From ‘left-behind’ to ‘stay-put’ fatherhood: situating male stayers’ socio-structural positionality in transnationalism

Abstract

ABSTRACT Given the feminised labour migration in Southeast and South Asian countries, there is a growing body of literature discussing the phenomenon of left-behind fatherhood, with a particular focus on intra-family dynamics (gender reconfiguration) in transnational families. Yet little is known about how left-behind fatherhood is broached in other migratory contexts. To make empirical and theoretical contributions to the contextuality of stayers’ fatherhood, this article draws on an ethnographic study of male stayers in Fuqing, a major transnational migrant-labour-sending area in China. Applying the concept of positionality and situated transnationalism, this article addresses these fathers’ challenges and practices when coping with their parental role. This study argues that the lack of job opportunities (in rural China), culture of migration (in Fuqing), overseas immigration policies (on clandestine migration), and neoliberal Chinese fatherhood discourses, contribute to their unique parenting dilemmas and strategies when compared to their Southeast and South Asian counterparts. This paper advocates for a conceptual shift from ‘left-behind’ to ‘stay-put’ fatherhood, which highlights the complexity of male stayers’ socio-spatial im/mobilities and extends the understanding of left-behind fatherhood beyond intra-family dynamics. It suggests gender reconfiguration associated with men’s stay-put status should be read in the light of its embeddedness in transnational socio-structural contexts.