Conceptualising Continuity : A Material Culture Perspective on Transnational Social Fields

Positioned at the intersection between ethnology, migration research and studies of material culture, the article argues for recognising the importance of the material layers of transnational social fields. Drawing on Levitt and Glick Schiller’s analytical distinction between ways of being and ways of belonging, it exemplifies how a material culture perspective contributes to a balanced understanding of migrants’ lives as positioned in both material and discursive terms and equally importantly formed by practices as by representations. Three theoretical statements, grounded in the analysis of ethnographic material, are elaborated in the article. They refer to the presence of objects in another location, the continuity of practices perceived as normal, and the practice-based feeling of emplacement. Bourdieu’s notion of habitus and Hage’s discussion of hexis are used to explain the interconnectedness of these statements. The article suggests that studying the changes of habitus that occur due to migration is needed for a deeper understanding of the processes of migrant emplacement through practice