Family size and structure

This paper synthesizes and extends recent research on “The New Economics of the Brain Drain.” In a unified framework, the paper shows that while recently identified adverse repercussions of the brain drain exacerbate the long-recognized negative impact of the brain drain, longer-term consequences turn the brain drain into the harbinger of powerful gains. These gains have been studied already in recent research, or merit attention in future research.

Protracted humanitarian crisis particularly affects the most vulnerable groups, such as the elderly. Due to insufficient social protection/public welfare services and based on negotiated rules of intergenerational solidarity, seniors rely on their families (especially women) for support and care. Crisis-induced “survival migration” creates transnational families and raises questions of care for parents remaining in the countries of origin. The fact that little is known about transnational caregiving strategies in the specific context of crisis-induced migration-or the gender dimensions involved in coordinating and performing such care-justifies the need for additional in-depth research to better understand this important subject. The project aims to investigate the perceptions and strategies of transnational care for elderly parents remaining in (crisis-affected) countries of origin, particularly focusing on gender, filial duty and reciprocity and how they structure care dynamics. By combining an intersectional approach with critical agency, subjectivities and individual strategies are conceptualized as interrelated within a broader context of structural inequality and power relations. The project focuses on two cases of protracted humanitarian crisis migration: Syrian migrants in Switzerland and Venezuelan migrants in Chile and Peru. These crisis-induced migratory flows can be read as “South-North” and “South-South” migration and constitute an ideal ground of comparison in the examination of transnational care dynamics. The proposed methodological approach systematically analyzes the perspectives/practices of transnational households and networks by including both sides of the transnational caregiving relationships, consisting of: 40 narrative, problem-centered interviews with Syrian men and women in Switzerland and 100 with Venezuelan men and women in Peru (60) and Chile (40); 20 semi-structured interviews with parents in Syria and 60 with parents in Venezuela; and analysis of legal documents and migration policies. The project will address knowledge gaps in transnational care, gender and migration studies in the context of protracted humanitarian crisis, offering new insight into intergenerational and gendered questions of caregiving, reciprocity and moral duties of filial piety, as well as caregiving negotiations within wider transnational kinship networks. The proposed research will produce original findings that will inform the future design and implementation of undergraduate, master or doctoral-level courses and academic programs at partner universities, as well as in the field of continuing education for professionals and other actors related to issues of migration in protracted humanitarian crises, care and gender. Results are expected to impact public policies and support systems (e.g., social work) addressing migration, caregiving and family dynamics, both within and across relevant countries (Chile, Peru, Switzerland). The project builds on and deepens existing South-South/South-North academic networks by proposing further cooperation between HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland School of Social Work Fribourg (Switzerland), OST-Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (Switzerland), the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP, Peru), the University of Tarapacá (Chile) and the Catholic University Silva Henríquez (Chile).

Protracted humanitarian crisis particularly affects the most vulnerable groups, such as the elderly. Due to insufficient social protection/public welfare services and based on negotiated rules of intergenerational solidarity, seniors rely on their families (especially women) for support and care. Crisis-induced “survival migration” creates transnational families and raises questions of care for parents remaining in the countries of origin. The fact that little is known about transnational caregiving strategies in the specific context of crisis-induced migration-or the gender dimensions involved in coordinating and performing such care-justifies the need for additional in-depth research to better understand this important subject. The project aims to investigate the perceptions and strategies of transnational care for elderly parents remaining in (crisis-affected) countries of origin, particularly focusing on gender, filial duty and reciprocity and how they structure care dynamics. By combining an intersectional approach with critical agency, subjectivities and individual strategies are conceptualized as interrelated within a broader context of structural inequality and power relations. The project focuses on two cases of protracted humanitarian crisis migration: Syrian migrants in Switzerland and Venezuelan migrants in Chile and Peru. These crisis-induced migratory flows can be read as “South-North” and “South-South” migration and constitute an ideal ground of comparison in the examination of transnational care dynamics. The proposed methodological approach systematically analyzes the perspectives/practices of transnational households and networks by including both sides of the transnational caregiving relationships, consisting of: 40 narrative, problem-centered interviews with Syrian men and women in Switzerland and 100 with Venezuelan men and women in Peru (60) and Chile (40); 20 semi-structured interviews with parents in Syria and 60 with parents in Venezuela; and analysis of legal documents and migration policies. The project will address knowledge gaps in transnational care, gender and migration studies in the context of protracted humanitarian crisis, offering new insight into intergenerational and gendered questions of caregiving, reciprocity and moral duties of filial piety, as well as caregiving negotiations within wider transnational kinship networks. The proposed research will produce original findings that will inform the future design and implementation of undergraduate, master or doctoral-level courses and academic programs at partner universities, as well as in the field of continuing education for professionals and other actors related to issues of migration in protracted humanitarian crises, care and gender. Results are expected to impact public policies and support systems (e.g., social work) addressing migration, caregiving and family dynamics, both within and across relevant countries (Chile, Peru, Switzerland). The project builds on and deepens existing South-South/South-North academic networks by proposing further cooperation between HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland School of Social Work Fribourg (Switzerland), OST-Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences (Switzerland), the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP, Peru), the University of Tarapacá (Chile) and the Catholic University Silva Henríquez (Chile).

One of the current challenges faced by European societies is understanding and managing increased cultural diversity and complex intercultural dynamics. Within this context, mixedness (i.e., mixed couples and individuals across ethnocultural boundaries) constitutes one of the most important tests for revealing the societal structure and intergroup relations. A significant amount of information is now available on immigrant / native mixing. However, we know very little about processes of mixedness involving national ethnic minorities, particularly in the case of the Roma, (Rrom or Romani) population, the most numerous ethnic minority in Spain and Europe. The Roma population has been completely overlooked in all the studies on interculturalism, which contributes to this group’s invisibility within discussions on diversity. This four-year multi-method and participatory project aims to contribute to fill this gap, by studying dynamics of mixedness among the Roma population of Spain. Specifically, we explore attitudes towards inter-ethnic mixing; individual and family negotiations; acculturation processes; multiethnic identity processes; multicultural capital; experiences of discrimination and also strategies of resistance and reappropriation. Particular attention is given to gender, employing an intersectional and dialogical feminism perspective that is also informed by Romani feminism. The project includes a plan of knowledge transfer activities done in collaboration with policy-makers, frontline community workers and civic associations, to increase its social impact and transformative potential. The ultimate goal of the project is to encourage values of interculturalism and to promote diverse and inclusive societies.

This report discusses the data gathered through two surveys carried out in the context of the SOGICA project. SOGICA – Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Claims of Asylum: A European human rights challenge – is a four-year (2016-2020) research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) that explores the social and legal experiences of people across Europe claiming international protection on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI).