Definition: Transnational
Professor Katie Logan
Arab Literary Travels E324
10 February 2016
Definition Project: Transnational
The words transnational, multinational, and international often get used interchangeably, but the latter two lack the prefix “trans,” which represents the transition between two nations. This is important, because the process of transition from one place to another connects the person to the nations concerned without considering them as separate. The person themselves are the embodiment of the two or more nations, either leaning more or less towards one than the other, or equally.
People experience transnationality in different ways. Some people move away from their homeland for whatever reason, assimilate into their new society, but still keep in touch with their roots, and therefore consider themselves transnational. Others have parents or ancestors from somewhere else, so they feel ethnically transnational though they might never have visited the place. Being transnational can apply socially and/or legally to a person, who has either adapted to their new environment and identifies with both countries, or based on getting passports officially for both countries for dual citizenship. The word transnational becomes important to describe areas or people that reside in nations that are governed under more than one empire or regime, compelling them to give their allegiance to both their nation and central government.
Another example of this pertains to territory and borders. “Baluchistan is the name of the westernmost province of Pakistan, as well as of the transnational territory of the traditional Baluchi homeland. This larger region was carved up by the imperial powers concerned more with ease of administration than with recognition of the territorial limits of the inhabitants” (Gratton 22). Because of the unwanted borders forced upon the Baluchi people, the area that they resided in was split in Iran and Pakistan. Despite the political separation, Baluchis are “autonomous seminomadic groups, organized along principles of clan affiliation rather than territorial association” (Gratton 22). This shows that many Baluchis might feel that they have a transnational identity, claiming to be both Baluchi and Iranian or Pakistani.
At times, a person can feel that because of their transnationality, they do not belong in either place, because in both they are alienated as the other. This relates to people who have moved to another country, but visit their country of origin often, or to people born of parents/family of multiple nationalities, causing them to often feel excluded from both communities since they are not “pure.” This can affect the way a person views themselves and defines their identity, making them question who they really are and where they fit in society. A perfect example of this is portrayed in Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel American Born Chinese, which shows the lives of four different boys who would all be considered transnational, but are at different stages of their transnational journey, making some of them question their identity whether they are or should be American-Chinese or Chinese-American.
Having family ties in a different country can mean a person has a transnational lifestyle as well. In the Philippines, women who must go overseas for work “leav[e] their children and families[,]…"transnationalizing" the meaning of motherhood” (Jimenez V). Their experience shows that transnationality can bring feelings of loss as well as strong feelings of loyalty, both which often come with being away from what one has grown to become familiar with. Being away from your country of origin as well as family can lead to “hardship and life difficulties” as well as an insight to the “value of family and togetherness,” both a part of the transnational experience for the women as well as the families they leave behind (Jimenez V). Identifying with both countries involves “reevaluating and redefining [their] sense of self” (Jimenez V).
A person’s loyalties or identifications may lie with the country they live in, the country they are born in, the country their ancestors are from, or even countries of which their family resides in. Though this definition gives multiple ways of how the word can be used, it is still not broad enough to encompass the possibilities of which the word transnational could apply to.
Works Cited
Gratton, Nancy E. "Baluchi." Encyclopedia of World Cultures. Vol. 3: South Asia. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1996. 22-24. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
Jimenez, Jacqueline O. "Transnational Parenting: The Experience of Filipino Immigrant Mothers Who have Left their Children in the Philippines." Abstract. Order No. 3700907 Alliant International University, 2015. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.