Doing (transnational) family online. The family uses of digital media among highly skilled italian migrants in Paris
Thomas PFIRSCH, Université polytechnique hauts de France , France
Most academic works about the « transnational family » focus on migrations from the Global South to the Global North. Within the Global North or in the EU, migrations are described as higly individualized and the role of family ties remains largely unexplored. Yet, the political context of free movement in the EU facilitates intense visa-free crossborder circulations of parents and relatives. European middle class migrants also live in « polymediatic » environments (Madianou and Miller, 2012), which allow a daily « ambient copresence » of spatialy distant kin.
Through the case of recent highly skilled italian migrants in Paris, this presentation analyses how european migrants’ family ties are maintained and reshaped through the use of digital media. It also shows that – despite its invisibilty in academic littérature - Kinship solidarity still plays a key role in the new wave of italian emigration that has emerged since the end of the 2000’s (Dubucs et al., 2016).
The presentation is based on three family ethnographic case studies. Three Italian couples recently arrived in Paris were interviewed and followed over two years, as well as most of the members of their « practical Kinship » (Carsten, 2000 ; Weber, 2005) living in France, Italy or other countries. The variegated digital media they used to communicate with their Kin were analyzed, but the presentation mainly focuses on whatsapp. The use of Whatsapp is widespread among Italian migrants and all respondents have several whatsapp family groups, whose composition can change according to social uses. Whastapp plays a key role in the shaping of « transnational maisonnées » (Weber, 2005) to take care of young children in Paris and/or elderly parents in Italy.
Mots clés : transnational family|digital media|Migrations|European Union|Italy
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