Abstract
The Zero generation (G0) – i.e. the mobile parents of adult migrants – constitutes a new and significant actor in the context of transnational migration and family solidarity. Instead of being simply reduced to the status of ‘orphan pensioners left behind, existing scholarship has shown that migrants’ parents actively contribute to the transnational circulation of care, providing valuable support to their children and grandchildren in host countries.
Based on ongoing qualitative research conducted with migrant families in Switzerland, this paper builds on empirical data gathered through interviews with both migrants and their G0 parents, from EU (France, Italy, Germany, Romania and Portugal) and non-EU countries (Brazil and North-African). It systematically describes and explains the specific characteristics of four G0 grandparenting patterns, defined as G0 care arrangements (G0-A), that reflect the essence of care provided by G0 grandparents in physical copresence situations. In addition, a comparative lens applied to these patterns highlights the existing variations with regard to the G0 grandparents’ country of origin, along with the EU/non-EU divide within Swiss migration policy.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
This situation occurs for several reasons: diploma and qualifications recognition, childbirth series, lack of language skills and/or Islamic foulard.
References
Attias-Donfut, C., Ogg, J., & Wolff, F. C. (2005). European patterns of intergenerational financial and time transfers. European Journal of Aging, 2, 161–173. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-005-0008-7.
Baldassar, L. (2007). Transnational families and the provision of moral and emotional support: The relationship between truth and distance. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 14(4), 385–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/10702890701578423.
Baldassar, L. (2008). Missing kin and longing to be together: Emotions and the construction of co-presence in transnational relationships. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 29(3), 247–266. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256860802169196.
Baldassar, L., Baldock, C. V., & Wilding, R. (2007). Families caring across borders: Migration, ageing and transnational caregiving. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Baldassar, L., Nedelcu, M., Merla, L., & Wilding, R. (2016). ICT-based copresence in transnational families and communities: Challenging the premise of face-to-face proximity in sustaining relationships. Global Networks, 16(2), 133–144. https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12108.
Bengtson, V. (2001). Beyond the nuclear family: The increasing importance of multigenerational bonds. Journal of Marriage and Family, 63, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2001.00001.
Da, W. W. (2003). Transnational Grandparenting: Child care arrangements among migrants from the People’s republic of China to Australia. JIMI/RIMI, 4(1), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-003-1020-4.
Dennis, C. L., Fung, K., Grigoriadis, S., Robinson, G. E., Romans, S., & Ross, L. (2007). Traditional postpartum practices and rituals: A qualitative systematic review. Women’s Health, 3(4), 487–502. https://doi.org/10.2217/17455057.3.4.487.
Faist, T. (2000). The volume and dynamics of international migration and transnational social spaces. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Falicov, C. J. (2011). Immigrant family processes. A multidimensional framework. In F. Walsh (Ed.), Normal family processes (pp. 297–323). New York: Guilford Press.
Federal Statistical Office OFS. (2015). Enquête sur les familles et les générations 2013. Premiers résultats. Neuchâtel: OFS. https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/fr/home/statistiques/population/familles.assetdetail.349471.html. Accessed 21 September 2017.
Hank, K., & Buber, I. (2009). Grandparents caring for their grandchildren: Findings from the 2004 survey of health, ageing and retirement in Europe. Journal of Family Issues, 30(1), 53–73. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X08322627.
Höpflinger, F., Hummel, C., & Hugentobler, V. (2006). Enkelkinder und ihre Grosseltern – intergenerationelle Beziehungen im Wandel. Zürich: Seismo-Verlag.
Horn, V. (2017). Cross-border mobility and long-distance communication as modes of care circulation: Insights from the Peruvian ‘zero generation’. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 43(2), 303–320. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2016.1238911.
Kilkey, M., & Merla, L. (2014). Situating transnational families’ care-giving arrangements: The role of institutional contexts. Global Networks, 14(2), 210–229. https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12034.
King, R., & Vullnetari, J. (2006). Orphan pensioners and migrating grandparents: The impact of mass migration on older people in rural Albania. Ageing and Society, 26(5), 783–816.
King, R., Eralba, C., Tineke, F., & Vullnetari, J. (2014). The migration and Well-being of the zero generation: Transgenerational care, Grandparenting, and loneliness amongst Albanian older people. Population, Space and Place, 20, 728–738. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.1895.
