Transnational Families Research Articles

Havana's Transnational Gentrification: Highest and Best Use from Elsewhere

AbstractThis article addresses the two processes of market making and transnationalization in Havana through the lens of gentrification theory. Using a case study situated between Global South and East, this article looks more closely at transnational families and migrants as agents of gentrification in Havana, analysing how they create and exploit the rent‐gap. Returning to the central ideas of ‘highest and best use’ and ‘circulations’ in N. Smith's rent‐gap theory, I analyse how increased transnational mobility has affected the commodification and potential use of housing in Havana. Based on interviews with transnational owners who purchased housing to upgrade and convert into an Airbnb, this article shows how the “highest and best use” of a property is evaluated from elsewhere. It also demonstrates the complexities of transnational gentrification in a southern socialist city and insists on the need to understand more broadly the gentrification–migration nexus.

Ibero-American Transnational Families: a review of the international judicial jurisdiction rules that accompany migrant women

This paper provides some keys to better respond to cases of parental responsibility that arise in transnational families. In particular, we look at women of Ibero-American origin who have arrived in Spain in an economic migration leaving their children in the care of relatives or close people in their States of origin. To do this, firstly, an analysis of the differences between transnational and cross-border families is made, emphasizing the family relocation that exists in transnational families and the need, therefore, as a singular reality, to also provide specific answers. Next, the rules of international judicial jurisdiction are analyzed, in particular, the Hague Convention of 1996 and it is analyzed, through various sentences, how the Spanish courts have applied it. In this application, it is detected that there is an absolute lack of gender perspective and the need for flexibility in the responses, taking into account the special situation in which mothers, residing in Spain, find themselves with their children in their States of origin.

Methodological aspects and results of conducting focus group interviews in the study of the opinion of children left behind by labor migration

Focus group interviewing is a technique frequently used as a qualitative approach to gain an in-depth understanding of social issues. In this article, I propose to present the experience of conducting focus group interviews with children, carried out within the project Children left behind by labor migration: supporting Moldovan and Ukrainian transnational families in the European Union. In order to obtain better qualitative results, the research sought the free expression of the opinion of all respondents participating in the research. This aimed to highlight the various possible negative aspects related to the phenomenon of transnational families and children left without care whose parents are away working abroad. The guide for moderation of focus groups with children was structured in five modules. It included topics related to perception of migration and its impact on transnational families and children left without parental care, caring for the child after the parents leave, the changes that occur after the parents’ migration, existing social services in the community and future perspectives of children. Each module, the experience of conducting focus group interviews and the results of the opinion study of children left behind by labor force migration were presented and analyzed in depth in the article.

Flying families between the UK and Nepal: compromised intergenerational care amidst a restrictive migration policy context

ABSTRACT Studies on the global care economy rarely focus on the implications of migration policies in maintaining informal intergenerational care among transnational families of care workers in the global South to the North migration context. Our study addresses this by exploring how migration policies influence the exchange of care transnationally. We pose two research questions: how do migrant families manage intergenerational informal care in origin and destination countries, and what are the roles of migration policies in shaping these arrangements? Our study presents the perspectives of Nepali migrant care workers in the UK and their family members. We generate novel data on the care practices within Nepali families and compare Nepali Gurkha and non-Gurkha families to illustrate the role of migration policies in exacerbating or reducing care inequalities. The research reveals how these inequalities force migrants to become ‘flying families’ to maintain care in proximity through cross-border mobility. We also show grandparents as active agents in maintaining intergenerational care. We propose a policy recommendation to enable the mobility of extended families and extend welfare provisions to reduce care inequalities created through the supply and recruitment of the care workforce from the global South to the global North.

Labor migration and the phenomenon of transnational families from the Republic of Moldova

Labor migration processes from the Republic of Moldova have become an important factor in combating poverty and increasing the well-being of the population of the Republic of Moldova. Moreover, the economic growth registered by the Republic of Moldova during the last years is precisely due to the remittances of migrant workers. However, the migratory phenomenon in the Republic of Moldova also generates certain risks, such as human trafficking, accelerated demographic aging and the expansion of the number of transnational families, which also generates the problem of children left without parental care. As such, the phenomenon of transnational families is a global phenomenon, and various countries, through their policies, try to mitigate its negative effects.The purpose of this article is to analyze the impact of labor migration on the expansion of the phenomenon of transnational families in the Republic of Moldova, as well as the situation of children left without care as a result of labor migration. The article comes with a series of conclusions and recommendations regarding the minimization of the negative effects of labor migration, as well as the development of social services necessary to prevent the phenomenon of children left without parental care as a result of labor migration.

