"Necessity is the Mother of Invention": Romanian Children's Perspectives in Transnational Mother-Child Relationships

Abstract

Women’s labor migration to developed nations challenges traditional mother–child relationships. Because their children remain in the home country, they become ‘transnational mothers’. This phenomenon generates a new transnational maternal-filial relationship to which both parts need to adjust. This subject has been vastly discussed in the academia, but focused mainly on mothers’ declarations, leading to essentialist discourses around children’s experiences. The project explores the disparities between children’s representations and their actual experiences, by advocating for the need to reveal the children’s perspectives on the matter. Focusing on the life narratives of children with transnational mothers, a qualitative research method is implemented: nine Romanian young adults have been interviewed and guided to engage with past experiences in order to reflect on their identity of the present. The interviews unearth children’s diversified internalizations and overall effects, facilitating the understanding of the mother-child transnational relationship. The researcher’s position, as object of research, is also included to the debate, linking the autobiographical with the academic.