Abstract
Britain, alongside other Western contemporary societies, has undergone important social and demographic transformations resulting from increased migration. One important change is that family life is increasingly practised across national borders. Research within the field of migration studies, has been pivotal in highlighting the maintenance of family networks across national borders and geographical distance. Yet, rather surprisingly, a detailed analysis of family relationships that are practised across international borders is a marginal field of enquiry within British family studies. In this article, therefore, we argue the case for bringing transnational family studies in to the ‘mainstream’ academic field of family studies in Britain. We do so by drawing on examples from our respective studies on Caribbean and Italian transnational family relationships to (re)frame concepts typically associated with British family studies, such as for example the ‘normative family’, everyday practices involved in ‘doing family’ and the notion of ‘families of choice’.
Highlights
[[as per the journal’s instructions for authors, the number of key words has been reduced to 4 ~ are you happy with these 4?]] Britain alongside other Western contemporary societies has undergone important social and demographic transformations resulting from increased migration, ethnic plurality and multiculturalism (Goulbourne et al, 2010)
We argue the case for bringing transnational family studies into the ‘mainstream’ academic field of family studies, by highlighting the importance of transnational families as an analytical concept for understanding contemporary family life in Britain
This article is based on our ongoing research of Caribbean and Italian transnational families in Britain, which originated out of two qualitative studies conducted by a research group of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), as well as on our theoretical engagement with the ield of transnational migration and transnational families more speciically
Summary
[[as per the journal’s instructions for authors, the number of key words has been reduced to 4 ~ are you happy with these 4?]] Britain alongside other Western contemporary societies has undergone important social and demographic transformations resulting from increased migration, ethnic plurality and multiculturalism (Goulbourne et al, 2010). [[missing reference]] Research on transnational families, speciically within the ield of migration studies, has been pivotal in highlighting the maintenance of family networks across national borders and geographical distance, as well as the Tracey Reynolds and Elisabetta Zontini page 2 mechanisms, processes and practices sustaining these family relations (Bryceson and Vourela, 2002; Parreñas, 2005; Baldassar, 2007). British family studies by arguing the case for the importance of transnational families as an analytical concept for understanding contemporary family life in Britain.We will do so by drawing on examples from our respective studies on Italian and Caribbean transnational family relationships, which we have been researching for the last 10 years (see, for example, authors’ references; blinded for review purposes [[please replace with the relevant citations]]). We further attend to the sociocultural and structural environment that shapes transnational family relationships by briely relecting on how the current neoliberal political climate, alongside increased restrictions on immigration for non-European migrants through legislation, inluences transnational kinship practices
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
