Precarity, Imagination, and the Mobile Life of the ‘Trailing Spouse’

Abstract

This article investigates the experiences of mobility and work transition for some "trailing spouses" following their partners in professional overseas assignments. It draws upon in-depth interviews conducted in Switzerland both with female and male accompanying spouses, in order to illustrate some aspects characterizing the subjective experience of precarity for these people living a mobile life, when career trajectories and occupational identities are interrupted, unstable, or altogether reimagined. The meaning of "precarity" will be discussed from a combined sociocultural psychological and anthropological perspective, through a look at the socioemotional relations involved and at the role of imagination. [trailing spouses, precarity, gender, imagination]

When "expatriation" is a matter of family. Opportunities, barriers and intimacies in international mobility

“…academics) and their relatives (e.g. accompanying spouses), and framed their experiences within the study of precarity (Cangià, 2018;Doogan, 2015;Lempiäinen, 2015). The present issue contributes both theoretically and empirically to these studies with a special focus on family and intimacy in the making of life and professional trajectories for these people.…”

“…The image of "friction-less" mobility becomes more a normative label useful for institutions in order to create a category of "hypermobile" individuals, ready to choose their career over personal and family life. Far from being a "friction-less" and costless form of migration, international mobility comes to reveal its increasingly "precarious" character (Agergaard & Ungruhe, 2016;Cangià, 2018), depending increasingly on the socio-economic changing conditions and moods of neoliberal capitalism (Bourdieu, 1999;Castel, 2002;Della Porta, Hänninen, Silvasti, & Siisiäinen, 2015). It is precisely by reflecting on, and negotiating, their lifestyle and professional opportunities with an eye on the tempos, flows and moments of family and intimate relations, that these migrants can find a margin of freedom to respond to the demands of global labour market.…”

Family, Boundaries and Transformation. The International Mobility of Professionals and Their Families

“…Although less subject to structural and practical constraints affecting other forms of less skilled migration, international professionals and their families can face some challenges when relocating to Switzerland (Ravasi, Salamin, & Davoine, 2013). The high cost of local life and the limited support from employers in certain aspects of life (e.g., accommodation, childcare, dual career arrangements) have contributed to changing the profile of this population, previously limited to a group of people with higher financial capacity (Cangià, 2018;Levitan, Zittoun, & Cangià, 2018). International associations, social networks and informal gatherings have been proliferating to respond to some of these challenges (Levitan et al, 2018), and together with other daily situations (e.g., schools, partners' networks, workplace), represent the main contexts in which these people interact with others at the local level.…”

“…These interviews were chosen as they represent extreme cases of the kind of descriptions on "locals" that emerged during the research. These stories are also representative of the different gendered configurations that structure professionals' experience of mobility, also in the context of Switzerland (Cangià, 2018;Kofman & Raghuram, 2005;Schaer, Dahinden, & Toader, 2017): Hela's experience is an extreme case of conventional gendered arrangements of mobility with the woman following a male partner (Kofman & Raghuram, 2005); Nathalie and Luke's stories reflect a more consensual couple mobility: while the male partner was the main mover for work reasons, it was Nathalie that facilitated the choice of destination. Luke, in turn, the main mover to Switzerland, is now about to go back to his home-country in order to facilitate his wife's job-search after years of unemployment.…”

“…Moving can entail a change in personal work plans like in the case of Hela and other accompanying spouses. This can represent a disruptive experience of alteration of occupational identities, yet also an important opportunity for selfexploration and change of values (Cangià, 2018;Cangià, Zittoun, & Levitan, in press). Moving can also disrupt the capacity for personal transformation, and can affect the way one might feel in a new environment.…”