Translocal Childhoods and Family Mobility in East and North Europe

by Laura Assmuth (Editor), Marina Hakkarainen (Editor), Aija Lulle (Editor), Pihla Maria Siim (Editor)

Overview

This collection explores mobile childhoods: from Latvia and Estonia to Finland; from Latvia to the United Kingdom; from Russia to Finland; and cyclical mobility by the Roma between Romania and Finland. The chapters examine how east-to-north European family mobility brings out different kinds of multilocal childhoods. The children experience unequal starting points and further twists throughout their childhood and within their family lives.

Through the innovative use of ethnographic and participatory methods, the contributors demonstrate how diverse migrant children’s everyday lives are, and how children themselves as well as their translocal families actively pursue better lives. The topics include naming and food practices, travel, schooling, summer holidays, economic and other inequalities, and the importance of age in understanding children’s lives.

Translocal Childhoods and Family Mobility in East and North Europe will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including sociology, anthropology and human geography.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319897332
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	07/21/2018
Series:	Studies in Childhood and Youth
Edition description:	1st ed. 2018
Pages:	271
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Laura Assmuth is Professor of Social and Public Policy at the University of Eastern Finland.

Marina Hakkarainen is Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Eastern Finland and Associated Fellow at the European University at St. Petersburg, Russia.

Aija Lulle is Lecturer in Human Geography at Loughborough University, UK.

Pihla Maria Siim is Junior Research Fellow at the University of Tartu, Estonia.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Children in Translocal Families; Laura Assmuth, Marina Hakkarainen, Aija Lulle and Pihla Maria Siim.- 2. And so the Journey Begins: An Embodied Approach to Children’s Translocal Materialities; Agnese Bankovska and Pihla Maria Siim.- 4. Doing Translocal Families through Children’s Names; Marta Balode and Aija Lulle.- 5. Sensitive Ethnography: A Researcher’s Journey with Translocal Roma Families; Airi Markkanen.- 6. Summer Spaces: Infrastructures, People and Animals in the Baltic Summers; Aija Lulle and Pihla Maria Siim.- 8. Experiencing Inequality: Children Shaping their Economic Worlds in a Translocal Context; Marina Hakkarainen.- 9. School as Institution and as Symbol in Estonian Migrant Families’ Lives in Finland; Laura Assmuth and Pihla Maria Siim.- 10. Children’s Agency in Translocal Roma Families; Anca Enache.- 11. ‘Becoming Better’ through Education: Russian-speaking Youngsters Narrate theirChildhood Agency in Finland; Marina Hakkarainen.- 11. Age Matters: Encountering the Dynamism of a Child’s Agency from Cradle to Emerging Adulthood; Aija Lulle.- 12. The Journey Continues; Laura Assmuth, Anca Enache, Marina Hakkarainen, Aija Lulle, Airi Markkanen and Pihla Maria Siim.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This book draws the reader into the fleeting moment, and the lifetime, that is childhood through richly describing what children see, hear, perhaps even feel as they move between places: what they leave behind, what they bring with them and how they piece together connections and separations between places as they simultaneously work out their own place in the world. The book will appeal to anyone curious about the process of growing up in a transnational reality.” (Sarah Green, University of Helsinki, Finland)

“This timely collection is a valuable resource for anyone interested in children and transnational migration. It contributes detailed knowledge of how children respond to the challenges of mobility and how they create and perceive links to particular localities and the people inhabiting them. Evocative accounts are provided, based on long-term ethnographic research involving diverse sets of participants and allowing comparisons across state borders, ethnic origins and dimensions of social and economic privilege. A particular contribution to studies of transnational families lies in a well-grounded shift of attention from discourses of longing and belonging, to embodiment, infrastructures and child agency. I find the focus on the significance of the body, senses and material practices particularly compelling.” (Maja Povrzanović Frykman, Malmö University, Sweden)

“Grounded in long-term fieldwork, this book offers rare insights into how family is done from the point of view of children who move between multiple geographic, social and cultural contexts. In addition to presenting an illuminating account of corporeal, material and symbolic aspects of translocal existence, authors provide methodological inspiration for ways in which to give children an ethnographic voice. This is a must for anybody interested in the translocal approach, childhood studies, or the lived intertwining of east and north Europe.” (Elo-Hanna Seljamaa, University of Tartu, Estonia)

“This engaging collection based on multi-sited and follow-up longitudinal ethnography is remarkable evidence of the increasing interest in children’s agency in family migration. Rich and sensitive child-centred mobility stories show a panorama of children maturing during transmigration from the cradle through baby naming, flying to the new country, purchasing sweets never seen before, looking after younger siblings, making new friends and spending summer back home with grandma. A must read for everybody who does not assess migration as a solely adult experience.” (Olga Tkach, Centre for Independent Social Research (CISR), Russia)

Editorial Reviews

This is an excellent read for anyone interested in childhood studies and migration. … the book provided me with a level of insight that I did not expect, but thoroughly enjoyed.” (Nina Svane Bruhn, Nordic Journal of Migration Research NJMR, Vol. 9 (3), 2019)

“Translocal Childhoods and Family Mobility in East and North Europe is an important contribution to the literature on both migration and mobility and the field of childhood and youth studies. It addresses many methodological and ethical considerations when doing ethnographic research of children and their families.” (Frank Elbers, Analize, Issue 10, 2018)

From the Publisher