Family and Family-Like Relations for Transnational Migrants: Ideals of Care Informed by Kin, Non-Family, and Religion

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-362
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Bingham Thomas ◽  
Carolyn Smith-Morris
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Family Formation ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Transnational Families ◽  
Church Members ◽  
Transnational Family ◽  
Transnational Migrants ◽  
Care Relationships ◽  
The U.S

Studies of transnational family formation and care relationships suggest that, while family forms and care values are idealized, they are also negotiated, enacted, and fluid constructs. Strategies of resilience and mechanisms of flexible care achieved by transnational families are fine-tuned under multiple influences. Among these influences are well-known sources such as social networks, as well as less well-understood sources such as religious teachings. We report findings of a 4-month, ethnographic study among Latinx immigrants to the U.S. whose ( n = 14) narratives of family “care” reflect their ideals and simultaneously work to linguistically produce role continuity. Thematic results address three key strategies for achieving this continuity: (1) valuations of flexibility; (2) family-like care by non-family and church members; and (3) commitments to and reliance on new networks, particularly through church relations. We conclude by suggesting how family-like care, such as that from church relations, informs the flexible relational obligations, resources, resiliencies, and values of transnational migrants.

The financialisation of transnational family care: a study of UK-based senders of remittances to Ghana and Nigeria

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-156
Author(s):  
Nicola Yeates ◽  
Freda Owusu-Sekyere
Keyword(s):  
Family Relationships ◽  
Family Relations ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Transnational Families ◽  
Family Structures ◽  
Family Networks ◽  
Transnational Family ◽  
The Social

AbstractTransnational families occupy centre-stage in literatures on transformations in the social organisation and relations of care and welfare because they express how social bonds are sustained despite geographical separation. This paper examines some key themes arising from a research study into remittance-sending practices of UK-based Ghanaians and Nigerians in the light of research literatures on transnational family care and development finance. The data comprises qualitative interviews with 20 UK-based Ghanaian and Nigerian people who regularly send remittances to their families ‘back home’. This paper discusses a social issue that arises from the transnationalisation of family structures and relations, when migrant family members are positioned within family networks as ‘absent providers’, and familial relations eventually become financialised. The findings show the complexities of transnational living, the hardships endured by remittance-senders and the particular strains of remittance-mediated family relationships. The financialisation of family relations affects the social subjectivity and positioning of remittance-senders within the family. Strain and privation are integral to participants’ experiences of transnational family life, while themes of deception, betrayal, and expatriation also feature. The suppression of emotion is a feature of the significant labour inputs participants make in sustaining relationships within transnational families. The paper considers UK social policy implications of the findings.

scholarly journals Transnational families and the circulation of care: a Romanian–German case study

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELISABETH SCHRÖDER-BUTTERFILL ◽  
JULIA SCHONHEINZ
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Family Support ◽  
Family Relationships ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Family Care ◽  
Migrant Children ◽  
Transnational Families ◽  
Transnational Family

ABSTRACTThis article contributes to our understanding of transnational family relationships and the circulation of care. We are interested in understanding how large-scale emigration affects the support and care of older people in the origin country. Using in-depth interviews and participant observation, we examine the significance of transnational family support for older people, and the ways in which migrant children and other kin care for elderly relatives from afar. Our case study is of the Transylvanian Saxons, a German-speaking minority in Romania, who experienced mass-exodus to Germany following the end of socialism in 1990. The lapse of time since the exodus allows us to examine how transnational family practices evolve, and what the challenges are to maintaining family-hood over time and distance. Contrary to expectations, we find that material family support from Germany to Romania is not significant and has declined. Care, by contrast, remains an important part of what most transnational families provide, although practices of ‘caring about’ are more prevalent than hands-on ‘caring for’. Counter to optimistic accounts of transnational family care in the literature, we argue that the difficulties and challenges for older people of being cared for by distant family members are fundamental, and strong transnational family ties are not an inevitable outcome of migration.

Burger King and Transnational American Studies: Lessons from the 2013 Nordic Association for American Studies Conference

2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-123
Author(s):  
Abby Goode ◽  
AnaMaria Seglie
Keyword(s):  
American Studies ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
Frames Of Reference ◽  
Transnational Families ◽  
Transnational American Studies ◽  
Scholarly Practice ◽  
The U.S

This article explores the incongruities between transnational American studies as theorized and practiced. Inspired by our experience at the 2013 Nordic Association of American Studies (NAAS) conference, we discuss the challenges of practicing “transnational” American studies within specific nation- and regionbased communities. U.S. scholars tend to conceptualize “transnational” American Studies as an attempt to destabilize U.S. nation—a broadening of the geopolitical frames of reference to promote a variety of heuristics such as hemispheric, Atlantic, circum-Caribbean, borderlands, and transpacific. Scholars at the NAAS conference foregrounded emergent trends and lines of exchange that are sometimes elided in a transnational American studies conceived largely from the vantage point of the U.S. While many themes emerged at the NAAS conference, we examine how the focus on Scandinavian-American relations, Asia, and transnational families help us rethink the transnational turn in American Studies and the borders that bind its practice. In this context, we discuss the paradox of transnational American Studies – that, despite its aim to expand toward an all-encompassing “transnational” paradigm, it remains defined by our geopolitical positions. This paradox presents opportunities for theorizing the divide between American studies and its varying scholarly terrains, especially through international scholarly practice.

scholarly journals A Data-Driven Framework for Coding the Intent and Extent of Political Tweeting, Disinformation, and Extremism

Information ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 148
Author(s):  
Mahdi Hashemi
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Online Social Networks ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Affiliation ◽  
News Sources ◽  
The U.S

