Connections and Disconnections: How Afghan Refugees in the Netherlands Maintain Transnational Family Relations

Abstract

This article explores how Afghan refugees in the Netherlands maintained relations with family members who stayed behind in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. These transnational relations are characterized not only by a geographical distance but also by an economic, legal and cultural distance and by fundamental differences in terms of safety and security. Embedded in a world of reciprocity, remittances to stay-behinds were one visible, unidirectional feature interacting with three other features of support (bringing stay-behinds to the West, keeping in touch, and returning). The article demonstrates that connection and disconnection can be seen as different moments in a continuum with different mechanisms for relationship maintenance. Remittances not only symbolize connection to the country of origin; in cases of limited means in which sending money was prioritized over other forms of practical, social and cultural support, they could also have a disconnecting impact on transnational relations as well. In these relations, tension arising from the transformation of gender identity was observed in several cases.