Identities in motion: Social exchange networks and rural- urban migration in Bangladesh

Abstract

Expanding on work that demonstrates the importance of rural resources (land, manpower) on rural-urban migrant success in Bangladesh, the article incorporates the role of an expanding network of village-based social connections in perpetuating the flow of migration and ensuring migrant success. As kin groups, lineages, and entire villages shift from their home settings to major cities, identities that had little meaning in the local context are mobilised to create trust between past and future migrants. Identity- based migration opportunities function as a new source of capital in a society with severe constraints on formal credit and insurance markets, allowing small landholders to pre serve their livelihood in exchange for allegiance to an increasingly influential group of urban gatekeepers. This fluid notion of identity often bends to more traditional social and economic concerns, however, generating a network whose membership is determined as much by pre-existing social relationships, spatial proximity and resource holdings, as by a potential migrant's skills, honesty or effort. Thesefindings raise critical concerns over the inherent risks and social costs built into the rural-urban migration process.