Paper short abstract:

Drawing on a fieldwork material, this poster seeks to explore transnational family relations from the viewpoint of persons – mostly older family members – who have stayed in their home countries while some of their relatives have moved to Finland.

Paper long abstract:

Instead of concentrating on people who actually move, this presentation investigates transnational practices of those people who have not left their home. Mostly these people staying behind are older persons, who are unwilling or unable to leave their homes for various reasons. Although they have not moved themselves, the fact that their family members have migrated has significantly changed also their daily lives and routines.

This presentation reflects mobility and transnational family relations as narrated and interpreted by people staying behind. When family members do not stay in the same country and share continuous day-to-day interaction, family relations and responsibilities have to be negotiated anew. It can be claimed that family in this situation is more and more constructed and maintained through discourses, but on the other hand some aspects of family life - for example caregiving - call for immediate presence of family members. Bearing in mind the tradition and continuous importance of intergenerational care chains, organising transnational care in a way that would be acceptable to all family members provides a challenging task, which often has to be solved by women.

The main research material for the presentation consists of interviews made with former Soviet Union immigrants living in Finland and their family members living in the country of origin (Russian Karelia and Estonia).