The Powerful Map of Transnational Families: Marriage, spaces and life trajectories (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Powerful Map of Transnational Families
Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 2011
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.
Transnational Families in the 21st Century
The Transnational Family: New European Frontiers and Global Networks. edited by D.F. Bryceson and U. Vuorela, Oxford: Berg Publishers. pp. 3-30, 2002
By their very nature, transnational family constitute an elusive phenomenon - spatially dispersed and seemingly capable of unending social mutation. Their ability to reconstitute and redefine themselves over time contingent on spatial practicality and emotional and material needs challenges even the most multi-disciplinary social scientist's analytical efforts. 'Transnational families' are defined here as families that live some or most of the time separated from each other, yet hold together and create something that can be seen as a feeling of collective welfare and unity, namely 'familyhood', even across national borders. In this introduction, the manner in which transnational families constitute themselves and their identification with and linkages to nation sates and wider community and global networks are considered. The concepts of 'frontiering' and 'relativizing' are introduced to explore intra and inter-familial relations and their interface with the wider society.
Transnational Families in the Twenty-first Century
The Transnational Family: New European Frontiers and Global Networks. edited by D.F. Bryceson and U. Vuorela, Oxford: Berg Publishers. pp. 3-30, 2002
By their very nature, transnational family constitute an elusive phenomenon - spatially dispersed and seemingly capable of unending social mutation. Their ability to reconstitute and redefine themselves over time contingent on spatial practicality and emotional and material needs challenges even the most multi-disciplinary social scientist's analytical efforts. 'Transnational families' are defined here as families that live some or most of the time separated from each other, yet hold together and create something that can be seen as a feeling of collective welfare and unity, namely 'familyhood', even across national borders. In this introduction, the manner in which transnational families constitute themselves and their identification with and linkages to nation sates and wider community and global networks are considered. The concepts of 'frontiering' and 'relativizing' are introduced to explore intra and inter-familial relations and their interface with the wider society.
2011
This paper compares and contrasts some of the conceptual language used to engage with the realm of family and personal life within the parallel fields of transnational family studies (TFS) and British family studies (BFS). Key concepts which are now widely referenced within BFS -such as 'family practices', 'family display', 'families of choice' and 'connectedness' -have not been widely drawn upon within TFS. Instead, TFS scholars are developing alternative concepts such as 'ways of being' versus 'ways of belonging' and 'frontiering and relativising', often to capture very similar ideas to those current within BFS. This paper critically explores some of the concepts currently being used within transnational family studies, highlighting points of similarity and difference with the BFS tradition, and considers what these parallel literatures might learn from each other. The paper is illustrated by examples drawn from ESRCfunded research on the experiences of post-accession Polish migrants living in the UK.
Transnational migrant families: navigating marriage, generation and gender in multiple spheres
MIGRATION LETTERS, 2017
This special issue seeks to enrich readers’ understandings of the transnational family practices and relations of selected migrant groups of a predominantly Muslim background in a number of Western contexts. It presents theoretically and empirically grounded studies that investigate how these family practices and ties are transnationally shaped, navigated and experienced by different family members. It focuses on two aspects of family life: marriage and the second generation’s aspirations and transnational experiences. Under the first theme, this special issue examines how marriage, migration and kinship interplay in transnationally shaped social fields where multiple legal and normative systems intersect in the lives of migrants. With regards to the second theme, the issue investigates how the children of migrants navigate and experience transnational family norms, ties and practices. Throughout the issue, individual articles shed light on the gendered dimensions of the different f...
Key developments and future prospects in the study of transnational families
Research Handbook on the Sociology of the Family, 2021
In this chapter, we review the literature on transnational families, a field of study that applies a transnational lens to the exploration of family relationships in a migratory context. We discuss some of the major themes that have characterised research in this area, which is variously located at the intersection between migration, family, and digital studies. We explore these themes first by focusing on social policy, highlighting the regimes, regulations, and policies that shape the creation of, the need for, and the forms of transnational family solidarity. We then examine the new information and communication technologies that are transforming how families communicate, imagine themselves, and organise their everyday lives. We conclude by calling for new research on the immobilising effects of current restrictionist migration regimes, and for more large-scale data on the invisible labour performed by members of transnational families in order to make visible their contributions to the economies of receiving and sending societies.
The Wiley-Blackwell companion to the sociology of families, 2014
Transnational families, while not new, are a rapidly increasing family form. Moreover, they challenge our traditional methodological and theoretical conceptualisations of family life. The dramatic increase in mobility and the revolution in modes of travel and communication across distance have made it imperative for family studies to examine the impact of processes of migration and, more specifically, distance and separation, on family relationships. In contrast to the past, migratory moves and other forms of family mobility today are more likely to be characterised by regular and frequent communication and linkages between sending and receiving areas, giving rise to conceptualisations of transnational family members and global households. Through the lens of transnational family caregiving, this chapter examines these issues, including the practical and policy implications of sustaining families across time and space.
Transnational families: Stories about moving and staying put
Mäetagused, 2014
The article analyses, using material collected through interviews, how members of transnational families talk about their own or their family members' experiences of migration and of crossing different borders. It also looks at the transnational family and the mechanisms of family formation from the perspective of both mobile and settled family members.
Transnational families in the era of global mobility
In book: Handbook of Migration and Globalisation, Chapter: 25, Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing, Editors: Anna Triandafyllidou, 2018
As a result of the dominance of highly individualised, economistic and gendered analyses of migration and globalisation processes, family life has often been relegated to the 'back stage' of research on globalisation and migration. However, a number of closely linked developments in both fields are raising awareness of the critical position that family occupies in the relationship between migration and globalisation, pushing analyses of family life to the 'front stage' of research. In this chapter, we examine the relationship between family, globalisation and migration through the lens of care, focusing specifically on the experiences of transnational families. We begin by examining how uneven globalisation processes produce 'crises of care', which migration can help alleviate. We move on to explore the transnational care strategies migrants and their kin members in the country of origin develop to maintain familyhood across borders, including when trapped in immobility. In such a context, the opportunities provided by ICTs to maintain connections and to care across distance have become especially important. We conclude by arguing that mobility and internet access are thus key features of globalisation that require careful policy attention at both national and transnational levels.