Transnational families and the circulation of care
A Romanian–German case study
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11200918 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Elisabeth Schröder-Butterfill (0000-0002-5071-8710, University of Southampton, corresponding author), JULIA SCHONHEINZ (University of Southampton) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 45-73 |
| Publication date | 2019-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ageing and Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0144-686X • E-ISSN: 1469-1779 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0144686x1700099x |
| OpenAlex | W2755498882 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 51 |
This article contributes to our understanding of transnational family relationships and the circulation of care. We are interested in understanding how large-scale emigration affects the support and care of older people in the origin country. Using in-depth interviews and participant observation, we examine the significance of transnational family support for older people, and the ways in which migrant children and other kin care for elderly relatives from afar. Our case study is of the Transylvanian Saxons, a German-speaking minority in Romania, who experienced mass-exodus to Germany following the end of socialism in 1990. The lapse of time since the exodus allows us to examine how transnational family practices evolve, and what the challenges are to maintaining family-hood over time and distance. Contrary to expectations, we find that material family support from Germany to Romania is not significant and has declined. Care, by contrast, remains an important part of what most transnational families provide, although practices of ‘caring about’ are more prevalent than hands-on ‘caring for’. Counter to optimistic accounts of transnational family care in the literature, we argue that the difficulties and challenges for older people of being cared for by distant family members are fundamental, and strong transnational family ties are not an inevitable outcome of migration
Demographic economics · Emigration · Family reunification · Geography · German · Immigration · Political science · Romanian · Sociology · Gender Studies · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies
Migration, diaspora and development
Grandparents Across Borders
Perspectives of only children on the use of smart technologies for transnational family care
Gender and Migration
First-generation circular migrants involved in the upbringing of their grandchildren
The consequences of migration for the migrants' parents in Bolivia
(Re)constructing Ageing Futures
Emigration and the care of older people 'left behind
The Transnational Family
Highland Homecomings
Monetary Transfers from Children and the Labour Supply of Elderly Parents
Migration and Remittances
Second-Generation Transnationalism and Roots Migration
Transnational Families, Migration and the Circulation of Care
Transnationalism
Negotiating Family Responsibilities
Nations Unbound
Transnational Families and the Provision of Moral and Emotional Support
Can ‘distant water … quench the instant thirst’? The renegotiation of familial support in rural China in the face of extensive out migration
Coming Home to Germany? The Integration of Ethnic Germans from Central and Eastern Europe in the Federal Republic
Informal Social Protection Networks of Migrants
The Migration and Well-Being of the Zero Generation
Rural parents with urban children
The Kazakh–German Social Space
Washing men's feet’
Change in care regimes and female migration
The body, gender, and age
Elderly narrative reflections on the contradictions in Turkish village family life after migration of adult children
Care of older persons in transnational settings
Network Migration of Ethnic Germans
The social and psychological effect of an adult child's emigration on non-immigrant Asian Indian elderly parents
International migration in later life
Care dependence in old age
Orphan pensioners and migrating grandparents
Migration, social structure and old-age support networks
Linkages between migration and the care of frail older people
Care relationships, quality of care and migrant workers caring for older people
The Impact of Female Emigration on Families and the Welfare State in Countries of Origin
Highland Homecomings
Transylvanian villagers
Migrant remittances and the web of family obligations
Does your granny eat grass?' On mass migration, care drain and the fate of older people in rural Albania
Situating transnational families' care-giving arrangements
Actual and de facto Childlessness in Old Age
Transnational Families and Aged Care
Continuity and Change in Transnational Italian Families
The Unmaking of an Ethnic Collectivity
Migrants and Their Parents
Deciphering diaspora - translating transnationalism
Growing old in a transnational social field
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,33 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |