Transnational Organizations, Accessibility, and the Next Generation

• Author: Jack Durrell
• Published date: 01 May 2020
• Date: 01 May 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X19879133
• Subject Matter: Other Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X19879133

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 232, Vol. 47 No. 3, May 2020, 168–185

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X19879133

© 2019 Latin American Perspectives

168

Transnational Organizations, Accessibility, and

the Next Generation

by

Jack Durrell

Involvement in transnational organizations is an understudied aspect of next-genera-

tion transnationalism, the cross-border connections maintained by individuals born and/

or raised in countries of settlement. Exploration of institutional accessibility—the exis-

tence or nonexistence of barriers to next-generation inclusion—across a nonrepresenta-

tive sample of Mexican and Salvadoran transnational political and philanthropic groups

operating in California and Washington, DC, shows how it can facilitate next-generation

involvement in cross-border organizations. Accessibility is judged in terms of four main

indicators: resource constraints, outreach strategies, involvement in U.S. political arenas,

and pervasive institutional cultures.

La participación en organizaciones transnacionales es un aspecto poco estudiado del

transnacionalismo de la próxima generación, las conexiones transfronterizas mantenidas

por individuos nacidos y / o criados en países de asentamiento. La exploración de la

accesibilidad institucional—la existencia o inexistencia de barreras para la inclusión de la

próxima generación—a través de una muestra no representativa de grupos políticos y

filantrópicos transnacionales mexicanos y salvadoreños que operan en California y

Washington, DC, muestra cómo puede facilitar la participación de la próxima generación

en organizaciones transfronterizas. La accesibilidad se juzga en términos de cuatro indica-

dores principales: limitaciones de recursos, estrategias de publicidad y reclutamiento, par-

ticipación en los ámbitos políticos de los EE. UU. y culturas institucionales generalizadas.

Keywords: Transnationalism, Next generation, Institutional, Mexico, El Salvador

Studies that examine the transnational connections of the next generation—

individuals born and/or raised in countries of settlement—are few, and those

that exist tend to focus on emotional states, identification and a sense of belong-

ing, or more routine activities such as trips to the country of origin (Gowricharn,

2009; Levitt, 2002; Wolf, 1997). In response, this paper explores the factors that

may help to facilitate next-generation contributions to transnational political

and philanthropic organizations—a form of cross-border connection that I have

called “next-generation institutional transnationalism” (Durrell, 2014).

Elsewhere I have examined the influence of parental transmission on the emer-

gence of next-generation transnational political and philanthropic actors

(Durrell, 2017), building on previous studies suggesting that household

Jack Durrell is a New York-based researcher and writer who graduated with a Ph.D. from King’s

College London in 2015.

879133LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X19879133Latin American PerspectivesDurrell / Transnational Organizations and The Next Generation

research-article2019

Durrell / TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND THE NEXT GENERATION 169

dynamics are a major cause of transnationalism among the children of immi-

grants (Fouron and Glick-Schiller, 2002; Levitt and Waters, 2002; Rumbaut, 2002;

Soehl and Waldinger, 2012). I have also examined the role of negative incorpora-

tion as a facilitator of next-generation transnationalism (Durrell, 2019). This

paper explores the influence of institutional context. It analyzes organizational

accessibility—the existence or nonexistence of barriers to next-generation inclu-

sion—in a nonrepresentative sample of Mexican and Salvadoran transnational

organizations operating in California and Washington, DC (Table 1). Accessibility

is judged in terms of resource constraints, outreach strategies, involvement in

U.S. political arenas, and pervasive institutional cultures.

The findings will help to deepen our understanding of the way in which

context can shape next-generation institutional transnationalism and inform

debates surrounding the long-term sustainability of migrant-led transnational

organizations: whether the next generation can provide new blood to take the

political and philanthropic legacies of transnational organizations forward

(Jones-Correa, 2005; Kasinitz etal., 2002; Rumbaut, 2002) or help to relieve

some of the well-documented capacity constraints that many transnational

organizations endure (Bada, 2003; Orozco, 2006; Orozco and Lapointe, 2004;

Portes, Escobar, and Walton-Radford, 2005). Securing long-term sustainability

and remaining relevant and effective are challenges not confined to migrant-

led organizations, and the paper therefore refers to the extensive literature on

organizational sociology to gain additional insights from other institutional

contexts.

The Mexican and Salvadoran communities offer extremely useful case stud-

ies. The close ties that bind Mexico and El Salvador to the United States have

generated a dense, vibrant, and extensive network of transnational organiza-

tions, which circulate significant social, economic, and political capital between

home and host settings (Baker-Cristales, 2004; Goldring, 2002; Orozco, 2006;

Orozco and Lapointe, 2004; Perla, 2008a; 2008b; M. P. Smith and Bakker, 2008;

Stephen, 2013). There are an estimated 11.4 million Mexicans (Gonzalez-Barrera

and Lopez, 2013) and 1.4 million Salvadorans (Cohn, Passel, and Gonzalez-

Barrera, 2017) residing in the United States, and these large immigrant popula-

tions generate significant economic impacts in Mexico and El Salvador.

Mexicans in the United States, for instance, sent remittances worth an esti-

mated US$28,630,000,000 in 2017, and their Salvadoran counterparts sent an

estimated US$5,012,000,000 (Orozco, 2018).

In order to explore the organizational contexts that could potentially facili-

tate and sustain next-generation institutional transnationalism, semi structured

interviews were held with two sample groups, leaders and next-generation

members of transnational organizations, over a period of a year (April 2010–

May 2011). Respondents were identified via organizations and contacts in both

communities, ensuring multiple entry points. The “snowballing” methodology

was then used to reach additional interviewees. In all, 55 interviews were con-

ducted: 27 with leaders and 28 with next-generation members. The leaders

were mostly first-generation Mexican and Salvadoran immigrants to the United

States. Most next-generation members (20) were born in the United States, and

most tended to be socially mobile: they had relatively high educational attain-

ment rates and, with the exception of one individual, were either pursuing or