ÖZ

The conception of the immigrant as “remittance man” focuses on immigrant altruism and their remittance to the country of origin. However, this conceptualization does not adequately explain immigrant investment patterns. Based on fieldwork conducted in 2008 among immigrants in New York who arrived from Yağlıdere, in both sending and receiving contexts, we investigate the ways in which investment patterns are shaped by the habitus of immigrants. In the framework of this study, habitus is defined as a configuration of having specific transnational networks and settlement strategies. Based on fieldwork findings, three different investment patterns were identified, which manifest themselves in the spatial distribution of real estate investment: buying property only in Turkey, only in USA, or in both USA and Turkey. This article aims to question the conceptualization of “remittance man” by indicating how decision making processes take place under the continuous interaction of local and global dynamics.