Enfances, Familles, Générations (May 2015)
Un double ancrage : liens familiaux et insertion sociale des enfants d’immigrés philippins en France
Abstract
The migration of Filipino parents to France triggers a family separation that ends when the migrant parent decides to return permanently to his country of birth or when his children formerly “left behind” come and join him in France. These children then become part of the “generation 1.5” - immigrants who spent part of their childhood or adolescence in their country of origin and part in their receiving country. How do these individuals with complex upbringings describe their relationships with their parents before and after family reunification ? What role does their family, and more specifically their parents, play in their integration into the receiving society ? This article examines the migratory path of the generation 1.5 of Filipino immigrants in France and their family experiences. Fieldwork in France shows that “left-behind” children maintain with their parents a long-distance relationship characterized by an emotional gap that only becomes apparent to them when they arrive in France. However, despite this effect of family separation, children of Filipino immigrants turn first to their parents and to their extended family to cope with the challenges posed by their immigration. At the same time as they develop their anchoring in France, these young migrants keep their emotional ties with their country of origin, a double anchoring that shows the specificity of this group among children of immigrants.
