(2012) 'Letter-Writing and the Construction of a Transnational Family' (original) (raw)

Private correspondence between relatives in different countries make a rich field to explore how ‘family’ and ‘nation’ are intertwined during the 20th century. Migrant letters are not only an abundant source of information concerning the past; they are also the result of an activity: the letter-writers are involved in a process of constructing and articulating a transnational family. Writing to each other is one of the many ways by which people are ‘doing family’. This doesn’t exclude moments of incomprehension, rapprochement and distancing that may lead to a temporary or definite break, though as long as relatives keep on writing and stay in contact, they are maintaining and developing family ties. This articles explores the conditions under which private correspondence between relatives may strengthen the idea of kinship and feelings of belonging – and how these feelings may be articulated or indeed undermined by developments in the political domain.