Author: Ute Röschenthaler, Alessandro Jedlowski.

The introduction outlines the key concerns, the theoretical framework and the programme of the edited volume. It summarizes the present pathways of mobility and the main political and economic shifts that have contributed to the intensification of the relationships between Africa, Asia and Latin America. This setting constitutes the framework in which individual actors from these continents set out to design and realize new trajectories and future plans for themselves, their families and their home places. Many of the existing theoretical frameworks and models tend to oversimplify these processes and rely on preconceived models and analytical dichotomies that are easy to understand but do not adequately depict what is happening on the ground or grasp the motivations, strategies and aspirations of individual actors. Others insist on these actors’ contribution to the development in their home communities but neglect these people’s role to the development of the host societies (in terms of investments, creation of employment, cultural influence, etc.). While presenting the key arguments of the edited chapters, the introduction provides a critical overview of existing approaches to the study of mobility, presents the biographical approach adopted in the volume to the study of traders’ and business peoples’ life trajectories, and illustrates the manifold cultural exchanges to which their activities and networks contribute.