Migration can be understood as a breach in life experience, creating a transition, and identity narratives as a strategy to repair this breach. Our study focuses on how two classical dilemmas that characterize this process are navigated in the narrative of migration of the participant (An Ecuadorian migrant woman in Andalusia): self versus others, and continuity of the self over time, despite changes. A semi-structured interview was conducted to achieve the objectives of the study. The interview was transcribed and analyzed on three axes: 1) Migration settings, identifying the dominant spaces of interaction where the migration narrative takes place; 2) Migration I-positions and voices, identifying the I-positions and voices involved in the narrative; and 3) Continuities and discontinuities in the identity narrative. The results demonstrated that the main settings and positions in the narrative were related to nationality, gender, and religion in relation to the dilemmas of self versus others and continuity versus change. These positions help the participant negotiate self-continuity in front of the changes associated with migration and the resistance against xenophobic discourses and positions in the host country. Results support the analysis of the transition processes associated to migration based on the concept of proculturation.

The aim of this study was to analyze identity construction regarding caregiving amongst Senegalese women in diaspora, and to identify what challenges and negotiations they face in their caregiving practices. We conducted semistructured interviews with seven women of Senegalese origin who live in Andalusia, southern Spain. We conducted voice and I-position analysis, which highlighted power inequalities and was sensitive to the dynamic and dialogical acculturation process. The findings showed an identity reconstruction process from caregiving in the cultural context of their home country—where caregiving has a strong collectivist component with mutual support networks, especially in child raising and motherhood, as well as intergenerational respect and caregiving relationships—to a more individualistic host cultural context, where motherhood is more isolated and solitary. Diasporic Senegalese women have also lost their support networks and are overburdened by caregiving work, problems of conciliation between paid work and childcare needs, loss of social status as mothers and as adults, and racism. In such situations, their resilience strategies position them as responsible mothers, maintaining the values of their home culture and developing new strategies for searching information and support.

Una intervención pionera sobre feminismos africanos en Sevilla, que contaba con la implicación del colectivo de mujeres migrantes africanas. Dentro de las actividades del proyecto, mi compañera Cristina Nuño y yo realizamos un taller sobre Maternidad y Cuidados dirigido a mujeres migrantes africanas. A través de la autoetnografía recojo las reflexiones y conocimientos generados en mi interacción con las mujeres participantes del taller y en un grupo de discusión sobre cuidados que realizamos después del mismo. Cuestiones como afrontar la maternidad en soledad, la desarticulación de las redes de apoyo y de cuidado; el racismo y la discriminación se entrecruzan en el ejercicio cotidiano de los cuidados dando otra mirada hacia la manera de reflexionar sobre las migraciones.

This study presents a systematic review of the research into care practices by African authors with a feminist perspective. The research question has been developed through the strategy known as PICo: participants, phenomenon of interest and context. In our case, these are women, feminism and care practices, and sub-Saharan Africa respectively. After the process of filtering 102 selected articles, twenty studies met the inclusion criteria. They were organized into three broad categories using thematic analysis: HIV epidemic; crisis of social reproduction, and Afro-communitarian care. The papers examined explore cultural practices and traditional gender roles as risk or protective factors for contracting HIV; the overload of care work that African women face with regard to the crisis of social reproduction; and the Afro-communitarian proposals in relation to care.