Children and Power in Mexican Transnational Families

Abstract

Today, many families find that they are unable to fulfill the goal of maintaining a household by living together under the same roof. Some members migrate internationally. This article addresses the consequences of a transnational lifestyle for children who are left behind by migrant parents. Using ethnographic fieldwork and interviews with a total of 141 members of Mexican transnational families, I explore how children who are left behind react to parents’ migrations. I focus on how Mexican children manifest the competing pressures they feel surrounding parents’ migrations and consequently shape family migration patterns. The article shows that children may experience power, albeit in different ways at different ages, while simultaneously being disadvantaged as dependents and in terms of their families’ socioeconomic status.

Transnational Parenting and the Emergence of ‘Diaspora Orphans’ in Zimbabwe

“…This literature shows that the children of migrant parents may reap the economic benefits of their parents' work overseas in terms of their families' overall material resources, access to health care and "the social capital that migration confers" in the form of contacts overseas (Dreby 2007(Dreby : 1051. But it also shows that children left behind "pay the emotional price of separation from parents over the long run", with particular problems faced by adolescents (Levitt 2001;Parreñas 2005b;Dreby 2007Dreby : 1051Biao 2007;Gardner 2012).…”

“…This literature shows that the children of migrant parents may reap the economic benefits of their parents' work overseas in terms of their families' overall material resources, access to health care and "the social capital that migration confers" in the form of contacts overseas (Dreby 2007(Dreby : 1051. But it also shows that children left behind "pay the emotional price of separation from parents over the long run", with particular problems faced by adolescents (Levitt 2001;Parreñas 2005b;Dreby 2007Dreby : 1051Biao 2007;Gardner 2012). Research in schools in Mexico's Mixteca region shows that youths left behind had high levels of depression and resentfulness towards parents who had left, and that "although children in migrant families may do better in school than their counterparts, those with migrant parents do worse academically than children living with both their parents, have fewer educational aspirations and are more likely to drop out of school" (Dreby 2007(Dreby : 1052; see also Zentgraf and Chinchilla 2012;Parreñas 2005).…”

“…But it also shows that children left behind "pay the emotional price of separation from parents over the long run", with particular problems faced by adolescents (Levitt 2001;Parreñas 2005b;Dreby 2007Dreby : 1051Biao 2007;Gardner 2012). Research in schools in Mexico's Mixteca region shows that youths left behind had high levels of depression and resentfulness towards parents who had left, and that "although children in migrant families may do better in school than their counterparts, those with migrant parents do worse academically than children living with both their parents, have fewer educational aspirations and are more likely to drop out of school" (Dreby 2007(Dreby : 1052; see also Zentgraf and Chinchilla 2012;Parreñas 2005). The sense of powerlessness and abandonment that these teenagers experience can result in a prevalence of 'deviant or anti-social behaviour' , including "at worst, school drop-out, rebellion against adult authority, high-risk behaviours such as drug and alcohol abuse, precocious sexual relationships and teen motherhood; at best, depression, anxiety, loneliness and low self-esteem, creating "generations in crisis" (Zentgraf and Chinchilla 2012: 347).…”

“…The sense of powerlessness and abandonment that these teenagers experience can result in a prevalence of 'deviant or anti-social behaviour' , including "at worst, school drop-out, rebellion against adult authority, high-risk behaviours such as drug and alcohol abuse, precocious sexual relationships and teen motherhood; at best, depression, anxiety, loneliness and low self-esteem, creating "generations in crisis" (Zentgraf and Chinchilla 2012: 347). Dreby (2007Dreby ( :1063 stresses the importance of sensitivity to children's age, and provides a more variegated picture, arguing that "children may experience power, albeit in different ways at different ages, while simultaneously being disadvantaged as dependents". Parreñas (2005b) is also cautious not to generalise about the impacts of separation on migrant children, instead emphasising the disjuncture between strong perceptions of socially deviant behaviour and more complex, differentiated realities.…”

CHILD MIGRATION: the rights to family reunification of peruvian children in Chile

“…Furthermore, it evokes the image of the bus trip from Peru to Chile, as the moment in which the girl expresses dissatisfaction with travel that links with women who take care of her in their home of origin and, according Dreby (2007Dreby ( , 2010, for precisely that reason are called "mom". In the interviews with Sofia and Alexia shows that the infant travel decision was taken by adults:…”