This book challenges the adult-centric tendencies of migration research and policy which often overlooks children and young people’s own experiences of migration. A wide range of international contributors provide careful analysis of the situations of children in contemporary transnational migratory contexts in the Global North and South.
Drawing on studies with migrant children and young people in a variety of situations, Transnational Migration and Childhood makes a unique contribution to furthering our understandings of transnational childhoods. It explores the laws and policies that govern children and young people’s experiences of transnational migration whilst foregrounding their own accounts of migration and transnationalism. The book shifts our attention away from dominant discourses of migrant children as ‘victims’, towards the development of broader conceptualisations of transnational migration and childhood. It incorporates different migratory flows, a variety of sending and receiving contexts, and child-centred perspectives. Transnational Migration and Childhood will be of interest to researchers and policy makers working in the fields of migration, asylum, and childhood at local, national, and transnational scales.
This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.
Contents
1. Introduction: Children’s Roles in Transnational Migration Allen White, Caitríona Ní Laoire, Naomi Tyrrell and Fina Carpena-Méndez 2. ‘Asexual, Apolitical Beings’: The Interpretation of Children’s Identities and Experiences in the UK Asylum System Heaven Crawley 3. In the Best Interest of the Child? The Politics of Vulnerability and Negotiations for Asylum in Sweden Marita Eastmond and Henry Ascher 4. Making Connections: Second Generation Children and the Transnational Field of Relations Lotta Haikkola 5. ‘They Told Us in a Curry Shop’: Child-Adult R in the Context of Family Migration Decision-Making Teresa Hutchins 6. Tampering with the Sex of ‘Angels’: Migrant Male Minors and Young Adults Selling Sex in the EU Nick Mai 7. Narratives of ‘Innocent Irish Childhoods’: Return Migration and Intergenerational Family Dynamics Caitríona Ní Laoire 8. Divergent Discourses, Children and Forced Migration Giorga Doná and Angela Veale 9. Conclusion: Future Directions in Research on Transnational Migration and Childhood Naomi Tyrrell, Allen White, Caitríona Ní Laoire and Fina Carpena-Méndez
Author Bio
Naomi Tyrrell (formerly Bushin) is a Lecturer in Human Geography at Plymouth University, UK. Her research focuses on processes of child and family migration in Europe. Previous publications include The Changing faces of Ireland: Exploring the Lives of Immigrant and Ethnic Minority Children.
Allen White is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Geography, University ...