The circulation of care in transnational families

Abstract

This article presents an approach to transnational family solidarity in terms of the “circulation of care”. This approach is based on a multidimensional vision of care-giving that goes beyond the personal care given to a dependent person. It takes the whole family network as its unit of analysis, and uses it to show the multiplicity of actors and the roles they play in the maintenance of transnational family solidarity in the long term. The article provides an analysis model of the institutional contexts that partially constitute the resources necessary for the circulation of care, recognising that other factors, such as the history of intra-family relationships, influence the dynamics at play.

Keywords

• transnational families
• care
• migration
• gender