Food, Morality and Identity: mobility, remittances and the translocal community in Paama, Vanuatu

Generational differences in translocal practices: Insights from rural–urban remittances in Vanuatu

“…Lee () has suggested that second‐generation Tongans may be participating in “forced transnationalism,” whereby social pressure from kin, rather than desire, is at the root of transnational behaviours. Whether this is true of internal migrants is unknown, and in recent years, internal remittances have received limited academic attention (for notable exceptions, see Dalsgaard, ; Petrou & Connell, ; Rasmussen, ; Wilson, ). As a result, very little is known about second‐generation remitting at this scale, although the Vanuatu Young People's Project () noted that few urban youth—most of whom were presumably second‐generation migrants—were involved in remitting.…”

“…Lee (2011) has suggested that second-generation Tongans may be participating in "forced transnationalism," whereby social pressure from kin, rather than desire, is at the root of transnational behaviours. Whether this is true of internal migrants is unknown, and in recent years, internal remittances have received limited academic attention (for notable exceptions, see Dalsgaard, 2013;Petrou & Connell, 2017;Rasmussen, 2015;Wilson, 2013 (Haberkorn, 1989). Although contemporary population distribution remains predominantly rural, due to both natural increase and rural-urban migration, the 2009 Census reported an urban population growth rate (3.5% per annum) almost double that of rural areas (1.9%).…”

“…Nonetheless, existing research suggests that this is not the case, and island identities remain important, even as town residents have simultaneously begun to identity with the urban environment (Kraemer, ; Mecartney, ; Tonkinson, ). How this manifests in terms of translocal practices however is unknown, although it seems that while remittances remain significant in structuring translocal communities (Petrou & Connell, ), they are infrequently sent and/or received (Kraemer, ; Mecartney, ; Vanuatu Young People's Project, ). None of these studies however clearly differentiate between first‐ and second‐generation remitting, and whether differences exist between the two cohorts is unknown.…”

“…Importantly however, and although remittances contributed to the sustainability of rural livelihoods, their value was in how they made kin relationships “appear” (Rasmussen, ). Hence, items of seemingly low economic value were often imbued with important cultural meaning (Petrou & Connell, ), and it would be inaccurate to imply that a bag of rice was necessarily of less value than a wad of cash.…”

Introduction: Cultivating the Migration‐Food Security Nexus

“…We sent new stuff, used stuff, perishable items.” As Bailey's () work on the “migrant suitcase” confirms, food remittances are often bi‐directional, far more so than cash remittances. In trying to account for the general lack of attention to food remitting, Andersson Djurfeldt (: 540) observes that in Africa, “transfers of food are invisible in the sense that they run within the family and outside market channels.” Another explanation, following Petrou and Connell (: 219), is that transfers of food “make little formal economic sense” without the non‐economic context of social relationships of kinship and reciprocity.…”