Paper short abstract:

Thinking about the construction of the representation of gender roles, this paper outlines the division of labor in the family in the Angolan context, questioning the difference of gender representation around the domestic work of children.

Paper long abstract:

Looking into my field work within transnational families between Angola and Portugal this paper is drawn on 42 in-depth interviews conducted with children, parents and caregivers, in the context of the project TCRAf-Eu. The discussion emphasizes the discourse of children in relation to their daily life, and the discourse of parents and caregivers regarding their childhood period.

Taking the performance of household chores by children as a starting point for thinking about the construction of the representation of gender roles, this paper outlines the division of labor in the family in the Angolan context, questioning the difference of gender representation around the domestic work of children. In Angolan society the way in which gender seems to be culturally embedded, especially in rural and traditional societies, point that gender roles are sharply creased by dividing tasks, being a way to keep the identity of the group.

Paper short abstract:

Based on narratives of undocumented migrants and their partners married in Italy and Portugal, the project will propose a transnational, comparative and qualitative approach on their practices debating the nuances and consequences of their legally/socially attributed versus self-perceived status.

Paper long abstract:

The paper depicts a theoretical reflection on some preliminary results of the fieldwork carried out in Rome and Lisbon, in the context of a PhD project at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon. The project aims at deepening knowledge about practices and representations related to marriage and migration in two specific European contexts, including its implications in terms of legal and social status and citizenship. Namely, it focuses on couples in which, prior to marriage, one partner is undocumented and the other has a formally recognized permanent residence or nationality status. This analysis reflects the nuances and consequences of the legally/socially attributed versus self-perceived status of migrants and their family, based on interviews to individuals engaged in marriages/civil unions in Italy and Portugal with a comparative and qualitative approach.

Paper short abstract:

Using both qualitative and quantitative data collected in a small town in Senegal among men and women over 5 years, we show how a culture of international migration in this locality has affected gender relations and the conjugal experience of migrants' wives who stay and that of migrant women.

Paper long abstract:

The analysis of international migration from Senegal to Europe is generally perceived as a male activity. Mixed methods research over 5 years undertaken in a small town North West Senegal, "saturated" by out migration to Southern Europe uses qualitative data collected through in-depth interviews from men and women in 2007 and migrant women in 2012, and a quantitative household and life history survey conducted in 2012 focusing on women's life trajectories to demonstrate that Senegalese women have been migrating to neighbouring countries for decades, essentially for trade activities and that over the past two decades they have increasingly participated in the migration flows to Europe. We investigate different influences over female migrant decision making and autonomy: using the survey data we examine whether particular marital statuses appear to facilitate or constrain migration. This is then contextualised through using the qualitative data to investigate the extent to which migrant women make independent decisions to migrate and mobilize the required resources from their own social networks or if they remain dependent on male decisions and resources to leave. Non-migrant women provide a lens through which female migration is observed and understood: in particular, do stationary women aspire to migrate or transform their lives building on personal life goals? Preliminary results suggest women are torn between and ambivalent about their need to respect local norms of reproductive, productive and marital behaviour in this patriarchal society, and their desires for innovation in their lives when they observe male and female peers who are migrating.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the practice of polygyny within transnational families across Senegal, France and the UK. It is suggested that mobility between Africa and Europe both transforms and reinforces local ideas about marriage in unexpected and highly gendered ways.

Paper long abstract:

This paper proposes to explore some of the social dynamics at play in transnational families between Senegal and Europe. From the 18th century onwards, the Senegambian region served as a platform for the transatlantic trade, and later for the colonial conquest of West Africa. As a result, marriage to Europeans has a long history in the region. This form of exogamy intensified during the colonial period, when many young Senegalese men went to France to study, and married French women. Today, transnational marriage involving a Senegalese and a European partner are so common as to be found in most Senegalese families.

At the same time, the widespread practice of polygyny in Senegal has proved surprisingly resilient in urban and rural contexts alike. Polygyny has shaped 'mixed' marriages in highly gendered ways: whereas Senegalese women marrying European men find the assurance of a monogamous marriage, Senegalese men marrying European women are often under pressure to take a Senegalese wife as well. Senegalese families may find in this arrangement the assurance that Senegalese men living in Europe will not be 'lost' to them.

Drawing on on-going fieldwork across several locations (France, the UK and Senegal), this paper examines the accommodation with or rejection of polygyny within transnational families. It is suggested that mobility between Africa and Europe both transforms and reinforces local ideas about marriage in unexpected ways.

Paper short abstract:

Living in transnational families can be both rewarding and challenging for the caregivers of the children that are left behind. This paper looks at the impact of migration on caregivers and how this is experienced by female and male caregivers.

Paper long abstract:

Studies on transnational families especially in Latin America and parts of Asia have looked at the experiences of migrant mothers and fathers and the children they leave behind ( Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila 1997; Schmalzbauer 2004; Parrenas 2005; Dankyi 2012). To date however, there has been little focus on the perspective of the caregivers of the children they leave behind. This paper adds to the growing body of literature (Dreby, 2006; Moran-Taylor 2008) on the experiences of caregivers in transnational families Impact of migration on caregivers are both positive (financial support, gifts, from migrants and their children, fulfillment etc) and adverse (loss of jobs, strain on one's income, ruined relationships etc). In this paper, I argue that the extent to which these impacts are experienced by the caregivers is predominantly shaped by their gender, how they are related to the child (ren), their socio economic status, the gender and age of the child (ren) they raise.

This study is part of a larger research called the TCRA project which looks at the effects of transnational child-raising arrangements on life-chances of children, migrant parents and caregivers in Ghana and The Netherlands. I draw on data from a Simultaneous Matched Sample (SMS) methodology employed by the TCRA project. With the SMS, migrant parents in the Netherlands and their children and caregivers (14 triads) in Ghana were simultaneously were followed from July 2011 to July 2012. It is supported with interviews with 17 caregivers that are not part of the matched triads.

