Open research questions in Diaspora, migration, transnational identity

What the literature leaves open

• The study identifies a gap in understanding the ways in which migrant workers navigate online and offline realities. The research gap lies in understanding the importance of identity, materiality, and media ideology in grassroots social media practices and political engagement. The study highlights the need for a sociolinguistically grounded chronotopic approach to understanding online and offline realities.

  Between silence and voicing out: Migrant organizations navigating online and offline realities · 2025 · DOI

• A key contribution of this study is the comparative analysis of two groups rarely examined together: Muslim Meskhetians repatriated to Georgia and those resettled in the United States.

  Collective Nostalgia and Imagined Homeland: Emotional Geographies of Akhaltsikhe Among Muslim Meskhetians · 2026 · DOI

• While reciprocal remittances exemplify an alternative economy rooted in reciprocity, their dependence on documentation and access to diverse infrastructures is thus an important limitations.

  Reciprocal remittances: Inventive practices, alternative economies, and the differing role of ‘friends’ · 2026 · DOI

• While existing scholarship has highlighted the role of internal dynamics and network configurations, the influence of national and country-specific contexts remains underexplored.

  The spatial dimension of political opportunities: civil society and local governments in pro-migrant transnational networks · 2026 · DOI

• the complexity of contemporary migratory processes - the need for a sophisticated theory that incorporates a variety of perspectives, levels, and assumptions - the challenge of analysing and synthesising material from diverse sources

  A Critical Literature Review of Housing and Migration: Understanding Causality, Cohesion and Citizenship · 2026 · DOI

• the debates surrounding migration have been under-theorised in the housing literature - the general literature in migration studies has tended to underplay the importance of housing - studies which have been undertaken within housing research can be criticised on grounds of being aspatial, ahistorical and/or apolitical

  A Critical Literature Review of Housing and Migration: Understanding Causality, Cohesion and Citizenship · 2026 · DOI

• The gap is the lack of methodological transparency in remittance statistics and their connection to political communication and community-level welfare practices. The article identifies the need to connect remittance statistics to both political communication and community-level welfare practices.

  Remittances as Data Infrastructure in Political Communication: Observed vs. Modelled Metrics and Diaspora Narratives (UK–Romania) · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in understanding the role of institutional capacity in sustaining collective engagement and immigrant integration. Prior research has focused on individual socio-economic indicators, but the study highlights the importance of considering the organizational capacity of ethnic communities. The analysis fills a gap in the literature by providing a comparative analysis of community participation among Armenian diaspora populations in two major host contexts.

  Institutional and Professional Models of Diaspora Organization: Armenian Communities in Tehran and Los Angeles · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in our understanding of how migrants' experiences in their country of residence affect their engagement with the politics of their country of origin. The research highlights the need to consider the role of institutional arrangements and individual experiences in shaping transnational political engagement.

  The best of two worlds? How residence-country contexts affect migrants’ origin-country political engagement · 2026 · DOI

• The need to understand how diasporas operate as transnational agents of change. The need to understand the transnational constraints and mechanisms of repression affecting diaspora members.

  Voices across borders: exploring transnational activism and repression through diaspora perspectives · 2026 · DOI

• Applying the proposed methodologies to other diaspora cities. Refining the methodologies to improve their accuracy. Studying the demographics of Haredi communities in more detail.

  Two Methods for Estimating the Size of Haredi Communities in Diaspora Cities: Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Montreal and Toronto, Canada · 2026 · DOI

• The size of Haredi communities outside of Israel has only been roughly approximated. There is a need for more accurate estimates of the size of Haredi communities in diaspora cities.

  Two Methods for Estimating the Size of Haredi Communities in Diaspora Cities: Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Montreal and Toronto, Canada · 2026 · DOI

• Future studies could examine the longitudinal effects of Jewish educational interventions on Jewish identity. Future studies could explore the role of other factors, such as technology and social media, in shaping Jewish identity. Future studies could apply the ecosystem framework to other contexts, such as non-Jewish minority groups.

