'I wish, I wish...': mobility, immobility and the global ‘imaginings’ of Nigerian transnational children

Transnational migration characterised by temporary or ongoing border-crossings has been hailed as a means by which migrants can creatively sustain the economic life of their families while establishing connections and social networks in different nation states (Vertovec, 2007). Yet Al-Ali and Koser (2002) caution that transnational mobility is not equally accessible to all migrants; gender relations, household structures, legal status and access to entitlements can all act as barriers to migrant mobility. While the transnational migration literature emphasises connected social networks across bi-national locations, it has insufficiently captured the ‘stuckness’ experienced by many African transnational migrants once they reach Europe and that of their children back home. The differently-situated position of children with respect to transnational mobility is under-researched in the academic literature. While the children of the global elite can move with relative ease (Nette and Hayden 2007), the children of middle-class and poor families in the developing world, such as Africa, encounter significant barriers to transnational mobility. In particular, the left-behind children of European-based African migrant parents are part of an increasing population of children whose lives are defined by the opportunities but also the constraints of globalisation