Romanian Transnational Families Gender, Family Practices and Difference

This book explores novel aspects of transnational family research through the study of Romanian transnational families. A range of topics are covered, including the impact of lodging type upon life strategies; understudied elements in transnational relationships; gender roles in transnational communication; multinational relationships; the role of polymedia in the formation of couples; and the lives of the children of Romanian transnational families. The author presents the experiences of ‘leavers’ as well as of ‘stayers’; of the ‘highly-skilled’ as well as the ‘low-skilled’; that of women and that of men - through individual testimonies and couple interviews.

Romanian Transnational Families will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including sociology, politics, anthropology and geography.

1. Introduction.- 2. Methodological challenges in transnational family research.- 3. Two perspectives on family life through the lens of lodging type.- 4. “Staying in touch” - views from abroad and from home.- 5. Romanian children in multiple worlds.- 6. Afterword: what next for Romanian transnational family research?.

Viorela Ducu is Associate Researcher at the Centre for Population Studies, Babe?-Bolyai University, Cluj Napoca, Romania.