ABSTRACT
Transnational mobility means, among other things, that confinement in the container space of the nation-state is becoming less the norm and cross-border movements are more common. It is driven in part by the increasing mobility of individuals: both within and beyond the nation-state, new flexibility in professional and family life means that people’s residential, work, and social arenas have widened (Schneider et al. 2002). Bonβ et al. have defined modern mobility as “the willingness to change geographic and/or social space, and as the ability of actors to control the direction of their own movements” (Bonβ et al. 2004: 260, my translation). The “mobile person” is relatively unattached to place, able and willing to move as needed to accommodate changing circumstances or preferences. Mobility is a ubiquitous part of contemporary life, and with it comes an increased ability to deal with the stress of change and adjust to different social and cultural contexts. Modern society is distinguished not only by an increase in the movement of individuals across social and geographic boundaries, but also by an increase in the population’s mobility aptitude (Murphy-Lejeune 2002: 51ff.).
