Locating transnational care circulation in migration and family studies
(2014) Transnational Families, Migration and the Circulation of Care: Understanding mobility and absence in family life — ISBN: [978-0-415-62673-6], 25-58, published
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- Building on the Introduction, this chapter serves to locate the framework of care circulation in the broader body of social science research on migration, transnationalism and the family. We begin with a discussion of the synergies and variances between the frameworks of care circulation and care chains, in an effort to draw together the full range of analyses of transnational families. To date, those families that are involved in global care chains, often referred to as transnational mothering or parenting, have been written about quite separately to those that are not, and vice versa. We argue that the lens of circulation is a useful framework for all types of transnational families. In section two we examine the so-called ‘mobility turn’, and the transnational framework in migration studies, in relation to families and the subsequent diversification of family forms. We argue that mobility has become an integral part of family life, and that this has both negative and positive consequences. In this context, we explore the somewhat controversial idea that the distance and absence that characterise transnational families should be conceptualised as regular features of contemporary family life. As already noted, it is not our intention to advocate transnational families as some kind of ideal form, or to downplay the difficulties inherent in caring across distance. Rather, we wish to highlight the importance of understanding the impact of distance and absence on family life so that these family forms can be better supported. To provide a more detailed exploration of the framework, the third section of this chapter contextualises ‘circulation’ in both migration and family studies research. We conclude with an overview of the practices and processes of ‘transnational care’ on which we draw and which we seek to expand through the lens of circulation. Throughout the chapter, we examine ways to define ‘care circulation’ and address the methodological and theoretical implications for further study.
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Baldassar, L., & Merla, L. (2014). Locating transnational care circulation in migration and family studies. In Loretta Baldassar & Laura Merla (ed.), Transnational Families, Migration and the Circulation of Care: Understanding mobility and absence in family life (pp. 25-58). Routledge. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/232128