Digitally mediated code-switching in transnational families in Australia: Fathers and children

The article focuses on Polish-speaking families residing in Australia and their digitally mediated communication practices. Against the backdrop of social changes influencing family roles, a new father–child relationship characterised by presence and active involvement in a child’s life has recently transpired. As the fathers’ role in minority language transmission has not been given much prominence in research, this article offers novel insights into how Polish fathers endeavour to maintain Polish through digitally mediated communication. Research on digital practices in the context of code-switching (CS) has been scant, despite the fact that everyday reality of transnational multilingual families has been permeated by technology. With this article, I aim to touch upon the themes situated at the intersection of transnationalism, family multilingualism, language transmission, as well as new media and their role in contemporary communication practices. Six excerpts containing examples of CS practices among three different families, where instant messaging via Messenger has been adopted to maintain Polish will be scrutinised.

Transnational Students Facing Multiple Crises: Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Oaxaca, Mexico

This article analyzes the impact of multiple crises — economic, educational, and health — generated by the COVID-19 pandemic among transnational students in Oaxaca, Mexico. The article explores the period between April 2020 and March 2021, the most critical moment of the pandemic in the United States and Mexico. Due to the impact of the pandemic on traditional fieldwork, we developed a qualitative, ethnographic, and virtual methodology. Specifically, we used semi-structured interviews conducted via Meet and telephone and virtual participant observations in online teaching platforms and WhatsApp groups. The main findings of the study reveal that students from transnational families faced three major intertwined crises — economic, educational, and health — from numerous places of differential vulnerability related to forced transnationalism, as generated by the illegality of undocumented Mexican migrants in the United States and their subsequent deportation.

Grieving in the “Golden Cage”: How Unauthorized Immigrants Contend with Death and Mourn from Afar

AbstractIn the past four decades, the United States has created a population of long-term unauthorized immigrants. As this population ages, issues of death and dying are increasingly salient. Though we know much about how families maintain close bonds despite geographic distance, death and dying remain undertheorized in transnational family scholarship. Yet the death of a family member can significantly impact family structure and functions. Based on ethnographic and interview data collected from 2017–2023 with unauthorized Mexican immigrants and their families, this study examines how unauthorized immigrants anticipate and mourn the death of family members in their community of origin and how their undocumented status creates challenges for themselves and their families after a transnational death.I find that the specter of transnational death shapes the emotional wellbeing of older unauthorized immigrants years before they experience it. Undocumented status creates and compounds transnational grief, leading to additional challenges. Individuals use a variety of strategies to grieve, including mourning by proxy, paying for funeral expenses, and participating virtually. This research advances immigration scholarship by uncovering underappreciated social and emotional penalties imposed by current immigration laws and highlighting the value of mourning as a collective ritual –– the absence of which has lasting costs.

The Role of Mobile Apps in Transnational Family Connections and Emotions from the Perspective of Mexican Migrants in Australia

ABSTRACT Digital technologies and mobile apps provide migrants connectivity that helps alleviate the distressing experience of being separated from their families, as they endeavour to integrate socially and culturally into a new nation. In this article, we highlight the role played by communications technologies in maintaining family ties and emotional support transnationally among middle-class individuals. Building on the notions of transnational families, social media research and emotions, we examine the particularities with which migrant family members stay in touch across borders. In this context, emotions arise from the heartache experienced due to the separation from family. Drawing from qualitative data collected in 2010–2011 and in 2021 among middle-class Mexicans living in Australia, we show how digital communications are used to connect with the homeland and analyse the emotions associated with being separated from family. Given the middle-class status and aspirations of these migrants, it is noteworthy to highlight the relevance they attribute to kin in the homeland and contact with them. Existing research about Mexican im/migrants in Australia is limited. This study contributes to the growing body of research on the intersection of transnational family life, emotions arising from mobility, and digital media use.

