Bringing transnational families from the margins to the centre of family studies in Britain

Britain, alongside other Western contemporary societies, has undergone important social and demographic transformations resulting from increased migration. One important change is that family life is increasingly practised across national borders. Research within the field of migration studies, has...

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Main Authors: Reynolds, Tracey, Zontini, Elisabetta
Format: Article
Published: Policy Press 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32363/
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author Reynolds, Tracey
Zontini, Elisabetta
author_facet Reynolds, Tracey
Zontini, Elisabetta
author_sort Reynolds, Tracey
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Britain, alongside other Western contemporary societies, has undergone important social and demographic transformations resulting from increased migration. One important change is that family life is increasingly practised across national borders. Research within the field of migration studies, has been pivotal in highlighting the maintenance of family networks across national borders and geographical distance. Yet, rather surprisingly, a detailed analysis of family relationships that are practised across international borders is a marginal field of enquiry within British family studies. In this article, therefore, we argue the case for bringing transnational family studies in to the 'mainstream' academic field of family studies in Britain. We do so by drawing on examples from our respective studies on Caribbean and Italian transnational family relationships to (re)frame concepts typically associated with British family studies, such as for example the 'normative family', everyday practices involved in 'doing family' and the notion of 'families of choice'.
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spelling nottingham-323632020-05-04T20:14:06Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32363/ Bringing transnational families from the margins to the centre of family studies in Britain Reynolds, Tracey Zontini, Elisabetta Britain, alongside other Western contemporary societies, has undergone important social and demographic transformations resulting from increased migration. One important change is that family life is increasingly practised across national borders. Research within the field of migration studies, has been pivotal in highlighting the maintenance of family networks across national borders and geographical distance. Yet, rather surprisingly, a detailed analysis of family relationships that are practised across international borders is a marginal field of enquiry within British family studies. In this article, therefore, we argue the case for bringing transnational family studies in to the 'mainstream' academic field of family studies in Britain. We do so by drawing on examples from our respective studies on Caribbean and Italian transnational family relationships to (re)frame concepts typically associated with British family studies, such as for example the 'normative family', everyday practices involved in 'doing family' and the notion of 'families of choice'. Policy Press 2014-07 Article PeerReviewed Reynolds, Tracey and Zontini, Elisabetta (2014) Bringing transnational families from the margins to the centre of family studies in Britain. Families, Relationships and Societies, 3 (2). pp. 251-268. ISSN 2046-7443 transnational families migration ethnicity family practices http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/tpp/frs/2014/00000003/00000002/art00007 doi:10.1332/204674314X14008543149532 doi:10.1332/204674314X14008543149532
spellingShingle transnational families
migration
ethnicity
family practices
Reynolds, Tracey
Zontini, Elisabetta
Bringing transnational families from the margins to the centre of family studies in Britain
title Bringing transnational families from the margins to the centre of family studies in Britain
title_full Bringing transnational families from the margins to the centre of family studies in Britain
title_fullStr Bringing transnational families from the margins to the centre of family studies in Britain
title_full_unstemmed Bringing transnational families from the margins to the centre of family studies in Britain
title_short Bringing transnational families from the margins to the centre of family studies in Britain
title_sort bringing transnational families from the margins to the centre of family studies in britain
topic transnational families
migration
ethnicity
family practices
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32363/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32363/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32363/