Children of Global Migration Transnational Families and Gendered Woes [Hardcover]

In the Philippines, a dramatic increase in labor migration has created a large population of transnational migrant families. Thousands of children now grow up apart from one or both parents, as the parents are forced to work outside the country in order to send their children to school, give them access to quality health care, or, in some cases, just provide them with enough food. While the issue of transnational families has already generated much interest, this book is the first to offer a close look at the lives of the children in these families.Drawing on in-depth interviews with the family members left behind, the author examines two dimensions of the transnational family. First, she looks at the impact of distance on the intergenerational relationships, specifically from the childrens perspective. She then analyzes gender norms in these families, both their reifications and transgressions in transnational households. Acknowledging that geographical separation unavoidably strains family intimacy, Parre?as argues that the maintenance of traditional gender ideologies exacerbates and sometimes even creates the tensions that plague many Filipino migrant families. A fascinating study on the implications for families of large-scale temporary worker migration. With an ethnographer's ear and a social critic's lens, Rhacel SalazarParre?as illuminates the care deficit of the immigrant second generation, the children of transnational Filipino families left behind by mothers andfathers who labor in the global economy. Her uncovering of the gender paradoxthe intensification of the gender division of labor, of male providers and female nurturers, despite women's wage workis nothing less than brilliant! Rhacel Parre?as provides a much needed perspective on the lives of the families of overseas contract workers. Her interviews provide us with a suggestive look into the changing dynamics of gender roles and to the reformulation of patriarchal ideology among Filipino lóY