The Circular International Migration of New Zealanders: Enfolded Mobilities and Relational Places

Abstract

Migrants’ social relations are reconfigured in relation to how the localised and distanciated are recombined in context of how individuals are embedded in the enfolded mobilities of increasingly mobile social networks. The paper is organized around three main propositions. First, that social relations are structured across three main and intersecting domains – family, workplace and community. Second, that social relations and networks are shaped by, and shape, the relational nature of places. Third, that the relational nature of places, and the reconfiguration of localised and distanciated relationships should be analysed across the entire migration cycle. These ideas are explored through a study of the Big OE from New Zealand to the UK, based on in‐depth interviews with returned migrants.     

Multiple mobilities in Mexico’s fertility industry

ABSTRACT

How can we conceptualize travel in search of fertility treatment? While current research on transnational reproduction mostly conceptualizes mobility as horizontal movement from A to B, this article shows how horizontal mobilities converge, contradict, and are interdependent with other forms of mobility; namely vertical mobilities in terms of social upward and downward mobility, representational mobilities in form of imaginative geographies, and the actual embodied experiences of mobility. Based on ethnographic research on the reproductive tourism industry in Mexico, the article explores the multiplicity of mobilities that constitute transnational reproduction. The article evaluates how the concept of multiple mobilities contributes to the study of medical tourism from a critical mobilities’ perspective.     

Changing Urban Spaces: Mobile Phones on Trains

Abstract

Mobility is changing the ways people routinely behave in public places. Since the appearance of digital mobile phone networks, mobile phones have become part of suburban and urban landscapes globally. Both the use of public transport and mobile telecommunications are integral for daily life and self‐presentation in most large cities such as London and Tokyo. Public places and spaces are being transformed into hybrid geographies through the introduction of new spatial infrastructure. In this paper, we present our analysis of the responses of our survey sample of commuters concerning their use of mobile phones on trains.     

Medicaid,motherhood, and the challenges of having a healthy pregnancy amidst changing social networks

BackgroundAfrican American women with low income face various challenges to having a healthy pregnancy. Unplanned pregnancies often amplify those challenges and negatively impact women’s ability to get the care that she needs. Research has shown that social networks can improve pregnancy outcomes by helping women cope with and address the problems that they face. However, there is little research on how unintended pregnancy impacts the medical and social support that African American women receive.AimThis research explored how unintended pregnancies impact women’s social networks and the type of support that they need throughout the pregnancy.Design and sampleThis ethnographic study included 20 African American women who used pregnancy services at a health department in the United States. Fourteen women were enrolled in the study during their first or second trimester and were interviewed upon enrollment, in their third trimester, and within one month of giving birth. An additional six women were enrolled and interviewed within one month of giving birth.ResultsAfrican American women’s needs and social support networks change throughout their pregnancy. When medical providers primarily offer pregnancy information and referrals to social service agencies during the first trimester, problems that women have later in the pregnancy are not properly addressed.ConclusionSocial support needs to be accessed at multiple times during the pregnancy. Pregnancy resources should be provided throughout the pregnancy, recognizing that social support and personal struggles evolve during the pregnancy.     

The Movement Beyond (Lifestyle) Migration: Mobile Practices and the Constitution of a Better Way of Life

Abstract

This article revisits my ethnography of the British in rural France to question how mobility in post‐migration life was deemed intrinsic to the better way of life that they sought through their migration. Through the exploration of the migrants’ everyday lives, I reveal that the migrants’ mobile practices and their expectations of mobility contributed towards the perceived success of their new lives and were thus significant to the ongoing process getting to a better way of life. Beyond this example, the article also demonstrates how the findings of mobilities researchers may be mobilized in traditional anthropological fieldwork.     

Consequences of Overnight Work Travel for Personal Social Relations: Problems,Promises, and Further Repercussions

Abstract

The article uses survey data from Sweden to examine social consequences of the mobile society. Key questions tackled include the implications of overnight work travel for the travellers’ ability to cultivate locally based and long‐distance friendships and the potential of travel to provide a source of new acquaintances. Data analysis indicates that widening social networks and increasing opportunities to achieve co‐presence with long‐distance friends, as brought by mobility, represent significant consequences of overnight work travel from an individual’s standpoint. This experience was salient even among those respondents who travelled no more than occasionally, while only the most frequent travellers perceived their travel as something impeding with their chances of sustaining local social ties. While the benefits deriving from travel thus seem incontestable, it may therefore not be possible either to entirely discard the prevalent notion of mobile lifestyles as a factor undermining social cohesion and promoting isolation and loneliness.     

Mapping the Super‐Whale: Towards a Mobile Ethnography of Situated Globalities

Abstract

In empirical discussion on global connections, frequent allusions are made to Michael Burawoy’s ‘global’ and George Marcus’ ‘multi‐sited’ ethnographies. While both have inspired transnational fieldwork, neither methodological approach has sufficiently analysed the local‐global dichotomy embedded at their core. Drawing on actor‐network theory (ANT), this article suggests an alternative framework for mobile ethnography, better suited to a social world conceived in network‐relational terms. Employing metaphors of mobility, scale‐making, and cartography, an empirically driven approach to situated and plural ‘globalities’ is outlined. These claims are developed drawing on the author’s inquiries into Japanese whaling practices, showing how ‘ethno‐socio‐cartography’ can contribute to the mapping of global‐scale micro‐cosmoses.     

