Searching for an appropriate research strategy on transnational migration: The logic of multi-sited research and the capacity of the cultural interferences approach

2 Amelina, Anna: Searching for an appropriate research strategy on transnational migration: The logic of multi-sited research and the capacity of the cultural interferences approach, The COMCAD Working Paper Series is intended to aid the rapid distribution of work in progress, research findings and special lectures by researchers and associates of COMCAD. Papers aim to stimulate discussion among the worldwide community of scholars, policymakers and practitioners. They are distributed free of charge in PDF format via the COMCAD website. The opinions expressed in the papers are solely those of the author/s who retain the copyright. Comments on individual Working Papers are welcomed, and should be directed to the author/s. the boundaries of nation states. Social scientists who analyse cultural and social practices of collectives only within nation state frames would disregard the existence of different forms of social life and establish a homogenised view on social reality – this was the main criticism of previous migration research. Although this critique pushes on modifications of methodological positions and rules in a significant way, it does not pay enough attention to the cultural perspective on transnational migration. Thus, in opposite to postcolonial studies, the interest in culture within the transnational approach is rather restricted (Kivisto, 2001). In addition I propose to distinguish between three ways in which cultural aspects are regarded in transnational research. First of all, culture is often described in the essentialist way 1. This view refuses to recognize a constructivist character of such phenomena as ethnicity and nation. Moreover, the reference to these categories within transnational activities of immigrants suggests an almost objective nature of them. Second, even if social scientists consider the importance of cultural factors in shaping transnational migration they avoid developing theoretical connections between cultural and other spheres, for instance, economic and political (Portes, Guanizo and nature of 'culture'. It conceptualises the development of new cultural patterns which emerge on the basis of different cultural orders under global conditions. 4 However, the aforementioned different conceptual ways of taking 'culture' into account are not acknowledged in methodological work on transnational migration. But especially the genuine cultural access would give a new perspective on transnational phenomena and on methodological ways of studying them. In particular, it can be useful for clarifying a specific methodological question: How to conduct research on transnational practices of migrants, which take place in multiple cultural orders? To put it in other words: Which …