and post-migration studies may explain why there has been so little research on this relation. But it turns out to be key for understanding the peculiarity of hometown transnationalism. This simple assumption will serve as a starter for the analysis of collective transnational bonds.