Remittance as Belonging

Global Migration, Transnationalism, and the Quest for Home

By Hasan Mahmud

Rutgers University Press

Remittance as Belonging: Global Migration, Transnationalism, and the Quest for Home argues that migrant remittances express their sense of belonging and connectedness to their home country of origin, making an integral part of both migrants’ ethnic identity and sense of what they call home. Drawing on three and a half years of ethnographic fieldwork with Bangladeshi migrants in Tokyo and Los Angeles, Hasan Mahmud demonstrates that while migrants go abroad for various reasons, they do not travel alone. Although they leave behind their families in Bangladesh, they move abroad essentially as members of their family and community and maintain their belonging to home through transnational practices, including remittance-sending. By conceptualizing remittance as an expression of migrants’ belonging, this book presents detailed accounts of the emergence, growth, decline, and revival of remittances as a function of transformations in migrants’ sense of belonging to home.

Remittance as Belonging, filled with compelling vignettes and stories about Bangladeshi lived experiences in Tokyo and Los Angeles, offers a fresh theoretical perspective on remittances, showing that remittances are not just a form of transnational practice but an expression of a common struggle to make home across borders. The work makes a distinctive contribution to the burgeoning literature on migration and development. Min Zhou, distinguished professor of sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles

Stories of Bangladeshi migrant men sending money home to family reveal how remittances change over life stages. They can signal belonging and care but can also lead to fracture and discord. An interesting read. Supriya Singh, author of Money, Migration, and Family: India to Australia

HASAN MAHMUD is an assistant professor of sociology at Northwestern University in Qatar. He is the coeditor (with Min Zhou) of Beyond Economic Migration: Social, Historical, and Political Factors in U.S. Immigration.

Introduction: The Migrant, the Family, and Money
A Rush to the East: Bangladeshi Migration to Japan
Narratives of Remittance from Japan
The American Dream
Narratives of Remittance from the United States
Going Global, Coming Home
Conclusion: Why Do Migrants Send Remittances?
Acknowledgments
Notes
References
Index

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Contents
Introduction:   The Migrant, the Family, and Money
1          A Rush to the East: Bangladeshi Migration to Japan
2          Narratives of Remittance from Japan
3          The American Dream
4          Narratives of Remittance from the United States
5          Going Global, Coming Home
Conclusion:     Why Do Migrants Send Remittances?
Acknowledgements
Notes
Bibliography
Index

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