Return has long been considered the end of a migration cycle. Today, returnees’ continued transnational ties, practices and resources have become increasingly visible. ‘Transnational Return and Social Change’ pays tribute to the meso-level impacts that follow the practices and resources migrant returnees mobilize across borders, influencing communities, organizations, social networks and groups.

In the past years, in a general context featured by anti-migration discourses in immigration countries, sustained economic growth in countries of origin and mobility between migrants’ countries of origin and destination, research on return migration started flourishing.

Return has long been considered the end of a migration cycle. Today, returnees’ continued transnational ties, practices and resources have become increasingly visible. ‘Transnational Return and Social Change’ joins what is now a growing field of research and suggests new ways to understand the dynamics of return migration and the social changes that come along. It pays tribute to the meso-level impacts that follow the practices and resources migrant returnees mobilize across borders. It argues for the need to study the dynamics and impact of return migration by involving also more mundane forms of change, arguing that everyday processes and small-scale changes are as important as the macro-transformations for understanding the societal impact of migration.

This volume thus inquires about the consequences of return for local communities, organizations, social networks and groups, focussing on the changes in social hierarchies, collective identities and cultural capital, norms and knowledge. It presents case studies of migration flows that connect Germany to Turkey, Romania and Ghana, the United Kingdom to Poland, multiple Western countries to Latvia as well as inner-African movements. Against this background, the book contributes new insights into the transnational dynamics of return migration and their societal impact in pluralized societies.

Introduction: A Meso-Level Approach to Linking Transnational Return and Social Change, Margit Fauser and Remus G. Anghel; When the Poor Migrate and Return: Class and Status Repositioning among Roma Transnational Returnees, Remus G. Anghel; Minority Institutions, German Transnational Return Migration and Social Change in Transylvania, Ovidiu Oltean; Returns of Failure: Involuntary Return Migration and Social Change in Ghana, Leander Kandilige and Geraldine A. Adiku; Religion, Return Migration and Change in an Emigration Country, Anatolie Coșciug; Diverse Return Mobilities and Evolving Identities among Returnees in Latvia, Aija Lulle, Zaiga Krisjane and Andris Bauls; ‘Be the Change’: Action Strategies and Implicit Knowledge in Transnational Return Migration, Claudia Olivier-Mensah; Polish Returnees’ Livelihood Strategies, Social Remittances and Influence on Communities of Origin, Anne White; Translocal ‘Return’, Social Change and the Value of Transcultural Capital: Second-Generation Turkish Germans in Antalya, Nilay Kilinç and Russell King; Afterword 3x3: Key Contributions, Emerging Questions and Ways Ahead After ‘Transnational Return and Social Change’, Paolo Boccagni; Index.