The resilience of migrant money: how gender, generation and class shape family remittances in Peruvian migration

Abstract

Scholars and policy makers have argued that because altruism drives remittance sending, migrant money is more resilient to uncertainty than other capital flows. In this article, I question this assumption through ethnographic examination of remittance sending by Peruvian migrant families. When in their lives do Peruvian migrants start to remit? Who are the recipients? What is the purpose of their remittances? How long do they last and why do they stop? I argue that, to answer these questions, we need to investigate how migrants make remittance commitments to different household members, how these attribute value to the remittances and how this value becomes the object of negotiation and contestation. The findings indicate that remittances reinforce existing relations of gender, generation and class in Peruvian society and suggest that while short‐lived remittances are based on contractual commitments and driven by altruism, long‐term remittances are based on emotional commitments and driven by both non‐utilitarian and utilitarian motives.

Gender, autonomy and return migration: negotiating street harassment in Lima, Peru

“…Among undocumented immigrant women in abusive relationships, autonomy and power may be unattainable (Salcido and Adelman 2004). Examining the role of remittances in Peruvian migration, Paerregaard (2015) finds that, among the Peruvians he interviewed, remittances reinforced existing relations of gender, generation and class prevalent in Peru. Examining the role of remittances in Peruvian migration, Paerregaard (2015) finds that, among the Peruvians he interviewed, remittances reinforced existing relations of gender, generation and class prevalent in Peru.…”

“…Writing on women in rural Armenia and Guatemala, Menjívar and Agadjanian (2007) bring to light the persistence of gender inequalities that may accompany migration, noting that even though autonomy may increase, traditional gender roles may also be strengthened. Examining the role of remittances in Peruvian migration, Paerregaard (2015) finds that, among the Peruvians he interviewed, remittances reinforced existing relations of gender, generation and class prevalent in Peru. In one case, the husband's regular remittances from Japan allowed him to maintain the role of breadwinner and head of household and reinforced his wife's role as a dutiful, faithful wife in Peru for decades.…”

Gendered translocal connectedness: Rural–urban migration, remittances, and social resilience in Thailand

“…The central analytical elements are specific translocal practices, the simultaneous embeddedness of actors across scales, and the multispatial dimension of negotiating the transfer and usage of remittances and their impact. The translocal dimension of remittance practices thereby intersects with axes of social differentiation, including gender, generation, and class stratification (Fresnoza‐Flot & Shinozaki, 2017; Paerregaard, 2015; Petrou, 2018; Tacoli & Mabala, 2010). Disparities along these axes and ensuing disparate positions of actors in social fields affect remittance sending and usage and their impact on the household.…”

Migrant family visits and the life course: interrelationships between age, capacity and desire

“…In contrast to the findings of Waldinger (2008) and Schunck (2011), remittance sending and frequent family visits are positively correlated. Different migrant commitments apparently reinforce each other, suggesting that regular money transfers and family visits are interrelated parts of the moral economy of Peruvian migration (Paerregaard 2015a(Paerregaard , 2015b. Country comparisons would be required to establish if this finding differed between countries with different Peruvian migration histories and with different profiles of Peruvian migrants.…”