Lynnette Arnold, an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, shares insights from her book about transnational Salvadoran families. She discusses how powerful geopolitical forces impact familial care across borders. Language plays a crucial role in maintaining connections, while digital communication reshapes interactions and emotional support among family members. Arnold also highlights the importance of youth in bridging these gaps and the complexities women face in navigating power dynamics within their families.
Transnational families leverage digital communication, like phone calls, to maintain emotional bonds despite physical separation across borders.
The cultural concept of convivencia highlights how Salvadoran families adapt their relational practices through technology to simulate shared experiences.
Gender dynamics influence communication strategies, as women often take on communicative labor, gaining agency in family decision-making.
Deep dives
Living Together Across Borders
Transnational families use various methods to maintain connections despite geographical separation. In her research, the speaker explores how families from rural El Salvador engage in communication to cope with distance, demonstrating that separation does not negate the essence of family life. For instance, these families utilize phone calls as an effective means of sustaining relationships, even from afar. This ongoing interaction helps cultivate an emotional bond, enabling families to adapt to new realities while still feeling connected.
Convivencia: The Importance of Togetherness
The concept of convivencia, or living together, is crucial in understanding how family dynamics extend across borders. This term embodies the cultural practice of spending time together, which is common in Salvadoran society and reflects the significance of interpersonal relationships. Interviews reveal that while families may be physically apart, they continue to experience forms of convivencia through digital communications. This suggests that lived experiences of family life are fluid, adapting to new communication methods that help bridge the physical distance.
Communicative Care: Language as a Form of Nurturing
Communicative care is articulated as vital in maintaining emotional ties and everyday functioning among transnational families. The speaker emphasizes that language not only facilitates communication but serves as a tangible form of care that fosters relationships and nurtures emotional well-being. For example, conversations over the phone allow family members to share stories and requests, creating a network of support that transcends borders. This perspective underscores the dual role of language as both a means of everyday communication and a pivotal act of relational care.
Technology's Role in Family Dynamics
The role of technology presents a paradox in the communication of transnational families, as newer tools both enhance and complicate familial interactions. While video calls are available, many families prefer traditional phone calls as they often feel less emotionally charged, allowing for deeper connections without the reminder of physical absence. Moreover, phone calls become accessible across various demographics, including children and elderly family members. The reluctance to embrace new communication technologies highlights the emotional complexities families navigate while striving to maintain connections.
Gender Roles and Power Dynamics
Gender dynamics play a significant role in the communication strategies employed within transnational families. Women often bear the burden of communicative labor, yet they can use their positions to carve out more agency in decision-making processes. An example includes a daughter leveraging communication to influence family decisions and assert her voice in agricultural matters traditionally controlled by male relatives. This illustrates how transnational communication can serve as a tool for negotiating power dynamics and challenging established gender norms within families.
