Carling - 2014 - Scripting Remittances Making Sense of Money Trans

Scripting Remittances: Making Sense
of Money Transfers in Transnational

Relationships1
Jrgen Carling
Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
This article proposes a conceptual framework for studying remittances

as social transactions that can take a number of different forms. For
the past three decades, the dominant framework for understanding
remittance relationships has been the continuum of senders motives
from altruism to self-interest. This approach has its roots in economics and has shaped much of the quantitative research on remittances.
In parallel, a growing body of ethnographic research has examined
transnational money transfers with perspectives and data that differ
from those of economists. The insights from these ethnographic studies are valuable, but remain fragmented and marginal in research on
remittances. Two key points emerge from the ethnographic literature:
Remittances are at the core of composite transactions with material,
emotional, and relational elements, and there is great variation in the
nature and logic of these transactions. The framework proposed here
is designed to engage with both complexity and variation. It systematically draws upon a large body of ethnographic literature and introduces remittance scripts as an analytical tool.
INTRODUCTION
Migrant remittances reflect individuals commitments, priorities, and difficult decisions. They are often sent across divides of global inequality, at
1
I am very grateful to the following people for providing comments and criticism that
have helped me write and revise this article: Lisa
Akesson, Marta Bivand Erdal, Heidi
stb Haugen, Mara Hernandez-Carretero, David Khoudour-Casteras, Ellen Percy Kraly,
Jennifer Lee, Stephen Lubkemann, Valentina Mazzucato, Ceri Oeppen, Pia Orrenius, and
Nicholas Van Hear. The research on which this article is based is funded by Research
Council of Norway grant 191369, Theorizing Risk, Money, and Moralities in Migration.
2014 by the Center for Migration Studies of New York. All rights reserved.
DOI: 10.1111/imre.12143
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IMR Volume 48 Number S1 (Fall 2014):S218S262
SCRIPTING R EMITTANCES
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the same time as they are part of intimate social relationships. Remittances
can transform receiving communities, and they weigh heavily in the
assessment of the benefits and vulnerabilities that migration brings.
Unsurprisingly, remittances have attracted the attention of many scholars.
But we are now at a moment of notable shifts in research on remittances. A decade after the surge in interest and enthusiasm, there is an element of remittance fatigue in research and policy circles. Economists,
who have dominated research on remittances, are increasingly turning
their attention elsewhere. While the number of publications on the economics of migration keeps growing, the number of economics papers on
remittances has plateaued.2 In other social sciences, however, there are
tendencies in the opposite direction. In particular, researchers who use
ethnographic methods are increasingly making remittances an object of
study. Using extensive face-to-face interaction with remittance senders and
recipients, they gain an in-depth understanding of issues that escape the
standardized optic of surveys.
Ethnographic insights on remittances have so far not had the
impact they merit. In this article, I draw upon a large body of ethnographic research with the aim of influencing the changing landscape of
remittance research. I do so not by summarizing empirical findings, but
by deducing a way of thinking about remittances. The resulting framework reflects two key observations. First, remittance transfers need to be
seen as compound transactions with material, emotional, and relational
elements. In order to understand remittances, we need to understand
the transaction as a whole. Second, there is great variation in the nature
and logic of these transactions; there is variation between remittances in
different contexts as well as diversity of remittance transactions within a
single setting.
As I will show in a later section, neither economics nor ethnography
has engaged fully with the combination of complexity and variation in
remittance transactions. In order to overcome this impasse, this article
introduces an analytical tool that has hitherto been missing.
2
This trend is evident from statistics on articles with remittances (or a derivative thereof)
in the title, included in the Social Sciences Citation Index and classified as economics.
The number of such articles grew rapidly from the early 2000s to a peak in 2011 and
slightly lower levels in the period thereafter. The pattern of a peak and subsequent decline
is even more pronounced when articles on remittances are related to the total number of
economics articles that deal with migration.
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INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW
Introducing Remittance Scripts

The ethnographic literature shows that remittances tend to embody specific expectations, meanings, and functions. For instance, remittances are
in some cases conceived as help that the sender extends to the recipient.
In other cases, this interpretation would be entirely inappropriate. The
difference is not simply about the senders motivations; when remittances
are understood as help, it concerns perceptions of needs and worthiness,
defines the relationship between the sender and recipient, elicits particular
feelings surrounding the transaction, carries implications for appropriate
uses of the money, and embodies expectations for behaviour, such as the
expression of gratitude. An accurate way to describe such specific, composite transactions, I believe, is as scripts.
Scripts are structures of expectations for specific types of situations,
which facilitate social interaction. This analytical concept has been used in
anthropology, psychology, sociology, and other disciplines since the
1970s, but it is nearly absent from research on migration, transnationalism, and development economics.3 . Within the social sciences, analyses
of scripts have been particularly prominent in the study of sexuality and
family (e.g. Atwood, 1996; Stephens and Phillips, 2005; Fivush, 2006).
Research in these fields grapples with interactions between the material
(or biological) and the symbolic, and between the individual and the relational, all of which plays out in the context of powerful social norms.
These are intricacies that also apply to remittance transactions, and support the analytical value of scripts.
The existence of scripts as cognitive structures has been illustrated
with the example of a restaurant script. Deborah Tannen (1993:18),
drawing upon the work of Roger Schank and Robert Abelson, used the
following simple story: John went into the restaurant. He ordered a hamburger and a coke. He asked the waitress for the check and left. The
existence of a restaurant script is illustrated by the fact that readers readily
absorb the references to the waitress and the check, without any prior
introduction; they are both integral to our shared script and therefore
need no explanation. Although the word script in other contexts refers to
3
Exceptions include Chan (2006) and Lerner, Rapoport, and Lomsky-Feder (2007) who
refer to scripts in relation to ethnicity and immigration, and Lubkemann (2005) who
writes about the moralities of transnationalism with respect to an idealized emigrant
script.
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things that are written and exact, scripts in the social-psychological sense
represent approximate and implicit knowledge.
I propose the following definition of remittance scripts:
Remittance scripts make up a repertoire of generalized representations of remittance transactions that are recognized by a social group, but
might not be explicitly expressed. Each script specifies, at a variable level
of detail, the transactions constituent roles, actions, and statuses, and the
relations between these elements. People engage scripts in flexible ways to
make sense of and direct specific and recurring remittance transactions.
The idea that we relate to repertoires of scripts can be illustrated by
extending the example of the restaurant script. Staying within the sphere
of North American popular culture, we can imagine a series of specific
scripts centred on meals: a second date at a fancy restaurant, an introduction dinner with a girlfriends parents, thanksgiving with the family, or an
evening pizza delivery to office colleagues working to meet a deadline. All
are generalized event representations that encompass practicalities, emotions, and relations, as well as the food that is consumed.
We can see certain parallels between the diversity of social settings
for eating together and the diversity of circumstances for remittance transactions. People who send and receive remittances engage in, and make
sense of, the transaction by means of scripts. In some cases, a single script
might aptly reflect the transaction. More often, perhaps, several scripts are
applicable. This is not only because the contours of each one are blurred,
but also because transactions can combine dissimilar scripts. In a later section, I address how such mixing takes place.
The proposed definition states that remittance scripts are recognized
by a social group. This formulation reflects the context-specific cultural
foundations of remittance behaviour. The reference frame is deliberately
flexible, since the relevant social groups will vary. Remittance scripts may,
for instance, reflect widely shared norms within a transnational social
field, or they could be specific to narrower segments of the field. As I will
show in a later section, migrants can also have a different repertoire of
remittance scripts than remittance recipients in the community of origin.
The notion of scripts implies that many aspects of behaviour are
routinized. But this observation does not preclude improvization, negotiation, and contestation; scripts are not reducible to programming. Contemporary analyses of scripts in the social sciences have emphasized
malleability and agency to a greater extent than the early proponents of
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the concept (Tilly, 1998; Marcus, 2002; Fujii, 2009). With respect to
remittance scripts, there are a number of reasons why transactors should
be seen to act with scripts, rather than to follow them. First, eliciting a
script in a given situation is a cognitive and social act, open to many possibilities. Second, when a script is identified, agency is exercised as people
conform to, or deviate from, its standard form. Third, remittance transactions often involve combinations of several scripts. Finally, two transactors
could assign different scripts to their mutual transaction, lending yet
another element of dynamism to the role of scripts.
The process of scripting remittances, used in the title takes place
at two levels. First, it refers to the way in which remittance senders and
recipients direct and make sense of their transactions by eliciting scripts.
Second, it describes how scripts can be used as a tool by researchers to
interpret data on remittances.
Methods and Objectives

