Reorienting the transnational : Transatlantic, transpacific, and antipodean

This chapter traces the emergence of transnationalism as a critical method, discussing its initial manifestation as a form of analysis focused primarily on the Atlantic. It argues, however, that in the 21st century this model has become increasingly oriented toward Pacific and antipodean contexts. By analysing ways in which transnationalism has been reconstituted for a multipolar world, it describes ways in which global narratives intersect, often in uncomfortable ways, with discrete national spaces. The essay concludes by recognizing the theoretical impetus of transnationalism as involving a paradoxical intervention, one that crosses the material conditions of particular localities with more abstract designs.