Who are the transnationals? Institutional categories beyond “migrants”

ABSTRACT

This article analyses the institutional categorization of people who lead transnational lives but are clients of a national welfare system. Based on institutional ethnography, the article explores the standpoint of bureaucrats who work in the Norwegian welfare system and deal with clients receiving Norwegian welfare benefits abroad. The analysis reveals an inclusive albeit ambiguous attitude towards these clients, whose cross-border living is seen as a new norm, carried out by all segments of the population. When describing people who lead transnational lives, the bureaucrats move beyond migrant labels, citing a broad array of formal and informal categories and stereotypes. The blurring conceptualization of who is considered transnational signals institutional incertitudes about how to adapt to increasing cross-border mobility. The study’s findings add substance to the plea for a “de-migranticization” of migration research.

KEYWORDS:

• Categories
• stereotypes
• transnationalism
• migration studies
• institutional analysis
• bureaucrats

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 “International branch” is my translation of utlandsområdet (the branch of, literally, “the abroad area”), which encompasses NAV Internasjonalt and other institutions and sub-units working with cross-border social security recipients.

2 The units’ official names are NAV Internasjonalt; Arbeids- og velferdsdirektoratet; NAV Kontroll; NAV Kontaktsenter Utland; Grensetjenesten; NAV Pensjon; NAV Forvaltning; and NAV-kontor.

3 All interviews were conducted in Norwegian. Excerpts from them and the institutional texts are my translations.

4 “Cross-border clients/people”, “mobile clients/people”, “those who cross borders” and “clients/people with an international dimension” were different formulations I used in my questions. How I posed the questions varied, but in all the interviews I ensured the bureaucrats and I were speaking about the same group by repeating the project information I had shared with them in advance. When I was sure we agreed on the subject of interest, I also used “these people”. When bureaucrats worked with specific benefits, I could ask “who are those who export unemployment benefits” etc. In most cases, however, I used the term “international dimension”.

5 This label was only used once by a bureaucrat when describing specific regulative changes relevant for Eastern Europeans who had worked as travelling musicians in the 1970s and 1980s.

6 None of the bureaucrats used the precise formulation “sacrificing fathers”, but their various labels and explanations conveyed images of self-sacrificing men ensuring the wellbeing of children and wives in their countries of origin.

7 “Backpacking disability pensioners” is my translation of uføretrygdede på jordomseiling (literally “disability pensioners sailing around the globe”).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Research Council of Norway (Norges Forskningsråd) [grant number 236962].