The transnational dimension of the Pakistani ethnic economy in Barcelona

ABSTRACT

The city of Barcelona has become a nodal point of the transnational social space of the Pakistani diaspora. Despite being quite invisible, Pakistanis stand out for their entrepreneurial activities, especially in the food and telecommunication sectors. This paper aims to shed light on the transnational dimension of Pakistani ethnic businesses of Barcelona through the lens of ‘transnational mixed embeddedness’ and a multi-level approach that combines analytical levels (macro, meso and micro) and territorial levels (local/national and transnational). This is within the theoretical debate around globalization from below, immigrant entrepreneurship and transnational entrepreneurship, and by using a mixed-methods design. The results show how migrant entrepreneurs can be placed in a ‘continuum of transnational embeddedness’, depending on the interrelation of agency and micro-sociological processes entailing in-group differences with meso-market and macro-structural factors from a dynamic point of view.

KEYWORDS:

• Transnational entrepreneurship
• mixed embeddedness
• globalization from below
• Spain
• Pakistani migration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 A further description of these profiles is provided in the section of results (micro level).

2 If more interest in the interpretation of results from a gender perspective, see Güell (2018, pp. 229–236).

3 The arraigo social allows non-EU citizens to get a residence permit by proving: at least 3 years living in Spain (being duely registered in the municipal padrón), a one-year full-time contract, a basic level of Catalan (in the case of Catalonia), a basic knowledge of the key features of Catalonia (offered in specific courses) and a certificate of no criminal records.

4 See for instance: https://www.lavanguardia.com/economia/20160321/40582670320/tendero-pakistani-cadenas-alimentacion-barcelona.html; https://elpais.com/ccaa/2017/05/06/catalunya/1494070597_639182.html.

5 Groups of men who have common ascendants (Shaw, 2000).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Berta Güell

Berta Güell holds a PhD in Sociology (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) and she is Researcher at CIDOB and collaborator of CER-Migracions, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB). She has recently undertaken two investigations on forced and arranged marriages, and on descendants of Asian background in Catalonia at CER-Migracions. She has previously worked on several European projects related to the phenomenon of migration and social exclusion at the European Social Research Unit of the University of Barcelona (UB).

Sònia Parella

Sònia Parella holds a PhD in Sociology (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) and she is currently the head of the Department of Sociology and director of the research group GEDIME/CER-Migracions from the same university. She published different books, book chapters and articles in specialised national and international journals on migration studies from a gender perspective, feminist theory on intersectionality, migrations and labour market, and also on processes and transnational practices in the context of migration.