Long-term Consequences of Men's Migration for Women's Well-being in a Rural African Setting

Labor migration is a massive global reality, and its effects on the well-being of nonmigrating household members vary considerably. However, much existing research is limited to cross-sectional or short-term assessments of these effects. This study uses unique longitudinal panel data collected over 12 years in rural Mozambique to examine long-term connections of women's exposure to husband's labor migration with women's material security, their perception of their households' relative economic standing in the community, their overall life satisfaction, and their expectations of future improvements in household conditions. To capture the cumulative quality of such exposure, we use two approaches: one based on migrant remittances ("objective") and the other based on woman's own assessment of migration's impact on the household ("subjective"). The multivariable analyses detect a significant positive association between "objective" migration quality and household assets, regardless of women's current marital status and other characteristics. However, net of household assets, "objective" quality shows a positive association with life satisfaction, but not with perceived relative standing of the household or future expectations. In comparison, "subjective" quality is positively associated with all the outcomes even after controlling for other characteristics. These findings illustrate the gendered complexities of long-term migration impact on nonmigrants' well-being.

Seeking transnational social protection during a global pandemic: The case of Chinese immigrants in the United States

Drawing on in-depth interviews with Chinese immigrants in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic, this article examines the construction of immigrants' transnational social safety net and its gaps as the pandemic struck their home and host societies successively. Building upon the scholarship on transnational migration and transnational social protection, we argue that understanding how immigrants manage moments of crisis requires a cross-border optic. As we show, transnational connections can be translated into valuable material and immaterial resources. However, such protections are contingent upon the reception of their local receiving communities. The perceived hierarchy between the sending and receiving society, coupled with the U.S.' lack of experience with infectious disease outbreaks, limits the extent to which immigrants could put their transnational knowledge and resources to use. Our analyses shed new light upon the circumstances that empower and constrain immigrants as the global pandemic unsettles their daily routines.

The global care network and its impact on sending and receiving countries: current knowledge and future directions

Research concerning the effects of migrants on elder care in affluent receiving countries has been substantial, but we know little about the effects of migrant care on elder care in sending countries. There also is limited research on elder care in the context of the return migration of migrant care workers. This theoretical article explores the potential relevance of a social network perspective, which views individuals and countries as being interconnected even when they are miles apart. A multi-level framework that considers macro-, meso- and micro-level perspectives is introduced to better account for current migrant care arrangements. The macro-level perspective takes into account country-level characteristics including policies, geography and cultural preferences; the meso-level perspective takes into account the characteristics of the entire network, which may spread over different countries; and the micro-level perspective concerns the unique characteristics of the individuals who make up the network. This approach proposes that the effects of migrant home care go way beyond the care recipient–care-giver dyads or triads to incorporate many individuals and countries that are transnationally interconnected via the work of care. This article also aims to increase public and scientific awareness to the potential impact of migrant care and return migration on elder care in the sending countries by stressing a transnational social network perspective.

Remittances for Collective Consumption and Social Status Compensation

This paper focuses on a special type of remittances — monetary remittances sent by international migrants to their hometowns to build symbolic structures and cultural facilities for collective consumption. We develop an analytical framework to examine the motives behind migrants’ remitting behavior and the mechanisms for realizing their remitting objectives based on a comparative study of two emigrant groups from China. We find that the sending of remittances for collective consumption serves as a unique mechanism for social status compensation. Such behavior is not only affected by migrants’ socioeconomic circumstances or government policies, but also by intersecting contextual and institutional factors at multiple levels transnationally.

