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Transnational Habitus as Conceptual Tool

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Mapping Transnational Habitus

Part of the book series: Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship ((MDC))

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Abstract

This chapter addresses what is meant by transnational habitus as a conceptual tool. In so doing, we are interested in the potential of transnational habitus, as an analytical linchpin, in making sense of the social world, particularly with regard to transnational social spaces. For example, in considering transnational habitus, do scholars come to understand it as a system of dispositions which allow individuals to function in a variety of different nation-states? How is transnational habitus tied to Bourdieu’s other tools and how agents operationalize various material and symbolic capitals? How may a transnational habitus interact and supersede local environments? Does anyone experiencing transnational mobilities have aspects of a transnational habitus? It would be difficult to address these questions without first of all engaging with the concept of habitus itself. For this very reason, we need to revisit habitus before we consider the complexity of transnationalism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Archer (2010) for discussions of the possibilities and problematics of putting together habitus and reflexivity.

  2. 2.

    Yet, according to Vertovec (2001), the shifts in modern technology cannot be the main drivers of contemporary transnationalism.

  3. 3.

    Here were recognize Hartmann’s (2000) argument that transnational (social) classes become classes unto themselves overcoming international differences altogether.

  4. 4.

    And, to a lesser, extent Algeria.

  5. 5.

    We recognize cosmopolitan capital remains a complicated area of study with many different definitions. For our purposes, we draw on Weenink (2008) who defines cosmopolitan capital as “an awareness of global connectedness and second the idea of an orientation of open-mindedness towards the Other” (1089–1090). Other scholarship has highlighted the importance of English fluency and other competencies considered viable for citizenship in the twenty-first century.

  6. 6.

    It is noteworthy that Xu (2018) uses a different term “transborder habitus” and distinguishes it from transnational habitus in that the former recognizes “the complex historic entanglements of the two border fields” (1141)—namely, Mainland China and Hong Kong—and relatedly, “is not confined by the typically drawn national boundaries, but also recognizes within-country borders” (1141). Transborder habitus used in this way seems to assume that moving between geographic contexts is akin to moving between fields.

  7. 7.

    For a more nuanced rendering of the relationship between a transnational habitus and a cosmopolitan disposition, see Carlson and Schneickert (2021).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, Australia

    Garth Stahl

  2. Education Futures, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA, Australia

    Guanglun Michael Mu & Hannah Soong

  3. Educational Administration & Policy, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin District, Hong Kong

    Kun Dai

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  1. Garth Stahl
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  4. Kun Dai
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Stahl, G., Mu, G.M., Soong, H., Dai, K. (2024). Transnational Habitus as Conceptual Tool. In: Mapping Transnational Habitus. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-96103-0_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-96103-0_2

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