Transnational Childhoods: The Participation of Children in Processes of Family Migration

Drawing upon ethnographic research in contemporary California, with case studies of migrants from Mex- ico, Central America, Korea, and Yemen, we analyze children' s presence and participation in processes of migra- tion and in the constitution of transnational social é elds. Various facets of child-adult relations enter into children' s movement across national borders, including their economic dependence and growing capacity to con- tribute labor; varied ways in which the needs and capacities of children of different ages and genders are deé ned; and their status as persons who are being " raised" and " developed" toward desired end points. These dimen- sions help shape patterns of chain and circulating migration; decisions about leaving children behind and send- ing for them; and the unusual circumstance of children who take the lead in migration (South Korean " parachute kids" living in suburban Los Angeles). " Sending children back" (or threatening to do so) is a delib- erate strategy of child rearing used by transnational families. We consider how children help families stay con- nected across long distances, as well as the strains, conè icts, and emotional costs that may be involved. Children help constitute and reconé gure transnational social é elds, and transnational practices, in turn, shape the con- tours of particular childhoods. The case of Eliá n Gonzá lez (the é ve-year-old Cuban boy who was found è oating in the Atlantic Ocean in November 1999 after a boat carrying him, his mother, and other migrants collapsed en route to the U.S.) sparked national attention to the movement of children across national borders. Eliá n' s case was unusual, especially the way in which his " alien" presence was embraced and celebrated by much of the U.S. public. The attention it received helped to make visible children' s various positions as " dependents" in families, as members of a social and legal age category, and as political actors with their own needs, rights, and desires. It also illuminated the complex issues that immigrant families face when they are divided across geo- political borders, with children' s futures potentially located in two or more places.