October 2020 Volume: 5, No: 2, pp. 99 – 114 ISSN: 2059-6588 e-ISSN: 2059-6596 www.tplondon.com/rem Copyright @ 2020 REMITTANCES REVIEW & Transnational Press London Article history: Received 3 September 2020; accepted 16 September 2020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.33182/rr.v5i2.1142 Epistemic Challenges in the Studies of Remittances: Denomination and Ostensive Definition in the Exploratory Research on Informal Value Transfer System Fernando César Costa Xavier 1 Abstract There are certain areas of study in which researchers deal with and even create a plethora of terms. The Informal Transfer of Values Systems (IVTS) are one of these areas. There are many terms available in the lexicon of research on IVTS around the world, such as hawala, hundi, fei ch’ien, encomenderos etc. The informal remittance system, typical of Venezuelan migration, appears to be located in the grey zone between the large irregular money transfer markets and the modest, informal systems allowing money transfers to people who are struggling in their countries. That is why it is important that Venezuela’s IVTS receive a unique label. In search of an appropriate label that reflects the peculiarities of Venezuela’s IVTS, it is important to pay attention to the linguistic aspects that come with the epistemological challenges. Almost a century ago, the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein highlighted the importance of the ostensive definition to make sense of the words we use ordinarily. Without neglecting his epistemological warnings, this article argues that migration studies have advanced in expanding their own terminology, in a relatively consistent way with the Wittgensteinian linguistic approach. Keywords: Exploratory research; nomination; ostensive definition; Wittgenstein; Informal Value Transfer Systems. The world was so recent that many things lacked names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point. (Gabriel García Márquez, in One Hundred Years of Solitude) Introduction While researching the nature of the system of transferring money to Venezuela and the role of its agents, I have dealt with the following dilemma: (i) assign a new terminology to this system and its agents, or (ii) utilize the terms already used on similar circumstances, or even (iii) completely avoid arguing over nomenclature. Some scholars with whom I have discussed this dilemma believe that new names would create 1 Fernando César Costa Xavier, Assistant Professor at the Federal University of Roraima and Adjunct Professor at the State University of Roraima, Roraima, Brazil. Email: fxavier010@hotmail.com. Acknowledgement: An earlier version of this article was presented in the first half of 2020, during a seminar in epistemology of the Doctoral Program at the Federal University Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I would like to thank Karen Lorene Gomes for her careful, skillful and helpful revision of the text.