Salvadoran economic transnationalism: embedded strategies for household maintenance, immigrant incorporation, and entrepreneurial expansion

This article presents a case study of the transnational economic practices linking two Salvadoran settlements in the United States and El Salvador. It considers the relationship between economic transnationalism, immigrant settlement and economic development in the country of origin. Four processes are examined including: (1) the creation of border-spanning social networks by migrants and their home country counterparts; (2) the construction of transnational economic activities and institutions; (3) the broader transnational social formations in which these are embedded; and, (4) the cumulative and unintended consequences of economic transnationalism for migrant households, the immigrant community, and El Salvador. The article applies the concepts of social network, social capital, and embeddedness, to explain the sources and determinants of individualand community-level variation in types of transnational economic practices. The conclusions drawn are that economic transnationalism is both part of a transnational settlement strategy and holds potential for economic development in the country of origin. First forged by refugees fleeing political violence in the late 1970s, circuits of transnational obligations and interests have proliferated and now link together a broad spectrum of Salvadoran society across the borders of multiple nation states. Over the course of close to three decades, border-spanning social networks have moved beyond the household sphere to include a variety of institutions such as enterprises, political parties, charitable organizations, and youth groups. Migrants’ increasingly strategic participation in home country affairs has also prompted a policy response from the Salvadoran state and a reorientation of business plans by some sectors of private enterprise. Such contact and interaction has consolidated an elaborate series of transnational social arrangements and institutions (Landolt et al. 1999; Landolt 2000; Lungo 1997; Mahler 1995; Menjívar 2000). In this article, I draw on primary data from a multi-sited project on the causes and consequences of migrant transnationalism to explore the economic dimensions of Salvadoran transnational migration. I focus on two themes. First, I examine the relationship between economic transnationalism and immigrant settlement. Immigrant settlement involves a multiplicity of processes including labour market insertion, ethnic identity formation, and the acquisition of citizenship rights. Prevailing interpretations portray settlement as a process that involves a break with home