MIGRINTER

Ce livre est d'abord un témoignage, celui de ces hommes et de ces femmes qui se construisent une place entre ici et là-bas. C'est la première étude concernant les associations de migrants marocains impliqués dans le développement. L'auteur aborde sous un angle nouveau la relation entre migration et développement en s'interrogeant non pas sur les effets de la migration en matière de développement mais sur le pourquoi de l'implication des migrants. Le développement apparaît alors comme un moyen instrumentalisé par les différents groupes en présence. Thomas Lacroix rénove l'approche sur le transnationalisme en l'analysant comme le creuset où s'invente une nouvelle identité migratoire, un nouveau mode d'intégration.

Derrière la politique migratoire, se dessinent les tensions qui caractérisent le nationalisme français. Tensions entre deux conceptions de la Nation tout d'abord : la Nation française se veut être une entité politique moderne basée sur la volonté de partage démocratique du pouvoir, mais aussi une communauté ethnique où l'intégration culturelle est un préalable à la participation politique. Tension entre nationalisme et besoins économiques ensuite : tandis que les principes républicains appellent un traitement égalitaire des étrangers, tandis que la préservation de l'homogénéité culturelle de la Nation implique une immigration sélectionnée et faible, les entreprises ont besoin d'une grande quantité de main-d'oeuvre gérée de façon différenciée.

This working paper is part of a comparative research project looking at three immigrant groups (two North African Berber groups: the Moroccan Chleuhs and the Algerian Kabyles, and the Sikh Punjabis from India) residing in two receiving countries (France and the UK). This work seeks to explain the emergence of hometown associations committed to the development of their place of origin since the early 1990s. This research draws on a previous doctoral study on Moroccan Berber immigrants in France. Since then, I have extended this research to the other two groups. This choice has been underpinned by the prospect of comparing this first group with one which displays strong similarities (the Berber Kabyles from Algeria) and another which presents distinct features (the Sikh Punjabis). The three migrations have been spurred by British and French colonisation. They are three ethnic minority groups in their origin country which have become the forerunner of the Indian and North African migration systems. However, the conditions of their settlement in the arrival countries are obviously different. The Berber groups have predominantly remained working-class groups while the Punjabis have enjoyed a better economic integration into multicultural Britain. However, despite their common cultural, religious and historical features, Algerian Kabyles turn out to be far less committed to transnational practices than their Moroccan counterpart. Conversely, Moroccans and Indians both display a high level of engagement in cross-border development projects. Relying on Mill's laws of comparison, my intent is to uncover the common factors which have led these two distinct groups to engage in similar practices. Conversely, the Kabyle/Chleuh comparison is likely to give us the possibility of highlighting the obstacles which explain why some groups form developmental hometown groups while others do not. The analysis initially rests on the structure agency approach. However, the research has been heavily influenced by the theory of communicative action of Jürgen Habermas, which offers a better framework to address the coordination of collective actions. This has led me to unravel the symbolic framework which underpins the implementation of a development project, a symbolic framework which allows migrants to use remittances as a means of expression of who they are and how they position themselves within and toward the spaces of departure and arrival. This paper is the second of three working papers addressing the different layers of structural constraints which were conducive to the implementation of collective remittances of development: the moral-practical infrastructures, the agential structures and the institutional superstructures.

This working paper is part of a comparative research project looking at three immigrant groups (two North African Berber groups: the Moroccan Chleuhs and the Algerian Kabyles; and the Sikh Punjabis from India) residing in two receiving countries (France and the UK). This work seeks to explain the emergence since the early 1990s of hometown associations committed to the development of their place of origin. This research draws on a previous doctoral study on Moroccan Berber immigrants in France. Since then, I have extended this research to the other two groups. This choice has been underpinned by the prospect of comparing this first group with one which displays strong similarities (the Berber Kabyles from Algeria) and another which presents distinct features (the Sikh Punjabis). The three migrations have been spurred by British and French colonisation. They are three ethnic minority groups in their origin countries which have become the forerunner of the Indian and North African migration systems. However, the conditions of their settlement in the arrival countries are obviously different. The Berber groups have predominantly remained working-class groups while the Punjabis have enjoyed a better economic integration into multicultural Britain. However, despite their common cultural, religious and historical features, Algerian Kabyles turn out to be far less committed to transnational practices than their Moroccan counterpart. Conversely, Moroccans and Indians both display a high level of engagement in cross-border development projects. Relying on Mill's laws of comparison, my intention is to uncover the common factors which have led these two distinct groups to engage in similar practices. The Kabyle/Chleuh comparison is likely to help us highlight why some groups form developmental hometown groups while others do not. The analysis initially rests on the structure agency approach. However, the research has been heavily influenced by the theory of communicative action of Jürgen Habermas, which offers a better framework to address the coordination of collective actions. This has led me to unravel the symbolic framework which underpins the implementation of a development project, a symbolic framework which allows migrants to use remittances as a means of expression of who they are and how they position themselves within and toward the spaces of departure and arrival. This paper is the first of three working papers addressing the different layers of structural constraints which were conducive to the implementation of collective remittances of development: the moral-practical infrastructures, the agential structures and the institutional superstructures.

Although the cross-border engagements of immigrants have received an increasing attention since the 1990s, the role of migrant organisations in this process has spurred comparatively little interest. As a consequence, efforts to conceptualise migrant organising in the transnational sphere have been relatively scarce. This paper seeks to contribute to this effort by proposing a more systematic definition and use of the concept of transnational organisational fields. This endeavour is illustrated by two case studies based on research carried out within the TRAMO project (Diffusion and Contexts of Transational Migrant Organisations): Indian and Polish organisations in the UK. The intent is to show that much can be gained by adopting a bird's-eye view on the networks that bind together migrant organisations within and outside the country of settlement. The two case studies display two opposite forms of structuring. In the Polish case, the formation of the field was managed by a central institution (the Polish government in exile) while, in the Indian case, there was a decentralised process. These discrepancies have consequences on the shape and contents of cross-border activities of migrant organisations.