Romanian early adolescents’ perceptions of parental migration and the associated relational impact: a qualitative analysis

ABSTRACT Previous literature has emphasised the complexities of early children’s perceptions of parental migration based on socio-cultural factors and the associated relational impact due to separation. Until recently, research on transnational families positioned children left behind in the country of origin as passive actors of parental migration, and focused less on children’s relational voice or agency. The present study addressed this gap by qualitatively exploring Romanian early adolescents’ evaluations of their parental separation and parent–child relationship within the context of parental international migration for labour. Further, the current study also assessed how early adolescents navigated these physically distanced relationships. In-depth interviews were conducted in 2017 with 121 participants (62 boys and 59 girls) aged between 10 and 14 years old (M = 12.66, SD = 1.41) from urban public schools from the Northeastern region of Romania. Thematic analysis indicated that while most participants evaluated parental international migration negatively, the majority of participants characterised aspects of their relationships with their migrant parent(s) positively. Further, participants noted that their migrant parents’ emotional and developmental support were key factors for maintaining positive relationships. Findings suggest the importance of exploring children’s perspectives regarding parental migration and the parent–child relationships when the effects of transnational migration are investigated.

Kept apart: Routine family separation in the UK family immigration system as times of crises

Abstract The UK’s family immigration regime involves the routine separation of partners from their families. Most obviously, it keeps apart those who are unable to meet the income and other requirements for family (re)unification, and those refused visas. But separation for at least several months, and sometimes much longer, is the norm even for those whose applications are eventually successful. This article draws on creative, co-produced accounts of immigration-related separation to reveal multi-faceted temporalities of crisis in the ‘experiential migrantisation’ of British citizens seeking to reunite bi-national families in the UK. The bureaucratic temporalities of immigration control impede aspirations for life-course progression and shared futures, while increasing the tempo of working and caring lives. In exploring the accounts of British citizens kept apart from partners by the immigration regime through a temporal lens, we chart this experiential migrantisation through the varied and intersecting temporalities of bureaucracy and immigration control, and of biography and (transnational) family life. These can become intertwined with and compound other temporalities of crisis at different levels, from the global Covid-19 pandemic and other international geo-political events, to the more intimate and familial, leading to ‘times of crises’. Such crises are, moreover, often expressed through temporal tropes of key dates missed—birthdays, anniversaries, holidays—and phases of family life postponed.

Facing uncertainty: The role of the family in the development of identities

Families are agents of primary socialisation that influence the system of beliefs and attitudes regarding the perception of self and others, being crucial for the development of inclusive identity(ies) since childhood. Using the identification of cultural characteristics based on uncertainty avoidance, principles of resilience and the consideration of transnational families as an example to study interculturality, this paper intends to reflect on diversity as an advantage. It is suggested that the creation of empathy reduces social prejudices and thereby engenders a future with more equity.

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

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.

CONFLICT OF LAWS REGULATION OF FAMILY RELATIONS WITH A FOREIGN ELEMENT

The article examines the prospects for the development of regulation of family relations with a foreign element by conflict of laws rules. Today, in the context of changing directions of global leadership, the aggravation of both economic and military confrontation, the deterioration of international relations, the division of states into hostile camps, a radical restructuring is needed in the sphere of regulating family relations, which people from different countries enter or have previously entered. The purpose of this study is to determine trends in the modern conflict regulation of family relations complicated by a foreign element. The author shows that the massive use of modern communication opportunities and movements around the world naturally leads to the establishment of transnational family relations, which, due to their properties, require special legal regulation. The author explores the basic approaches formed by the theory of law and practice in the regulation of family relations with a foreign element. The reasons why the conflict-of-laws regulation of family relations in the Russian Federation remains one of the most difficult and problematic for law enforcement are given. The author reveals the main problems of conflict-of-laws regulation of family relations in the Russian Federation, which hinder its effectiveness. Specific ways of solving these problems are proposed. Assumptions are made about the main directions of the future conflict regulation of family relations with a foreign element.

