The Powerful Map of Transnational Families: <i>Marriage, spaces and life trajectories</i>

Abstract

Transnational families are, as the term suggests, social structures existing across national borders. Thus, individuals belonging to these families are in geographical terms separated by space. However, the practices of transnational families often provide a sense of proximity and emotional attachment. This article, by seeing space as inherently relational, discusses the fields within which families establish themselves and move transnationally. Transnational family spaces are, for example, arenas where young people meet and where marriages are arranged. This article includes the life and marriage stories of two individuals who have married transnationally, based on their family relationships, and further analyses how these marriages are element in the practices that families engage in to uphold a sense of closeness - an endeavour that is sometimes successful, sometimes not. Finally, the article discusses some elements that challenge the relational spaces that transnational families engage in, particularly the impact of nation states and their regulations.