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Transnational migration theory in population geography: gendered practices in networks linking Canada and India
Author(s) -
WaltonRoberts Margaret
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
population, space and place
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.398
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1544-8452
pISSN - 1544-8444
DOI - 10.1002/psp.343
Subject(s) - economic geography , focus (optics) , population , immigration , sociology , human geography , selection (genetic algorithm) , gender studies , geography , demography , physics , archaeology , optics , artificial intelligence , computer science
Geographers have recently suggested that transnational migration theory can contribute to the development of a critical population geography. What might such a critical population geography look like? In this paper I explore this in three ways. Firstly I offer some comments on why geographers have been slow to adopt a transnational focus on migration, and secondly I examine how gender has been underplayed in transnational literature. Thirdly I draw upon some examples from research on transnational immigrant networks between Canada and India. I focus on the specifics of Punjabi marriage migration networks to demonstrate how the practice of spousal selection has become globalised for certain diasporic communities. These examples offer a preliminary illustration of what a critical population geography, attuned to issues of gendered transnational processes, might contribute to current debates. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.