Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Introduction: Family Life in an Age of Migration and Mobility: Introducing a Global and Family Life-Course Perspective

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Family Life in an Age of Migration and Mobility

Part of the book series: Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship ((MDC))

Abstract

In addition to sketching out the volume chapter by chapter, the Introduction outlines the contribution the book makes to scholarship on family life in an age of migration and mobility by its choice of analytical frames. Firstly, the dual lens of migration and mobilities which allows a focus on family life stretched across multiple spatial scales. Secondly, a global perspective which facilitates the interrogation of Western theoretical frames from different world views, as well the examination of interdependencies and inequalities between and within different regions of the world. Thirdly, the family life-course lens which brings temporality into the frame, and invites the use of the concept of social reproduction, allowing for a focus on how families are formed, procreate and care over time and space.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    In the context of the feminization of migration and, in particular, the emergence of the concept of ‘transnational motherhood’ (Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila 1997), it was motherhood rather than parenthood that was the initial focus of research (see, e.g. Parreñas 2005). However, no longer is distant fatherhood being tacitly accepted as a given, and an increasing body of research is also addressing transnational fatherhood (see, e.g. Dreby 2010; Kilkey 2014; Palenga-Möllenbeck and Lutz, Chap. 10, this volume; Pribilsky 2004; Worby and Organista 2007).

  2. 2.

    The issue of ‘elderly left behind’ in the sending regions of the Global South is now receiving increased attention, due in part to demographic challenges in these societies (King and Vullnetari 2006; Krzyżowski 2013; Liu 2014).

  3. 3.

    The edited book by Baldassar and Merla (2014b) represents an attempt to unite those two tracks within the transnational families’ scholarship; see also Baldassar (Chap. 2, this volume).

References

  • A. W. (2015, August 17). Frequent flyers: The sad, sick life of the business traveler. The Economist.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abrego, L. J. (2014). Sacrificing families. Navigating laws, labor and love across borders. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahrons, C. R. (1979). The binuclear family. Alternative Lifestyles, 2, 499–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baldassar, L., Baldock, C., & Wilding, R. (2007). Families caring across borders: Migration, ageing and transnational caregiving. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Baldassar, L., & Merla, L. (2014a). Introduction: conceptualizing care circulation. In L. Baldassar & L. Merla (Eds.), Transnational families, migration and the circulation of care: Understanding mobility and absence in family life. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldassar, L., & Merla, L. (eds). (2014b). Transnational families, migration and the circulation of care: Understanding mobility and absence in family life. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldock, C. (2000). Migrants and their parents: Caregiving from a distance. Journal of Family Studies, 21(2), 205–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergström Casinowsky, G. (2013). Working life on the move, domestic life at standstill? Gender, Work & Organization, 20, 311–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bryceson, D., & Vuorela, U. (2002). The transnational family: New European frontiers and global networks. New York: Berg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castles, S., & Miller, M. J. (2009). The age of migration: International population movements in the modern world (4th ed.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dreby, J. (2010). Divided by borders: Mexican migrants and their children. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gardner, K., & Grillo, R. (2002). Transnational households and ritual: An overview. Global Networks, 2, 179–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griffiths, M., Rogers, A., & Anderson, B. (2013, March). Migration, time and temporalities: Review and prospect . COMPAS Research Resources Paper. https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/files/Publications/Research_Resources/Citizenship/Report_-_Migration_Time_and_Temporalities_FINAL.pdf. Accessed 1 Oct 2015.

