Transnational Ties and Attitudes Towards Return

Abstract

This chapter, on the patterns of transnational ties between generations, is broadly based on the finding that transnational ties can vary among different generations and across different research sites. It investigates this variation, describing and analysing the establishment, maintenance and disruption of transnational ties and factors that influence such instances for each of the generations. The findings are analysed in relation to other research in the field. Transnational ties show different patterns between and within the two generations. In the case of the first generation, integration is usually prioritized over transnational ties, especially in terms of distribution of family resources and the orientation towards future life goals. The concepts of ‘transnational ways of being’ and ‘transnational ways of belonging’ find support in the data, although both were found to change over time. Transnational ways of being are common among both the first and the second generation. Transnational ways of belonging are more emphasized among the first generation, although this belonging is mostly to their past in Albania and to their families, rather than a symbolic belongingness expressed in the name of an ethnic group towards a homeland. In turn, the geographical approach, emphasizing space and place, and associated mobility tendencies and orientation, is more of a second-generation phenomenon. The teenagers are also significantly more prone towards mobility and cosmopolitan imaginaries and practices compared to the first generation.