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Transnational families and the circulation of care: a Romanian–German case study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2017

ELISABETH SCHRÖDER-BUTTERFILL  and
JULIA SCHONHEINZ
ELISABETH SCHRÖDER-BUTTERFILL*
Affiliation:
Centre for Research on Ageing, University of Southampton, UK.
JULIA SCHONHEINZ
Affiliation:
Research and Innovation Services and Centre for Research on Ageing, University of Southampton, UK.
*
Address for correspondence: Elisabeth Schröder-Butterfill, Centre for Research on Ageing, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK E-mail: emsb@soton.ac.uk
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Abstract

This article contributes to our understanding of transnational family relationships and the circulation of care. We are interested in understanding how large-scale emigration affects the support and care of older people in the origin country. Using in-depth interviews and participant observation, we examine the significance of transnational family support for older people, and the ways in which migrant children and other kin care for elderly relatives from afar. Our case study is of the Transylvanian Saxons, a German-speaking minority in Romania, who experienced mass-exodus to Germany following the end of socialism in 1990. The lapse of time since the exodus allows us to examine how transnational family practices evolve, and what the challenges are to maintaining family-hood over time and distance. Contrary to expectations, we find that material family support from Germany to Romania is not significant and has declined. Care, by contrast, remains an important part of what most transnational families provide, although practices of ‘caring about’ are more prevalent than hands-on ‘caring for’. Counter to optimistic accounts of transnational family care in the literature, we argue that the difficulties and challenges for older people of being cared for by distant family members are fundamental, and strong transnational family ties are not an inevitable outcome of migration.

Keywords

transnational family supportcareremittanceshousesRomaniaGermanyinterviewsparticipant observation
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 45 - 73
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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