  • Hardill, I., & Green, A. (2003). Remote working. New Technology, Work and Employment, 18, 212–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haugen, G. (2010). Children’s perspectives on everyday experiences of shared residence. Children & Society, 2, 112–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hondagneu-Sotelo, P., & Avila, E. (1997). ‘I’m here, but I’m there’: The meaning of Latina transnational motherhood. Gender and Society, 11, 548–571.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inhorn, M. C., & Gürtin, Z. (2011). Cross-border reproductive care: A future research agenda. Reproductive BioMedicine Online, 23, 665–676.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kilkey, M. (2013, September 16–20). Migration and (social) reproduction: The stratification effects of developments in migration policies in Europe. Paper presented at the international conference of family life in an age of migration and mobility: Theory, policy and practice, Norrköping, Sweden.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kilkey, M. (2014). Polish male migrants in London: The circulation of fatherly care. In L. Baldassar & L. Merla (Eds.), Transnational families, migration and the circulation of care. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kilkey, M., Plomien, A., & Perrons, D. (2014). Migrant men’s fathering narratives, practices and projects in national and transnational spaces. International Migration, 52, 178–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, R., & Vullnetari, J. (2006). Orphan pensioners and migrating grandparents: The impact of mass migration on older people in rural Albania. Ageing and Society, 26, 783–816.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, R., Thompson, M., Fielding, T., & Warnes, T. (2006). Time, generations and gender in migration and settlement. In R. Penninx, M. Berger, & K. Kraal (Eds.), The dynamics of international migration and settlement in Europe: A state of the art. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kofman, E. (2012). Rethinking care through social reproduction: Articulating circuits of migration. Social Politics, 19, 142–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kofman, E., & Raghuram, P. (2015). Gendered migrations and global social reproduction. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Krzyżowski, Ł. (2013). Polscy migranci i ich starzejący się rodzice. Transnarodowy system opieki międzygeneracyjnej. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, J. (2014). Ageing, migration and familial support in rural China. Geoforum, 53, 305–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lutz, H., & Palenga-Möllenbeck, E. (2012). Care workers, care drain and care chains: Reflections on central perceptions in the debate about care and migration. Social Politics, 19, 15–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazzucato, V., Cebotari, V., Veale, A., White, A., Grassi, M., & Vivet, J. (2015). International parental migration and the psychological well-being of children in Ghana, Nigeria and Angola. Social Science & Medicine, 132, 215–224.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parreñas, R. S. (2001). Servants of the globalization: Women, migration and domestic work. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parreñas, R. S. (2005). Children of global migration. Transnational families and gendered woes. Stanford: Standford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pribilsky, J. (2004). “Aprendemos a convivir”: Conjugal relations, co-parenting and family life among Ecuadorian transnational migrants in New York City and the Ecuadorian Andes. Global Networks, 4, 313–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reuschke, D. (2010). Living apart together over long distances. Erdkunde, 64, 215–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schier, M. (2015). Post-separation families. In C. Aybek, J. Huinink, & R. Muttarak (Eds.), Spatial mobility, migration and living arrangements. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, N. F., & Collet, B. (2010). Mobile living across Europe II. Opladen: Barbara Budrich.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smart, C., Neale, B., & Wade, A. (2001). The changing experience of childhood. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, S. D. (2007). Brave new stepfamilies. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Urry, J. (2007). Mobilities. Cambridge: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wall, K., & Bolzman, C. (2014). Mapping the new plurality of transnational families: A life course perspective. In L. Baldassar & L. Merla (Eds.), Transnational families, migration and the circulation of care. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Worby, P. A., & Organista, K. C. (2007). Alcohol use and problem drinking among Mexican and Central American im/migrant laborers: A review of the literature. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 29, 413–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Majella Kilkey

  2. Department of Gender Studies, University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany

    Ewa Palenga-Möllenbeck

Authors
  1. Majella Kilkey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ewa Palenga-Möllenbeck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Majella Kilkey .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Majella Kilkey

  2. Department of Gender Studies, University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany

    Ewa Palenga-Möllenbeck

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Kilkey, M., Palenga-Möllenbeck, E. (2016). Introduction: Family Life in an Age of Migration and Mobility: Introducing a Global and Family Life-Course Perspective. In: Kilkey, M., Palenga-Möllenbeck, E. (eds) Family Life in an Age of Migration and Mobility. Migration, Diasporas and Citizenship. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52099-9_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52099-9_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-52097-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-52099-9

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation