Transnational ageing and the ‘zero generation’: the role of Moroccan migrants’ parents in care circulation

Abstract

This paper emphasises the impacts of international migration on old-age perceptions and norms within transnational families, and, specifically, analyses the roles of the zero generation, defined as the parents of first-generation migrants, both as non-migrant counterparts to their children abroad and as older migrants themselves. Transnational caregiving research has demonstrated that for many migrants and their families care arrangements must be negotiated across national borders, yet the agency of transnational older adults has been largely neglected. Based on qualitative fieldwork conducted from 2011 to 2013 in Liège, Belgium, and Oujda, Morocco, the present paper examines the circulation of care between Moroccan adult migrants and their ageing ascendants. This paper exposes the duality of migrants' ascendants as caregivers and recipients, asserting, firstly, that receiving care is not synonymous with passivity, and that, secondly, migrants' ascendants are also the initiators of transnational practices. In both roles, this paper underlines mobility as a strategy used by migrants' parents to maintain intergenerational solidarity across national borders, but that this care mobility is limited by macro-level migration policies, here exemplified by the Belgian migration regime.

Transnational grandparenting: an introduction

“…Within the growing field of transnational family research, studies of transnational grandparenting still remained rather scarce. It is only recently that this topic has gained momentum and a number of studies have put the emphasis on the active role that grandparents play within the transnational circulation of care (Bastia 2009;Da 2003;Horn 2019;Lie 2010;Nedelcu 2007Nedelcu , 2009Nedelcu , 2017Plaza 2000;Treas and Mazumdar 2004;Wyss and Nedelcu 2018;Zhou 2018;Zickgraf 2016). These studies reverse the image of migrants' parents as 'orphan pensioners' (King and Vullnetari 2006) left behind in the country of origin, passively receiving assistance, in particular financial support, from their offspring living abroad (Baldassar et al 2007;King and Vullnetari 2006).…”

“…Thus, they become 'seniors on the move' (Treas and Mazumdar 2004), travelling back and forth between their country of origin and their children's host countries. These mobile grandparents -also called 'zero generation' (King et al 2014;Nedelcu 2007Nedelcu , 2009Wyss and Nedelcu 2018;Zickgraf 2016) or 'flying grannies' (Plaza 2000) -make a substantial contribution to transnational family life, and in particular to the care and education of their grandchildren. Sometimes these mobile grandparents end up settling in their adult children's host country, thereby becoming migrants themselves (Horn 2019;King et al 2014;Nedelcu 2007Nedelcu , 2009Treas and Mazumdar 2004;Wyss and Nedelcu 2018;Xie and Xia 2011;Zhang 2014).…”

“…Plaza (2000) describes them as providing a 'social safety net' within the transnational family. At the same time, intermittent but regular cohabitation with their grandchildren helps grandparents strengthen intergenerational ties, maintains a sense of family unity and identity, and contributes in a meaningful way to the transmission of cultural features from the country of origin, such as language, traditions, history and culinary customs (Da 2003;Lie 2010;Nedelcu 2007Nedelcu , 2009Nedelcu , 2017Treas and Mazumdar 2004;Zhang 2014;Zickgraf 2016). Moreover, this process continues when the grandparents return home and ICT-enhanced transnational communication routines enable instant, permanent and intensive contact between generations within transnational families (Nedelcu and Wyss 2016).…”

“…Indeed, due to visa requirements and restrictions imposed on nationals from the Global South, not all grandparents are on an equal footing vis-à-vis the Western countries' migration policies. Studies on 'zero generation' grandparents show just how much these policies can drastically limit possibilities of temporary sojourns, especially those of Latin Americans coming to Spain (Horn 2019) or Moroccans to Belgium (Zickgraf 2016). The situation is very different for grandparents who can move between countries without a visa, as within EU/Schengen space, for example from Poland to Norway (Bjørnholt and Stefansen 2018) or Bulgaria to Spain (Deneva 2012).…”

Retirement migration and transnational grandparental support: a Spanish case study

“…The literature also highlights grandparents' abilities to travel to provide care transnationally, for months at a time, with grandmothers often at the centre of these practices (Baldassar and Merla 2013;Ducu 2018;Purkayastha et al 2012). While such care varies according to national laws governing their rights to join their families (Ducu 2018;Gehring 2017;Zickgraf 2017), and their economic resources (Ducu 2018), across these studies, we find examples of grandparents providing vital intergenerational support in migration contexts.…”