1) Introduces the term ‘techno-familial scape’ to unravel the transnational familial flow of care and emotion in a techno-mediated context, which is underpinned by situated experiences of different transnational family members. 2) Enables the readers to gain solid knowledge about the unique features of digitalized transnational family life in the Chinese context. 3) Draws on rich ethnographic study and bittersweet stories from Chinese labour migrants and their left-behind families. What does it mean to a family when parents go abroad for economic gains while leaving their children behind? How do they maintain a family when living in different areas, separated for years? How do emerging digital media like instant messaging, social media, and webcam calls impact the everyday lives of today’s transnational families? Drawing on immersive ethnography conducted among UK-based Chinese labour migrants, their left-behind children and caregivers, this book explores how they employ digital media to negotiate family roles and maintain kinship ties. While virtual connections are indispensable, they are not a panacea for physical separation; rather, they introduce complexity to family dynamics. Probing the bittersweet experiences of various family members, it portrays how mediated familial communications intertwine with transnational socio-economic asymmetries and intra-familial dynamics. This book offers an interdisciplinary perspective for general publics and academics interested in migration studies, family and gender studies, and media and communications.
This book offers an interdisciplinary perspective for general publics and academics interested in migration studies, family and gender studies, and media and communications.
What does it mean to a family when parents go abroad for economic gains while leaving their children behind? How do they maintain a family when living in different areas, separated for years? How do emerging digital media like instant messaging, social media, and webcam calls impact the everyday lives of today’s transnational families? Drawing on immersive ethnography conducted among UK-based Chinese labour migrants, their left-behind children and caregivers, this book explores how they employ digital media to negotiate family roles and maintain kinship ties. While virtual connections are indispensable, they are not a panacea for physical separation; rather, they introduce complexity to family dynamics. Probing the bittersweet experiences of various family members, it portrays how mediated familial communications intertwine with transnational socio-economic asymmetries and intra-familial dynamics. This book offers an interdisciplinary perspective for general publics and academics interested in migration studies, family and gender studies, and media and communications.
Chapter 1: Living Together Across Borders: Digital media, Overseas
Labour Migration, and the Chinese Context,
Chapter 2: Leaving Family for the
Family: Overseas Labour Migration and Chinese Transnational Families,
Chapter
3: Towards Traditional or Atypical Parenting? Gendered Blessings and Burdens,
Chapter 4: Left-Behind Children as Mediated Actors: Beyond Receiving Care and
Countering Surveillance,
Chapter 5: The Connected Caregivers: The Bumpy Road
to Collaborative Childrearing,
Chapter 6: Techno-Familial Scape: Socio-Techno
Family Practice, Mediated Socio-Structural Relationship, and Bottom-Up
Transnationalism, Methodological Appendix: The Fieldwork, Bibliography, Index.
Hong Chen (PhD, Goldsmiths) is an associate professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. His research explores the everyday politics of care, mobility, and communication through ethnographic approaches, with a particular focus on how digital technologies mediate intimate life. His publications appear in Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, British Journal of Sociology, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, and International Journal of Communication, among others. He received the Top 1st paper award from Ethnicity and Race in Communication Division at the 2018 International Communication Association (ICA) Conference.
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