Introduction: Transnationalism and its edges

Work on transnationalism potentially reshapes the way we think of key concepts which serve to 'ground' contemporary social life in specific localities as well as those which 'transgress' or 'destabilize' these groundings. Focusing on the 'edges' of transnationalism as sites of analysis allows us to consider these local identifications and transgressive unmoorings within the same frame. We discuss two main themes which have emerged in the literature: 'transnational morphologies', in terms of the shape, contours and structure of transnationality as well as the processes and agencies which sustain transnational trajectories and edifices; and 'transnational identities', focusing on identity formation and identity politics at the borderlands - both material and imagined - of the 'nation', 'nationalities' and other 'communities of affinity'.