Transnational Families, Migration and the Circulation of Care: Understanding Mobility and Absence in Family Life (Routledge Research in Transnationalism)

Without denying the difficulties that confront migrants and their distant kin, this volume highlights the agency of family members in transnational processes of care, in an effort to acknowledge the transnational family as an increasingly common family form and to question the predominantly negative conceptualisations of this type of family. It re-conceptualises transnational care as a set of activities that circulates between home and host countries - across generations - and fluctuates over the life course, going beyond a focus on mother-child relationships to include multidirectional exchanges across generations and between genders. It highlights, in particular, how the sense of belonging in transnational families is sustained by the reciprocal, though uneven, exchange of caregiving, which binds members together in intergenerational networks of reciprocity and obligation, love and trust that are simultaneously fraught with tension, contest and relations of unequal power. The chapters that make up this volume cover a rich array of ethnographic case studies including analyses of transnational families who circulate care between developing nations in Africa, Latin America and Asia to wealthier nations in North America, Europe and Australia. There are also examples of intra- and extra- European, Australian and North American migration, which involve the mobility of both the unskilled and working class as well as the skilled middle and aspirational classes. Cover 1 Title 8 Copyright 9 Contents 10 List of Figures and Tables 14 Acknowledgments 16 PART A Conceptualising Care Circulation 18 Introduction: Transnational Family Caregiving Through the Lens of Circulation 20 1 Locating Transnational Care Circulation in Migration and Family Studies 42 PART B Care Circulation: Theoretical and Empirical Considerations 76 2 Mapping the New Plurality of Transnational Families: A Life Course Perspective 78 3 Care (and) Circulation Revisited: A Conceptual Map of Diversity in Transnational Parenting 95 4 Care Circulation, Absence and Affect in Transnational Families 111 5 A Macro Perspective on Transnational Families and Care Circulation: Situating Capacity, Obligation and Family Commitments 132 PART C Gendered Care Circuits: Exploring Absence Beyond Mother-Child Dyads 148 6 Migration and Care: Intimately Related Aspects of Caribbean Family and Kinship 150 7 Ghanaian Children in Transnational Families: Understanding the Experiences of Left-Behind Children through Local Parenting Norms 166 8 Men's Caregiving Practices in Filipino Transnational Families: A Case Study of Left-Behind Fathers and Sons 187 9 Polish Male Migrants in London: The Circulation of Fatherly Care 202 PART D The Mobilities of Care as a Resource Within and Beyond Transnational Families 218 10 Care Circulation in Transnational Families: Social and Cultural Capitals in Italian and Caribbean Migrant Communities in Britain 220 11 'Boomerang Remittances' and the Circulation of Care: A Study of Indian Transnational Families in Australia 237 12 Middle-Class Transnational Caregiving: The Circulation of Care Between Family and Extended Kin Networks in the Global North 252 References 270 Contributors 304 Index 310 Without denying the difficulties that confront migrants and their distant kin, this volume highlights the agency of family members in transnational processes of care, in an effort to acknowledge the transnational family as an increasingly common family form and to question the predominantly negative conceptualisations of this type of family. It re-conceptualizes transnational careas a set of activities that circulates between home and host countries - across generations - and fluctuates over the life course, going beyond a focus .. Without Denying The Difficulties That Confront Migrants And Their Distant Kin, This Volume Highlights The Agency Of Family Members In Transnational Processes Of Care, In An Effort To Acknowledge The Transnational Family As An Increasingly Common Family Form And To Question The Predominantly Negative Conceptualisations Of This Type Of Family. Edited By Loretta Baldassar And Laura Merla. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.