Using the example of Sicilian migrants in Germany I point out the relationship between ritual revitalisation in the migrant community, the movement and the reproduction of objects respectively. A case in point is the reactivation of a local type of festival of St Joseph, which Sicilian migrants from one particular town began to celebrate in Germany in the 1970s. It shows close connections to the Sicilian hometown on both the material and symbolic level, hence anchoring identity and reproducing memory. I will show how personal touch becomes tradition within the range of individual play and the framework of descent and how the saint’s cult becomes translocative through its revitalisation in the migrant community.
KEY WORDS: migration, ritual change, social change, Sicilian migrants, reciprocity

Using the example of Sicilian migrants in Germany I point out the relationship between ritual revitalisation in the migrant community, the movement and the reproduction of objects respectively. A case in point is the reactivation of a local type of festival of St Joseph, which Sicilian migrants from one particular town began to celebrate in Germany in the 1970s. It shows close connections to the Sicilian hometown on both the material and symbolic level, hence anchoring identity and reproducing memory. I will show how personal touch becomes tradition within the range of individual play and the framework of descent and how the saint’s cult becomes translocative through its revitalisation in the migrant community.
KEY WORDS: migration, ritual change, social change, Sicilian migrants, reciprocity

This paper reviews part of the outcome of a research project based on the life narratives of a group of Goan Brahmin families with a common past: a long life experience in colonial Mozambique, followed by a forced exodus to Portugal after its independence. The families´ life experiences were explored via the discussion of their past homes, their material culture and domestic consumption practices, which proved to be a positive contribution to revealing significant features of their position in the former colonial system.
KEY WORDS: materiality, home, migration, colonialism, Goa

This paper reviews part of the outcome of a research project based on the life narratives of a group of Goan Brahmin families with a common past: a long life experience in colonial Mozambique, followed by a forced exodus to Portugal after its independence. The families´ life experiences were explored via the discussion of their past homes, their material culture and domestic consumption practices, which proved to be a positive contribution to revealing significant features of their position in the former colonial system.
KEY WORDS: materiality, home, migration, colonialism, Goa

The paper addresses the historical and class-contingent processes of transnationalism and integration mediated through material culture. I see the world of goods as a means to uncover the daily, potentially cosmopolitan, practices through which migrants (re)create the ties to their places of origin and destination and contribute to the transnationalization and cosmopolitanization of the subjectivity of the people with whom they interact: the Finnish “natives” and those who stayed behind. The analysis is based on my multi-sited ethnography conducted across Poland and Finland.
KEY WORDS: transnationalism, integration, material culture, Polish migration, Finland

The paper addresses the historical and class-contingent processes of transnationalism and integration mediated through material culture. I see the world of goods as a means to uncover the daily, potentially cosmopolitan, practices through which migrants (re)create the ties to their places of origin and destination and contribute to the transnationalization and cosmopolitanization of the subjectivity of the people with whom they interact: the Finnish “natives” and those who stayed behind. The analysis is based on my multi-sited ethnography conducted across Poland and Finland.
KEY WORDS: transnationalism, integration, material culture, Polish migration, Finland

The paper addresses motivations for patterns and types of remittances, which can be defined as a set of gifts in different forms. Generally speaking, remittances refer to a variety of transfers between migrants and individuals or groups remaining in countries of origin. The latter most often include both core and extended families. In addition to transfers, the paper deals with processes of incorporation and preservation of migrants’ sense of belonging to the place of origin, and with processes of linking them with places of residence. Furthermore, the authors discuss the essence of social responsibility evident in migrants’ incorporation, maintenance of their sense of belonging, their image, social authority, substance, respect and inclusion into their sending societies. The focus is on migrants’ motivation, as well as on factors existing in countries involved in transnational connections stimulating and hindering processes of remitting. The authors discuss social and demographic distribution and the importance of social pressures faced by migrants and expectations of other members of the social networks which play an essential part in the aforementioned processes.
KEY WORDS: remittances, social networks, migration, Arabs, Bosniaks

The paper addresses motivations for patterns and types of remittances, which can be defined as a set of gifts in different forms. Generally speaking, remittances refer to a variety of transfers between migrants and individuals or groups remaining in countries of origin. The latter most often include both core and extended families. In addition to transfers, the paper deals with processes of incorporation and preservation of migrants’ sense of belonging to the place of origin, and with processes of linking them with places of residence. Furthermore, the authors discuss the essence of social responsibility evident in migrants’ incorporation, maintenance of their sense of belonging, their image, social authority, substance, respect and inclusion into their sending societies. The focus is on migrants’ motivation, as well as on factors existing in countries involved in transnational connections stimulating and hindering processes of remitting. The authors discuss social and demographic distribution and the importance of social pressures faced by migrants and expectations of other members of the social networks which play an essential part in the aforementioned processes.
KEY WORDS: remittances, social networks, migration, Arabs, Bosniaks

The author argues that ethnographic insights into migrants’ personal relations achieved through objects, and their involvement in social networks proved through objects, can open up new avenues of understanding and contribute to the creation of new conceptual lenses in studies of migration. Conceptual and methodological issues are discussed, and the themes outlined, that connect ethnographic examples presented in the contributions to this section. Most important is the reconsideration of the migrants’ presupposed collective identities. The claims to and representations of (usually ethnic) belonging may be detached from the ways in which people fashion their transnational social fields.
KEYWORDS: transnational social field, object, ethnography

The author argues that ethnographic insights into migrants’ personal relations achieved through objects, and their involvement in social networks proved through objects, can open up new avenues of understanding and contribute to the creation of new conceptual lenses in studies of migration. Conceptual and methodological issues are discussed, and the themes outlined, that connect ethnographic examples presented in the contributions to this section. Most important is the reconsideration of the migrants’ presupposed collective identities. The claims to and representations of (usually ethnic) belonging may be detached from the ways in which people fashion their transnational social fields.
KEYWORDS: transnational social field, object, ethnography