Parent -child separation in Mexican transnational families.
Item
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Title
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Parent -child separation in Mexican transnational families.
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Identifier
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AAI3283149
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identifier
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3283149
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Creator
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Dreby, Joanna.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Julia Wrigley
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Date
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2007
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Sociology, Individual and Family Studies | Hispanic American Studies
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Abstract
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At the end of the twentieth century, migration to the United States from Mexico has become less selective and more widespread. Women are joining migrant streams and often are choosing to leave children behind when they do so. This dissertation seeks to understand how families manage the international separation of parents and children and, more specifically, the consequences of these new trends for relationships within families.;The study is based on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork with 141 members of Mexican transnational families in the United States and in Mexico and includes the perspectives of migrant mothers and fathers, minor children, and caregivers, who are often grandparents. Analysis focuses on the tensions in relationships between family members. I address tensions related to parents' experiences post-migration, those arising out of children's reactions to parental absence, those stemming from relationships with caregivers, and those caused by neighbors' gossip.;Yet despite numerous sources of tension in transnational relationships, and the emotional difficulties they cause families, parents and children rarely seem to abandon each other during periods of separation. Instead, the tensions that cause families problems almost paradoxically reinforce intergenerational obligation and parents' and children's ties to each other. As such, Mexican transnational families stretch, but often come back together again despite the hardships they experience during periods of separation.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