Lie, M. L. S. (2010). Across the oceans: Childcare and Grandparenting in UK Chinese and Bangladeshi households. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 36(9), 1425–1443. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2010.491746.
Madianou, M., & Miller, D. (2012). Migration and new media. Transnational families and polymedia. London: Routledge.
Moran-Taylor, J. M. (2008). When mothers and fathers migrate north: Caretakers, children, and child rearing in Guatemala. Latin American Perspectives, 35(4), 79–95. https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X08318980.
Morgan, H. G. D. (1996). Family connections: An introduction to family studies. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Nedelcu, M. (2007). « Je passe ma retraite au Canada». Quand les parents des migrants roumains à Toronto suivent leurs enfants dans la migration. In C. Audebert & E. Ma Mung (Eds.), Les migrations internationales: enjeux contemporains et questions nouvelles (pp. 219–234). Bilbao: Université de Deusto/HumanitarianNet.
Nedelcu, M. (2009). La génération zéro: du sédentaire à l’acteur circulant. Effets de mobilité sur la génération des parents des migrants roumains hautement qualifiés à Toronto à l’ère du numérique. In G. Cortes & L. Faret (Eds.), Les circulations transnationales. Lire les turbulences migratoires contemporaines (pp. 187–198). Paris: Armand Colin.
Nedelcu, M. (2012). Migrants’ new transnational habitus: Rethinking migration through a cosmopolitan lens in the digital age. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 38(9), 1339–1356. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2012.698203.
Nedelcu, M., & Wyss, M. (2016). ‘Doing family’ through ICT-mediated ordinary co-presence routines: Transnational communication practices of Romanian migrants in Switzerland. Global Networks, 16(2), 202–218. https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12110.
Piguet, E. (2013). L’immigration en Suisse – 60 ans d’entrouverture. Lausanne: Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes
Plaza, D. (2000). Transnational grannies: The changing family responsibilities of elderly African Caribbean-Born women resident in Britain. Social Indicators Research, 51(1), 75–105. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007022110306.
Schlanser, R. (2011). Logiques sociales de l’utilisation des structures d’accueil collectif pour la petite enfance en Suisse, Mémoire de Master, IDHEAP/ Université de Lausanne.
Silverstein, M., & Marenco, A. (2001). How Americans enact the grandparent role. Journal of Family Issues, 22, 493–522.
Treas, J., & Mazumdar, S. (2004). Kinkeeping and caregiving: Contributions of older people in immigrant families. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 35(1), 105–122.
Van Teijlingen, E. (2004). In G. Lowis, P. McCaffery, & M. Porter (Eds.), Midwifery and the medicalization of childbirth: Comparative perspectives. New York: Nova Science.
Vertovec, S. (2009). Transnationalism. Key ideas. London/New York: Routledge.
Vullnetari, J., & King, R. (2008). ‘Does your granny eat grass?’ On mass migration, care drain and the fate of older people in rural Albania. Global Networks, 8(2), 39–171. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0374.2008.00189.x.
Wheelock, J., & Jones, K. (2002). ‘Grandparents are the next best thing’: Informal childcare for working parents in urban Britain. Journal of Social Policy, 31(3), 441–463. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047279402006657.
Xie, X., & Xia, Y. (2011). Grandparenting in Chinese immigrant families. Marriage and Family Review, 47(6), 383–396. https://doi.org/10.1080/01494929.2011.594218.
Acknowledgements
This paper is based on first results from the ongoing research “Intergenerational solidarities in transnational families. An approach through the care arrangements of the Zero Generation, these foreigner grandparents involved in raising their grandchildren in Switzerland.” funded through the Swiss National Foundation Research Grant 100017_162645.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wyss, M., Nedelcu, M. (2018). Zero Generation Grandparents Caring for Their Grandchildren in Switzerland. The Diversity of Transnational Care Arrangements among EU and Non-EU Migrant Families. In: Ducu, V., Nedelcu, M., Telegdi-Csetri, A. (eds) Childhood and Parenting in Transnational Settings. International Perspectives on Migration, vol 15. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90942-4_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90942-4_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90941-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90942-4
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)