The fragmented insights on remittances in ethnographic literature represent
a great but underutilized potential. I have therefore concentrated on systematically examining this part of the literature. After developing elements of a
conceptual framework, I used NVivo software for qualitative analysis to
reconnect with the original studies and substantiate and adjust the framework (QSR International, Melbourne, Australia). Individual publications
are cited in the text when it is appropriate; an extended bibliography is presented in Appendix S1. This article concentrates on proposing scripts as a
cornerstone of ethnographically based theorizing about remittances. In the
conclusion, I describe some of the themes that emerge from the literature as
promising foci for future studies.
The article aims to achieve three objectives: (1) facilitating greater synergies between ethnographic studies; (2) inspiring research that spans methodological and disciplinary divides; and (3) making relevant ethnographic insights
more accessible to economists and other quantitatively oriented researchers.
In the next section, I compare and contrast economics-oriented and
ethnographic approaches to the study of remittances. This serves to justify
the need for a new concept, and it provides an overview of the ethnographic research that I draw upon. I subsequently outline a transactional
perspective on remittances, which places the concept of scripts in a
broader conceptual frame. This is followed by a presentation of twelve
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specific scripts, a section on how scripts can be systematically compared,

and a discussion of how they are combined in practice.
Studying Remittances
The two dominant approaches to the study of remittances can be
described as economics oriented and ethnographic, respectively. These
labels deliberately combine disciplinary and methodological elements.
Economics-oriented research is not solely conducted within the
discipline of economics, but draws upon economic theory and terminology and employs econometric methodology. Ethnographic research,
by contrast, involves extended interaction with research subjects, the
gathering of qualitative data, and interpretive analysis. Scholars within
this approach include anthropologists and qualitatively oriented
sociologists and geographers. There are common epistemological elements to all ethnographic research, but there is no shared substantive
theory.
There are two striking contrasts between the approaches: First,
most publications within the economics-oriented literature are about
remittances, whereas in the ethnographic literature, this is rarely the
case. In other words, when ethnographers address remittances, they
seldom make it the primary object of study.4 Across disciplines, very
few articles and books most of them very recent are based on
ethnographic data and explicitly place remittances centre stage in the
analysis.5 When we look beyond titles, keywords, and abstracts, however,
there is a wealth of ethnographic research on remittances embedded in
studies with other headings. In particular, the ethnographic literature on
migrant transnationalism is replete with references to remittances.
The second contrast concerns theoretical and conceptual foundations. These are coherent in the economics literature and, in comparison,
fragmented in the ethnographic literature. Micro-economic research on
4
Some bibliometrics can illustrate from 1985 to 2010, the Social Sciences Citation Index
(SSCI) recorded almost 200 articles in economics or demography with the word remittances (or a derivative of it) in the title. During the same period, only nine such articles
were registered in anthropology.
5
Exceptions include Abrego (2009),
Akesson (2009, 2011), Burman (2002, 2006), Cliggett (2003, 2005), Eckstein (2006, 2010), Erdal (2012), Horst (2008b), Kankonde Bukasa
(2010), Lindley (2010), McKay (2007), McKenzie and Menjvar (2011), Thai (2006,
2014), Vullnetari and King (2011).
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remittances has, since the 1980s, focused on the role of information and
social interactions in explaining transfer behaviour (Rapoport and Docquier, 2006). The frame of analysis has typically been the dyad consisting of
the migrant and the household of origin. In short, the point of departure
in this research has been to distinguish theoretically between different reasons why migrants would remit. In the most cited article ever published
on remittances, Lucas and Stark (1985) laid these motives out as a continuum from altruism to self-interest. In the middle of the spectrum are
mutually beneficial, implicit contractual arrangements between the
migrant and the remittance-receiving household. The subsequent step in
the research process has been to deduce how remittance sending under
different motives would respond to variation in observable variables such
as the migrants income and the households wealth. Finally, empirical
data, usually from surveys, are used to determine the relative importance
of different motives. This endeavour is, however, extremely difficult to
carry out successfully, primarily because the effects of key variables can be
interpreted in several ways with respect to remittance motives. (Rapoport
and Docquier, 2006; Carling, 2008a). Despite these frustrations, the
notion of remittance motives and the associated analytical approach
remain influential.
There is no corresponding theoretical framework within the ethnographic literature on remittances. The different prevailing epistemological
approaches of economics and ethnography provide part of the explanation. Economists often focus on empirical testing of competing theories,
which is more conducive to developing a shared theoretical framework.
Ethnographically based theorizing on remittances has also been limited
because remittances have, as noted above, largely been a subsidiary topic.
The detailed insights that are scattered through the literature nevertheless
have potential to inform theory. In fact, the somewhat peripheral role of
remittances in ethnographic research is partly the flipside of a strength:
Money transfers are contextualized in a holistic way, bringing out relevant connections and processes that could easily be lost on researchers
who set out to study remittances per se.
Where ethnographers have sought to theorize about remittances,
they have made use of established concepts within economic anthropology
and sociology. A number of scholars have combined the study of remittances with theories of gift exchange, drawing upon the work of Marcel
Mauss, Marshall Sahlins, and others (Cliggett, 2003, 2005; Monsutti,
2004;
Akesson, 2011; Erdal, 2014). Theories of the gift can serve to eluci-
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date the nature and degree of reciprocity in remittance transactions. A key

theme in philosophical and anthropological gift exchange theory has been
the claim that the pure gift is theoretically impossible, because even the
recognition of gifting constitutes requital for the giver. At the same time,
a gift is no longer a true gift if it is explicitly and immediately reciprocated. Like economists who study remittances, scholars of the gift have
been most interested in the middle ground of long-term, implicit reciprocity. Theories of the gift also inform analysis of how exchange and
relationships are linked. In her analysis of remittances as gifts, Cliggett
(2005:38) notes that from across diverse theories of the gift, the crucial
feature emerging is that the actual gift itself matters very little, while the
process of gifting is at the core. The implication for remittances is that
the transfer of money creates, represents, and reinforces social relationships.
Ethnographers who study remittances have also drawn upon Viviana Zelizers work on the social meanings of money (e.g. Zelizer, 1997).
In particular, Zelizers critique of conventional assumptions about
moneys fungibility and commensurability has been used to examine
how remittances may be valued differently from other money (Burman,
2006; Kurien, 2008; Fresnoza-Flot, 2009; Singh, Cabraal, and Robertson, 2010;
Akesson, 2011; Singh, Robertson, and Cabraal, 2012; Thai,
2014).
Social capital is mentioned frequently in the ethnographic literature but rarely used extensively to theorize about remittances. The primary exception is the work of Susan Eckstein (2006, 2010) who
relates remittances to the creation of transnational family-based social
capital.
Ethnographers have also used gender relations as a perspective on
remittances practices and their social impacts (e.g. Gailey, 1992; Abrego, 2006; Pribilsky, 2007; Pinnawala, 2008; Vullnetari and King,
2011; Buggenhagen, 2012). While this does not represent a theoretical
approach in its own right, focusing on gender has produced
theoretically informed analyses of remittances, relationships, and social
change.
Studying the social aspects of remittances invites questions about
social remittances, the term coined by Levitt (1998) to describe migration-driven diffusion of norms and values, and which has been adopted
eagerly by ethnographers. Unfortunately, this influential concept has come
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to imply a separation of the social from the financial. Phrases such as not
only financial remittances, but also social remittances have become commonplace. However, remittances in the original sense of monetary transfers are inherently social transactions.6
At a high level of abstraction, there is considerable overlap between
approaches to remittances in the ethnographic and economics-oriented literatures, even though vocabularies differ. Both address relationships
between senders and recipients, how senders might be rewarded for their
remittances, and how the two sides perceptions of each other affect the
remittance transfers. And both approaches describe specific instances of
remitting in generic analytical terms such as generalized reciprocity or
tempered altruism.
The concept of remittance scripts, as proposed in this article, has
obvious similarities with remittance motives as they figure in the economics-oriented literature. Both reflect a diverse set of possible circumstances for sending remittances. However, they also differ in fundamental
ways. Remittance scripts emerge from the transactors perceptions; analyses
of transfers with respect to scripts are not claims to objective explanations
of behaviour. Peoples own understandings of their transactions have external effects, but these understandings can be both unstable and contradictory. Remittance scripts also differ from remittance motives by attempting
to capture the entire bundle of material, emotional, and relational dimensions. The economics literature incorporates all these elements in certain
contexts as in identifying purchase of gratitude and investment in
social assets as remittance motives but does not emphasize the simultaneous material, emotional, and relational impacts of remittance transactions. The multifaceted nature of scripts implies that they cannot be
arranged in a linear fashion, such as from altruism to self-interest. Finally,
remittance scripts differ from remittance motives by not a priori privileging
the senders agency over that of the recipient.
When ethnographers have engaged explicitly with the economicsoriented literature on remittances, one area of contention has been the
instrumental conception of senders actions (
Akesson, 2011; Page and
Mercer, 2012). As Page and Mercer (2012:4) conclude, remitting is a
social practice not just an individuals choice. A key aspect of social
6
The social aspects of remittances are clearly recognized by Levitt in her own research. The
problem is the metaphorical use of remittances to describe something very different , which
has gained popularity to the extent that it is crowding out the words original meaning.
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practice here is that explanatory factors lie as much in the collective

