‘Pa-uli na’: Filipino familial intimacy and entreaties to returning interprovincial migrants

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores how family intimacy and traditional values interplay in the return of rural interprovincial migrants in the Philippines, in response to entreaties made by family members. Specifically, it looks at how Filipino behavioural patterns for social acceptance underlie interprovincial migrants’ decision to return. Jacqui Gabb’s concept of family intimacy and Virginia Miralao’s discourse on Filipino family and traditional values provide a theoretical framework to further understand the complexities of family practices and interprovincial migration in the country. Ethnographic narratives and observations were collected to highlight family intimacy and the cultural foundation of ‘pa-uli na’ entreaties. By unravelling the different forms of entreaties and patterns of the decision to return, this article conceptualizes family as an affective space of intimacy that constitutes the socio-cultural context for the analysis.