Disinformation campaigns on online social networks (OSNs) in recent years have underscored democracy’s vulnerability to such operations and the importance of identifying such operations and dissecting their methods, intents, and source. This paper is another milestone in a line of research on political disinformation, propaganda, and extremism on OSNs. A total of 40,000 original Tweets (not re-Tweets or Replies) related to the U.S. 2020 presidential election are collected. The intent, focus, and political affiliation of these political Tweets are determined through multiple discussions and revisions. There are three political affiliations: rightist, leftist, and neutral. A total of 171 different classes of intent or focus are defined for Tweets. A total of 25% of Tweets were left out while defining these classes of intent. The purpose is to assure that the defined classes would be able to cover the intent and focus of unseen Tweets (Tweets that were not used to determine and define these classes) and no new classes would be required. This paper provides these classes, their definition and size, and example Tweets from them. If any information is included in a Tweet, its factuality is verified through valid news sources and articles. If any opinion is included in a Tweet, it is determined that whether or not it is extreme, through multiple discussions and revisions. This paper provides analytics with regard to the political affiliation and intent of Tweets. The results show that disinformation and extreme opinions are more common among rightists Tweets than leftist Tweets. Additionally, Coronavirus pandemic is the topic of almost half of the Tweets, where 25.43% of Tweets express their unhappiness with how Republicans have handled this pandemic.

‘Cambiando el chip’: The gendered constellation of subjectivities of the financialisation of remittances in Mexico

2021 ◽  
pp. 0308518X2110061
Author(s):  
Rahel Kunz ◽  
Brenda Ramírez
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Development Aid ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Transnational Families ◽  
Development Models ◽  
Transnational Family ◽  
Global North ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

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.

scholarly journals Seeing the collective: family arrangements for care at home for older people with dementia

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (06) ◽  
pp. 1200-1218 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTINE CECI ◽  
HOLLY SYMONDS BROWN ◽  
MARY ELLEN PURKIS
Keyword(s):  
Family Care ◽  
High Volume ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Family Carers ◽  
Care Giving ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
Care At Home ◽  
At Home

ABSTRACTWith the predicted growth in the number of people with dementia living at home across the globe, the need for home-based care is expected to increase. As such, it will be primarily family carers who will provide this crucial support to family members. Designing appropriate support for family carers is thus essential to minimise risks to their health, to prevent premature institutionalisation or poor care for persons with dementia, as well as to sustain the effective functioning of health and social care systems. To date, the high volume of research related to care at home and acknowledged low impact of interventions suggests that a re-examination of the nature of care at home, and how we come to know about it, is necessary if we are to advance strategies that will contribute to better outcomes for families. This paper describes findings from an ethnographic study that was designed to support an analysis of the complexity and materiality of family care arrangements – that is, the significance of the actual physical, technological and institutional elements shaping care-giving situations. In this paper, we describe the arrangements made by one family to show the necessary collectivity of these arrangements, and the consequences of the formal care system's failure to respond to these.

Disconnective intimacies through social media: practices of transnational family among overseas Chinese students in Australia

2019 ◽  
Vol 173 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinyu Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
International Students ◽  
Family Relations ◽  
Transnational Families ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Transnational Family ◽  
Use Of Social Media ◽  
Media Practices ◽  
Contemporary Chinese ◽  
Insight Into

This article investigates Chinese international students’ everyday transnational family practices through the use of social media. Specifically, the article highlights the relevance of two interlinked forms of disconnection in these students’ daily negotiations of ambivalent cross-border family relations in an age of always-on connectivity. The first form involves their disconnection from the general public via their creation of intimate spaces on social media that are exclusive to their family members. The second form involves the students detaching themselves from such intimate spaces, often temporarily, to escape and resist familial control and surveillance. I conclude the article by developing the notion of ‘disconnective intimacy’ to conceptualise contemporary Chinese transnational families. This article contributes to the literature on the transnational family by providing an insight into the micro-politics of mediated co-presence through the trope of ‘disconnective practice’.

scholarly journals Μετανάστριες οικιακές βοηθοί και “διεθνική” οικογένεια

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Κατερίνα Βασιλικού
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Immigrant Women ◽  
Family Relations ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Transnational Families ◽  
Family Ties ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
Transnational Family ◽  
The Family ◽  
State Of Research

<p>In this paper, there is an effort to make a<br />classifi cation of the family relations of the<br />immigrant women who come to Greece<br />from Eastern Europe and the Balkans to<br />work as domestic workers. First, we have a<br />presentation of the state of research about<br />‘transnational’ families and of the relevant<br />terminology. Then, from a biographical<br />research on these women and on the basis of<br />their testimonies we see that the separation<br />and the reunion are the two limits of<br />existence of the transnational family. Women<br />fi nd ways of keeping the family united and at<br />the same time they defi ne largely in this way<br />their identity. Finally, a categorization of the<br />family ties of immigrant women shows that<br />the relation parents-children is the more<br />decisive for the existence of the transnational<br />family.</p>

scholarly journals Logged In: Portuguese Transnational Families and Communication Technology

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Lisa Rodan
Keyword(s):  
Technological Change ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Transnational Families ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Transnational Family ◽  
The Uk

Up to 110,000 Portuguese a year left their homeland in the period following the implementation of Troika austerity measures. The UK was the most popular destination, with a third of arrivals now holding degrees- the highest proportion in Europe and double what it was 10 years earlier. This paper focuses on how the latest generation of transnational families use communication technology and digital networking at a time of swiftly evolving social and technological change. Drawing on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork with university-educated Portuguese migrants in London aged 23-40, and with their families in Portugal, I will explore how communication technology has shaped their experiences. Employing anthropological concepts of relatedness and personhood, I will focus specifically on the changing nature of transnational living in an increasingly polarised, neoliberal world and what it means to be a Portuguese transnational family in Europe in 2017.

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