Love over the Phone: The Role of Mobile Communication Technologies in Transnational Motherhood of Ukrainian Migrant Women
Abstract
The research problem addressed in this paper is the phenomenon of Ukrainian transnational motherhood regarded as a development brought about by women’s international mobility and the network society. The key goal of the paper is to identify the socio-emotional effect of mobile communication on daily practices of Ukrainian migrant women and to analyze its role in their transnational motherhood experience. The social relevance of the paper is defined by the social demand in the conceptualization of various aspects of independent mobility of women as a historically new development, which became a subject-matter of a focused research throughout the last decades due to the increasing feminization of international migration fluxes, documented in Ukraine among others. The paper casts light on the phenomenon of “globalization of motherhood”, which entails the emergence of a new category of “transnational supermoms”, who are induced to combine the work abroad with cross-border household management and caring for their children and families left behind at home. The paper shows that mobile technologies as a new means of transnational communication may have both positive and negative effect on daily practices of transnational mothers, making both favorable and salient impact on their relationship with family and kin. The paper draws on the analysis of the results of a field research, covering the interviewing of the expert community, transmigrants themselves and members of their informal social networks.References
Абашин С. Среднеазиатская миграция: практики, локальные сообщества, транснационализм // Этнографическое обозрение. 2012. 4. С. 3–13.
Абрамов Р.Н. Мобильные коммуникационные технологии и повседневность // Журнал социологии и социальной антропологии. 2006. IX (4). C. 185–192.
Бурдье П. Структура, габитус, практика // Журнал социологии и социальной антропологии. 1998. I (2). С. 40–58.
Гладарев Б.С. Женщина, мужчина и мобильный телефон // Социологические исследования. 2006. 4. С. 68–86.
Гладарев Б.С. Социологическая рефлексия о возможных следствияx распространения мобильной связи // Социология вчера, сегодня, завтра. Социологические чтения памяти Валерия Борисовича Голофаста. 23-25.03.2007. СПб.: Бильбо, 2007. C. 200–218.
Діти емігрантів про себе. Сповіді. Думки. Судження… Біль. Львів: Видавничий відділ «Артос фундації «Андрей», 2008.
Клінова О. У Львові відбудеться благодійний концерт на підтримку Міжнародного дитячого веломарафону «Мамо, повернися!» // Львівська міська рада. Офіційний портал мешканців [http://city-adm.lviv.ua/portal-news/society/social-sphere/212282-u-lvovi... ].
Майданік І. Українська молодь на ринках праці зарубіжних держав. Київ: Ін-т демографії та соціальних досліджень ім. М.В. Птухи, 2010.
Малиновська О. Трудова міграція: соціальні наслідки та шляхи реагування. Аналітична доповідь. Київ: Національний інститут стратегічних досліджень, 2011.
Митчелл Дж. У. Я++: Человек, город, сети / Пер. с англ. Д. Симановского. М.: Strelka Press, 2012.
Молодь та молодіжна політика в Україні: соціально-демографічні аспекти / За ред. Е.М. Лібанової. Київ: Ін-т демографії та соціальних досліджень ім. М.В. Птухи НАН України, 2010.
Наберушкина Э. Архитектура, сети, люди, города: контуры нового мира. Рецензия на книгу У. Дж. Митчелла «Я++: Человек, город, сети» /Пер. с англ. Д. Симановского. М.: Strelka Press, 2012 // Журнал исследований социальной политики. 2012. 10 (3). С. 422–427.
Недельский А. Озонатор (часть 1) // Радуга. Журнал художественной литературы и общественной жизни. 2006. 8. С. 22–99.
Пономарева О. Новітні форми української жертовності. Українське слово. Інтернет-видання. 23.12.2011 [http://ukrslovo.org.ua/ukrayina/suspilstvo/novitni-formy-ukrayinskoyi-zh... ] (дата доступа 23.03.2013).
Савка М. Мама по скайпу. Львів: Вид-во старого Лева, 2013.
Соціальне обличчя новітньої української трудової міграції: результати масового соціологічного опитування українських заробітчан в Італії. Львів: Західноукраїнський центр «Жіночі перспективи», 2003.
Толстокорова А.В. Жди и помни меня!: Транснациональная семья как объект гендерного анализа // Диаспоры. Независимый научный журнал. 2012. 2. С. 25–60.
Толстокорова А.В. Украинская транснациональная семья как модернизированная модель cемейных отношений: панацея, яд или плацебо? // Социологический журнал. 2013. 2. С. 43–64.
Тюрюканова Е. Гендерно-чувствительная миграционная политика: принципы и механизмы // Трудовая миграция в России: медико-социальные и гендерные аспекты. Материалы международной конференции, 26-27.10.2011. М.: Бюро Международной организации по миграции, 2012.
