Bereavement from afar

Transnational grieving and the emotional geographies of migration

Bibliographic Data

ID12711538
AuthorsRosa Mas Giralt (0000-0002-5229-2848, Lifelong Learning Centre, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume17
Issue5
Pages578-590
Publication date2018-03-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueChildren s Geographies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1473-3277 • E-ISSN: 1473-3285
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14733285.2018.1447087
OpenAlexW2789910603
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited37

This exploratory article aims to contribute to scholarship on migrants’ experiences of bereavement and grief through the loss of a parent in their country of origin. It considers how transnational bereavement and grieving relate to the ever changing emotional geographies of migration and transnational families. Empirical material is drawn from a research project conducted with Latin American and Latino-British families living in the north of England, particularly from narratives presented by sons and daughters who had experienced such bereavements. Middle generation migrants may express: a continuing bond with a deceased parent as part of their emotional support network; regret at missing the death of the parent and the reinforcement of ambivalent emotions regarding their migration project; boundary ambiguity towards the transnational family; and a sense of physical distance from the family home as a geographical cure which allows working through the grieving process and troubling changes in family configurations

Ambiguity · Ambivalence · Autoethnography · Grief · Narrative · Political science · Psychotherapist · Regret · Scholarship · Sociology · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Psychology · Social Psychology