The gendered burden of transnational care-receiving: Sudanese families across The Netherlands, the UK and Sudan

Abstract

Care circulated within transnational families is a crucial element in the families' social protection and reproduction transnational social protection arrangements, based on a system of reciprocity between migrants and their families 'back home'. Recent studies have shown the complexities of transnational caregiving arrangements, yet the focus has remained on the provision of care between parents and children, largely neglecting the intricacies of care-receiving within extended family networks. Care may feel differently depending on the perspective of either the provider or the receiver. Despite the caregiver's good intentions, care might be experienced as a burden by the receiver. Moreover, as a culturally embedded practice, receiving care across culturally and geographically distant contexts may present additional challenges. This paper investigates the agency of female care-receivers to navigate the care provided by different male family members abroad, while protecting themselves and their children's wellbeing. Rather than focusing on caregiving practices between parents and children, this article addresses care dynamics within extended families. Drawing on a multi-sited matched-sample ethnography with Sudanese transnational families across the Netherlands, the UK and Sudan, I examine the strategies of these women to manoeuvre the reception of unwanted care while avoiding conflict with their relatives and gaining control of their own and their children's bodies. In exploring the intricacies of care-receiving in transnational family networks, I analyse how geographical distance may exacerbate the perception of different care needs, while at the same time giving the care-receivers more space to navigate the reception of unsolicited care.

Securing Old-Age Pensions Across Borders: Sudanese Transnational Families Across the Netherlands, the UK and Sudan

“…In cases where face-to-face contact was not possible or was very sporadic, the children's socialisation took place digitally and was mostly implemented by their male relatives in Sudan or elsewhere, who would constantly call their grandchildren to discipline them on what to do and how to behave (Serra Mingot 2020b).…”

Multidirectional carework across borders: Latina immigrant women negotiating motherhood and daughterhood

“…The women in these studies were part of a “global care chain” that extracts and commodifies reproductive labor from the Global South to capitalist northern nations through globalization and neoliberal policies (Hochschild, 2014; Parreñas, 2000). Other scholars have conceived of care as a reciprocal, asymmetrical process (Baldassar & Merla, 2014), although most theorizing about caregiving and immigration has focused on caregiving activities as opposed to the implications of receiving care (Serra Mingot, 2020). Across the globe, there are few individual or cultural expectations that the migrant mother will be the receiver of care in exchange (Baldassar & Merla, 2014; Serra Mingot, 2020).…”

“…Other scholars have conceived of care as a reciprocal, asymmetrical process (Baldassar & Merla, 2014), although most theorizing about caregiving and immigration has focused on caregiving activities as opposed to the implications of receiving care (Serra Mingot, 2020). Across the globe, there are few individual or cultural expectations that the migrant mother will be the receiver of care in exchange (Baldassar & Merla, 2014; Serra Mingot, 2020). We build on this research as we explore the dynamics that result from these uneven distributions of care, attending to caregiving and the implications of disrupted care‐receiving in transnational immigrant families.…”

Traversing: Familial Challenges for Escaped North Koreans

“…Bryceson and Vuorela (2002, p.3) describe 'transnational families' as 'families that live some or most of the time separated from each other, yet hold together and create something that can be seen as a feeling of collective welfare and unity, namely "familyhood", even across national borders'. Numerous studies have examined transnational familial relations and practices, especially focusing on care (Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avilla, 1997;Parrenas, 2005;Baldassar and Merla, 2014;Mingot, 2020). These studies have highlighted the influence of gendered social expectations in maintaining cross-border connections and intimacy.…”