Цыганкова Е.Е. Пожилой человек в мире новых информационных технологий (на примере мобильного телефона) // Ученые записки Таврического национального университета им. В.И. Вернадского. Сер. «Философия. Культурология. Политология. Социология». 2012. 24 (65): 1–2. С. 310–315.
Шульга Н. Дрейф на обочину: Двадцать лет общественных изменений в Украине. Киев: ООО «Друкарня Бізнесполіграф», 2011.
Agunias D.R., Newland K. Circular Migration and Development: Trends, Policy Routes, and Ways Forward. Washingtion DC: Migration Policy Institute, 2007. [www.migrationpolicy.org/pubs/migdevpb_041807.pdf ].
Beyond Borders: Exploring Links Between Trafficking and Gender. GAATW Working Papers Series 2010. Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, 2010.
Bonizzonni P., Leonini L. Shifting geographical configurations in migrant families: narratives of children reunited with their mothers in Italy // Comparative Population Studies. 2013. 38 (2). Pp. 465–498.
Cairncross F. The Death of Distance: How Communication Will Change Our Lives. Boston: Harvard Business School, 1997.
Cassidy K.L. Gender relations and cross-border small trading in the Ukrainian-Romanian borderlands // European Urban and Regional Studies. 2013. 20 (1). Pp. 3–13.
Chaloff J., Eisenbaum B. International Migration and Ukraine. OECD, Council of Europe. CDMG. № 44, 2008. (Draft).
Chiatti C. et al. ICT-based solutions for caregivers: Assessing their impact on the sustainability of long-term care in an ageing Europe. Final report containing case-by-case detailed description and analysis of selected 12 Good practices. Vienna: CARICT, 2011.
Cvajner М. The Presentation of Self in Emigration: Eastern European Women in Italy // The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 2012. 642. Рp. 186–199.
Dalgas K. Love and Money: Changing Family Ties Among Ukrainian Domestic Workers in Italy. Paper presented at the seminar “Migration and domestic care work”.11.02.2010. University of Copenhagen, Denmark (unpublished paper).
DeRoche C. “I learned things today that I never knew before”: Oral History at the Kitchen Table // Oral History Review. 1996. 26. Pp. 45–61.
Ezzedine P. Mateřství na dálku. Transnacionální mateřství Ukrajinských migrantek v České Republice [Motherhood at Distance. Transnational Motherhood of Ukrainian migrant women in Czech republic] // Gender, rovné příležistosti, výzkum, ročnik 13, čislo 1, 2012. S. 24–32.
Faist T. The Volume and Dynamics of International Migration and Transnational Social Spaces. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Fedyuk O. Images of Transnational Motherhood: The Role of Photographs in Measuring Time and Maintaining Connections between Ukraine and Italy // Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 2012. 38 (2). Pp. 279–300.
Garbin D., Vásquez M.A. “God is Technology”: Mediating the Sacred in the Congolese Diaspora. Migration, Diaspora and Information Technology in Global Societies / Eds. L. Fortunati, R. Pertierra, J. Vincent. NY: Routledge, 2012.
GFK Ukraine. The Contribution of Human Resources Development to Migration Policy in Ukraine (draft). Kyiv, 2008.
Haidinger B. Contingencies Among Households: Gender Division of Labour and Transnational Household Organization — the Case of Ukrainians in Austria // Migration and Domestic Work / Ed. H. Lutz. Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2008. Pp. 127–144.
Harvey D. The Postmodern Condition. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1989.
Hays Sh. The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996.
Hochschild A.R. The Time Bind: When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work. New York: Metropolitan/Holt, 1997.
Hochschild A.R. Global Care Chains and Emotional Surplus // On the Edge. Living with Global Capitalism / Eds. W. Hutton, A. Giddens. London: Jonathan Cape, 2000. Pp. 130–146.
Hondagneu-Sotelo P., Avilа Е. “I’m Here, but I’m There”: the Meaning of Latina Transantional Motherhood // Gender and Society. 1997. 11. Рp. 548–571.
Kaurinkoski K. Gendered migration patterns and experiences of Ukrainian immigrants in Greece // Spotlights on Russian and Balkan Slavic Cultural History, Studies on Language and Culture in Central and Eastern Europe / Eds. Ioannidou A., Voss C. Münich: Otto Sagner, 2009. Pp. 39–55.
Kelly P., Lusis T. Migration and the transnational habitus: evidence from Canada and the Philippines // Environment and Planning. 2006. 38 (5). Pp. 831–884.
Levitt P. The Transnational Villagers. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2001.
Levitt P., Glick Schiller N. Conceptualizing simultaneity. A transnational social field perspective on society. Rethinking migration. New theoretical and empirical perspectives / Eds. A. Portes, J. DeWind. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2007. Pp. 181–218.
Lutz H. Life in the Twilight Zone: Migration, Transnationality and Gender in the Private Household // Journal of Contemporary European Studies. 2004. 12 (1). Pp. 47– 55.
