Mapping the role of ‘transnational family habitus’ in the lives of young people and children

In this article, we develop the concept of ‘transnational family habitus’ as a theoretical tool for making sense of the ways in which children and young people from a migrant background are ‘doing families’ transnationally. Drawing on over a decade of cumulative research on Caribbean and Italian fam...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Global networks (Oxford) 2018-07, Vol.18 (3), p.418-436
Main Authors: ZONTINI, ELISABETTA, REYNOLDS, TRACEY
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Belonging
Boundaries
CARIBBEAN AND ITALIAN FAMILIES
Children
Ethnic identity
Families & family life
Family roles
Habitus
IDENTITIES
Identity
INCLUSIONS/EXCLUSIONS
Kinship
Mapping
Migrants
Migration
Race
Social classes
SOCIAL DIVISIONS
TRANSNATIONAL CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
TRANSNATIONAL FAMILY HABITUS
Transnationalism
Youth
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Summary:In this article, we develop the concept of ‘transnational family habitus’ as a theoretical tool for making sense of the ways in which children and young people from a migrant background are ‘doing families’ transnationally. Drawing on over a decade of cumulative research on Caribbean and Italian families in the UK, as well as on a new joint research project, we first investigate the opportunities and consequences of a transnational family habitus on family arrangements, kinship relationships and identity within a transnational context. Second, we analyse the role of these young people's structural location in Britain in shaping the boundaries of their transnational family habitus. We argue that one should see a transnational family habitus as an asset that can potentially disrupt conventional understandings of belonging and processes of inclusion and exclusion. However, we also detail how social divisions of class, race, and increasingly migration status, shape such a habitus.
ISSN:1470-2266
1471-0374
DOI:10.1111/glob.12185