Paper short abstract:

This paper will present the life histories of sisters and cousins from one transnational Ghanaian family. It will discuss the impact these relatives have on each other’s concepts of gender; and will also show how these women’s mobility and transnational careers have an influence on their family lives.

Paper long abstract:

"You are still doing this? Oh, this is past!"- this is how one of my interview partners in Ghana's capital Accra was jokingly criticised by her currently abroad-living cousin, for dishing the food for her husband. The abroad-living anaesthetist then called her cousin's daughter to explain to her: "Don't do these things that your mother is doing! It's your mother's time, when they had time to be fussing around the men!" In this paper, I will present the life histories of these two women and of some of their siblings from one transnational Ghanaian family. I will also discuss the impact these relatives have on each other's concepts of gender and family.

These women travelled to various countries in Africa, Europe and Northern America, either because of their own education or profession, or to follow their abroad-working husbands. They are currently residing in Ghana, Sweden, the Netherlands and Canada but stay in close contact with each other; those living abroad, visiting Ghana frequently. These women pursue different careers; among them are the above mentioned anaesthetist, a secretary, a teacher and an architect.

I will show how their mobility and transnational careers have an impact on their family life, their household relationships and on their concepts of the 'ideal woman'. Moreover, I will discuss how the relatives influence each other's ideas of conjugality and parenthood.

The paper is based on ten months of research in several locations in Ghana; supplemented by a short field trip to the Netherlands.

Paper short abstract:

This paper brings an ethnographic analysis of how Kasena migrants of Northern Ghana use the divinatory oracle to understand and cope with the new challenges of daily and family life in a migration situation.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I examine how Kasena migrants of Northern Ghana use the divinatory oracle to understand and cope with the new challenges of daily and family life in a migration situation. Men and women of all ages return to the rural home areas to consult diviners and flesh out intergenerational issues and tensions hoping to realize aspirations and to settle disruptions often caused by migration.

A diviner is able to see into other realms, he can reveal the world order to those who consult him. Through the divinatory oracle, the 'blind' client is made to see again. Usually the diviner's capacity to 'see' is situated in the divination bag: it is the diviner's bag that sees and shows the order of things during a divinatory session. The order of things is revealed through the articles that the bag contains and the configurations within which they are drawn. These are read and written by the diviner.

In this paper various ethnographic accounts of consultations, but more importantly of the contents of the bag, are discussed. The transformations in the world order, and the opening up of (migrating) clients to different worlds are reflected by the inclusion of new articles in the diviner's bag such as pieces of mobile phones, car parts or transport icons referring to (possible future) journeys and mobility. Other items evoke new social orders, including the various layers of newly constituted kin-groups and the transformed inter-generational and gender relations, and the redefined contacts with the ancestral world.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation looks at European expat communities as a specific group of highly mobile people and focuses on the role of spouses and family who accompany their partners during a foreign assignment in Uganda.

Paper long abstract:

Preparations for foreign assignments are often framed by perceptions of heteronormative families and gender-specific labour division on the household level(Hindman 2007). When commercial enterprises, NGOs, development organisations and diplomatic missions send their employees across of the world, more often than not they send spouses and children too. Despite ongoing change in this sector, it is still mostly men who, as employees, are accompanied by their wives.

The paper considers how gender specific role expectations are reproduced and reinforced in the context of foreign assignments and how they are changing with a new generation of "expat girls" (see Fechter 2007). Examining the role(s) of accompanying spouses engages the nexus of migration, elite and gender studies. For this purpose I will utilise the findings of my PHD research with European expats in Kampala, Uganda (Aug./Sept. 2012 and Jan./Feb. 2013).

Based on Kreutzer and Roth, expats may be described as people who migrate voluntarily under relatively secure circumstances (Kreutzer/Roth 2006: 8). However, accompanying spouses often have no work permit in the destination country and remain unemployed, yet they play an important role on organizing family lives and set up "home" in the host country. This may result in dependency both in regard to the marriage as well as the deploying organisation. Few studies address the personal experiences of daily life of expat spouses or the factors that determine their transnational (family) lifestyle. The paper aims at looking at the specific situation of accompanying family members.

Paper short abstract:

Some of the African migrant settled in Europe begun to return to their countries resulting from the economic crisis. That was the case of Equatorial Guineans in Spain. This paper will present the women migrant profile that recently comeback, focusing the research in their social integration

Paper long abstract:

The causes of the emigration of the Equatorial Guinea population was promoted from two historical settings, colonization and dictatorships, both characterized by the plundering of the country's resources, and the lack of freedom and social prosperity. During colonization, training opportunities and welfare of the people were scarce, and after the advent of the two dictatorships the state not promoted structures that ensured health and education system, allowing the Nguemism takes hold in Equatorial Guinean society. As a result, between the aspirations of a large part of which went to European destinations, mainly to Spain, there has been no willingness to return until the establishment of a democracy. This situation has changed with the economic crisis in Spain, which has forced thousands of Equatorial Guineans to return. It is especially interesting the profile of women who emigrated and after return to Equatorial Guinea. A substantial group left behind a dictatorial system which was violent in the period of Macías and repressive and corrupt in the period of Obiang. Those who settled in Spain usually obtained dual nationality. Others travelled as adults simply to visit the country, to work for a time or to use the health services, viewing their stay in Spain as a brief. Another sector consists of the young Equatorial Guineans who travelled to extend their studies. The aim of this paper is to present the women migrant profile that recently comeback to Equatorial Guinea, focusing the interest research in the issues related with their social integration