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Paper short abstract:

Motherhood strategies in the Sierra Leonean diaspora are analyzed as future-oriented practices that structure children’s social standards. Middle-classing projects bind generations together, thus demonstrating how the diaspora’s future relies on mother’s emotional labour to achieve class stability.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, I analyze how reproductive practices related to upbringing, education and socialization become middle-classing projects that bind several generations together. Looking at middle-classing strategies among Sierra Leonean women living in Europe, it examines the strategies by which mothers intend to create a better future for their children in the diaspora. Future-oriented motherhood practices are twofold. Firstly, they involve ‘intense mothering’ – namely, mothering that is considered more active, concerned and dedicated than would be the case in Sierra Leone. This implies, for instance, that women find strategies to care for the children themselves even when they work, or to protect them from racism and ‘bad company’. As a result, for women, having children in the diaspora becomes both an immense responsibility and a burden that they tend to carry alone. Secondly, caring for the future implies achieving class stability in Europe over generations. In this regard, for Sierra Leonean women, binding the new generation around collective values appears critical. Mothers create and maintain fictive kinship within their diasporic networks, which allows children to see themselves as part of extended families and as part of a ‘cohort’ sharing similar social expectations. This transmission and ‘class effect’ are particularly visible, as children get organized and meet in associations of their own. Many also have projects designed at giving 'a better image’ of Sierra Leone abroad. Future-oriented strategies demonstrate how the diaspora’s future relies on mother’s emotional labour, as they carefully plan, sustain and encourage their children to cultivate middle-class standards.