No One Size Fits All: Key Debates in Transnationalism Research

Migration is often examined through different theories and approaches such as cultural theories, policy and economic frameworks and transnationalism. Most of these approaches unpack the key components of migration that include effects of social structures on agency, influences of transnational ties, migrants’ successes and lives in limbo as well as cultural norms and gender roles. These have succeeded in offering a well-informed understanding of migration as embodied processes that are formed by migrants’ interactions with the surrounding world. As an embodied approach, transnationalism looks into various aspects of migrants’ lives across space and time. It entails various units of analysis. These units, however, create debates over such issues as effects of socio-cultural practices, challenges to the current methodologies and dualities. This paper addresses these debates. It is hoped to offer a comprehensive review of the rich body of literature on transnationalism that leads to controversial issues. While no one size fits all, this paper aims to calls for studies undertaking an integrative approach that attend to ways that can help resolve these matters and propose possible methodological and theoretical framing that allows for new avenues that can challenge the normative understandings of migration from the angle of confusion and controversy