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‘Doing family’ through ICT‐mediated ordinary co‐presence : transnational communication practices of Romanian migrants in Switzerland
Author(s) -
NEDELCU MIHAELA,
WYSS MALIKA
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
global networks
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.685
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1471-0374
pISSN - 1470-2266
DOI - 10.1111/glob.12110
Subject(s) - affordance , feeling , everyday life , ambivalence , solidarity , romanian , social psychology , information and communications technology , sociology , reciprocal , reciprocity (cultural anthropology) , expression (computer science) , psychology , politics , political science , computer science , cognitive psychology , linguistics , philosophy , law , programming language
In this article, we account for the emergence of new ‘being together’ practices that transnational families develop through ICT‐mediated communication. Drawing on the case of Romanian migrants in Switzerland, we show how political and technological factors, family norms and obligations, as well as individual preferences and aspirations interact and generate novel ordinary co‐presence routines that rely on multiple media affordances to recreate a space for family practices and shape different ways of ‘doing family’ at a distance. This study shows how a subtle sense of each other's everyday life combines with possibilities and feelings of ‘being and doing things together’ at a distance, through multimodal interactions, reflected in ritual, omnipresent and reinforced co‐presence routines. Although these routines are the drivers of new forms and feelings of togetherness, they generate ambivalent effects that range from immediate reciprocal wellbeing and emotional comfort to new expectations of solidarity, family tensions and constraints. In conclusion, ICT‐mediated ordinary co‐presence not only mirrors the ‘normal’ functioning of transnational families, but it also reflects, more generally, an expression of the cosmopolitanization of everyday life.