Remitting subjects: migrants, money and states

Scholars' and policy-makers' interest in the remittances that migrants send home to relatives has increased dramatically in the past two decades. Focusing on remittances from the United States to El Salvador, we examine how academic studies, public discourse, and state accounting practices simultaneously produce and reveal the nature of this phenomenon. By treating the money that migrants send home as both national resource and foreign currency, central banks and international financial institutions define remittances as a 'cost-free' source of national income. Further, debates about remittances' social and economic impact focus on whether remitting promotes or undermines particular values associated with neoliberalism, such as self-sufficiency, entrepreneurship and empowerment. Our analysis thus sheds light on new configurations through which money, states and migrant citizens are linked. Keywords: migrationremittancesaccountingEl Salvadorthe United States Susan Coutin's research was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (award numbers SES-0001890 and SES-0296050) and by a research and writing grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. We are grateful to the individuals who were interviewed as part of our research on remittances. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Pacific Sociological Association meeting and the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association. We are grateful to Beth Baker-Cristales, Lisa Catanzarite, Setha Lowe, Susan Terrio and the anonymous Economy and Society reviewers for their helpful comments on earlier drafts. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from Spanish sources are ours. Notes 1. Ester Hernandez's analysis was based on interviews with Salvadoran immigrants and their families in southern California, participant observation in community service organizations, and content analysis of newspapers, and NGO and governmental reports. Susan Coutin's research entailed conducting interviews with 140 US and Salvadoran officials and NGO members, as well as with Salvadoran immigrants themselves. 2. We do not mean to imply that, without such statements, remittances would not serve as a source of foreign exchange. Our point is rather that, whereas in the past remittances might have seemed incidental to national economic plans, now they are being recognized, incorporated and made objects of policy-making. 3. As Stoler notes, political projects can underlie assumptions that phenomena are commensurate. She suggests that 'we might historicize the politics of comparison, tracing the changing stakes for polities and their bureaucratic apparatuses. What did agents of empire think to compare and what political projects made them do so? What did comparison as a state project entail?' (Citation2004: para. 86, emphasis in original). 4. In this sense, remittances create potential for the 'spectacular accumulation' described by Tsing: 'Spectacular accumulation occurs when investors speculate on a product that may or may not exist. Investors are looking for the appearance of success. They cannot afford to find out if the product is solid; by then their chances for profit will be gone' (2000: 141). Similarly, remittances are not a 'sure thing', though recently some sources have begun to describe them as such. There is some uncertainty – will migration continue? Will migrants continue to remit? How much will migrants remit? Will the US allow migrants to remain in the US and to keep working? Although these things are unknown, governments and international financial institutions are already 'banking' on remittances. Note too that, although the amount of remittances cannot be accurately calculated, the potential for profiting from remittances still exists. 5. In contrast, according to the 'brain drain' argument, the migration of the talented and better educated creates a loss for the nation. 6. It is noteworthy that other financial transactions are not referred to as flows. For example, income does not 'flow', it is 'earned' (Massey and Parrado Citation1994: 21). It sounds odd to say, 'Every year, billions of dollars flow from employers to employees' or 'The income from their investments flowed to stockholders'. 'Flow' implies abundance, distance, a certain lack of agency and an uncontrollable natural force, though these meanings may not be intended by those who use this term. On the relationship between money and place, see Gilbert and Helleiner (Citation1999). 7. Orellana Merlos (Citation1994: 18) provides an example of the first two of these methods. He notes that, in El Salvador, the 1989–94 Plan de Desarrollo Económico Social (Socio-economic Development Plan) proposes to '1) encourage Salvadorans who work abroad to invest in the country; and 2) create conditions in El Salvador that promote the productive use of remittances.' Given that the recipients of remittances are concentrated in the poor and middle-income sectors of the population, such recommendations focus on the behaviour of the poor, a point to which we will return below. El-Sakka and McNabb emphasize the third approach: 'It is important to establish the factors that influence the amount of migrants' savings that go through official channels as opposed to those that find their way into unofficial channels, most notably the black market' (1999: 1493). Finally, Libercier and Schneider provide an illustration of the fourth approach, the idea that, through migration, migrants themselves become 'value-added' resources for their countries of origin. Describing development projects that expatriate Africans initiate in their home communities, Libercier and Schneider write: 'Although the village residents are associated with projects so as to guarantee that they will be appropriate, projects are initiated by emigrants who possess new knowledge, experience and financial means. The innovative character of the emigrants' intervention and approaches can shake up the village social order and functioning' (1996: 43). 8. Scholars' efforts to estimate remittance payments are also fraught with difficulties (Durand and Massey Citation1992). In the 1920s, Gamio (Citation1930) estimated remittances on the basis of money orders sent to Mexico from the United States. This method did not distinguish money sent by relatives from money that came from another source. In the 1920s and early 1930s, P. Taylor (Citation1933) relied on telegraphs and money orders to estimate remittances. This method omitted money that arrived through another route, such as in a private letter. Díaz Canedo (Citation1984) tracked checks and money orders sent to Mexico by individuals who had non-Spanish surnames in order to estimate remittance totals (Durand and Massey Citation1992). Other methods that have been used include interviewing migrants and their families regarding the amounts sent and/or received (Cornelius Citation1978). Durand and Massey complain that such methods are also inaccurate: 'Researchers have tended to exaggerate remittances by multiplying a large number of undocumented migrants (often derived by extrapolating apprehension figures) by an average remittance derived from some field study (which may or may not be representative)' (1992: 11). 9. Not all see remittances as volatile. For example, Orozco et al. state: 'The most important aspect of this phenomenon of remittances is the stable flow [of money] that benefits both societies and economies' (1997: 60; see also Gubert Citation2002; Keely and Tran Citation1989; Kapur and McHale Citation2003). 10. As migrants themselves considered the name 'Hermano lejano' offensive, this monument was renamed 'Hermano, Bienvendo a Casa' or 'Brother, Welcome Home' (Ábrego Citation2004). Additional informationNotes on contributorsEster Hernandez Ester Hernandez received her doctorate in social science, specializing in anthropology, from the University of California, Irvine. She teaches in the Department of Chicano Studies at California State University, Los Angeles. Her research has examined remittances and the household economy among Salvadoran immigrants living in the United States. She is co-editor of Cultural Diversity and Chicanos (Kendall Hunt, 2004). Her current work focuses on social memory and ethnic identity among Central Americans Susan Bibler Coutin Susan Bibler Coutin studied sociocultural anthropology at Stanford University, and currently is Associate Professor in the Department of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California, Irvine, where she also directs the Center in Law, Society and Culture. She is the author of Legalizing Moves: Salvadoran Immigrants' Struggle for U.S. Residency (University of Michigan, 2000) and The Culture of Protest: Religious Activism and the U.S. Sanctuary Movement (Westview, 1993). Her current work examines ways that migrants are and are not incorporated into their countries of origin and residence