The voices of newcomers. A qualitative analysis of the construction of transnationalidentity

Nowadays, globalization is connected with the emergence and reconstruction of new identities. Forinstance, the migration process implies the generation of new forms of identity, questioning the traditionalhomogeneous and static notions of identity. In this regard, the term "transnational identity" or "biculturalidentity" has been suggested for these people that live in between two cultural frameworks and has toestablish a dialogue between the country of origin ("there") and the host country ("here"). This studyshows the bicultural and multiple nature of ten immigrant life stories. These narratives illustrate howbicultural and multilingual skills become part of the self definition through the appropriation of culturalvoices that manage the origin and host lifestyles, building hybrid and multiple identities that preservecertain ties with the origin society and take certain forms of life of the new culture and society. The noveltyembodied in this work is the qualitative approach taken in the research. Most of the literature ontransnational identity and transnationalism are based on theoretical discussions or quantitative data.