Transnational mobilities and return migration

This chapter first discusses conceptual linkages between notions of return, return migration and transnational mobilities before reviewing two main themes where the transnational approach has been significant in destabilising binary fixities in the way ‘return migration’ has been studied. In the first theme, we give attention to the burgeoning literature on ancestral returns, ethnic return migration and homeland visits among settled immigrants of different generations. In the second theme, we turn to the question of return among transnational migrants who undertake temporary overseas sojourns – primarily to improve personal and family livelihood opportunities – to explore issues of reintegration, adaptation, social remittances and identity negotiations. In the conclusion, we reflect on the material and emotional dimensions of transnational return as an idealised but provisional form of mobility.