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Intimacies of Power in the Circulation of Care: Making Gender Across Generations. Transnational Andean Families in Quito and Madrid

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Book cover Making Multicultural Families in Europe

Part of the book series: Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life ((PSFL))

Abstract

Can the circulation of care influence how women exert agency in the transformation of gender norms across generations? Based on ethnographic fieldwork and life-story interviews, this chapter sheds light on intimate power relationships within an extended family originally from a village north of Quito, with members living in Madrid. The study focuses on the effect of intergenerational and sibling dynamics on the organization of social relations within transnational families, specifically on intergenerational cooperation, power relations and their influence on managing care and the intimate at a distance.

The analysis centres on the use of ethnic boundaries in power relationships and how ethnicity is instrumentalized to negotiate gender norms, influencing the circulation of care in transnational families.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Each of these axes divides the social subjects and situates them in different categories and social positions. As Anthias (and other feminist scholars, see for example Ortner 2001) explains, these axes are important elements of social stratification because they determine the allocation of socially valued resources and social locations (Anthias 2001: 368).

  2. 2.

    This research is based upon qualitative data drawn from ethnographic work done towards my doctoral thesis in Social Anthropology thanks to a PhD scholarship of the Autonomous University of Madrid.

  3. 3.

    My analysis is influenced by a research project on return migration, directed by Gioconda Herrera and Cristina Vega, in which I participated in 2013. Based on 30 interviews with different members of families of Jatun Pamba in Madrid and in Quito, the project focused on personal and family trajectories of migration and gender differences in the mobility strategies.

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Acknowledgement

I would like to thank the people of Jatun Pamba, without whom my research would not have been possible, for sharing their experiences with me and accepting me as a (somehow peculiar) member of their families. I also want to thank the people who have read previous versions of this chapter, Maya Paltineau, Sarah Smit, Rupert Small, Maggie Schmitt, and the editors of this book for their numerous comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Researcher, Bruxelles, Belgium

    Grégory Dallemagne

  2. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Grégory Dallemagne

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  1. Grégory Dallemagne
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education Cultural Heritage and Tourism, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy

    Isabella Crespi

  2. The Catholic University Centre for Family Studies and Research, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Stefania Giada Meda

  3. Centre interdisciplinaire de Recherche sur les Familles et les Sexualités, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Laura Merla

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Dallemagne, G. (2018). Intimacies of Power in the Circulation of Care: Making Gender Across Generations. Transnational Andean Families in Quito and Madrid. In: Crespi, I., Giada Meda, S., Merla, L. (eds) Making Multicultural Families in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59755-3_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59755-3_8

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-59754-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-59755-3

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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