Week 3 - Ralph Imatong

In the reading "From Immigrant to Transmigrant: Theorizing Transnational Migration" by Nina Glick Schiller et. al. we see the transformation of being an immigrant to becoming a transmigrant. Indeed, there is an important difference between an immigrant and a transmigrant and that is the connection of a person from its homeland. I consider myself as a transmigrant because I still have an interconnection across the US border. I constantly call my dad in the Philippines and we still talk about regular life happenings or sometimes politics at home. Schiller asserts that I am no longer a sojourner because I am incorporated in my country of settlement through economics and politics. However, what is unique in my situation is that my transnationalism does not involve capital or sending money to the Philippines. My relationship with my father is part of the technoscape that has formed through globalization by using Facebook or Skype as a form of communication. Although I also understand that subscription of television programs from the Philippines is a part capital gain for the TV companies there. The reason for my transnation migration was not one of the things listed by Schiller. I came to the United States because my mother petitioned me and my brother. Thus, we were forced to be here. But this type of reason, in addition to the fact that I came here when I was already 18 years old, are good indications that I will still have a strong connection with the Philippines and thus, to be considered as transmigrant. I have been in the United States for some time now and the strong connection with my country just proves that there is no border that can separate me from the Philippines.

Questions: What does it mean by politics of differentiation? Schiller seem to suggest that a person can either be an immigrant or transnational. Is it possible that an immigrant will become a transnational or vice versa through the course of his/her stay in the country of residence? 

Sources:

Schiller et al. (1995). From Immigrant to Transmigrant: Theorizing Transnational Migration.Anthropological Quarterly, 68(1), 48-63.

Valverde, K. C. (2015, September 29). Lecture on Globalization (cont.). Personal Collection of K. C. Valverde, University of Davis, Davis CA.

This picture perfectly depicts what Schiller meant about transnationals. Some family members go abroad and send remittances to their family members back to the Philippines. 

Source: http://media.philstar.com/images/the-philippine-star/business/business-main/20140716/ofw-remitance-rise-1.jpg