Seafarers and Transnationalism: Ways of Belongingness Ashore and Aboard

Recent studies of migrant transnationalism have emphasised migrants’ points of origin and area of destination within their highly diverse and mobile circumstances, but focus primarily on permanent migrants. The rise in the number of temporary migrants makes it important to re-examine how this concept can be applied to temporary migrants and their mobility and sense of belongingness. In this paper, the transnationalism of one group of temporary migrants, seafarers, is examined. The complexity of the seafarers’ encounters raises a question as to the extent to which transnationalism can be used to explore their modes of integration ashore and aboard. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and non-participant observation aboard and ashore, this paper focuses on the transnational relations and practices of Filipino seafarers towards the ship and their community. Accordingly, the analytical task centres on how seafarers integrate; their degree of embeddedness. On the ship, empirical issues regarding hierarchy, intercultural relationships and occupational seafaring culture contribute to an enhanced understanding of their form of inclusion. On land, social and economic status and community affiliations provide insights on their capacity and motives for remaining integrated ashore. This study shows that the myriad ways that these seafarers sustain relationships allow them to achieve a sense of belongingness, but that this was uneven owing to the nature of the ship as a place of work and temporary home.