Global inequalities make it difficult for parents in developing nations to provide for their children. Some determine that migration in search of higher wages is their only hope. Many studies have looked at how migration transforms the child-parent relationship. But what happens to other generational relationships when mothers migrate?

Care Across Generations takes a close look at grandmother care in Nicaraguan transnational families, examining both the structural and gendered inequalities that motivate migration and caregiving as well as the cultural values that sustain intergenerational care. Kristin E. Yarris broadens the transnational migrant story beyond the parent-child relationship, situating care across generations and embedded within the kin networks in sending countries. Rather than casting the consequences of women's migration in migrant sending countries solely in terms of a "care deficit," Yarris shows how intergenerational reconfigurations of care serve as a resource for the wellbeing of children and other family members who stay behind after transnational migration. Moving our perspective across borders and over generations, Care Across Generations shows the social and moral value of intergenerational care for contemporary transnational families.

About the Author
Kristin E. Yarris is Assistant Professor of International Studies at the University of Oregon.

Reviews
"Using a new and critically important multigenerational approach, Yarris' book beautifully charts the broader impacts of migration. Care Across Generations shows us how the migration of others has deep repercussions that extend far beyond the economic, into affective and social realms. A tremendously talented writer, Yarris transforms complex findings into clear, compelling stories of migrants' mothers and children." -- Jessaca Leinaweaver * Brown University *
"Care Across Generations is an eloquent and sharp examination of the role of grandmothers, the unsung heroes, in providing care and love in Nicaraguan transnational families. This book will be of great interest to researchers and policymakers concerned with the well-being of children whose parents migrate in search of better livelihoods." -- Elzbieta Gozdziak * Georgetown University *
"Through careful and vivid ethnography, Care Across Generations moves beyond the remittances-for-care discourse to argue convincingly for the need to value the importance of grandmother care in maintaining the well-being of family members in sending countries." -- Alison Elizabeth Lee * Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology *



Book Information
ISBN 9781503602885
Author Kristin E. Yarris
Format Paperback
Page Count 216
Imprint Stanford University Press
Publisher Stanford University Press