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Sent: Monday, December 11, 2000 1:21 PM
Subject: fng-l: call for papers: ROUTLEDGE STUDIES IN MEMORY & NARRATIVE

ROUTLEDGE STUDIES IN MEMORY & NARRATIVE

Gender and Transnational Families

Edited by:

Mary Chamberlain
(Oxford Brookes University)
and Selma Leydesdorff
(Belle van Zuylen Instituut, University of Amsterdam)

Call for papers

One of the most startling social phenomena to have emerged in the last fifty
years has been the development of globalisation. Its impact on capital,
consumerism, employment, culture and politics has been, and continues to be,
the focus of lively debate, now fuelled by the potential of the world wide
web
to facilitate the spread of ideas, as well as goods, and the easy access to
travel.
Parallel to this globalisation `from above' has been an equally startling
phenomena: globalisation `from below', as easier communications have
facilitated and encouraged informal, personal but regular links between and
across national borders. One of the most notable features of this has been
the
emergence of transnational families. These families, characterised by
regular
contact with kin dispersed throughout the world, may develop a range of
strategies for surviving as an unit, one of which may be transnationalism
itself, and the range of opportunities which follow in its wake.
There is, however, surprisingly little published work on the shape,
interactions and dynamics of transnational families, and even less on the
gendered implications of transnationalism on families. There is, also, very
little comparative work either geographically or historically, which enables
continuities and differences to be drawn between the impact on families,
and on
the men and women within them, of the migration movements of the 19th
century,
and those in the latter part of the 20th century (and now 21st century), and
vice versa. Research is further hampered by problems of definition: what is
a
transnational family? Is it characterised by the number of kin abroad, or by
the frequency of contact, or the strength and utility of family networks?
Who
can claim membership of such a family? For how long, and under what
conditions?
What constraints are imposed by statal definitions of families, or by the
policies of states or NGOs?  How well can transnational families resist
cultural and political pressure to conform to particular family lifestyles,
or
conserve what is distinctive? How does gender impact on transnationalism
and on
definitions of family, on loyalty and emotions, on actions and behaviour?
What
differences emerge, and with what effect, between family members `at home'
and
`abroad'?  Indeed, in the context of transnational families, what or where
is
`home' and 'abroad'?  Do men and women view this differently?
This call for papers seeks to explore these and many other questions which
emerge from studies of transnational families. It welcomes proposals on any
aspect of the transnational family, but with a particular focus on gender.
In
order to make this a truly comparative edition, the editors welcome
proposals
from those working on relevant topics within Asia, China, Africa, the
Caribbean
and South America, as well as those exploring its potential in Europe,
Australia and North America. We particularly welcome contributions which
explore and expose the variety of family formations, traditional and
non-traditional, conventional and non-conventional, found throughout the
world,
 and the relationship of these family configurations to transnationalism.
Contributors may emerge from sociology, history, refugee studies, migration
studies, social geography or anthropology.  Articles must engage with the
broad
series theme of memory and narrative, oral history and life stories, or
autobiography in methodological or theoretical terms.
Deadline for proposals: 16 February 2001. Potential contributors may be
invited
to a volume conference in Europe in summer 2000.
Please note the series language is English. Only proposals and articles
submitted in English will be considered.
Send proposals to: Professor Mary Chamberlain, School of Humanities, Oxford
Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, England or by e-mail to:
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The Editors

Mary Chamberlain is Professor of Modern Social History at Oxford Brookes
University.

Selma Leydesdorff is Professor of History, and the Director of the Belle van
Zuylen Instituut at the University of Amsterdam.

They are both principal editors of Memory and Narrative