Reciprocity in global social protection: providing care for migrants’ children

E. Dankyi*, Valentina Mazzucato, T. Manuh

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

Migration research tends to conceptualize migrants as providers of social protection for people back home. Yet the care conducted within transnational families and the way it is organized is an integral part of a global social protection system which is based on reciprocity between migrants and their families in their home countries. This system relies on the work of people back home just as much as on the remittances of migrants overseas. Drawing on ethnographic data from 34 caregivers, we provide a detailed description of the work conducted by people in Ghana to care for migrants’ children and analyze what caregivers do to make this work possible. We find that caregivers have small networks of support they can rely on and identify the strategies they develop when remittances are not forthcoming or enough to cater for the material needs of migrants’ children.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)80-95
Number of pages16
JournalOxford Development Studies
Volume45
Issue number1
Early online date24 Dec 2015
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Keywords

  • ANGOLAN
  • ASIA
  • GHANA
  • Ghana
  • HEALTH
  • LIFE
  • NETHERLANDS
  • NETWORKS
  • PARENTAL MIGRATION
  • REMITTANCES
  • TRANSNATIONAL FAMILIES
  • Transnational care
  • caregivers
  • global social protection
  • migration
  • reciprocal relations

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