Special Issue on "Families and Generations in Migration Processes"
In recent years, the issue of international migration is very topical and present in the global public debate, where the countries bordering the Mediterranean area are often protagonists, as places of departure, transit and destination of the migration flows. In particular, many scholars addressed the transnational experience of families and conceptualized international migrants and their kin as transnational families with increased mobility and improvements in both travel and communication technologies, more and more people are in fact experiencing transnational family lives.
The main purpose of the issue is to provide an overview of different viewpoints on the relationships between migration processes and the ties among generations in migrant families. More specifically, the issue will try to offer innovative perspectives on how these specific relations are maintained, changed, reconstructed across time and space in the experiences of generations in migration.
The analysis of specific intergenerational relationships within the same family are important to look for different strategies that people use to keep and develop a cultural identity that is in the middle of at least two different cultures. Examples of these are values and family traditions, food and language and so on, they could be very different from the country of destination.
Another important issue are the differences among generations (first, second third and so on) in the migration flow. What about those who firstly migrate and those born in the new country? Is there the same perception of family’s ties with those living in the country of origin?
We welcome studies across countries or regions of the world that specifically focus on the strategies of different generations within the same families to continue “a sense of family” even after physical separation due to migration. We welcome a variety of disciplinary perspectives in the humanities and social sciences, as well as in interdisciplinary, intersectional and critical approaches. Qualitative and in-depth studies regarding the processes explained are warmly welcome in this special issue. Some questions are: what the main strategies for intergenerational relationships in migrant families? How are cultural values, identity belongings and family stories transmitted, created or forgotten in the migration processes? Which paths of migration reinforce/destroy the family intergenerational chain more than other?