processes of socialization as in the personal realm of decision-making.
Moreover, individual action is shaped by the identities of the transactors as moral persons (
Akesson, 2011:329), not simply by the stimuli
and opportunities to which they are exposed. Indeed, ethnographic studies have highlighted the power of moralities in shaping peoples experience and perceptions of transnational relationships (Gowricharn, 2004;
Carling, 2008b) and, relatedly, the prominent and often under-theorized
role of emotions in remittance transactions (Burman, 2002; McKay,
2007).
A different line of criticism from ethnographers relates to facts on
the ground. In particular, the framework of the migrant and his household is the exception rather than the norm in many parts of the world
(Erdal, 2012). Ethnographic accounts have described a range of other constellations, such as remittances to siblings, in-laws, distant relatives, and
people who are not related (e.g. Akuei, 2005; Aguilar, 2013). The nature
of remittance transactions can be strongly influenced by the type of
underlying relationship.
Neither the economics-oriented nor the ethnographic literature has
engaged extensively in comparative research, examining the differences
and similarities between remitting practices across several groups or settings.7 However, the economics-oriented theory has an explicit focus on
variability, represented by the idea of different possible remittance
motives. While motives do not sit well with ethnographic approaches as
the key differentiating concept, the ethnographic literature amply documents the diversity of remittance transactions.
REMITTANCE TRANSACTIONS
The notion of remittances scripts is based on the idea that transnational
money transfers are multifaceted transactions. They are truly two-sided
transactions, in which both parties play an active role. These propositions
are foundations for an ethnographically informed transactional perspective
on remittances.
7
The literature overall is large, so there are several exceptions to this general observation
(Funkhouser, 1995; Itzigsohn, 1995; Menjvar et al., 1998; Van Hear, 2002; Landolt and
Da, 2005; Sana and Massey, 2005; Duany, 2010; Eversole and Shaw, 2010; Carling, Erdal, and Horst, 2012; King, Mata-Codesal, and Vullnetari, 2013).
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Remittances Are the Core of Composite Transactions

The money that is transferred by migrants is merely the most visible and
quantifiable element in a multifaceted transaction. This claim invites a
shift in research question from why do migrants remit? to what is the
nature of the transaction? In general terms, remittance transactions comprise exchanges, impacts on the transactors, and impacts on the relationships between transactors all of which could be stretched out in time.
These impacts can be confirmations, challenges, or alterations. For
instance, remittance transactions can confirm the migrants continued
social membership, challenge hierarchical relations between the transactors, or alter the social status of both the sender and the recipient. They
can induce feelings of gratification or humiliation and generate social
debt. Remittance transactions always have other intended or unintended
effects than the transfer of purchasing power.
Seeing remittance sending as composite transactions has affinities
with Page and Mercers (2012) notion of remitting as a practice. The
act of remitting, they contend, is a routinized form of behaviour that
combines an array of interconnected elements including bodily and mental activities, the use of things, states of emotion, and motivational knowledge. Page and Mercer (2012:4) draw upon theories of practice to
understand why migrants remit and use the notion of diasporas as communities of practice to argue that remitting is a social practice not just
an individuals choice. By focusing on the dichotomy between individuals
and communities, however, they give less attention to the mesolevel aspect
of remittances as a mediator of relationships between individuals. These
relationships, by contrast, are the foci of
Akessons (2011) theoretically
oriented ethnographic study of remittances in Cape Verdean transnational
families. She introduces transactors as a common term for the senders and
recipients of remittances and refers to her object of study as remittance
transactions.
Remittance Transactions Reflect and Encompass Two-Sided Agency

Both senders and recipients play active roles in making remittance transfers take place. Conventional explanations of remittance flows have
focused on the senders motivations and decisions. The economics-oriented literature acknowledges certain active roles for the recipients, for
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instance as service providers and inheritance managers. The ethnographic

literature suggests a refinement and expansion of such roles.
The most direct action by recipients, widely documented in the ethnographic literature, is requesting remittances. Many transfers are reactive,
responding to requests that often are linked to specific needs. Herein lies
a key link between remittances and technology: The more easily and
cheaply recipients can contact senders, the greater their role in eliciting
transfers (Horst, 2006). Even when communication is costly, prospective
recipients invest their scarce resources or borrow money in order to reach
out to migrants and realize the potential gains from their networks (Cliggett, 2003; Skuse and Cousins, 2007). Already before any transfers take
place, prospective remittance recipients may actively invest in relationships
that will support future requests for remittances.
In addition to making requests, recipients exercise agency through
all the ways in which remittances are reciprocated. This can be a subtle
yet consequential form of agency. For instance, whether and how gratitude is expressed affects the longer-term hierarchical relationship and
social obligations between the transactors (Richman, 2005;
Akesson,
2011). Even though the recipients actions seem to follow from those of
the senders as reactions to receiving remittances the typical pattern of
multiple transfers over time implies that the recipients agency is not causally inferior. Reacting to one transfer also means anticipating the next.
The nature and importance of remittance recipients actions is an
empirical question bound to vary across contexts. What matters here is
that theoretical frameworks should allow for these actions to be significant, and empirical investigations should recognize them even if they are
more subtle than the actions of senders.8
Remittance Transactions Have Dual Foundations

Many transfers that we observe as remittances would have taken place
even if the sender and recipient were living in the same country.
Economic assistance to elderly parents, for instance, is commonplace
8
In some contexts, reverse remittances, being sent to the migrant, are significant (Mazzucato, 2011). For family, members at the origin can send money in times of crisis or
entrapment en route toward the intended destination. A comprehensive discussion of
reverse remittances falls outside the scope of this article, but the phenomenon illustrates
the mutability of the senderrecipient relationship.
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throughout the developing world. Seeing such transfers first and foremost
as remittances, simply because the supporting child has migrated to
another country, could be misleading. At the same time, the transnationalization of the relationship is not without consequence. Remittance transactions can thus be thought of as having dual foundations: They merge
generic and migration-induced aspects of transactions. But since migration
takes disparate forms, what claims can be made about migration-induced
aspects? I would argue that there are three primary ways in which the
context of migration can be expected to shape the transactions.
First, migration introduces new aspects of asymmetry between the
transactors. Transnational relationships are inherently unequal, at the psychological level, when one party has left while the other has remained
(Carling, 2008b). The particular migration context introduces additional
inequalities. In some cases, the disparities in wealth, opportunities, or
security that incited migration in the first place typically translate into a
privileged situation for migrants relative to those who remain at the origin. In other cases, migrants become the vulnerable party, additionally
burdened by expectations from the communities they left behind. Transnational relationships can have a strong element of reciprocity, but they
are rarely symmetrical in the sense that the two sides have similar things
to offer. The experience of transactions is consequently affected. Receiving
a gift, for instance, carries different meaning when it is inconceivable to
reciprocate with a similar gift.9
Second, migration creates distance between the transactors and concomitant limitations on possibilities to communicate, observe, and physically interact with each other. Again, the meanings and dynamics of
transactions are affected (Mahler, 2001; Mazzucato, 2009). For instance,
handing over money with authorization to use it for a specific purpose is
different when the actual use cannot be observed. And when a mother
gives money to a child, it carries different meaning in a context where she
cannot simultaneously provide physical affection. Within the limitations
of physical separation, technological developments have fundamentally
changed the nature of communication in many transnational relationships.
9
Transnational relationships often reflect more complex migration trajectories, but the
migrantnon-migrant dichotomy serves to illustrate the theoretical point. A common,
more complex constellation that is pertinent to the study of remittances is the one in
which migrants in the distant diaspora (typically high-income countries) support migrants
in the proximate diaspora, for instance refugees who remain in the region of origin (Van
Hear, 1998; Horst, 2008a).
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Consequently, differential access to technology has become a powerful

mediating factor, affecting how the context of migration shapes remittance
transactions.
Third, migration gives the transactions particular temporal dimensions. Reciprocity in transnational relationships is typically marked by a
pattern of long periods of separation punctuated by shorter visits by the
migrant to the homeland. Migrants transactions with people at the origin
are also shaped by temporal aspects of their own migration trajectory: the
time that has elapsed since the initially migration, the prospects of a
future return, or plans for family reunification abroad. In addition, the
temporal dimensions of the transnational social field as a whole have a
bearing on remittance transactions. Dominant practices and norms in a
community of recent migrants are likely to differ from those of a longstanding diaspora population.
TWELVE REMITTANCE SCRIPTS

