Transnational ties

Transnational ties are the ongoing connections migrants and their communities keep across national borders, especially through money, family, culture, and politics. In Intro to Chicanx and Latinx Studies, they show how U.S. and Latin American life are linked.

What are transnational ties?

Transnational ties are the relationships that link people, families, and communities across countries, not just across neighborhoods or states. In Intro to Chicanx and Latinx Studies, the term usually refers to the way Latinx migrants and their relatives keep active connections between the United States and places of origin in Latin America.

Those connections can be economic, like remittances sent home from wages earned in the U.S. They can also be social, like phone calls, visits, caregiving, and social media contact that keep family life going even when people live in different countries. For many families, migration does not mean cutting ties and starting over from zero. It means building a life in one place while still being part of another.

The term also covers cultural movement. People bring food, music, language practices, religious traditions, clothing, and celebrations across borders, then adapt them in new settings. That is why transnational ties are not one-way. A family in Los Angeles may keep traditions from Michoacán, while also changing those traditions through life in the U.S. and sending those changes back through visits, messages, and money.

Politics can be transnational too. Migrant communities often follow elections, support causes back home, and organize around issues that affect both countries. A community in Chicago might raise money after a disaster in El Salvador, or advocate for immigration policy in the U.S. while also talking about conditions in their country of origin.

This concept matters because it pushes you to see Latinx life as border-crossing and networked, not just local. A person can be deeply rooted in a U.S. city and still maintain real economic, emotional, and political ties elsewhere. That is the core idea behind transnationalism in this course.

Why transnational ties matter in Intro to Chicanx and Latinx Studies

Transnational ties matter because they show that migration changes more than where someone lives. In Intro to Chicanx and Latinx Studies, the term helps explain how Latinx communities build family support systems, cultural continuity, and political influence across borders.

It is especially useful when you are reading about remittances. Money sent from the U.S. can pay rent, cover school costs, fund medical care, or support a household after a job loss. That means migration is not just an individual labor story, it is also a family and regional economic story.

The term also gives you a way to analyze identity. A Mexican American, Salvadoran American, or Dominican American community may keep language, foodways, and religious practices alive while also reshaping them in the U.S. That blend is not confusion or divided loyalty. It is a normal part of transnational life.

In class discussions, transnational ties often come up when you talk about diaspora, globalization, or how policies in the U.S. affect families abroad. The term lets you trace connections instead of treating countries as sealed-off boxes.

How transnational ties connect across the course

Remittances

Remittances are one of the clearest economic forms of transnational ties. They show how labor in the United States can support households, school expenses, medical bills, and local businesses in Latin America. When you see remittances in a reading, think about family obligation, survival, and how migrant income moves across borders.

Diaspora

Diaspora names a population spread across different places but still connected by shared origin, memory, and community. Transnational ties describe the actual links that keep a diaspora active, such as travel, communication, money transfers, and political engagement. Diaspora is the broader population pattern, while transnational ties are the relationships that make it work.

cultural retention

Cultural retention is what happens when people keep language, customs, food, or beliefs from their home country after migration. Transnational ties often make cultural retention possible, because relatives, visits, media, and celebrations keep traditions circulating across borders. In essays, this term helps you explain why culture survives and changes at the same time.

globalization

Globalization is the larger process that makes cross-border movement of money, labor, media, and ideas easier and faster. Transnational ties are one way globalization shows up in Latinx communities. A family sending money, streaming music from abroad, or following news in another country is living inside that global flow.

Are transnational ties on the Intro to Chicanx and Latinx Studies exam?

A short-answer question or discussion prompt may ask you to explain how migration affects families beyond the border crossing itself. That is where transnational ties come in: you can point to remittances, visits, communication, and political advocacy as evidence that migrants stay connected to their country of origin. In a reading response, you might analyze how a memoir, interview, or article shows a character or community living in two places at once. If the prompt mentions identity, economy, or culture, use transnational ties to show the cross-border relationship instead of describing migration as a one-time move.

Key things to remember about transnational ties

• Transnational ties are the ongoing cross-border connections between migrants, families, and communities.

• In Intro to Chicanx and Latinx Studies, the term usually shows up through remittances, family networks, cultural exchange, and political action.

• These ties show that migration does not end relationships with the country of origin, it reorganizes them.

• The concept helps you read Latinx identity as connected to both local U.S. life and broader international networks.

• If a question asks how people support families, maintain culture, or act politically across borders, transnational ties is a strong term to use.

Frequently asked questions about transnational ties

What is transnational ties in Intro to Chicanx and Latinx Studies?

Transnational ties are the connections migrants and their communities maintain across national borders. In this course, that usually means money sent home, family contact, cultural exchange, and political involvement that link the U.S. to Latin America. The term shows that migration creates relationships, not just relocation.

Are transnational ties the same as remittances?

No. Remittances are one part of transnational ties, specifically the money migrants send to relatives or communities in another country. Transnational ties are broader because they also include social contact, cultural retention, travel, and activism. If a question is about money only, use remittances, but if it covers the whole cross-border relationship, use transnational ties.

How do transnational ties affect Latinx identity?

They help people maintain a sense of belonging to more than one place. A person can adapt to life in the U.S. while still speaking Spanish, celebrating traditions, and supporting family abroad. That is why identity in this course is often described as layered, hybrid, or diaspora-based rather than single-country only.

What is an example of transnational ties?

A migrant in the U.S. sends part of each paycheck to relatives in Mexico, joins a hometown association, and video calls family every week. That is transnational because the relationship stays active across borders. It is not just a memory of home, it is an ongoing network.