Paper short abstract:

I examine to what extent being transnationally mobile constitutes an asset for the businesses of Colombian returnees. I use the concept of spatial mobility capital to study the extent to which the capacity of returnees to control their own mobilities across borders is (un)equally distributed.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines to what extent, and under what conditions, the capacity of being transnationally mobile constitutes an asset for the business-making activities of migrants who return, in one way or another, to Colombia, their home country. I use the concept of spatial mobility capital to analyse the extent to which the capacity of returnees to control their own (im)mobilities across borders is (un)equally distributed among them depending on their legal status, gender, class, ethnicity, and the localities where they live. This paper thus contributes to unveiling the inequality dimension of returnee entrepreneurhip. This question has received scant attention so far. Furthermore, despite recent efforts to shed a positive light on migrant entrepreneurship (Drori et al., 2009) many scholars ignore persistent inequality. Research still needs to reach an inclusive approach which seriously considers the mobility resources of returnees, but also recognises the unequal distribution of such resources among them (Wahlbeck, 2018). The paper is based on ethnographic work as well as biographic interviews with 30 Colombian returnees. I focus on three typologies of returnees. First, they follow a career of repeated forced mobilities, ranging from initial internal displacement in Colombia, followed by emigration to Venezuela, and subsequent deportation to Colombia by Maduro's government. Second, the returnees follow a career of repeated mobilities, first emigrating to Europe and then physically returning to Colombia with foreign governement support, which allows on-going returns. Third, returnees do not physically go back but create multiple cross-border 'returns' of individuals, goods and capital.