  Silver Bullet Versus Ecosystem: Unraveling the Impact of Jewish Educational Interventions on Jewish Identity · 2026 · DOI

• Prior studies have often adopted a “silver bullet” approach, attributing identity outcomes to single programs or interventions. There is a need for more nuanced understandings of Jewish identity formation, considering the interdependence of institutional, social, and individual influences.

  Silver Bullet Versus Ecosystem: Unraveling the Impact of Jewish Educational Interventions on Jewish Identity · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in understanding how Ukrainian youth understand patriotism and evaluate the migration decisions of their peers during wartime. The study aims to provide insights into the complex relationship between personal security and patriotic duty.

  Patriotism in the Age of War and Globalisation: Contemporary Dilemmas of Ukrainian Youth · 2026 · DOI

• The CCP's transnational repression networks pose a threat to the safety and security of Uyghurs. Uyghurs living in Türkiye may face pressure to stay silent or become informants. The study's findings highlight the need for more research and support for Uyghurs.

  Where is my Family? Contemporary Uyghur Activism in the Transnational Diaspora · 2026 · DOI

• There is a lack of understanding about how the CCP is using transnational networks to spy on and control Uyghurs. There is a need for more research on the experiences of Uyghurs living in Türkiye.

  Where is my Family? Contemporary Uyghur Activism in the Transnational Diaspora · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in the understanding of immigrant integration. The study highlights the need to explore the complexities of migrant identity.

  “I’m 70% Nigerian, 30% American” · 2026 · DOI

• Immigrant integration is controversial both in academic writing and political discourse. There are at least two perspectives in the former: cultural and progress. The culturalist or nationalist perspective of integration assumes that migrants are pollutants and their culture and traditions are not in line with those in the host country; hence, they need to be integrated. A typical definition of immigrant integration in this regard was provided in a 2006 Dutch Parliamentary report where integration was defined thus as quoted by Willem Schinkel (2013): “Integration means participation and that requires that all migrants learn the Dutch language and adopt the norms, values and forms of social conduct prevailing in our country” (p. 1149). This definition requires that migrants embrace in totality the language and other cultural practices of the host country and must be in contact with the “autochtones,” which means natives or indigenes. By implication, traditionally, migrants were imagined as people from the filthy, polluted, and criminal “outside society” while nationals of the host country were in the clean, peaceful “inside society” (Schinkel 2017). Hence, integration was seen as the extent to which migrants have embraced and submitted to the ways of life in the host society (see Dodevska 2023; Schinkel 2013, 2017). To this end, integration was synonymous with migrants’ socialization (Wieviorka 2014) or migrants’ submission (Schneider and Crul, 2010). The traditional culturalist view, therefore, equates assimilation (in Berry’s terms) with integration and sees both as a one-way process. Alternative culturalist perspectives appear less coercive and recognize the accommodation of some aspects of migrants’ culture (see Favell 2021) and admit to the two-way process (i.e., as a mutual adjustment of both migrants and receiving countries) of immigrant integration (Klarenbeek 2021). Blanca Garcés- Mascareñas and Rinus Penninx (2016) argued for an understanding of integration as a three-way process comprising migrants, the host country, and the country of origin. To Berry (2001), “When there is an interest in both maintaining one’s original culture and engaging in daily interactions with other groups, integration is the option; here, some degree of cultural integrity is maintained” (p. 619). Integration is still commonly understood as assimilation by some contemporary scholars, such as Adrian Favell (2019), especially in the United States, where both concepts are often used synonymously to refer to the gradual disappearance of ethnic distinctions (see Alba 2024; Lee and Sheng, 2024). https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X26100071 Published online by Cambridge University Press 62 Tunde A. Alabi To those who regard assimilation and integration as the same, culture (change) is central to their understanding. Perhaps the assimilationist or nationalist view of integration led Schinkel (2018) to advocate abandoning the concept.

  “I’m 70% Nigerian, 30% American” · 2026 · DOI

• The research gap lies in the limited understanding of the complex interplay between religion, utility, and social representations. There is a need for further research on the experiences of Sub-Saharan African migrants in Morocco.