If remittances are the core of multifaceted compound transactions, the
possibilities for variation are endless. Scripts create structure by concentrating the variation to a set of culturally defined prototypes. In this section, I describe twelve remittance scripts that emerge from the
ethnographic literature. I examine them here in isolation, before addressing later on how they are combined.
Since scripts are culturally defined conventions, they vary between
contexts. Consequently, the list I present here is not exhaustive. This specific selection of scripts is developed through a combined deductive and
inductive process. On the one hand, literature on monetary transactions
and social ties more generally suggested possible scripts, which could then
be modified and refined with reference to the ethnographic literature on
remittances (e.g. Zelizer, 1996; Eyben, 2006; Shipton, 2010). On the
other hand, the analysis of ethnographic literature in NVivo allowed for
additional scripts to be identified, either through conceptual discussions or
descriptive accounts. In the selection of twelve scripts, I have prioritized
scripts that appear to be relevant in a diversity of settings. Particular
remittance scripts related to marriages are an example of what has been
left out. Not only do they vary in importance, but they take a diversity of
highly context-specific forms.
The labels that describe the scripts are a combination of emic and
etic terms. In most cases, even if there is a coherent logic to a script, there
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is not a specific vocabulary that transactors use to describe it. Analytical

abstractions such as compensation and allowance then serve to summarize. In other cases, remittance senders and recipients use words that
label a script, for instance sacrifice and help. While the origin of the
labels varies, all the scripts exist in the same field of tension between
transactors own understandings and analysts interpretations (Barnard,
2012).
Compensation
When remittance recipients provide services for migrants, the money that
is sent can represent compensation, or payment, for the service rendered.
Typical examples recognized in the economics-oriented and ethnographic literatures alike are overseeing the construction of a house, tending property, or providing care for migrants children or elderly parents.
The legal vulnerability of many migrants creates additional needs for services from people in the country of origin, including the provision of genuine or counterfeit documents (Pajo, 2008; Mazzucato, 2009). In theory,
compensatory remittances represent a balanced exchange. The money
remitted is coupled with specific requitals, things that recipients do for
the senders benefit. Since the terms of the exchange are often not made
explicit, and reciprocity is stretched out in time, compensation blends into
insurance. That is, remittances might not compensate for a specific and
immediate service, but create a credit of favours to be accessed in times of
need. Conversely, people in the community of origin could provide services in order to strengthen migrants obligations to reciprocate in the
future.
When remittance transactions take the form of compensation for
services, it is pertinent to examine the exchange with reference to theory
about work. As Landolt and Da (2005) observe, transnational families
depend on the caregiving work performed by non-migrant members in
the country of origin. The prevalent uncertainty about the timely arrival
of remittances in sufficient amounts, they argue, reflects a situation of
precarious work. In addition to the short-term precariousness linked to
waiting for remittances, the work is characterized by structural instability because demand could suddenly dissipate. When children are
reunited with parents abroad, or elderly parents pass away, the foundation for compensatory remittances to caregivers disappears (Dreby,
2010).
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Repayment
Remittances as repayment of debts feature centrally in both the economics-oriented and ethnographic literatures. In some cases, such loan
arrangements are explicit and quantified, as when migrants incur debts to
human smugglers or borrow money from relatives at home to cover the
cost of migration. More significantly, remittances can constitute repayment of loans through implicit contracts. The implicit nature means that
there is no clear point at which the debt is settled; repayment could be
important as a process, rather than by virtue of an accumulated amount
repaid. The repayment script is illustrated not only by the history of past
transactions, but also by the expressed sense of indebtedness on the part
of migrants (Olwig, 2007; Lindley, 2010).
When current expectations are shaped by past transactions, retrospective perceptions are decisive and could differ between the parties. In
his study of Ghanaian transnationalism, Boris Nieswand (2011:109)
asserts that relatives in Ghana stressed the role of the collective in making
migration possible and criticized what they considered the irresponsible
and egotistic behaviour of the migrants. The claim to having made
migration possible provides a strong moral case for repayment, yet
remains elusive and vulnerable to divergent perceptions of agency.
The economics-oriented and ethnographic literatures both discuss
remittances from children to parents in terms of repayment, but with substantial differences. The economics-oriented literature emphasizes parents
investment in education and in financing migration and considers the
decision-making of the actors (Poirine, 1997; Cox, Eserb, and Jimenez,
1998; Rapoport and Docquier, 2006). In the ethnographic literature, the
dominant picture is rather one of an unquestionable obligation to repay
parents for the gift of life and care in childhood, regardless of the subsequent migration (James, 1997; Knodel et al., 2001; Lo, 2008).
Economists have a preference for determining motivations from
observed behaviour. As Poirine (1997:590) writes in his influential article
about remittances as family loan arrangements, the theoretical self-interest model predicts well what people are doing, even though the reasons
why they are doing it according to the theory are not the ones given when
answering surveys. Ethnographers, too, do not take peoples rationalization of their own actions at face value. The ethnographic literature nevertheless shows that the emotional aspects of perceived indebtedness,
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obligation, and entitlement are central to the role of remittances in implicit loan arrangements.
Authorization
Remittances are often sent to a recipient who is not given the money, but
charged with spending it according to the senders directions. Such authorization is an important script not only because it is widespread, but
because it is a theoretically distinct reference point the pure non-gift
as opposed to the pure gift. The recipient does not benefit financially.
Authorization can be for expenditures on the migrants behalf, for
instance in connection with construction of a house, or for onward distribution of remittances to secondary recipients.
Since the recipients do not benefit directly in financial terms, it is
pertinent to ask what motivates them to take part in the transaction.
Recipients can benefit through combinations of the authorization script
with other scripts a point we will return to in the next section. Alternatively, the recipient is doing the sender a favour by managing the
money, possibly as part of a longer-term relationship of reciprocal support. Or, the recipient could be motivated by indirect, non-financial
benefits. The publically visible association with migration and its benefits
could be a significant social asset in settings where transnational connections are revered (cf. Newell, 2012). Someone who is authorized to
spend money on a migrants behalf could have considerable freedom in
deciding, for instance, which builders to hire or which poor people to
give alms to choices that affect the persons social relationships and
status.
The authorization script is particularly dependent on trust. Since
senders do not relinquish ownership of the money but leave it to be managed by another person far away, the potential for loss is considerable.
While most other remittance scripts are driven by senders relationships with specific recipients, the authorization script implies that a recipient is chosen. This choice is affected by the question of recipients
motivation and by the reliance on trust. The ethnographic literature suggests that when migrants need someone to manage money on their behalf,
their selection can follow two lines of reasoning (Pinnawala, 2008; Smith
and Mazzucato, 2009; Coe, 2013). First, they can choose a proxy manager among close relatives, who are presumed to have the migrants best
interest at heart and are unlikely to abuse the trust. However, this strategy
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entails a risk because relatives could feel entitled to a share of the money
that is, they could elicit another script for the transaction. A close kinship
tie also limits the migrants possibilities for terminating the relationship
and selecting another proxy manager if necessary. The other line of reasoning, therefore, is that it could be preferable to work with a trusted
friend, with greater clarity about what each person is gaining from the
transaction, and greater sway in setting the terms and ending the arrangement if necessary.
Pooling
The relationship between individual and collective ownership of money is
at the heart of understanding remittance transactions. The standard
assumption in the economics-oriented literature is that money is owned
individually by the migrant and collectively by the receiving household.
However, there are households in which all economically members are
expected to pool (part of) their income, and such households can continue
to operate in the same way if migration makes them transnational. Remittance behaviour could then easily be overtheorized. As a Samoan factory
worker in New Zealand expressed it to Macpherson (1994:89), My
brothers go to the plantation to collect coconuts for copra. I go to collect
money in the factory. Its the same thing: another way to serve the family. In other words, seeking to explain the contribution from one of the
brothers as remittances would be unhelpful; he just happened to be working abroad while the others did not.
The nature of income pooling depends on the cultural context. It is
central to the modern nuclear family, focused on an emotional and material conjugal partnership. Income pooling is equally central to many traditional forms of the extended family household, for instance in West
Africa and the Pacific. Here, it takes another, multigenerational, form in
which junior members submit income to household heads. By contrast,
there are other contexts where household economies are gender segregated,
or where households are looser structures that combine individual and
collective finances. These differences in the economic organization of families affect the importance and nature of income pooling as a remittance
script.
Expectations and patterns of pooling not only shape remittance
flows; they can be transformed by migration and remitting. For instance,
Pinnawala (2008) shows that female migrants actively controlled and
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monitored remittance use, whereas they had not considered their premigration income their own in the sense that they could decide how
the household should put it to use.
Gift
As noted in the introduction, ethnographers who study remittances have
been drawn to theories of gift exchange. These theories are relevant to
remittance transactions more generally, concerning the nature of reciprocity and the interaction between exchanges and relationships across the
range of scripts. But does the gift also represent a specific script for remittances? As
Akesson (2011) observes, Lucas and Starks notion of pure
altruism resembles Maliowskis idea of the pure gift. In both cases,
these concepts serve primarily as theoretical reference points for the analysis of real-world situations with lesser purity. However, there are also
instances in which remittances conform to a gifting script that sets them
apart from other transfers.
What typically characterizes gift remittances is that they are irregular,
non-obligatory, and, in principle, dissociated from the recipients needs.
Their social value overshadows the financial contribution they make. In
other words, gift remittances are partly defined in opposition to regular
support driven by responsibility and ad hoc contribution in the face of
urgencies (cf. Smith, 2009). In the form of gift remittances, even small
amounts can serve the purpose of recognition and consequent inter-locking
of the giver and recipient in a social framework imbued with a range of
obligations and meanings (Cliggett, 2003:543). As vehicles of recognition
in transnational relationships, gift remittances have similarities with phone
calls: The actual transfer of money or information could be insignificant,
but the difference between remitting or calling, and not doing it, is enormous (cf. Cliggett, 2005; Carling, 2008b).
Gift remittances can be occasioned by celebrations of life events,
such as wedding anniversaries, marriages, baptisms, funerals, and school
graduations. The social meaning of the money depends on the event
(Fresnoza-Flot, 2009). With all such special-occasion remittances, the gesture of recognition is a core element, and sometimes an obligatory one. In
some contexts, however, also the amount given is of great importance,
both socially and financially. A case in point is lavish Ghanaian funerals
that are financed by transnational donations that are publicized to the
guests (Mazzucato, Kabki, and Smith, 2006).
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Allowance
An allowance reflects the givers responsibility to provide for the recipient,
implies regularity, and typically suggests a bounded freedom for recipients
to make spending decisions. The logic of an allowance is that a lump sum
is allocated to a defined area of spending in the case of remittances, typically to household maintenance. The sender decides the appropriate
amount, possibly in negotiation with the recipients, but does not micromanage spending. Indicative of this logic, McKay (2012) writes that the
Filipina domestic workers she interviewed in Hong Kong calculated
monthly allowances to their households in terms of Philippine peso needs
rather than in terms of Hong Kong dollar affordability. The allowances
were intended to cover regular expenses for family maintenance, such as
costs for rice, electricity, transportation, clothing, health care, and school
fees, within a lump sum deemed reasonable by the senders.
Allowance remittances imply a superior position for the sender, but
also autonomy, within bounds, for the recipient. The logic of allowances
thus resembles the breadwinner model of household organization, in
which, traditionally, a male household head works outside the home and
generated income that underpins his authority and simultaneously distances him from the nitty-gritty of everyday expenditure, covered instead
by a housekeeping allowance managed by his wife. The capacity of migration to transform gender relations lies partly in the gender reversal of the
breadwinner model through allowance remittances from female migrants.
Obligation and Entitlement

