Transnational Families Research Articles

Watching them grow: Intergenerational video‐calling among transnational families in the age of smartphones

AbstractThis paper investigates the novel forms of intergenerational communication in transnational families introduced by the widespread use of video‐calls on smartphones. Centring on the kin‐keeping role of the mother, the study analyses 30 semi‐structured interviews with migrant Turkish mothers living in 10 different countries around the world, as the facilitators of video‐calls and intergenerational mediators. It is argued that smartphone mediated video‐calls add new dimensions to the communication that expand the possibilities of self‐expression and bonding for the migrant child with their grandparents in the form of visual performance, spatial sharing and spatio‐temporal longing, while offering new ways of carrying out traditional grandparenting roles in a digitalized setting. Such intergenerational communication is mediated by migrant mothers as manifested through the practice of simultaneous multigenerational communication engaging all three generations on different forms of exchange enabled by the device itself. Although the new generation born into the digital age struggle with the paradox of separation vis‐à‐vis virtual togetherness, everyday video‐calls on smartphones not only help keep the image of ‘family’ alive for the migrant child, they also generate a circumambient virtual setting that permits the transfer of family culture, knowledge and values wherein the younger generation can learn from the parent–grandparent relationship model.

Mediating Close Friendship Intimacy in Times of (Social) Distance

This article presents mediated intimacy in friendships as a necessary but difficult course of action to bridge physical absence between close friends. Following migration research to picture the mediation of intimacy of transnational family members, differences regarding the communicative behaviour, and specifically, the obligation to communicate contrasts distant friendships with translocal family interactions. Drawing on a German study on friendship communication, this paper asks the question how to derivate measures for profound friendship exchange in social distance, with regard to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Findings reveal communication media are definitely useful to keep up existing friendships but they also prevent meaningful friendship interaction. Accordingly, this paper contributes to the discussion of mediated communication and the production of mediated intimacy in friendships and highlights potential prospects to enhance physically distanced friendships.

Transnational family ties and networks of support for unaccompanied immigrant youths in Spain: The role of youth mentoring in Barcelona

The growing number of unaccompanied immigrant youths arriving through Mediterranean routes from North and West African countries to Spain is challenging established political and social interventions. Their transition to adulthood and resettlement is made more difficult by the physical and geographical distance with their parents and the availability of networks of support in the host country. This qualitative study examines the transnational family support that unaccompanied youths receive, and the complementary support received from formal mentors in the new context. A focus group was conducted to explore the needs at this stage of life and to construct the interview guidelines. Our findings from twenty semi-structured interviews with mentored and non-mentored youth in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area during 2019 shows how the formal support provided by institutional agents is insufficient to fulfil their emotional needs. We conclude that the virtual presence of family caregivers and the different kinds of support received by adult mentors encourages them in overcoming challenges regarding their well-being.

Transnational Familyhood and Migration Strategies among Parachute Kids-turned-Parents from Hong Kong

ABSTRACT The impact of separation on children’s well-being and family relations has attracted growing attention in the study of transnational families, but little is known about its continued effect on life-course transitions and pathways. Focussing on 25 returnee parents who as “parachute kids” had lived away from their families in Hong Kong, this study explores how their prior experiences of family separation affect how these parents plan for the emigration of their own children. Instrumentalism has been a common theme in the study of middle-class East Asian transnational families, but our findings reveal that emotions and cultural values, especially filial piety and family togetherness, are also integral to migration plans. Our discussion complicates the adverse impact of splitting the family transnationally, which is commonly studied at the point of separation. It unsettles the representation of East Asian transnational migration as an instrumental strategy for household accumulation. We argue that research into transnational migration benefits from a life-course perspective and more explicit attention to the emotional dimensions of migration. This is especially so when reverse migration to previous places of settlement is increasingly common among a younger generation of returnees.

A transnational lens into international student experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We analyse the experiences of international students living in Canada during the COVID‐19 pandemic through the lens of transnationalism that understands mobility as broadly uninterrupted, continuing and taken‐for‐granted, and international student migration (ISM) literature. With the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic, people had to contend with sudden border closures and stringent restrictions on all forms of travel. International students are regarded as the archetypal trans‐migrants with frequent mobility and often multiple attachments to place. We interrogate these assumptions of mobility by drawing on interview data from 13 international students in Ontario from April to June of 2020. We found that international students experienced the pandemic transnationally and faced increased challenges, which heightened their reliance on support from transnational families, and generated anxieties about their future career and mobilities. We bring transnational theories into conversation with ISM literature to better understand international students’ lived experiences in Canada during a pandemic.

