Family or work? Kinning Processes among Latin American au pairs in the South of France

Abstract

Focusing on the case of au pairs, this article investigates how family care and assistance systems that have always been marked by “strong ties” react to processes of kin loss, typical of the second demographic transition, and to the retreat of the Welfare state. Based on an ethnographic research on the relationships between Latin American au pairs and their host families in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region of the South of France, the article addresses the question of how South-European societies, characterised by a familistic ideology of care and assistance, face the need to include external figures in the field of family care. It shows how, despite the use of a fictive kinship language, the vague definition of the au pair figure leaves open multiple possibilities, ranging from effective inclusion and kinning to professionalization and labor exploitation.

Keywords

• Desparentalización
• au pair
• cuidado y asistencia
• familia
• parentesco ficticio