‘Sending Dollars Shows Feeling’ – Emotions and Economies in Filipino Migration

Why Do Transnationally Mobile People Volunteer? Insights From a Swiss Case Study

“…The described moral asymmetry can only be escaped when the place of origin is considered to be responsible for the earlier mobility, or when the moral debt is cancelled through material returns (McKay 2007). That is probably the cause for the binding power, which is the basis for the significant transfer of funds from the transnationally mobile, which by far exceeds official development aid in terms of both the amount and effect (Wanner 2008;GCIM 2005).…”

A New Era?: Timor-Leste after the UN

“…Deirdre McKay (2007) has referred to the practice of remittance payments as monetised expressions of care and obligations to family, and the evidence is clear to see in certain contemporary settlements in Timor-Leste, where the bulk of new house construction is funded directly through remittance transfers from sons or siblings diligently putting away a sizeable portion of their wages to support their families at home. Los Palos in Lautem District is a case in point, where large numbers of its young people are now working and living in the UK, and, in certain areas of the town, such as the Aldeias of Ira Ara and Lere Loho, there is a widespread building and renovation boom underway (McWilliam 2012).…”

Introduction: the absent child and transnational families

“…The messy materiality of the young child's body and the child's emotional needs impose demands. Absence can prevent physical care by those who wish to provide it, and for those experiencing the absence, care relations can occur in places and in ways that one cannot readily reduce to the tactical body work typically associated with child care (Horst 2010;McKay 2007;Madianou and Miller 2012). Separation from young children can also generate visceral feelings, not only in birth parents.…”