Strategies of Transnational Motherhood: The Case of Romanian Women
Author: Ducu, Viorela F, fviorela@yahoo.com
Department: Sociology and Social Work
University: Babes-Bolyai University, Romania
Supervisor: Maria Roth
Year of completion: 2011
Language of dissertation: Romanian
Keywords:
maternity
, family
, transnationalism
, migration
Areas of Research:
Family Research
, Local-Global Relations
, Women in Society
Abstract
This work presents the strategies of transnational motherhood that migrant mothers from Romania employ. These women need to confront a defamatory discourse that accuses them of abandoning their children, at the macro level (society), but also at the meso level (community) and the micro one (family). Through the transfer of care, educational support, redefinition of motherhood, and transnational relationships, these women succeed in fulfilling their role as mothers. The work proposes two theoretical models for understanding the exercise of transnational motherhood: the model of care in transnational motherhood and the model of functioning of transnational motherhood through an emphasis on displaying transnational families. Methodologically, this work is a feminist qualitative research in which 37 subjects have participated (transnational family members and key persons) from six rural transnational communities.