Remittances can reflect a sense of obligation by the sender and a corresponding sense of entitlement by the recipient. When such perceived obligations are structural givens, rather than elements in a variable exchange
relationship, they represent a specific script (cf. Gowricharn, 2004).
Obligation remittances are a prime example of how transactions have
both intrinsic and migration-induced elements. In many parts of the
world, adult children are seen to have a duty to provide for their ageing
parents. If the children migrate, their financial contributions become
transnationalized and turn into remittances, but the motivation for the
transaction is essentially the same as if they were living in the same
household or village. Migration could have been a means to fulfil the
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obligation, and it could affect the balance between different forms of care,
but would not change the obligation itself. This form of remittances as an
obligation to parents overlaps with the repayment script.
However, migration can also introduce new obligations and claims.
The ethnographic literature shows how the structural parameters of migration some people leaving and others being left can create a sense of
debt on the part of migrants and a sense of entitlement on the part of
non-migrants (Hage, 2002; Gowricharn, 2004; Shandy, 2007; Carling,
2008b). The corresponding remittances are not related to recipients specific needs, but to what Gowricharn (2004) refers to as their moral capital
by virtue of being non-migrant relatives of people who have gone abroad.
One of my own interviewees in Cape Verde illustrated this perceived
entitlement to remittances from relatives abroad (Carling, 2008b:1462).
In my first interview with him, a young casual labourer, I asked him if he
had family abroad. I have a Grandmother in Gabon he said. I have
aunts in Holland, I have cousins in America; I have a lot of relatives in
Portugal. Not only there, in a lot of places. But none of them help, man!
They never sent anything. His disappointment was not based on any past
exchange or a particularly close relationship, but on the mere fact that
they were his relatives abroad. One of Thais (2014:176) interviewees, a
woman in Vietnam, expressed similar frustrations: Its hard for me to
say, but you can say that even though I have overseas family, a brother
and a sister, its like I dont have anybody over there. [. . .] I am still driving the same motorbike [my sister] bought for me 8 years ago. I feel like
I am a local with no one abroad.
Sacrifice
The ethnographic literature on remittances contains many references to
sacrifice often in migrants and relatives own words (e.g. Schiller and
Fouron, 2001; Schmalzbauer, 2004; Sanchez-Carretero, 2005; Stodolska
and Santos, 2006; Thai, 2006; Rodriguez, 2010; McKenzie and Menjvar,
2011; Singh, 2013; Yeoh et al., 2013). The notion of sacrifice is generally
not linked to giving up the remitted money and foregoing alternative uses.
Rather, it refers to everything that migrants endure in order to earn the
money in the first place. This form of sacrifice is, for instance, central to
Zrhs (2012:1760) account of the traditional norm of Turkish migration
to Europe: Those who are able to do so should sacrifice a certain period
of their lives for the sake of their families. Remittances, along with
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savings, are the product of this sacrifice. This conception of sacrifice as a

social rather than ritual act resonates with recent anthropological theorizing on sacrifice (Mayblin and Course, 2013).
The logic of sacrificial remittances has a common element with the
new economics of labour migration: Both reflect a vision of the migration
decision, subsequent remittances, and ultimate family well-being as three
inextricably linked elements. Sacrificial remittances, however, are tied to
an ethos of selfless devotion to family, of placing the needs of others
above ones own. It is a gendered ethos, in the sense that the image of the
self-sacrificing migrant takes gender-specific forms, but the ethnographic
literature describes both women and men in such roles.
A particular feature of the sacrifice script is that it has a dual implication for the relative positioning of senders and recipients. On the one
hand, sacrifice involves subordination relative to the beneficiary; the sender places his or her own needs below those of the recipient. On the other
hand, the sacrificial remittance morally elevates the sender.
The role of the sacrifice script is particularly closely tied to migrants
transnational communication of their experiences. In some settings, migration is widely assumed to involve hardships, and the understanding of sacrifice is easily shared between migrants and their non-migrant relatives. In
other cases, migrants strive to convey a more positive impression, either to
appear successful or to keep their families from worrying. Remittances
might then be understood as sacrificial by the sender but not by the
recipients.
Blackmail
In general terms, blackmail is a payment extorted by intimidation. Remittance transfers could be said to constitute blackmail payments when they
are motivated by fear of negative repercussions. In the economics-oriented
literature, using the prospect of inheritance to attract remittances has been
likened to blackmailing (Hagen-Zanker and Siegel, 2007). The ethnographic literature is replete with descriptions of other sanctions that are
probably more widespread. Cristina Sanchez-Carretero (2005) is perhaps
alone in using the term blackmail, but it aptly describes this script. The
essence of the blackmail script is that prospective recipients hold power
over migrants through the possibility of triggering reprisals for not remitting. Such power, the ethnographic literature shows, can be substantial. It
is primarily based on the moralities of transnationalism. That is, migrant
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behaviour vis-a-vis relatives left behind is cast as a moral issue (Gowricharn, 2004; Carling, 2008b;
Akesson, 2011). When prospective recipients think that remittances fall short of migrants moral obligations,
migrants risk being judged in moral terms, as selfish, ungrateful, or aloof.
Since remittances are often sent within transnational social fields, such
judgement matters to migrants regardless of plans for return migration.
The fear of reprisals is even stronger in settings where witchcraft is a social
fact. Failing to meet ones social duties as a migrant is then feared to have
consequences more severe than a tarnished reputation (Callan, 2007;
Kankonde Bukasa, 2009).
Help
When remittances constitute help, they are motivated by recipients having
worthy needs that senders are in a position to alleviate. Such remittances
are typically perceived as a moral imperative, but social obligations play a
mediating role in determining whom to help.
The help script can play a significant role in remittance determination. The transfer is typically initiated by a request from the prospective
recipient, who presents the need to the sender. Such appeals for help,
often in the form of phone calls, can be key drivers of remittances, as
reflected in the title of Anna Lindleys (2010) book about remittances to
Somalia, The early morning phone call. For migrants from countries in
conflict, remittances in response to distinct, pressing needs can add up to
substantial and sustained flows (Akuei, 2005; Carling, Erdal, and Horst,
2012).
The logic of remittances as help underpins the moral virtue of both
senders and recipients. Senders do a good deed, and recipients are not to
blame for their misfortune. This is also a deeply hierarchical and potentially humiliating script, however. While each request may be presented as
urgent and unique, sequential requests and assistance create a structural
relationship of dependence.
The help script places great importance on the senders perception
of recipients needs, which, in turn, often depends on the recipients own
accounts. In other words, although the logic of the script is centred on
privation, it affords the recipient greater scope for agency than many other
scripts. The exercise of this agency can be deceptive, as when nonmigrants present fictive or excessive needs. Lindley (2009b:1327) conveys
the suspicion of a Somali woman in London: I have an aunt who had
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had all the diseases in the whole wide world! Shes had diabetes, diarrhoea, blood pressure, cancer, heart and kidney problems. [. . .] People say
anything to get money. The line between deception and ingenuity is
blurred, however. Tazanu (2012) describes a group interview in Cameroon, in which his informants boasted about having outwitted their
migrant brothers and sisters by presenting their needs in ways that maximized the likelihood of receiving remittances, based on an intricate
knowledge of what counts as morally appealing.
Investment
In discourse on remittances, the consumption/investment dichotomy usually refers to how remittances are ultimately spent and whether that usage
contributes to longer-term livelihoods for receiving families and development for receiving communities. When we consider the perspective of the
remitting migrant, however, investment takes on different meanings. In
purely financial terms, there are four ways in which investment can be a
script for remittances.
First, money can be invested in potentially income-generating assets
in the country of origin. For instance, migrants build multiunit houses
that provide income from rent as well as accommodation for the
migrant during holidays or upon return. In these cases, the remitted
money is never relinquished by migrants, simply managed on their
behalf.
Second, migrants can reduce future needs to remit by helping to create livelihoods for the recipients. Even if the likelihood of a real impact
on the migrants purse seems remote, this form of investment remittances
has appeal because of its moral virtue: Migrants sow a seed. Remittances
for education fall into this category, lodged between remittances for risky
business ventures that might come to nothing and remittances for immediate consumption that do not alleviate tomorrows needs. Not surprisingly, education expenditures feature prominently among the uses that
prospective recipients know will appeal to senders (Tazanu, 2012). Remittances earmarked for education thus blur the investment, help, and allowance scripts.
Third, migrants could more realistically affect the future demands
for their remittances by letting others share the burden. Helping a sibling,
for instance, migrate and contribute remittances to ageing parents could
be the most financially rewarding way to allocate remittances.
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Fourth, remittances can represent investments by creating obligations

