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*. Secondary affiliation: Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), University of Freiburg, Germany.
The research leading to these results has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under REA grant agreement n° [609305], as well as from the Forschungskredit of the University of Zurich, Switzerland. Special thanks goes to Till Mostowlansky, Kristen Ghodsee, and an anonymous reviewer for providing critical feedback on earlier versions of this paper; to Jan Blommaert for his critical feedback, continuous guidance, and support in writing and revising this paper; and to Jenny Cheshire for her feedback and support. I would also like to extend a warm thank you to my research assistant, and to all the people who took the time to speak with me and to share their thoughts, ideas, and experiences.
INTRODUCTION
As argued by De Fina & Perrino (2013:514) in a recent special issue on transnational identities, 'an investigation of transnationalism forces critical reflection on the relationship between language and identity'. Notably, it prompts for consideration of the performance and construction of identity across space and time as intertwined with processes of globalisation. This includes reflection on the relationship between community and physical place, as well as methodological contemplation of 'where' to research transnationalism. These issues of approach and methodology merge with questions of epistemology, since different conceptualisations of transnationalism both stem from and simultaneously become grounds for thinking about how and where to research transnationalism. Vertovec (1999) underscores that the meanings of the concept range from more prototypical understandings of transnationalism as diaspora and as connected to migration (cf. also Dahinden 2009), to transnationalism as 'consciousness' and 'capital'. These meanings become differentially pertinent for thinking about the ways language (both discourse and particular varieties, use and ideologies) becomes connected with the shaping, maintenance, and negotiation of transnational ties between individuals, and with how these ties are made to variously interact with local and nation-state related identity categories (cf. also Heller 2010).
As outlined by Steinberg (2011:1) in the introduction to his book on the transnational Ismaili Muslim community, 'the complex of Ismai'ili forms, processes and structures seems to represent a new possibility for transnational social organization, for sociopolitical participation beyond the nation-state, for citizenship without...