Роль органів державної влади Республіки Молдова у підтримці транснаціональних сімей та дітей поза увагою через трудову міграцію

Labour migration from the Republic of Moldova, which registers a new intensification after the COVID-19 pandemic, increased the number of transnational families and children left behind. During the last 20 years, international labour migration from the Republic of Moldova has reached an impressive level. Thus, in 2017, according to the Labor Force Survey, the number of persons who went abroad searching for a job was about 319 thousand or about 18% of the inactive population aged 15 and over. Men constituted 66,4%, while women – 33,6% of the total number of migrants. The share of people who left rural areas was 70,5%. Unofficial sources estimate the extent of labour migration from the Republic of Moldova at 1 million people. The problems of transnational families and children left behind due to labour migration have already been studied in the Republic of Moldova. Several field studies have been dedicated to this issue, and public authorities have developed policies and intervention tools to manage this problem as efficiently as possible. Current research on the left behind children’s conditions becomes increasingly important in the situation where transnational families and children left behind to take on new forms of manifestation and generate new social risks. This research aims to study the needs of transnational families and children left behind after migration and to improve the legislative and institutional framework in correlation with similar legal practices and norms of the European Union. The research aims to reveal the potential positive or negative impact of policies on the protection of children in the Republic of Moldova and inform transnational families and representatives of public authorities about the realities and practical aspects of labour migration. This article reflects the opinions of representatives of public, central, and local authorities participating in the CASTLE research project (mayors, social workers, specialists of government institutions, etc.) on the situation in the Republic of Moldova regarding transnational families and children left behind. The article comes with a series of conclusions and recommendations regarding minimising the negative effects of labour migration, such as the development of social services necessary to prevent these effects.

“Не такі, як всі”? Відносини транснаціональних сімей з рідним суспільством – між стигмою та діалогом

The study discusses whether and how Ukrainian and Moldovan migrant parents, some of whom had to leave their children behind in the care of other adults, are faced with a disapproving public discourse while also facing strong pressure both in their relationship with the public authorities and at the level of society, community, and family. Through this approach, we aim to answer the following question: Are Ukrainian and Moldavian transnational family members subjected to a process of stigmatization at the level of society and their immediate social environment? In this view, we develop a qualitative inquiry based on in-depth interviews with respondents from Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. Our main research objective is to examine the attitudes encountered by members of transnational families in society, their relations with the representatives of the authorities, as well as in their close social environment, community, and family. Specific research topics are explored, such as reasons for migration, trust in public authorities, local community, migrants’ community, trust in the host country’s state and society, the attitudes towards the most important key stakeholders involved in the migration process, as well as the support measures proposed by migrants and their families. The findings concerning the attitudes, level of trust, and proposals suggest the presence of a certain degree of stigmatization of parents from transnational families. Our study underlines the need for transnational transfer of good practices and real-life experiences, such as those of migrants, to not remain an empty imitation. This experience can only be transferred through dialogue, trust, and acceptance – which is not the case at the time of our research. Therefore, it is imperative to continue dialogue-based fieldwork with primary stakeholders, the families themselves, to deconstruct and prospectively avoid the structural construction of stigma.

Вплив трудової міграції з Республіки Молдова на дітей залишених вдома (погляд батьків та опікунів)

The article presents the results of a sociological study that reflects the impact produced by the labour migration of parents from the Republic of Moldova on left-behind children seen from the perspective of adults – migrant parents, stay-behind parents, and caregivers. In December 2021 and January 2022, during the CASTLE (Children Left Behind by Labour Migration: Supporting Moldovan and Ukrainian Transnational Families in the EU) project, in the Republic of Moldova, 36 adults (labour migrant parents, stay-behind parents and caregivers) were interviewed. And during April 2022, 13 migrant parents and parents who stay home with their children participated in the focus group discussions. Sociological research has primarily focused on the following aspects: the general context of labour migration; relations with the local public administration; caring for left-behind children; the influence of labour migration on the physical health and psycho-emotional state of children; the influence of labour migration on academic success, kindergarten activities, and children’s social integration; communication between migrant parents and left behind children; the influence of labour migration on the well-being of transnational families and the material support given to children; plans for the future and expectations from the state. Among the main problems faced by children left at home and other members of transnational families, the following can be mentioned: communication deficiencies, the difficulties of remote education of children, the negative influence of migration on the psycho-emotional status of left-behind children, and the challenges of left-behind children’s socialisation. Parents and caregivers report other problems, such as communication deficiencies with local public administrations, communication problems within the community, and problems related to caring for children left at home. The absence for an extended period of one or both parents can cause inadequate care and support for left-behind children and many other problems. The study shows that some parents are very dissatisfied with what the state does for them. Adults (parents and caregivers) believe that the state is mainly to blame because the citizens are forced to leave. Even if there are specific positive influences on left-behind children and transnational families in general, such as material well-being, the negative influences of migration prevail. The article concludes that the impact of the labour migration of parents on left-behind children is vital. As a result of migration, there are many problems. State authorities and civil society must make joint efforts to support both migrant parents and left-behind children affected by migration.

