Connecting and confronting Transnationalism: Bridging Concepts and Moving Critique

This article traces the trajectory of transnationalism as a perspective andfieldof study and suggests that new impetus can be given to its development byestablishing a dialogue between transnationalism and other key concepts.While the research agenda of the early stages was characterised by a needto distinguish transnationalism from related terms, such as globalisation, weargue that thefield could now regain momentum by exploring synergies withother concepts. In this special issue we stage confrontations between trans-nationalism and, respectively, the (perspectives opened up by the) concepts of‘borders’,‘translocality’,‘precarity’,‘queer’,‘moralities’,‘the state’, and‘broker-age’. Conceptually, this allows us to go beyond an internal critique thatexposes the shortcomings of a transnational perspective, by suggestingnovel frameworks and toolkits. Substantively, this issue’s articles demonstratethe need to refocus transnational studies’attention to the unevenness,instability and inequality of transnational space.