on the part of recipients. This is an elusive form of the investment script,
overlapping with informal insurance arrangements. Parents remittances to
children, for instance, could be interpreted partly as investments in future
social security (Forde, 2011).
All these forms of investment have non-monetary impacts on the
senders social standing and relationships. Such impacts can motivate
investment in their own right and might be more important to remittance
flows overall than purely financial returns (Van Hear, 2002). As Lucas
and Stark (1985:904) noted, migrants remit to invest in social assets and
relationships with family and friends. This makes it hard to distinguish
between altruism and self-interest, they argued, since one cannot probe
whether the true motive is one of caring or more selfishly wishing to
enhance prestige by being perceived as caring. Such investment in relationships and social standing, seen partly as an untestable nuisance in the
economics-oriented literature, is at the heart of ethnographic studies of
remittances. The relative importance of the economic and the social is
succinctly expressed by Kerry James (1997:5) with reference to Tongans:
It matters less to them how the remittances are used than that they have
fulfilled their family duty. Fulfilment of this obligation represents a far
more important social investment than any economically productive
investment could be.
Also when remittances are earmarked for specific uses, they can have
a social investment value that contrasts a purely economic logic. Expenditures on lavish ceremonies, for instance, could be a particularly productive
investment in social terms.
Lucas and Stark (1985) saw investment in social assets exclusively as
preparation for return. The transnational turn in migration studies underpins a different view, acknowledging the value of investing in relationships
and reputation regardless of the prospect of returning permanently to the
community of origin.
Donation
Migrants also send remittances in the form of charitable or religious
donations. This script differs from the others because there is no clear
senderrecipient dyad. Donations may be gathered and transferred collectively, by hometown associations for instance, or they could be sent by
individuals to institutional recipients. Proper consideration of such partly
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institutionalized transactions lies beyond the scope of this paper. However,

donation can be recognized as a script alongside others.
When donations take the form of alms to the poor, there is a
blurred boundary with the help script, which is premised on pre-existing
social relations. As Erdal (2012) observes, recipients can be relatives who
qualify as a worthy cause because of their poverty and virtuous behaviour.
Moreover, collective remittances also often involve interaction between
individuals. Issues of trust, for instance, can consequently be as prominent
as in other scripts (Fitzgerald, 2008).
REMITTANCE SCRIPTS COMPARED

The preceding discussion of scripts invites a more systematic comparison
of their characteristics. What are the elements that define similarities
and differences between scripts? Examining the distinguishing characteristics of scripts can help extend the list of scripts presented here and identify relevant scripts in the field. I have chosen to address four
characteristics:
1
2
3
4
Relinquishment whether and how senders give up ownership of the

money that is transferred;
Requitals what recipients may offer, or be expected to offer, in
exchange for remittances;
Gratitude whether remittances express or invite gratitude, and how
such gratitude may be expressed or not;
Positioning how the remittance transaction affects the proximity
and hierarchy between the sender and the recipient.
Other characteristics would have been possible. However, these four

account for much of the diversity between the scripts discussed in the previous section and, in combination, address the material, emotional, and
relational aspects of scripts.
Relinquishment
Most of the remittance scripts involve complete relinquishment of the
remitted funds, in line with the idea of a financial transfer. Money
changes hands. The prime exception is the authorization script, in which
the remitted money remains the senders. Relinquishment is partial in the
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case of pooling, where individual ownership of a smaller amount is

exchanged for collective ownership of a larger amount.
What complicates the issue of relinquishment in many other scripts
is the senders continued moral claim over the money after it has been
transferred. The scripts differ in this respect too. When the script implies
earmarking remittances for specific purposes as the assistance, allowance,
and investment scripts typically do spending the money in other ways
represents a breach of trust. However, earmarking is itself a grey area. The
ethnographic literature shows a continuum: At the one end, there are
instances of micromanagement of expenses and control of receipts; at the
other end, there are implicit understandings of acceptable uses. In
between, there is, for instance, the practice of giving advice about the
use of remittances (Pinnawala, 2008).
Analysts who warn against policymakers eager attempts to steer
remittance spending have pointed out that these are private funds. In the
words of Don Terry (2004:3), One overwhelmingly important fact must
always be recognized: Its Their Money. This is a valid point vis-a-vis
states. When we zoom in on the social microdynamics of remittances,
however, the question of whose money it is becomes puzzling. At what
point and on which terms do migrants relinquish ownership of the money
they send? Even before the remittances are sent, and after they are
received, multiple individuals can feel ownership or moral claims to the
money. By identifying the logic of different remittance scripts, we become
better equipped to understand the dynamics of ownership.
Requitals
Remittance scripts vary with respect to what senders obtain from recipients, if anything. That is, do the scripts involve expectation of requitals?
Three of the scripts discussed here stand out by having explicit, but very
different, requitals. In the compensation script, services are rendered in
return for remittances. Blackmail involves an explicit requital in the form
of avoiding the negative consequences of not remitting. The repayment
script is premised on reverse transfers in the past, making the current
remittance itself the requital.
In most of the scripts, however, requitals are more subtle. For
instance, recipients can reciprocate through the way in which senders generosity is recognized. Expressions of gratitude are then a form of requital
in their own right. Requitals also take the form of hospitality during
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senders holidays. Peggy Levitt (2001:90) writes about this from the perspective of a woman in the Dominican Republic. She has three siblings in
Boston and knows it is her responsibility to clean, wash, and cook for
five extra people and treat them as royal guests when they come to visit.
Remittance transfers typically take place in contexts of material
inequality, and reciprocity is consequently asymmetrical. As Eckstein
(2010:1651) points out, unequal exchanges such as typical remittance
transactions contribute to and reinforce honour, prestige, and authority.
This claim is mirrored in
Akessons (2011) account of remittances being
reciprocated through recognition of the senders moral virtue and concomitant support of their social standing.
Gratitude
The relationship between exchange and social relationships is mediated in
part through feelings and displays of gratitude. Remittance transactions
engage with gratitude in three ways. First, remittances can be an expression
of gratitude. For instance, when remittances to parents are motivated by
parents efforts in raising the remitter, the money that is transferred as a
form of repayment can be seen as a demonstration of gratitude.
Remittances can also elicit gratitude. Feelings of gratitude are likely
when the recipients perceive that the money makes a real difference in
material or symbolic terms and that the transfer reflects an intentional,
non-obligatory effort by senders to increase the recipients well-being (cf.
McCullough et al., 2001). Gratitude is thus central to the help script, in
which transfers are driven by the needs of the recipient and represent a
voluntary and virtuous act by the sender. Similarly, the gift script invites
gratitude because it constructs remittances as a gesture of goodwill and
recognition. A more generalized form of gratitude is also relevant to other
scripts, such as the sacrifice and allowance scripts. Feelings of gratitude are
important because they affect reciprocation and shape the longer-term
relationship between the transactors.
Finally, there are scripts in which there is no prominent role for gratitude. When recipients feel entitled to the money or perform services in
return, gratitude for remittances is unwarranted. The absence of gratitude,
like its presence, influences reciprocation and the longer-term relationship.
By choosing whether and how to communicate gratitude, recipients
affect the scripting of remittances. That is, they influence how the transaction maps onto possible scripts, and consequently what expectations it
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embodies. Expressing gratitude upon receiving remittances could signal

indebtedness and imply that the sender remitted with requitals in mind.

