Introduction
The theme of migration as a family event has become pivotal in sociological literature, with the result that a number of aspects hitherto only implicit in the general interpretation of migratory trends have now emerged (Kofman 2004; Kraler et al. 2010). Family relationships are able to act as a bridge between individual migrants and their new context; conversely, they could result in a closed network of relationships that then may become a fortress, rather than a bridge, in which dialogue and interaction will eventually dissipate.
In this chapter, we seek to frame the key issues that emerge in studies on transnational and mixed families: two family types characterized by the need to thematize differences (culture, gender, generation) both within their borders, and vis-Ă -vis the outside world. Basing ourselves on literary reviews, we shall highlight the characteristics of these families, and the challenges and transformations that they are facing in the contemporary world.
The Transnational Families Perspective
While the transnational familiesâ phenomenon is not newâthroughout time there have been many different forms of human mobility and family separationâthe concept of transnational family (Bryceson and Vuorela 2002; Carling et al. 2012) has provided, since the beginning of the last decade, a convincing interpretation of the complex intersection between family and migration. Bryceson and Vuorela define transnational families âas 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, i.e. âfamilyhoodâ, even across national bordersâ (2002: 3). This classical definition indicates the difficulties and opportunities of keeping together affective bonds and caregiving responsibilities while operating across different cultural and geographical worlds.
Further research-based developments of the notion of transnational families were proposed a few years later by Baldassar et al. (2007), and Baldassar and Merla (2014a, b) who were especially concerned with the concepts of transnational care and care circulation. Care, in this perspective, is seen as one of the central processes (practices and performances) maintaining and sustaining family relationships and identity, and it circulates reciprocallyâthough unevenlyâamong family members over time and distance. This lens allows us to âcapture all the actors involved in family lifeâ (Baldassar et al. 2014: 159) as well as the full extent of family care dynamics.1
The care circulation perspective, moreover, helps address four broad fields of enquiry related to transnational families (Baldassar et al. 2014), such as: (1) a conceptualization of transnational families that would minimize the ethnocentric bias of Westernized definition of the family; (2) the ways individuals and families manage their sense of âfamilyhoodâ across space and time; (3) methodological strategies and tools that can capture the complex nature of these families; and (4) the relation between family, migration, and policy.
The transnational familiesâ perspective intersects migration, family, and policy studies (Baldassar et al. 2014: 150). It draws on family research to encompass a broader definition of family that challenges the Western definition that is of a physically co-present heterosexual nuclear family. It takes into account the interactions between migration flows and policies in migrantsâ receiving countries, and as such, this approach exceeds the study of migration per se, so as to encompass both those who relocate, and those who do not, and the way they relate to each other in a broader relational and political-economical context. In particular, while referring to the idea of mobility, this perspective breaks away from the word âmigrationâ, which tends to carry class connotations and is âapplied more readily to people that are considered economically or politically deprived and seek betterment of their circumstancesâ (Bryceson and Vuorela 2002: 7). In fact, transnational are all families leading transnational lives, including those who are generally not seen as migrants, such as the Ă©lites working in the higher echelons of transnational companies and highly qualified people who move across Europe towards EU institutional, academic, or professional positions2 (cf. the âbrain drainâ phenomenon), but also along other North-North, South-North and even North-South flows (such as âexpatriatesâ working in âforeign serviceâ of various kinds, e.g. EU, UN, and development cooperation organizations).
With the transnational familiesâ approach the focus of the analysis shifts from the individual to the family. While thematizing and dealing with family ties, meanings, roles, and identities across national borders and taking into account processes and complex relational scenarios, this approach enhances the âmesoâ level, but also refers to and connects other social actors at different levels, such as the civil society and the State, and the various ways in which all these actors articulate and impact on one another (Bryceson and Vuorela 2002; Baldassar 2008). In fact, as recalled by Mazzucato (2013), we should consider that in some cases transnational family arrangements are the result of migration policies in receiving countries, which makes it difficult for families to migrate together.
In addition, this perspective takes into consideration time, as well as spatiality. In the literature, transnational families are sometimes referred to as multi-local or multi-sited families, or families living in spatial separation, thus giving emphasis to the experience of spatial dispersion. Yet the notion of transnational families draws attention also to the temporal dimension because âoneâs emotional and material needs are strongly linked to stages of the individual life cycle albeit individuals vary in the intensity with which they experience and express these needs. Interaction with other family members directed at realizing oneâs own need of fulfilment and contributing to the need of fulfilment of other family members must be seen over time and in relation to the spatial distribution of transnational family membersâ (Bryceson and Vuorela 2002: 14). Time impacts on the decision-making process of transnational families: often the choice to relocate (or not) is linked to a particular threshold, such as completing the childrenâs schooling, caring for elderly parents, or planning oneâs career. Thus, the family life cycle heavily influences any decision made by a mobile individual or group. Even after an individual or group of family members has relocated, the questions will be if and how familial ties will be maintained between those who relocated and those who were left behind. Here the foundational axis of the family relationshipâgender and generation, become important since âthe age and gender of absent members can strongly influence the nature and degree of contact that is pursued by both sidesâ (Bryceson and Vuorela 2002: 14). Furthermore, as highlighted by several authors, with timeâand in particular with the transition from the first to the second generationâtransnational contacts weaken substantially. This might be due partly to the lack of physical daily interaction, but also to the progressive cultural distance between generations and language barriers that may arise over time. It is, indeed, with time and with the passing of the generations that the most profound changes within the transnational families are produced (Kwak 2003; Phinney et al. 2000).
Doing Family Across Geographical Distance
Living apart but maintaining a sense of unity is one of the challenges faced by transnational families. The care circulation approach has shown how people maintain a sense of âfamilyhoodâ by providing care for each other across different countries and even continents, with fluid patterns of mobility and more or less prolonged periods of proximity (as in the case of adult children going back to their country of origin to take care of their elderly parents during holidays, or grandparents moving in temporarily with their adult children at the birth of their grandchildren), or forms of care other than physical care (as in the case of remittances, etc.).
How these families maintain a sense of belonging and identity is also supplemented by the way people manage communications and virtual interactions (Wilding 2006). The most recent literature has explored the many ways contemporary transnational families are increasingly able to be virtually co-present on a daily basis (Baldassar 2016). Madianou and Millerâs (2012) polymedia thesis and the related research have for instance âdemonstrated how mobile phones, as part of a wider environment of converging technologies, are becoming integral to the way family relationships are performed and experiencedâ (Madianou 2014: 668). The proliferation of information and communications technology (ICT) and different media environments impacts enormously on living-apart family members. Access, affordability and media literacy are preconditions for people to use ICT to keep up with their families across the world (Madianou 2014: 670). But transnational families are confronted with three dividesâtransnational, generational, and occupational (Madianou 2014)âthat contribute to the diversity in the use of ICT. Some members of a transnational family might be better connected than others (as, for instance, the older generation of Filipino migrant mothers studied by Madianou 2014), but their left-behind not-so-well connected children may be more confident in the use of new technologies. Yet there is the third, occupational divide, which according to status, determines the variability with which migrants can access ICT (again, referring to the case of the Filipino families in the UK studied by Madianou (2014), live-in domestic workers had less access to ICT than Filipino migrants working as nurses).
The proliferation of new technologies, especially smartphones, gives families more chances to be co-present at least virtually (âalways onâ) and becomes constitutive of the relationship itself, but this does not necess...