Madianou М. et al. Migration, ICTs and the Transformation of Transnational Family Life. ESRC End of Award Report, RES-000-22-2266. Swindon: ESRC, 2012.
Maher J.M. Reproduction and care // The Globalization of Motherhood: Deconstructions and reconstructions of biology and care / Eds. W. Chavkin and J.M. Maher. Abington, New York: Routledge, 2010. Pp. 16–30.
Mahler S. Transnational Relationships: The Struggle to Communicate Across Borders // Identities. 2001. 7 (4). Рp. 583–619.
Massey D. Space, Place and Gender. Cambridge: Polity, 1994.
Mellström U. Technologies of Inclusion: Gender in the Information Society. Nardoveien: Tapir Academic Press, 2012.
Mudrak V. The Italian-Ukrainian Care Chain: Transnational Welfare, Transnational Families and Care Drain. SIMT21, Master’s Thesis. Department of Sociology. Lund University, 2011.
Nedelcu M. Migrants’ New Transnational Habitus: Rethinking Migration Through a Cosmopolitan Lens in the Digital Age // Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 2012. 38 (9). Pp. 1339–1356.
Nesteruk O., Marks L. D. Grandparents across the ocean: Eastern European immigrants’ struggle to maintain intergenerational relationships // Journal of Comparative Family Studies. 2009. 40 (1). Pp. 77–95.
Nukaga M. Planning for a successful return home: Transnational habitus and education strategies among Japanese expatriate mothers in Los Angeles // International Sociology. 2013. 28 (1). Pp. 66–83.
Parrenas R.S. Transgressing the nation state: the partial citizenship and imagined (global) community of migrant Philipina domestic workers // Signs. 2001. 26 (4). Рp. 1129– 1154.
Parrenas R.S. Children of Global Migration: Transnational Families and Gendered Woes. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2005a.
Parrenas R.S. Long Distance Intimacy: Class, Gender and Intergenerational Relations Between Mothers and Children in Filipino Transnational Families // Global Networks. 2005b. 5 (4). Pp. 317–336.
Piperno F. Welfare for Whom? The Impact of Care Drain in Romania and Ukraine and the Rise of Transnational Welfare. CeSPI, 2007 [http://www.cespi.it/PDF/piperno-welfare.pdf ]. (accessed 08.09.2008).
Sánchez-Carretero C. Motherhood from Afar: Channels of Communication among Dominican Women in Madrid // A European Journal of International Migration. 2005. 43–45. Pp. 145–163.
Sassen S. Spacialities and Temporalities of the Global: Elements for a Theorization // Public Culture. 2000. 12. Рp. 215–232.
Tolstokorova A. Multiple Marginalities: Gender dimension of rural poverty, unemployment and labour migration in Ukraine. Paper presented at the FAO-IFAD-ILO Workshop “Gaps, trends and current research in gender dimensions of agricultural and rural employment: differentiated pathways out of poverty”. Rome (Italy), 31 March—April 2009. [http://www.fao-ilo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/fao_ilo/pdf/Papers/17_March... ].
Tolstokorova A. Where Have All the Mothers Gone? The Gendered Effect of Labour Migration and Transnationalism on the Institution of Parenthood in Ukraine // The Anthropology of East Europe Review, “Gender in Postsocialist Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union”. 2010. 28 (1). Pp. 184–214.
Tolstokorova A. Labour Migration as a Mechanism of Social Exclusion: Case Study of Ukrainian Youth // Some still more equal than others? Or equal opportunities for all? / Ed. S. M. Değirmencioglu. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing, 2011. Pp. 101–112.
Tolstokorova A. One Way Ticket?: International Labour Mobility of Ukrainian Women // New Mobilities Regimes in Art and Social Science / Eds. S. Witzgall, G. Vogl, S. Kesselring. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2013. Pp. 99–108.
Transnational Families and the Impact of Economic Migration on Families. Brussels: COFACE, 2012.
Transnationalism, Multi-Local Motherhood and Reunification among Latin American Families in Canada. Latin American Research Group, 2005. [http://www.yorku.ca/cohesion/LARG/html/largindex2.htm ] (accessed 15.01.2012).
Urry J. Social Networks, Travel and Talk // British Journal of Sociology. 2003. 54 (2). Pp. 155–175.
Wilding R. “Virtual” Intimacies? Families Communicating across Transnational Contexts // Global Networks. 2006. 6 (2). Pp. 125–142.
World Bank. Information and Communication for Development 2012. Maximizing Mobile. Washington, DC, 2012.
Сhavkin W. The globalization of motherhood // The Globalization of Motherhood: Deconstructions and reconstructions of biology and care / Eds. W. Chavkin and J.M. Maher. Abington, New York: Routledge, 2010. Pp. 3–16.
