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Introduction: “I Wish I Was a Bird”

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Transnational Family Communication

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Abstract

This chapter follows the debates surrounding transnational family communication, with questions regarding the degree to which the ICTs bond families from afar. Two women’s stories represent the struggles all of the participants experienced in communicating with their families through ICTs. Each woman’s experience reflects the new female migration to the U.S.; one which is diverse rather than homogenous. They use ICTs in accordance with their gender but also their affordances to communicate. It becomes clear that their families’ sense of place and intimacy are destabilized. They reconstruct the family through their communication, which is embedded in ICTs and this has consequences for their relations, emotions, and identities. Terms are defined and problematized and the chapter ends with a summary of chapters.

My mother says, “daughter, how I wish I was a bird so I could fly.

back and forth!” (participant in this study).

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  1. Health and Community Studies, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, USA

    Sondra Cuban

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Cuban, S. (2017). Introduction: “I Wish I Was a Bird”. In: Transnational Family Communication. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58644-5_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58644-5_1

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