Institute of Sociology
of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology
of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Peshkova V.M. Transnational Childhood. Part II: The Place and Role of Children in Migration from Central Asia to Russia. Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Chan­ges. 2021. No. 5. P. 450–473. https: ...



Peshkova V.M. Transnational Childhood. Part II: The Place and Role of Children in Migration from Central Asia to Russia. Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Chan­ges. 2021. No. 5. P. 450–473. https:// doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2021.5.2065.
ISSN 2219-5467
DOI 10.14515/monitoring.2021.5.2065

Posted on site: 23.11.21

Òåêñò ñòàòüè íà ñàéòå æóðíàëà URL: https://www.monitoringjournal.ru/index.php/monitoring/article/view/2065/1605 (äàòà îáðàùåíèÿ 23.11.2021)


Abstract

The article focuses on the place and role of migrant children in la­bor migration from Central Asia to Rus­sia. The concept of “children of migrants” covers not only those who came with their parents but also children left be­hind. We propose to consider the issue from the theoretical and methodological perspective of “transnational childhood”. According to this perspective, children who grow up and become adult in the migration social space are active par­ticipants of the migration process with their own ideas and plans. The text is based on the analysis of data from ob­servations and at least 100 interviews conducted both with migrants and their family members at sending countries. All in all, thirty cases or families with chil­dren of different ages are investigated. In the article we investigate socio-eco­nomic and marital contexts in sending countries; family communication con­cerning the children both in sending and receiving countries; financial and cultural aspects of this communication; the role of children in the way things move be­tween countries as well as in the change of plans of migrating parents. The article shows how children “here” and “there”. and their parents are included in multi­ple social and economic networks across national borders which creates a variety of transnational practices and commu­nications concerning the relationship between parents and children, parents and others family members or guardi­ans. Thus, children of migrants are not just participants in migration. Problema­tizing their own and parental position in various spheres of life as intermediate, they create new or strengthen existing transnational social spaces.