TRANSNATIONAL FAMILIES AND THE PROVISION OF MORAL AND EMOTIONAL SUPPORT: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRUTH AND DISTANCE

“Migrant parents in our study, like other transnational migrants described by Baldassar (2007), put a lot of time and efforts in building reliable relationships with their children by “staying in touch” despite the physical distance as their family life unfolds over time: My children know that if…”

“For example, Baldassar (2007) studied the persistence of emotional bonds between adults who migrated to Australia as children and their kin in Italy.”

“Based on the transnational perspective, the importance of maintaining relational ties with the extended family in the homeland has been highlighted as both a source of support—providing moral, social, religious and cultural support during the integration processes—and strain, with participants noting its impact on the…”

“Emotions have been studied in relation to transnational families and care (Baldassar, 2007; Skrbiš, 2008).”

“Khin Aye’s case further illustrates that care within transnational families is expressed in diverse forms, ranging from financial, practical and hands-on care to emotional and moral support (Finch 1989; Finch and Mason 1993; Baldassar 2007a, 2007b).”

“Most research linking globalization and emotions focuses on globally migrant people and the emotional challenges associated with migration (Baldassar, 2007; Gopalkrishnan, 2007; Ramirez, 2007; Ryan, 2008; Tillbury, 2007).”

“From being able to phone home “collect” through international phone operators, to direct calls and the use of cost-cutting phone cards, to e-mail and chat rooms, to live video and voice chats through the Internet, families and friends dispersed across the world can stay in touch daily, sometimes several times each day…”

“Despite these far-reaching psychological impacts, researchers such as Baldassar (2007b) have argued that parents and migrant children can maintain “mutually supportive relationships across time and space” (p.”

“…of care differs from the female members of the kin acting as surrogate mothers (or ‘other mothers’ according to Collins 1991), to more discriminatory provisions of care (wherein no care is exchanged or support is provided to certain family members and not others Baldassar 2007, Pantea 2011a).”

“Emotional support between migrant children and older parents in the home country plays an important role in maintaining intergenerational connections across international borders (Baldassar, 2007; Baldock, 2003; Lee, Chaudhuri, & Yoo, 2015; Sun, 2012).”

“…on communication and emotional support in transnational care, careful monitoring of information shared and with-holding negative experiences, particularly bad news and truths about their health and well-being, are rationalized with protecting each other from pain and worry (Baldassar 2007, 2015).”

“Resonating with the flexibility required in transnational families (Baldassar, 2007), this made him unable to plan for his own provision in Indonesia.”

“As Baldassar (2007) has shown, emotional and moral support is a vital part of kin work across borders, but is hardly self ‐ evident, as it relies on capacity (ability), obligation (cultural expectation), and negotiated commitments.”

“In other words, digital technology at least partially maintains the gendered nature of family labour in which women share a greater social expectation to take on caring for family members (Arnold 2024, 71–72; Baldassar 2007).”

“Transnational care practices include a range of activities such as visiting home, long-distance communication, sending pictures/letters and sending remittances in lieu of physical presence (Baldassar 2007; Souralova and Zakova 2019) for what has been termed ‘mothering through money’ (Gündüz 2013).”

“Baldassar (2007) and Parreñas (2005), among others, address the gendered nature of “kinwork,” the routines carried out to”

“Intensified international migration often results in an increasing number of transnational families, in which family ties are dispersed across national boundaries and family members manage to maintain contact and support over great geographic distance (Baldassar, 2007).”

“L’importance des visites dans les pratiques transnationales est indéniable (Baldassar, 2007b).”

“…research on identity processes and interethnic relations (e.g. Banton 2008; Brubaker et al. 2004; Wimmer 2008) with a social capital approach (Anthias 2007; Jacobs and Tillie 2004; Portes 1998), articulating them with additional research on emotional and imagined transnationalism (Baldassar 2007).”

“The role of care exchange, especially, has received a lot of academic attention (Baldassar 2007, 2008; Baldassar & Merla 2014).”

“…e que criam sentimentos de pertencimento e de unidade da família transnacional. como percebem Yeoh, huang e lam (2005), Bryceson e Vuorela (2002) e Baldassar (2007), esses processos hoje são muito influenciados pelas novas tecnologias de comunicação e transportes que permitem à família…”

“Spending more time abroad diminishes the intensity of parent–child relations of support (Baldassar, 2007a).”

“…and financial support to manage the hardships of migration were provided by left-behind family and enhanced migrants’ selfreported resilience (Baldassar, 2007; Díaz Andrade & Doolin, 2019; Farshbaf Shaker, 2018; Gonzalez & Katz, 2016; Kim, 2016; King‐O'rian, 2015; Ryan et al.,2015; Shoko,…”

“Even though modern communication technology allows for emotional and moral support from a distance (Baldassar 2007 ), the lack of co-presence is experienced by many migrants as a real loss that cannot easily be replaced by alternatives.”

