In this chapter the authors set out to examine how migrant families are named and framed in academic publications by Lithuanian researchers published from 2004 to 2017, available in Lithuanian and international academic databases. The authors aim to disclose how Lithuanian academics perceive the change of family boundaries and fluidity of family relations in the context of global migration, and how the meanings of ‘change’ are used within academic publications that have sought to define the migrant family life as ‘troubling’. The analysis of publications presented in this chapter was carried out from January to March 2018. It formed a sub-study of the research project ‘Global Migration and Lithuanian Family: Family Practices, Circulation of Care, and Return Strategies’ (2017–2019), funded by the Lithuanian Research Council. The analysis has revealed that Lithuanian researchers portray migrant families as extended in space, liquid, networked, survived, but unsecure because of ongoing risks as well as experiencing ‘losses’ or/ and ‘gains’. The researchers conclude that portraits presented by the academics are framed by the family ideology, while naming of migrant families highly rely on the images of ‘how a family should be’.
This chapter set up to examine the language of ‘family’ in key policy documents regulating family life in Lithuania. Drawing on theoretical ideas of Ribbens McCarthy the authors look into the ways of framing of family life, identify scripts of ‘normal’ family, and analyse how these, in turn, sought to portray migrant families as ‘troubling’. The research presented here was carried out in January-May 2018 and formed a sub-study of the project ‘Global Migration and Lithuanian Family: Family practices, circulation of care and return strategies’ (2017–2019) funded by the Lithuanian Research Council. Analysis of the strategic policy documents regulating family life in Lithuania in the period from 1995 to 2018 has revealed that the imagined orders of family life evolve over time, which explains the changes in the language used to describe family lives. The authors have identified the ways of portraying Lithuanian ‘family’ as ‘normal’, ‘harmonious’, and ‘sovereign’, and examined how legislators ‘troubled’ migrant families or – in a long run – depicted them as ‘sovereign, but silenced’ and as ‘important, but mysterious’.
In this chapter the authors examine how parenting in migration context is portrayed in the academic discourse in Lithuania. The authors reveal the depictions of migration-induced child caring practices, based on the results of analysis of academic publications (2004–2017) carried out from January to March 2018 as part of the sub-study of the research project ‘Global Migration and Lithuanian Family: Family Practices, Circulation of Care, and the Return Strategies’. The chapter focus on the portrayal of parenting within the host country, after return from emigration and in transnational family settings. The analysis reveals how value judgements about family life rooted in the low mobility discourse are reproduced in academic publications on family and migration and lead the researchers to portray parenting in migration as ‘troubling’.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.