Still crossing borders: migration, consumption, and markets INTRODUCTION

During the second half of the twentieth century, the expansion in processes of migration has been an essential element in the being and the becoming of political and economic globalization, of globalizing and glocalizing consumer cultures, and of new encounters of collaborations and conflicts worldwide. As such, it has reframed the demographic, social, and economic landscapes of developed as well as developing countries. Questions of migration have become key issues in contemporary political, social, and economic debates. In many countries, migration and ethnic diversity represent major challenges at the dawn of the twenty-first century, dividing opinions and assessment between the extremes of multicultural enrichment and the threat to local identities. Ethnicity used as identity projects and personal and community resources invested in ethnicity projects demonstrate the complexity of the social processes involved in the formation of contemporary ethnoscapes. In a consumer culture, market-based resources, identity projects, glocal cultural contexts, and various types of capital constitute the resonance box, in which particular migrant groups and specific acculturation processes are reflected and articulated as meaningful social entities. In short, border crossings are becoming a constant in the contemporary glocalizing world. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.