“Is Granny Going Back into the Computer?”: Visits and the Familial Politics of Seeing and Being Seen in South African Transnational Families

ABSTRACT Migration is an increasingly common feature of life globally. This article discusses visits in South African transnational families of diverse origins, exploring the importance and meaning of physical co-presence by examining the role of visits in delivering mutual ‘visibility’ – the ability to see and be seen – when family members meet in person. The data come from a qualitative project exploring South African transnational family relationships, and particularly, differences between the experiences of those who migrate and of those left behind. ‘Outward’, ‘return’ and ‘reunion’ visits are considered. One element visits had in common was excitement linked to the planning of the visit and actual visit, but there was also some ambivalence and underlying sadness, because visits provide only a temporary experience of physical co-presence. The multiple meanings attached to visits have implications for how family and care relationships are understood in the contemporary globalised world. Future research should consider the complexities of relationships and care through the transnational family lifecycle.

Sexualities and class in transnational family practices of LGB migrants in Belgium and the Netherlands

The present paper focuses on transnational families of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) migrants and addresses their peculiar absence in sociological and geographical perspectives across migrations, families and sexualities research. It draws from a study of middle-class LGB migrants who are married or raising children with a same-sex partner in Belgium and the Netherlands and their parents still residing in select Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries with constitutional protection of heterosexual marriage. The goal of the study is to examine how intersections of class and sexualities shape CEE LGB migrants’ trajectories and transnational family practices. The analysis is based on one life story, situated in a comparative framework. The present study approaches the middle-class experiences and non-normative sexualities of CEE migrants as continuously reappearing and disappearing privileges and disadvantages. From this viewpoint, the study highlights class advantages as consistently alleviating the disadvantages of non-normative sexualities, but also simultaneously bringing both further restrictions and additional benefits to the married CEE LGB migrants, particularly those with children. These restrictions are best reflected in the limits to further mobilities that stem from the risk of losing extensive legal protection of same-sex partnership and parenting. The benefits further extending class advantages are identifiable in the intensification of transnational family practices following planned same-sex parenthood. These not only transform and strengthen the intimacies of CEE LGB migrants with their families-of-origin, but they also contribute to shifting assumptions of ‘normal’ familyhood, particularly in relation to technology-assisted reproduction, social parenthood and the nurturer roles.

Transnational Family Photographs and Adoption from Asia

Transnational Family Photographs and Adoption from Asia

Ambivalent returns: Dhaqan celis and counter‐diasporic migration among second‐generation Somalis

AbstractRapid globalisation and decades‐long civil wars have led to the rise of transnational families and mobility within the Somali diaspora. This article focuses on the phenomenon of dhaqan celis where first‐generation Somali parents living in Western nations take their children to their ethnic homeland for a period of cultural reorientation. Building on existing scholarship on dhaqan celis as well the literature on counter‐diasporic migrations and reverse transnationalism, we explore the forms of cultural and familial belonging that instigate dhaqan celis and how the perception of young returnees evolves over time. We argue that dhaqan celis, while representing an involuntary forced return, does not always develop into stories of exploitation and suffering but rather becomes a tool for inter‐generational connection and understanding.

The emotional, cultural, and relational impact of growing up as parachute/satellite kids in Asian American transnational families.

The emotional, cultural, and relational impact of growing up as parachute/satellite kids in Asian American transnational families.

Stuck under the Rainbow? Gay Parents' Experiences with Transnational Surrogacy and Family Formation in Times of COVID-19 Lockdown

Scientific progress in the medical field has contributed to the realisation of becoming parents by people who have previously been naturally excluded from procreation and parenthood, such as older, non-fertile, and homosexual persons and couples. However, depending on specific national regulations, possible pathways to becoming parents are different and often reserved only for some categories of people. This is the case, for example, in Italy, where it is more difficult for homosexual people to have a family than it is for others, since national legislation prohibits homosexuals from using any form of third-party reproduction. Consequently, many Italian same-sex couples turn to agencies abroad to realise their desire to have children, giving rise to transnational practices of family formation. The COVID-19 pandemic and severe lockdown policies have exacerbated some critical aspects of this transnational system of access to parenting. To fight the spread of coronavirus, national governments have placed limits on mobility and, consequently, also placed limits on transnational practices and trajectories of family formation. The specific aim of this paper is to provide insights into the experiences of some gay Italian fathers-to-be who have been blocked in their transnational family formation projects because of coronavirus lockdown measures. The focus lies on how these men reacted to feeling “stuck” and seeing their plans of receiving and/or bringing home their children suddenly foiled by the lockdown measures. Particular attention is paid to how these men coped with exacerbated challenges in the transnational practices of reproduction and family formation.