Akesson (2011) observes that the Cape Verdeans she did research among
refrain from displays of gratitude in order to spare the sender this embarrassment. Karen Richmans (2005) Haitian informants also avoid expressing gratitude for remittances, but with the purpose of preempting the
migrant benefactors opportunity to feel superior. By not acknowledging
the money sent by migrants, they distance the transaction from the help
script and underplay their protracted dependence on remittances.
Positioning
The ways in which remittances shape and are shaped by, social relationships, are core themes in the ethnographic literature. This is an extensive
topic that goes beyond the scope of this article. However, a comparison
of scripts needs to consider how they affect the positioning of senders and
recipients in relation to each other.
Across the diversity of scripts, the dominant function of remittances
is to recognize, sustain, and strengthen relationships, bringing people closer despite the geographical separation. From senders point of view,
remittances can thus be seen as expressions or claims of membership
(Goldring, 2004:820). Stopping the flow of remittances can have an
equally powerful negative effect on relationships.
Even when remittances continue being sent, however, they can
weaken relationships in two ways. First, remittances create distance when
the monetary transactions are perceived to crowd out the emotional content of relationships. The blackmail script is a case in point, since
migrants are likely to feel that they are reduced to remittance makers in
the eyes of their relatives. Requests for help can have a similar effect, casting migrants primarily as donors.
Recipients too can feel the wedging effect of remittances on close
relationship. A case in point is the Mexican concept of padres de cheque
no mas, fathers only by virtue of a cheque (Dreby, 2009). The money that
these migrant fathers send to children left behind is constructed as antithetical to the intimacy of fatherhood.
The other way in which remittances create distance is through the
tensions that often accompany remittance transactions. Conflicts can arise
between senders and recipients over the use of remittances for instance
under the allowance or authorization scripts or over incessant or suspect
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requests for help remittances. The obligation script induces distance when
migrants who are unable to meet their perceived obligations opt for social
withdrawal, often with considerable shame and anguish (Hernandez,
2002; Schmalzbauer, 2004; Akuei, 2005; Graziano, 2013).
The Haitian example that I recently referred to illustrates the power
of remittances to define, reinforce, or challenge hierarchical relationships
(Richman, 2005). In the Haitian case, the remittance-backed superiority
of migrants was particularly sensitive because the migrants were typically
younger than the people receiving remittances. In other words, the migration-induced aspects of the relationship clashed with the intrinsic ones.
The same mechanism is what, in some cases, gives remittances from
female migrants the power to challenge patriarchal structures.
Like the help script, the allowance, alms, and authorization scripts
imply a superior position for migrants. When migrants give amounts that
are unimaginable to reciprocate, the transaction is constitutive of a social
hierarchy (Newell, 2012). The situation is reversed in the case of the
blackmail script, which is premised on the recipients power over the
migrant. The repayment script could entail a levelling of the relationship,
in the sense that the debtors settle their obligations and thereby escape an
inferior position. Since, as we have seen, repayment often takes the form
of an open-ended process, however, remittances under this script could
also serve to continually reinforce subordination.
REMITTANCE SCRIPTS COMBINED

Remittance transactions typically combine several scripts. Since both
scripts and transactions have blurred contours, they cannot be matched in
a straightforward fashion. On the contrary, a given transaction might be
best interpreted with respect to two or more ideal types in the form of
scripts. This is a basic way in which related scripts are blended. However,
remittance transactions also combine scripts that are clearly different from
each other. Such mixing takes two forms, which I refer to as segmented
transfers and layered transactions.
Segmented Transfers
Remittance scripts can be combined by assigning portions of a transfer to
different scripts, either explicitly or implicitly. Such a transfer can be
described as segmented. For instance, when a migrant parent remits to a
S248
caregiver, it is typically assumed that part of the money will cover the
actual cost of caring for an additional child, but that there will also be a
surplus that benefits the caregiver or the household overall. The former
part then follows the allowance or authorization script. If the caregiver is
a close relative, such as the migrants mother, the latter part of the transfer
might conform to the obligation or repayment script. If the child is in the
care of a non-relative, this part of the money might be thought of as compensation for the child-rearing service.
Such segmentation is most overt when the authorization script is
involved; that is, when part of the money is simply being managed on the
migrants behalf, be it for specific expenditures or for forwarding to secondary recipients. As noted above, authorization can be bundled with
other scripts that benefit the recipient. Smith and Mazzucato (2009)
describe such an arrangement, in implicit form, among Ghanaians who
oversaw the construction of migrants houses. The recipients felt entitled
to skim part of the money remitted for construction, not as deception,
but in an unspoken mutual understanding with the migrant. In this case,
the skimmed part follows the compensation script, as payment for the services of overseeing construction.
Segmented transfers imply a potential for conflict when uses under
different scripts are mutually exclusive. For instance, migrant parents
could feel that too little of their remittances directly benefit their child,
resulting in strained relationships with caregivers (Dreby, 2010;
Akesson,
Carling, and Drotbohm, 2012). Segmentation is not the same as
earmarking, since transfers made under a single script could be
earmarked for one or more purposes, but the resulting potential for
disputes is similar.
Layered Transactions
Scripts can be layered in a single transaction, meaning that scripts are
superimposed through selective, deceptive, or disparate communication.
Senders and recipients may well have a shared understanding of such layering and engage in it to avoid embarrassment or circumvent social
norms. Two examples from Albania serve to illustrate layering.
Albanian society has strong patriarchal elements, one of which is the
prescription that a married woman should devote herself to the well-being
of her parents-in-law rather than her own parents. If she and her husbands are migrants, they should remit to his parents, not hers, conforming
S249
to the obligation or repayment script. By defining remittances as gifts,

however, a woman can justifiably send money to her own parents. The
gift script thus becomes the public face of the transfer, backed up by characteristics such as being irregular rather than monthly. The accumulated
amounts can nevertheless be substantial and make a significant contribution to her parents subsistence a fact that would be a source of shame
had it not been masked by the gift script (King, Dalipaj, and Mai, 2006;
Smith, 2009; Vullnetari and King, 2011).
The other Albanian example concerns remittances that men send to
fathers or brothers to finance the construction of a house (Dalakoglou,
2010). Such transfers are usually larger than the cost of the construction
tasks that the money is meant to cover. This is a fact that both transactors
are aware of. The arrangement thus resembles what Smith and Mazzucato
(2009) observed among construction managers in Ghana, referred to
above. In the Albanian case, however, the transaction is layered in the
sense that the allocation script masks the assistance that the surplus represents. By embedding contributions to family members subsistence within
the construction enterprise, senders reduce the shame associated with
being dependent on migrants.
The same money can, in some situations, play sequential roles in
multiple scripts. This form of layering occurs when recipients are
instructed to spend the money in particular ways. For instance, migrants
may refrain from making religious donations or offering gifts directly, but
instead earmark remittances to family members for these purposes. The
money then follows the authorization script in the sense that it never
becomes the recipients property. However, the arrangement bestows prestige or virtue upon the family members when they make donations
(James, 1997). The transaction could therefore simultaneously conform to
the repayment or obligation script, with the twist that migrants bestow
prestige rather than money upon the recipients.
Layering can also take the form that senders and recipients assign
the transaction to different scripts. For instance, Erdal (2012) describes
how Pakistani migrants send remittances that they regard as zakat religiously prescribed charitable giving to the poor to unknowing relatives
who may have refused the money if they had known the senders interpretation. Such divergent scripting can have a deceptive element when transactors appeal strategically to specific scripts. A case in point is that
recipients may feel entitled to remittances beyond the prospective senders
corresponding sense of obligation. If migrants fear this scenario, they can,
S250
as previously noted, be inclined to select non-relatives as proxy managers

of their finances in the country of origin.
Prospective recipients can sense the same divergence between perceived entitlements and obligations. A possible reaction is to appeal to
other scripts, at times deceptively. Tazanus Cameroonian (2012) interviewees, referred to above, justified their disingenuous requests for remittances with reference to migrant relatives being too greedy. In other
words, they relied on the help script as a means of extracting remittances,
but identified with an entitlement script that morally sanctioned the
remittances they cunningly obtained.
REMITTANCE SCRIPTS IN CONTEXT