Думка дітей щодо міграції батьків (на прикладі Республіки Молдова)

To develop effective social policies and social services for children left behind by migration in the communities, it is necessary to know the specific needs of children affected by migration and deprived of their family members’ care. The article offers the opinion of children left behind from the Republic of Moldova about their parents’ migration and, indirectly, how international migration influences modern families. Also, the article presents the impact of parents’ migration on children and children’s opinions on how to mitigate negative consequences. To do this, the author used the primary data collected from children left behind migration in the European Union project CASTLE (Children left behind as a result of labour migration: supporting Moldovan and Ukrainian transnational families in the European Union), coordinated by the Babeș-Bolyai University and the Terre des hommes Romania Foundation in collaboration with Terre des hommes Moldova and the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova. The data were collected through individual in-depth interviews (4 interviews conducted by child researchers and two by adult researchers) and focus group discussions (2 discussions moderated by adult researchers). The research results highlight children’s perception of migration, including their attitude towards parents’ migration, the communication with their absent parents, the psychosocial effects, and the migration impact on children’s physical and mental health, suggestions of children left behind by migration to peers in a similar situation, including authorities of the Republic of Moldova. The research reveals that peers and sometimes teachers do not understand children left behind. A support network for these children is less developed, proving the necessity to undertake new measures within the educational institution to reduce the negative impact.

Unaccompanied migrant children and indebted relations: Weaponizing safeguarding

AbstractUK statutory guidance for practitioners suggests that indebtedness is an area where safeguarding red flags should be raised and action taken to minimize the risk of exploitation. Yet, our research shows that unaccompanied migrant children have complex indebted relationships, which can range from extractive to connective. Drawing on interviews with unaccompanied children, we show that these indebted relationships can include financial debt to smugglers, responsibilities to support transnational families, as well as social obligations to peers and others. Their accounts present a nuanced understanding of the taboo nature of indebted relationships, not to be shared with the practitioners in their lives. This is due, in part, to the potential threat of reporting to the Home Office, which might jeopardize their immigration status. In response to this weaponization of social care, we demonstrate how children turn to peer networks of support, creating their own alternative forms of social protection. In so doing, we complicate critiques of adultification, which traditionally highlight the ways that racially minoritized children may be treated as adults—to their detriment. In so doing, we show that because indebtedness is normatively linked to adulthood, unaccompanied children's hopes and fears may be rendered unsayable and therefore unsupportable in social care, all in the name of safeguarding.

Toward a Model of Reciprocal Carryover: Learning From Communication Systems of Families of Nonspeaking Bilingual Children.

Children at the intersections of language learning, racialization, and dis/ability status experience systems of power in a very particular way. This work amplifies the "voices" of bilingual nonspeaking children and their families to upend the notion of educational and medical professionals as the experts. It positions familial ways of being and knowing as central to learning and offers educators tools to actively collaborate with and follow the lead of children and families to engage in "reciprocal carryover." This clinical focus article is built on a series of semistructured interviews and observations with caregivers, young children, and educators-specifically, two case studies of bilingual nonspeaking young children in the United States and their transnational families. Circumventing school and medical spaces and going directly to young children and families was a methodological choice to identify the family as the epicenter of languaging and learning. Each case study demonstrates a system that was created to bolster the communication of these historically subaltern families. From systems of social capital exchanges to intrafamilial nonverbal communication systems, the families in the study engage in and share systems they created to navigate the larger system of special education that so often positions multilingual, transnational families and their dis/abled children as nonknowers. The author offers strategies for educators to learn alongside children and families to engage in "reciprocal carryover." This work highlights the communication and languaging systems children and families co-construct beyond the bounds of formal education and supports educators in following their lead. It offers a roadmap for educators, families, and children to co-construct communication practices together.