Burden, blessing or both? On the mixed role of transnational ties in migrant informal social support

This article revisits migrants’ informal social support by exploring their exchanges of material and immaterial resources with the family members left behind. The latter are typically constructed as net beneficiaries of migrants’ struggles for a livelihood abroad, and even as a potential constraint on their self-realization. Building on a qualitative study of Ecuadorian domestic workers in Italy, the author explores – instead – whether left-behind kin are also, potentially, a source of social support for them. In fact, transnational family relationships can facilitate the circulation of welfare-relevant resources from both sides. While migrants are expected to transnationally share the benefits of better life conditions abroad, ‘what’ they left behind contributes to their personal wellbeing in three respects: reverse remittances, emotional support and the provision of a locus for cultivating nostalgia, attachment and social status. The mixed influence of home-related family ties and obligations is assessed against the backdrop of migrants’ life course and patterns of integration. Overall, their interdependence with left-behinds is a source of benefits, and costs, which should not go unnoticed. ; Cet article réexamine le soutien social informel dont bénéficient les migrants sur la base d’une étude des échanges de ressources matérielles et immatérielles avec les membres de leur famille restés au pays. Ces derniers sont généralement perçus comme nettement bénéficiaires de la lutte des migrants pour acquérir des moyens de subsistance à l’étranger, et même parfois comme un obstacle potentiel à leur épanouissement. En s’appuyant sur une étude qualitative d’employés de maison équatoriens en Italie, l’auteur de l’article étudie plutôt la question de savoir si les membres de la famille restés au pays peuvent être aussi une source de soutien social pour les migrants. Effectivement, les relations familiales transnationales peuvent faciliter la circulation de ressources significatives pour la ...