Sustaining Families across Transnational Spaces: Vietnamese Migrant Parents and their Left-Behind Children

Abstract

The continually growing number of Asian migrant workers, the majority of whom are in the prime of their reproductive lives and leave families including children behind in their home countries, raises important questions about how families are sustained across transnational spaces. It is our aim in this paper to enhance understanding of the complex relationship between migration and the family in Asia by exploring bonding and parenting efforts between migrant parents and their left-behind children across time and space. In doing so, we draw on and engage with the literature on global householding, transnational families and emotion. Using qualitative data collected from in-depth interviews wi..