Diverse Transnational Care: Ageing and Migration in Bolivia

by Tanja Bastia, Claudia Calsina

Overview

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence.

Transnational care practices differ and are not available to everyone in equal measure. Drawing on interviews with migrants’ parents in Bolivia, this book considers the conditions that older people navigate in one of the poorest countries in Latin America and analyses the diverse transnational care practices that migrants and their parents engage in.

The findings highlight how socio-economic differences, migration regimes, provision of health and social services mediate transnational care practices. The authors argue that socio-economic differences matter in the ways in which transnational care is practised.

The book reveals how some parents can capitalise and further secure their position through their children’s migrations, while others experience extreme levels of vulnerability.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781447365211
Publisher:	Policy Press
Publication date:	07/22/2025
Series:	Ageing in a Global Context
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	230
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Tanja Bastia is Professor at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester.

Claudia Calsina is a Researcher in the Planning and Management Center at the Universidad Mayor de San Simón.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Ageing and migration in the Global South

3. Methodology

4. Migration and older age in Bolivia

5. Financial and material resources

6. Remittances

7. Health

8. Care

9. Emotional responses to (adult) children’s migration

10. Emotional care and wellbeing

11. Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

Based on detailed field research in Bolivia, this brilliant book exposes the tensions and inequalities in older people’s transnational care and health outcomes.” Russell King, University of Sussex

“This valuable book deftly explores the complex webs tying Bolivian migrants to their families despite lengthy separations and hostile border regimes. The volume combines solid statistical data, innovative research design, and moving ethnographic materials to investigate the intersection of aging, care work and migration.” Michele Ruth Gamburd, Portland State University

“Diverse Transnational Care brings welcome attention to socio-economic differences in transnational care as well as ageing in the Global South. It is alert to the complexities of older adults’ experiences of their children’s migration and provides a model of reflection on the methodological challenges and insights that arose in studying transnational care in Bolivia.” Cati Coe, Carleton University

“An important and necessary book that corrects a number of biases in the literature that inform public discourse and policy development. In particular, it helps to correct the view that all older stayers are abandoned by their younger migrant family members, demonstrating instead the role of older people in migration processes. It importantly situates intergenerational relations in the context of socioeconomic difference and the comparative dynamics of home and destination countries’ economies.” Penny Vera-Sanso, Birkbeck, University of London

“This book provides a rich and innovative perspective on the living conditions and family relationships of older adults in Bolivia whose children have migrated abroad.” Marion Repetti, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland

From the Publisher