“…from these studies indicate the perseverance of emotional bonds and practical support between family members across international borders, which challenges the notion of weakening ties in transnational families (Baldassar, 2007; Baldassar et al., 2007; Baldock, 2003; Dhar, 2011; Zechner, 2008).”

“To meet a household’s economic needs, men migrated on a temporary basis while women remained in Mexico caring for home life resulting in the formation of “transnational families” (Arias, 2013; Dreby, 2010; Kanaiaupuni, 2000).1 Globally, scholars have studied transnational family formation in Guatemala and Armenia (Men…”

“First, unlike many expressions of social support, which can be given at a distance (e.g., advice or comfort over the phone, or instrumental assistance through transfers of money) (e.g., Baldassar, 2007), touch requires physical proximity.”

“…migrants face related to access, affordability, and ability (Alam & Imran, 2015), signi fi cant scholarship examines migrants ’ digital practices, including ways that technologies shape personal, social, and family lives (Baldassar, 2007; Baldassar et al., 2020; Cabalquinto, 2022, 2018; Zhao, 2019).”

“…grandchild care on interactions or support between older adults and adult children in rural China (Cong & Silverstein, 2011; Silverstein, Cong, & Li, 2006) and in Western societies (Geurts, Poortman, & van, 2012), but this topic has rarely been studied in transnational families (Baldassar, 2007).”

“They also dispute the tendency to privilege physical co-presence, that is, to view it as more authentic than remote co-presence (see also Baldassar, 2007, 2016).”

“In particular, elderly parents frequently encounter serious care drains (Boccagni, 2015) and lack of emotional support, which produce a sense of loneliness, loss, and regret (Baldassar, 2007).”

“…digital technologies have become a cherished resource for transnational family communication (henceforth TFC), a basic need for both migrants and non-migrants to provide care at a distance, together with other resources such as visiting and financial support (Baldassar, 2007; Merla, 2010).”

“To what extent and by what means migration affects emotional support appears unclear as only a few qualitative studies exist (see e.g. Baldassar 2007; Guo et al.”

“Recent research has highlighted the role of information communication technology in ameliorating these processes (see Baldassar, 2007b), allowing families to construct a shared “(co)presence” and to continue relationships of care despite geographical distance (Baldassar, 2008).”

“…by Hochschild’s (2000) concept of ‘The global care chain’, emphasize that distance unpaid care is highly gen-dered with cultural expectations putting additional social pressures on women (as mothers, grandmothers, and daughters) (Baldassar, 2007; Fresnoza-Flot, 2021; Maehara, 2010; Parreñas, 2005).”

“The transnational care that follows emigration includes practical, financial, personal, emotional and moral support (Baldassar, 2007a) and is multidirectional and multigenerational (King, Cela, Fokkema, & Vullnetari, 2014) Transnational care can involve the adult emigrants, (first generation),…”

“When care-givers face employment insecurity, rising living costs, or currency disparities, their inability to meet remit-tance expectations can trigger guilt, anxiety, and feelings of inadequacy [19, 21, 23, 26, 27].”

“Hari, who appeared quite frail, even associated his deteriorating health to his son ’ s migration, thus illustrating how families interpret the migrants ’ silences about their migration (Baldassar 2007).”

“Videoconferencing platforms and webapps such as WhatsApp and Skype, for instance, have been critical for both the giving and receiving of care (Baldassar 2007; Baldassar et al. 2016; Cabalquinto 2023; Madianou and Miller 2012; Wilding and Baldassar 2018).”

“…and linguistic identities; meanings of home and belonging; transnational care giving as well as the impact of cross-border economic exchanges and transnational lifestyles (e.g. Baldassar 2007; Bryceson & Vuorela 2002; Gouldbourne et al. 2010; Mohme 2014; Siim & Assmuth 2016; Zechner 2008).”

“A family can be a fountain of emotional andmoral support, a source of ethnic identity, a sanctuary, a cave for security and belonging (Baldassar, 2007), and a set ofmorality, philosophies, ideals, thoughts, and practices (Grillo, 2008).”

“She shares WhatsApp pictures, video chats and text-based communication with him, thus establishing a virtual co-presence that reinforces the sense of ‘being there for each other’ (Baldassar 2007; Cabalquinto 2021, 2022a), i.e. by reinforcing ‘digital care’.”

“The Italian Bangladeshi community continues to foster transnational kinship relationships through persistent economic, social, and emotional ties (Baldassar, 2007).”

“This is especially disruptive in societies where families play an indispensable role in care and welfare provisions (Baldassar, 2007; Baldassar and Merla, 2014; Kilkey and Merla, 2014), as is the case in Portuguese society.”