Transnational Communication between Children and Grandparents during the COVID-19 Lockdown: The Case of Migrant Children in Poland

ABSTRACT Transnational intergenerational communication between migrant children and their grandparents depends on family relationships and the specific migration context, but also shifts in response to emerging factors, such as the current COVID-19 crisis. The goal of this study is to offer an agile typology of communication between migrant children in Poland and their grandparents in other countries. It points to two types of family communication practices, namely direct (face-to-face) and technology-mediated communication (TMC). Drawing on data from a qualitative study of immigrant children (n = 19) and parents (n = 18) conducted during the lockdown and associated travel restrictions caused by the pandemic, the study offers a typology of emotional, symbolic, mediated, and discontinuous modes of intergenerational family communications. It also indicates that cessation of direct contact during an “immobility regime” reduces the scope of intergenerational communication in transnational families.

The implications of migration policies on migrant worker mixed families: The case of Filipinos in Israel

The ever-growing worldwide phenomenon of transnational labor migration has resulted in the increase of families formed by migrant workers in destination countries. While scholarly attention has mainly focused on the transnational families of migrant workers, the formation of mixed families involving migrants in host countries has rarely been studied. Based on a qualitative and quantitative study of the Filipino migrant worker community in Israel, this paper explores the dynamics of mixed families within this community. The family formation of Filipino migrants in Israel reveals two main categories of mixed families: one consisting of a migrant worker and a local citizen, and the other consisting of two migrant workers of different origins. I proposed the terminologies “suspect mixed families” and “fragile mixed families” to emphasize the crucial impact of migration policies on the dynamics of these families.

Transnational families and return in the age of deportation: The case of indigenous Ecuadorian migrants

AbstractRecent social science research has highlighted the chaos imposed by detention and deportation policies on migrant families and communities. This paper expands on these discussions by examining the role of transnational family dynamics as people experience detention, deportation, reintegration and/or remigration. Analysing five exemplary cases of indigenous Ecuadorian families drawn from a larger sample, we highlight the reconfigurations of transnational social relations resulting from these cycles of (im)mobility. We argue that transnational family support structures play a crucial role in the reconfiguration of families affected by deportation by combining material and emotional support and healing with social control. Our findings suggest that the social, emotional, and economic effects of deportation over time are shaped both by family and community contexts of reception and by migrants’ own gender, class, life‐course stage, time spent in the United States, and migration experiences. These findings allow us to conclude that deportation is a heterogeneous social and temporal process that does not impact families uniformly but in fact unfolds in diverse ways within family situations where social relationships, gender roles, care arrangements, and social expectations for the most part are already profoundly transnationalised and reconfigured by migration.

'Cambiando el chip': The gendered constellation of subjectivities of the financialisation of remittances in Mexico.

In the wake of the global financial crisis and a context of stagnating development aid, the international community now promotes linking remittances to finance as a development strategy, in what has been termed the ‘financialisation of remittances’ (FOR). This article analyses the ways in which the financialisation of remittance manifests in Mexico in gendered ways, and what this tells us about financialisation and financial subjectivation processes beyond the global North. We find that the financialisation of remittance represents a shift from earlier remittance-based development models whereby remittances become linked to financial inclusion and social welfare agendas and the focus is broadened beyond migrant income to diaspora wealth. Focusing on the governing arrangements of the financialisation of remittance, we propose the concept of ‘constellation of subjectivities’ in order to analyse the interrelated and interacting programmatic subjectivities through which the financialisation of remittance manifests in Mexico. Combining this conceptualisation with interdisciplinary feminist insights on financialisation, we analyse the various intersecting social dynamics that weave through such constellations. The analysis – based on document, interview and observation material – finds that the financialisation of remittance in Mexico creates and governs a gendered constellation of financial subjectivities with three dimensions: migrant men, remittance-receiving women and the constitutive outside of the non-transnational family. While most studies tend to focus on transnational families, we demonstrate that non-transnational families are an integral part of the financialisation of remittance. Our analysis destabilises the notion of the universal financial subject and highlights the importance of broadening our analysis of financialisation to constitutive outsides that often fall off the radar.

