Transnational practices of Salvadoran migrants in Australia: an analysis of the factors influencing the capability to care across borders

Merla, Laura
(2010) Migration: A World in Motion. A Multinational Conference on Migration and Migration Policy — Location: Maastricht (18.February.2010)

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Research on the transnational practices of migrant families has mainly focused on remittances, leaving transnational practices of care under-investigated (Gardner and Grillo 2002). However, recent research on transnational care practices demonstrates that most transnational families exchange not only financial, but also practical, personal, and emotional support (see for instance Baldassar 2007; Baldock 1999, 2000; Baldassar, Baldock and Wilding 2007). In this paper, I will focus on the transnational care practices of 25 Salvadoran refugees who migrated to Perth (Western Australia) in the 1980’s and the 1990’s under the United Nations Refugee Programme, and who care for their ageing parents who remained in their home country. These migrants were interviewed in 2007 and 2008 in the context of a research project funded by a Marie Curie Extra-European Fellowship that compares transnational care practices of latin-american migrants living in Australia and Portugal. In this paper, my analysis will be based on a conceptualization of transnational care as a set of capabilities that include, but are not limited to, mobility, social relations, time-allocation, education and knowledge, paid work and communication (Merla & Baldassar, forthcoming). I will focus in particular on the impact of Salvadoran refugees difficult access to, and use of, these capabilities on their capacity to fulfill their culturally defined sense of obligation to care for their ageing parents. Results will show that in the absence of institutional support to transnational care, extended transnational kinship networks play a major role in helping migrants overcome the obstacles to their participation to the care of their ageing parents.
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Merla, L. (2010). Transnational practices of Salvadoran migrants in Australia: an analysis of the factors influencing the capability to care across borders. Migration: A World in Motion. A Multinational Conference on Migration and Migration Policy, Maastricht. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/162749