The purpose of introducing the concept of remittance scripts is to break
up the aggregate remittance flows and examine microlevel decisions that
follow different logics under different scripts. However, the artificial amalgam of remittances in general carries social meanings of its own, which
form part of the context for peoples action. In some contexts, remittances
are portrayed as fuelling terrorism and crime, hindering integration in the
society of settlement, or corrupting home communities (Coutin, 2007;
Lindley, 2009a; Horst et al., in press). The dominant macrolevel discourse, however, seems to render remitting in general both natural and
virtuous. This remittance norm is bolstered by the confluence of several
weighty forces.
First, remitting is typically underpinned by the moralities of transnationalism. That is, within transnational social fields, meeting remittance
expectations is often appreciated as morally virtuous, and failing to do so
is similarly condemned. This is an overarching pattern across a range of
scripts.
Second, commercial actors in the money transfer business use marketing strategies that capitalize on and thereby reinforce both the virtue and the naturalness of remitting. The paramount example is Western
Union, which, in the mid-2000s shifted from stressing efficiency to
emphasizing devotion: Taglines changed from the fastest way to send
money to sending so much more than money, with accompanying
imagery of family affection (DeParle, 2007). The companys own market
surveys indicate that a staggering eighty per cent of consumers worldwide
are aware of Western Union. In most markets, other companies also have
a strong presence. Like the fashion industry promotes particular body
S251
ideals as much as specific clothing brands, the ubiquitous marketing of

remittance services functions as a massive public awareness campaign that
promotes remitting.
The third contributor to the remittance norm is the current policy
environment. As Page and Mercer (2012:12) argue, the right of those at
home to expect remittances from those in the diaspora is enshrined in
the argument about the developmentmigration nexus. The dominant
efforts in policy development and research do not question the centrality
of remitting in a socially constructed norm for what it means to be a
migrant, but tends to take remitting itself for granted.
Transnational communities, corporate marketing strategies, and the
dominant policy discourse thus underwrite the same message: Good
migrants remit.
CONCLUSION
The notion of scripts is useful for understanding how remittance senders
and recipients make sense of the transactions they engage in. Such understanding can, in turn, help us appreciate the dynamics of remitting to
whom remittances are sent, what determines remittance amounts, why
transfers stop, and so on. These microlevel decisions add up to shape the
much-heralded global flows of remittances in hundreds of billions of dollars.
But remittance scripts, as an analytical concept, can easily be misunderstood. Several features of scripts call for caution in attempting to classify transactions. First, remittance scripts are elusive cultural constructs.
This means that there is not a finite set of mutually exclusive scripts. Second, remittance scripts typically coexist, as described above, in segmented
transfers and layered transactions. Senders and recipients might elicit different scripts for making sense of the same transaction. There is, consequently, not necessarily an optimal script for labelling a transaction. For
analysts, scripting remittances is a means as much as an end.
What remittance scripts offer is a structured way of thinking about
both the compound and variable nature of remittance transactions. The
transactions are compound in the sense that they fuse material, social, and
emotional elements. Recognizing features of specific scripts in a transaction could mean that other pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Or if a
transaction seems counterintuitive from one perspective, eliciting scripts
can help locate drivers of the transaction in other realms.
S252
Remittance transactions are variable in the sense that remittances are

governed by different logics in different circumstances. This insight was a
starting point for Lucas and Starks (1985) framework of motivations to
remit. Remittance scripts similarly offer a tentative set of options, which
inspires examining similarities and differences. Appreciation of variability
is easily lost in ethnographic studies that focus on a single context. There
is a danger of constructing remittances as special money in an artificially
unitary way. When remittance transactions elicit different scripts, the
money is also special in different ways.
An increasing number of ethnographic studies examine remittances
not only as a minor theme in research on migration and transnationalism, but as an important object of study in their own right. The remittance scripts framework can contribute to this development in four
ways. First, scripts can be used as alternative lenses of observation in
the field. When possibly relevant scripts are identified, interpretations
and questions emerge. Second, the comparative parameters presented
here relinquishment, requitals, gratitude, and positioning can be
used to probe the dynamics of remittance transactions. Third, the
notions of segmented transfers and layered transactions can help make
sense of the disjunctures and contradictions that often emerge from
fieldwork with remittance senders and recipients. Fourth, remittance
scripts can serve as vehicles for investigating diversity in remittance
transactions. Appendix S2 offers suggestions for practical implementation
of these points.
The ethnographic literature on remittances reflects several themes
that, in my opinion, merit attention in future research. They all represent
added complexity that I have not addressed here. First, the relational
dimensions of remittances can be examined far beyond the senderrecipient dyad. Larger webs of people are directly or indirectly implicated in
the transfers (cf. Lindley, 2010; Erdal, 2012). So, while I discussed the
implications of different scripts for the positioning of senders and recipients in relation to each other, the discussion could well be extended to
consider positioning vis-a-vis others at either end of the remittance flow.
A second theme that merits attention is the relationship between remittances and migrants home visits. How migrants prioritize between money
transfers during their absence and generosity during their visits can tell a
lot about the role of social relationships in the migration project (cf. Newell, 2012; Thai, 2014). Third, future research could further explore the
various ways in which remittances serve as vehicles of communication. (cf.
S253
McKay, 2007; Singh, Cabraal, and Robertson, 2010). These and other
themes can be explored with the framework of transactions and scripts as
a foundation.
Preceding sections of this article showed that remittance scripts can
be elusive and are often elicited in subtle ways. Indeed, as
Akesson (2011)
points out in her analysis of remittance relationships, there is often what
Bourdieu referred to as a taboo of making things explicit in such
exchanges. This tenuousness underscores the potential contributions of
ethnography. Long-term face-to-face interaction with a combination of
observation and conversation can generate an understanding of the structures that remittance scripts represent.
From an economics perspective, the same elusive aspects of remittance
transactions could be seen as an argument for experimental approaches.
Indeed, a series of recent studies within the economics of remittances make
use of field experiments to better understand how decisions about remittances are made (cf. Yang, 2011). These studies do not rely on inferences
about motives, which many ethnographers might find questionable, but
address specific questions about preferences and behaviour. A case in point
is research into senders desire for control over the use of their remittances
or, what we, in line with the terminology used here, could call hesitant relinquishment (Batista, Silverman, and Yang, 2013; De Arcangelis et al., 2014;
Ashraf et al., in press). Such desires are inherent to certain remittance
scripts, but are hard to assert through naturally occurring behaviour, and
challenging to assess reliably through surveys. Field experiments can play a
role in eliciting choices that participants might not have expressed as conscious preferences.
Survey data might appear to be inferior to ethnography and field
experiments in studying the often elusive dynamics of remittance transactions. There are certainly many pitfalls that could lead to inappropriate
questions, poor validity, and questionable conclusions from remittance
surveys. However, surveys will continue to play an irreplaceable role in
contextualizing both field experiments and ethnographic data on remittances. Ethnography can also play a greater role in informing innovative
and incisive surveys, adapted to the context under study. Within the vast
literature on remittances, combining ethnographic and statistical methods
is still relatively rare. But the gains from doing so are well documented
(King, Castaldo, and Vullnetari, 2011; Mazzucato, 2011; Carling, Erdal,
and Horst, 2012).
S254
Perhaps, the greatest contribution of ethnography to the study of

remittances has been the joint analyses of material, emotional, and
relational aspects of remittance transactions. The conviction that emerges
from studying the ethnographic literature is that we cannot understand
any one of these elements in isolation from the others. Elsewhere in the
social sciences, the notion of scripts has served to shed light on multidimensional practices. In the study of remittances, thinking in terms of
scripts can further our understanding of why remittances are sent and
what their consequences are.
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SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Additional supporting information may be found in the online version of
this article at the publishers web site:
Appendix S1. A bibliography of ethnographic studies on remittances.
Appendix S2. Using the notion of scripts in empirical research on
remittances.

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Scripting Remittances: Making Sense

of Money Transfers in Transnational

This article proposes a conceptual framework for studying remittances

IMR Volume 48 Number S1 (Fall 2014):S218S262

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW

Introducing Remittance Scripts

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW

Methods and Objectives

specific scripts, a section on how scripts can be systematically compared,

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW

date the nature and degree of reciprocity in remittance transactions. A key

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practice here is that explanatory factors lie as much in the collective

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW

Remittances Are the Core of Composite Transactions

Remittance Transactions Reflect and Encompass Two-Sided Agency

instance as service providers and inheritance managers. The ethnographic

Remittance Transactions Have Dual Foundations

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW

Consequently, differential access to technology has become a powerful

TWELVE REMITTANCE SCRIPTS

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is not a specific vocabulary that transactors use to describe it. Analytical

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW

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Obligation and Entitlement

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savings, are the product of this sacrifice. This conception of sacrifice as a

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW

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Fourth, remittances can represent investments by creating obligations

institutionalized transactions lies beyond the scope of this paper. However,

REMITTANCE SCRIPTS COMPARED

Relinquishment whether and how senders give up ownership of the

Other characteristics would have been possible. However, these four

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case of pooling, where individual ownership of a smaller amount is

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embodies. Expressing gratitude upon receiving remittances could signal

REMITTANCE SCRIPTS COMBINED

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to the obligation or repayment script. By defining remittances as gifts,

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as previously noted, be inclined to select non-relatives as proxy managers

REMITTANCE SCRIPTS IN CONTEXT

ideals as much as specific clothing brands, the ubiquitous marketing of

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Remittance transactions are variable in the sense that remittances are

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Perhaps, the greatest contribution of ethnography to the study of

2009 Economic Well-Being in Salvadoran Transnational Families: How Gender Affects

2006 Migrant Remittances as Diasporic Communication. Journal of International Communication 12(2):718.

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW

2010 Immigration, Remittances, and Transnational Social Capital Formation: A Cuban

2008b The Role of Remittances in the Transnational Livelihood Strategies of Somalis. In

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2001 The Transnational Villagers. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

2009b The Early-Morning Phonecall: Remittances from a Refugee Diaspora Perspective.

2011 Reverse Remittances in the Migration-Development Nexus: Two-Way Flows

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW

2002 Sustaining Societies under Strain: Remittances as a Form of Transnational

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW

Vullnetari, J., and R. King

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