Experiential Dual Frame of Reference: Family Consequences after DACA Youth Travel to Mexico through Advanced Parole

Out of 800,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) beneficiaries, only 22,000 applied for Advance Parole to travel outside the United States before this benefit was rescinded by the Trump administration. This article sheds light on this DACA benefit that has received less scholarly attention. We conducted 23 in-depth interviews, half with DACA youth who traveled to Mexico for the first time and half with their undocumented parents who witnessed this trip from the United States. Our findings expand on four important bodies of immigration literature, including DACA recipients, mixed-status families, return migration, and transnational family ties. In this article, we show how this brief return to the homeland allowed the DACA youth, and by consequence, their parents, to have temporary healing by closing an old cycle or “cerrar ciclos,” as they said in Spanish. The youth also acquired an experiential dual frame of reference that enabled them to reflect and empathize with their parents and their reasons for immigrating to the United States. The post-trip debriefing with the youth made parents feel vindicated for their decision to bring their children when they were young. Ultimately, Advance Parole helped create stronger family bonds between the DACA youth and their parents and it strengthened transnational family and community ties.

Connections worth keeping? – Language and sociocultural practices in the imagined future of Polish teenagers in Norway

ABSTRACT Language and sociocultural practices in transnational families have attracted considerable scholarly attention over the last decade. Adding to this research, the present article explores the perspectives of two Polish teenage siblings living in Norway on the projected language and sociocultural practices in their future families. The data for this article stem from individual, in-depth qualitative interviews with the two siblings and were collected as part of a larger research project investigating multilingualism among Polish families in Norway. A micro-interactional analysis of the interview excerpts shows that the siblings construct their future families as very different spaces, where different languages and sociocultural practices are of importance and different identity options are available. In the ensuing discussion, the participants’ perspectives are considered in the context of their migration experiences, their belonging to imagined communities and in relation to wider societal discourses.

Considering the Role of Money and Gifts in the (Re)-construction of Motherhood and Family Among Indonesian Transnational Female Domestic Workers

Most studies on female migrants as money earners claim that this new context of labor exhibits two distinct realms of either the commodification of love and care or the expression of care where money and emotion intertwine in maintaining family relationships and in creating reciprocity and exchange. I explore different modes of using money and gifts in addition to the major framework of economization of emotion and the emotionalization of money. I differentiate the gifts from money as it refers to non-cash gifts or in-kind gifts. This paper investigates other cultural contexts and social-political dynamics that possibly induce the construction of different roles of money and gifts. It assesses the kinship strategies and mechanisms female migrants, and their stayed-behind children develop in response to physical separation by sending money and gifts and their resistance to the state’s dominant version of the family and money. This paper elaborates how money and gifts connect to women’s identity as transnational mothers to redefine their parenting roles as main economic providers and their identity as transnational family members. It has some bearing on creating a new identity as women that might be not akin to the state’s gender politics and the politics of family as well as state maternalism. The study interrogates how sending and receiving money and gifts in a transnational family engenders transformation in the construction of the family and motherhood. I analyze how the practice of sending money and gifts challenges the state’s politics of traditional family and gender by examining how sending money and gifts frequently gains legitimacy with the migrant mothers’ claim of having a good family even though they do not adhere to traditional family norms.

Kate Vieira, Writing for love and money: How migration drives literacy learning in transnational families. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. Pp. 256. Pb. £20.

Kate Vieira, Writing for love and money: How migration drives literacy learning in transnational families. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019. Pp. 256. P<scp>b</scp>. £20.

From Language Brokering to Digital Brokering: Refugee Settlement in a Smartphone Age

Many young people in migrant families perform language-brokering tasks for their parents to help them overcome their everyday challenges of communicating in a new language. Such informal brokering is typically the result of younger people being more exposed to, and becoming more familiar with, the dominant language of their new country. This article argues that such brokering has a digital equivalent in a migrant setting, in which transnational family communication increasingly relies on a grasp of the dominant “language” of smartphones and social media. Using data drawn from a study of Karen humanitarian migrants who have settled in Australia, younger migrants are shown to have had a greater exposure to, and familiarity with, digital technology than their parents, leading to significant communicative differences between two generations. Such differences, I explain, have created conditions conducive to the performance of a new type of intergenerational support in a migrant context: “digital” brokering. This is demonstrated through young people helping their parents use smartphones, social media, and video-calling apps to maintain transnational relationships after settlement.