Provincial Globalisation: Transnational Flows and Regional Development

This paper reviews the migration and development debate and the current state of knowledge about flows of migrant resources to India, pointing to gaps and shortcomings in the literature. It argues that the complexities and intricacies of both mobility and resource transfers need to be better mapped and disentangled by placing them within three (interconnected) contexts: (1) the transnational social fields that connect diasporic communities with their home regions; (2) the institutional structures, networks, and nodes through which both people and resources move; and (3) the specific histories and social/ political-economic formations of the regions from which migrants leave, and to which resources are transmitted. The paper concludes that tracing transnational connections and flows at the regional level will provide a more nuanced understanding of their social and economic implications for the home regions and for India as a whole.