U.S. Migrant Networks and Adult Cardiometabolic Health in El Salvador

Heightened prevalence of cardiometabolic health conditions in areas where infectious disease remains a major public health concern has created an especially challenging situation for developing countries, like El Salvador. Individuals living within migrant households where migrant networks are present may be at a greater risk for the development of cardiometabolic health conditions. Using data from the 2007 El Salvador database of the Latin American Migration Project (LAMP-ESLS4), this study investigates relations between financial remittances, familial U.S. migration history and cardiometabolic health conditions (overweight status, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and stroke) among 534 individuals within 351 households from four different communities within the departments of La Unión, Cabañas, and San Miguel in El Salvador. Adults living in households that had close primary kin with U.S. migration history were almost two times less likely to be overweight (OR 0.456, p < 0.001) and obese (OR 0.453, p < 0.01) when adjusting for age, sex, education and economic well-being. This study highlights the importance of exploring the potential role of U.S. migrant ties in the epidemiologic transition present within developing countries, like El Salvador.

CONSTRUINDO E ESTABILIZANDO CIDADES, CASAS E PESSOAS

Resumo Este artigo desenvolve-se a partir de um diálogo com aquelas etnografias recentes que se propõem a investigar o modo como se relacionam as casas e seus habitantes, postulando assim a rentabilidade heurística de descrições na qual esses elementos são pensados como se produzindo e se transformando juntos. Radicalizando tal proposta, mostro aqui que também as cidades podem ser incorporadas a esses quadros analíticos que se pretendem unitários, unificados e monistas. Inspirado por certas ideias e formulações dos moradores da cidade de Minaçu, no norte do estado de Goiás, invisto num arcabouço descritivo que mostra como as cidades, as casas e as pessoas são concomitantemente afetadas pelos mesmos processos e tensões, emblematicamente expressos pela oposição entre sossego e descontrole. Para tanto, examino essas transformações recentes que sugerem que esta cidade está deixando de ser uma zona de fronteira, um local instável e perigoso, repleto de forasteiros e aventureiros, para se “estabilizar” e se tornar uma localidade pacata e respeitável.

Rural to urban migration is an unforeseen impact of development intervention in Ethiopia

Rural development initiatives across the developing world are designed to improve community well-being and livelihoods. However they may also have unforeseen consequences, in some cases placing further demands on stretched public services. In this paper we use data from a longitudinal study of five Ethiopian villages to investigate the impact of a recent rural development initiative, installing village-level water taps, on rural to urban migration of young adults. Our previous research has identified that tap stands dramatically reduced child mortality, but were also associated with increased fertility. We demonstrate that the installation of taps is associated with increased rural-urban migration of young adults (15-30 years) over a 15 year period (15.5% migrate out, n = 1912 from 1280 rural households). Young adults with access to this rural development intervention had three times the relative risk of migrating to urban centres compared to those without the development. We also identify that family dynamics, specifically sibling competition for limited household resources (e.g. food, heritable land and marriage opportunities), are key to understanding the timing of out-migration. Birth of a younger sibling doubled the odds of out-migration and starting married life reduced it. Rural out-migration appears to be a response to increasing rural resource scarcity, principally competition for agricultural land. Strategies for livelihood diversification include education and off-farm casual wage-labour. However, jobs and services are limited in urban centres, few migrants send large cash remittances back to their families, and most return to their villages within one year without advanced qualifications. One benefit for returning migrants may be through enhanced social prestige and mate-acquisition on return to rural areas. These findings have wide implications for current understanding of the processes which initiate rural-to-urban migration and transitions to low fertility, as well as for the design and implementation of development intervention across the rural and urban developing world.

Colonialism and Migration in the Ancient Mediterranean

People and their material culture have moved across the Mediterranean since early prehistory. By the early first millennium BC, a crucial change occurred when people began to establish permanent settlements overseas and migrated in substantial numbers. This review focuses on the critical centuries of the Iron Age to examine how thinking about colonialism and migration in the Mediterranean has changed in recent decades. Because Mediterranean and Classical archaeology have always paid more attention to the colonial settlements founded than to the people who migrated, this review begins with an examination of colonial terminology to assess its conceptual roots and the influences of modern colonialism and nationalism. This leads to a discussion of approaches to migration and colonialism in recent decades and consideration of present postcolonial views of colonial situations and (material) culture. The review concludes with a brief survey of potential connections between migration studies and Mediterranean colonialism.