Within the fi eld of immigration studies, transnationalism came to refer to the
activities of immigrants to forge and sustain multi-stranded social relations that link
their societies of origin and settlement as a single unifi ed fi eld of social action (Basch
et al. 1994: 7). Innovations in transportation and communications have made possible
a density and intensity of links not previously possible between the country of
origin and of settlement. This, in turn, has allowed for these communities to live
simultaneously in two or more worlds or to create and live in ‘transnational spaces’
to a degree not previously known. Recognizing this new reality, the scholarly literature
undertook a paradigm shift from international migration to transnational
migration, and began to refer to these communities as transnational communities.
Such communities come in different varieties, including those formed by new immigrant
groups migrating to First World countries, as well as those older diasporic
populations whose status and attitude is continuously infl uenced by the accelerating
pace of economic, cultural and institutional globalization