  Awareness of Otherness between Religion and Utility: Moroccans’ Representations of Sub-Saharan African Migrants · 2026 · DOI

• The research only included Tajik political migrants who had been granted asylum in Lithuania. The study did not include economic migrants. The sample size was limited to 12 interviews.

  The Dynamics of the Tajik Political Migrant Community in Lithuania: A Migration Networks Perspective · 2026 · DOI

• The paper identifies a gap in the understanding of migration processes and the role of migration networks. The study highlights the need to consider the internal dynamics of migrant communities and the significance of migration networks.

  The Dynamics of the Tajik Political Migrant Community in Lithuania: A Migration Networks Perspective · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies cultural differences, infrastructural challenges, and institutional dysfunctions as key challenges. The authors highlight the need to address the subtle forms of exclusion faced by IDPs.

  What is the Impact of Social Isolation of Internally Displaced Persons in Rural Communities? Implications for Ukraine’s Recovery · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in the understanding of social isolation among IDPs in rural Ukraine. The authors highlight the need for an integrated approach to prevent long-term institutionalization of social isolation.

  What is the Impact of Social Isolation of Internally Displaced Persons in Rural Communities? Implications for Ukraine’s Recovery · 2026 · DOI

• The article identifies a gap in the understanding of the role of memory and remembrance in the identity-formation process of Syrian refugees. The study highlights the need to explore the complexities of the concept of 'identity' in the context of refugee studies.

  The Role of Identity-Remembrance in the Syrian Refugees’ Adaptability: An Interdisciplinary Assessment · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Diaspora, migration, transnational identity

• E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty‐first Century The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture · Scandinavian Political Studies · 2007 · 3,052 citations
• Conceptualizing Simultaneity: A Transnational Social Field Perspective on Society · International Migration Review · 2004 · 1,796 citations
• Belonging and the politics of belonging · Patterns of Prejudice · 2006 · 1,516 citations
• National Geographic: The Rooting of Peoples and the Territorialization of National Identity Among Scholars and Refugees · Cultural Anthropology · 1992 · 1,496 citations
• The ‘diaspora’ diaspora · Ethnic and Racial Studies · 2004 · 1,253 citations
• Ethnicity and the Multicultural City: Living with Diversity · Environment and Planning A Economy and Space · 2002 · 1,016 citations
• Conceiving and researching transnationalism · Ethnic and Racial Studies · 1999 · 1,004 citations
• Transnational Migration Studies: Past Developments and Future Trends · Annual Review of Sociology · 2007 · 808 citations
• The Local and the Global: The Anthropology of Globalization and Transnationalism · Annual Review of Anthropology · 1995 · 794 citations
• A plea for the ‘de-migranticization' of research on migration and integration · Ethnic and Racial Studies · 2016 · 570 citations

Most recent work

• Voices across borders: exploring transnational activism and repression through diaspora perspectives · Ethnic and Racial Studies · 2026
• Transnational repression in an age of global authoritarianism: experiences of Uyghur diaspora activists in Sweden · Ethnic and Racial Studies · 2026
• Migration, class and the intergenerational self in contemporary Australia: Exploring family legacies · Current Sociology · 2026
• Neither from within nor from without: how states securitize diasporas · Ethnic and Racial Studies · 2026
• Islamist diasporic mobilization and agency in exile · Ethnic and Racial Studies · 2026
• Translation and transformation of class through migration: Rethinking social and spatial mobility across contexts · Current Sociology · 2026
• The religious aspiration-capability nexus in African youth migration · Ethnic and Racial Studies · 2026
• Undoing nothing, making relevance, and embracing ambivalence: home and place-making in migration contexts · Ethnic and Racial Studies · 2026
• Back to the fold? Women, return migration, and patriarchal governance in MENA · International Review of Sociology · 2026
• The dynamics of ‘limited hybridity’ in migration: the case of Zera Beta Israel from Ethiopia · Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies · 2026

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