Invisible mobilities: stigma,immobilities, and female sex workers’ mundane socio-legal negotiations of Dhaka’s urban space

ABSTRACT

Drawing on ethnography, this paper conceptualizes invisible mobilities by exploring the linkages between mobility, invisibility and hotel and residence based sex work in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Since both are illegal in Bangladesh, hotel and residence based sex workers (HRSWs) become targets of the different laws and sex work related social stigma. We show, in this paper, how invisible mobilities is used to strategize and counter-enact against the existing exploitative gendered socio-political-legal regimes and practices involved in sex work. Invisible mobilities refers to the way HRSWs move in order to hide their occupation from society and the law. Invisibility is at the core of all these connections: It enables HRSWs to continue sex work and avoid exclusion from family and members of their communities. While making themselves invisible permits them to continue their daily ways to earn a living, it also reinforces the same social stigma they are constantly trying to avoid. In doing so, this paper reveals the political economy of sex work in the city and provides a new theoretical window to understand the connections between gender, mobility and the city, constructing a bridge between mobility and sex work studies literature.     

Rape,storytelling and social media: how Twitter interrupted the news media’s ability to construct collective memory

Abstract

This study, using the Mary Kay LeTourneau interview on ABC’s 20/20 television program, investigates how social media coupled with citizens’ voices interact with mainstream media in the telling of a story and the construction of collective memory. Grounded in discourse analysis, this research examines the 20/20 story and accompanying Twitter conversations to understand how dominant and feminist ideologies about gender, rape, sexual violence, sexuality, and love are presented and (re)articulated in these texts. In doing so, this study considers how a newly opened public sphere via social media may have the capabilities to influence our collective memories and remove some of this long-held power away from traditional mainstream media.     

Repetitive Visiting as a Pre‐return Transnational Strategy among Youthful Trinidadian Returnees

Abstract

This paper will develop and illustrate a concept of institutional viscosity to balance the more agentive concept of motility with a theoretical account of structural conditions. The argument articulates with two bodies of work: broad social theory of reflexivity as negotiating agency and social structures; and sociology of mobility and mobility systems . It then illustrates the concept of viscosity as a variable (low to high viscosity) through two empirical studies conducted in the sociology of education that help demonstrate how degrees of viscosity interact with degrees of motility, and how this interaction can impact on motility over time. The first study explored how Australian Defence Force families cope with their children’s disrupted education given frequent forced relocations. The other study explored how middle class professionals relate to career and educational opportunities in rural and remote Queensland. These two life conditions have produced very different institutional practices to make relocations thinkable and doable, by variously constraining or enabling mobility. In turn, the degrees of viscosity mobile individuals meet with over time can erode or elevate their motility.     

Driven to Care: The Car,Automobility and Social Work

Abstract

Welfare practices are invariably represented in static and sedentary ways and their mobilities ignored. This paper corrects for this by examining the car and auto‐mobility in social work. The car is not just a means to reaching vulnerable children and other service users quickly, and a mobile office, but a space where significant casework goes on and deeply meaningful ‘therapeutic journeys’ happen. The car carries similar emotional meanings and possibilities for workers as a space within which to contain the anxieties and emotions they routinely confront in their work. Drawing on mobile social science and psychoanalytic theory, the paper shows how the power and meanings of auto‐mobility in ‘car therapy’ are products of the design of cars and the distinct rhythms and mobilities they produce in themselves. The car in social work is conceptualised as a ‘fluid container’ for the processing of personal troubles, emotion and key life changes. The theoretical implications of this argument for the social science of mobilities are drawn out.     

The Joy of Biking Together: Sharing Everyday Experiences of Vélomobility

Abstract

This paper analyses how adults and children elicit and share their everyday experiences of cycling together in a variety of circumstances. Video data were collected of commuter cyclists, family bike rides and school bike tours. Using an ethnomethodologically informed approach to talk, mobile action and interactional practices, the novel video recordings of these diverse vélomobile formations are analysed in order to document how cyclists organise and mobilise their experiences and accompanying emotions in relation to the concurrent activity of biking together. Assuming that displays of emotion are situated, social activities, the analysis focuses on how embodied displays of emotion are accomplished, maintained, assessed and resisted by co-riders in motion.     

Aging in e-place: reflections on online communities for the aged in India

ABSTRACT

In this short piece, I offer a reconfiguration of the term “aging in place” by analyzing media content of web-based senior-focused portals while demonstrating how these online consumer-driven spaces unwittingly re-create new social relations and imagined communities. Building on the sparse body of scholarship on extra-familial, kin-like networks, I reflect on the cultural possibility of internet spaces as surrogate “places” for later life non-kin sociality. In this exploration, I privilege the possibility of enriched selfhood of older Indians by moving away from the conventional gerontological trope of the (Indian) elderly as indivisible familial subjects, as a deliberate process of decolonizing the field of gerontology.     

Social Network Methodology in the Study of Disasters: Issues and Insights Prompted by Post-Katrina Research

Dynamic social networks, a key concept in modern social science research, are beginning to play a major role in understanding the ways in which individuals and communities respond to disasters. The authors of this paper review the relevant theory and research regarding how crises cause change in social networks, and how those changes may or may not facilitate recovery, as a function of the kinds of changes that occur. It applies the In/Out/Seeker/Provider (IOSP) framework to identify categories in which we might study disasters and the impact both on the networks and the impacts to the networks. This paper details options for applying social network analysis to research of both pre- and post-disaster settings and concludes by framing a research agenda for the future study of the dynamics of network change following a disaster.     

People and Technologies as Resources in Times of Uncertainty

Abstract

This paper is concerned with people’s decision‐making and communication practices when moving around the world in uncertain situations. It examines how people acted when flights were grounded in Europe for one week in April 2010 as a result of the ash cloud from a volcano in Iceland. The paper focuses on the communication practices of a group of people travelling from Norway to Britain in a hired coach. Drawing on the approaches of literacy studies along with broader work on new technologies, it covers a range of issues including: how people integrate languages and technologies as global resources for local decision making; how they deploy networks of support in different ways; and how they evaluate knowledge in a rapidly changing situation of rumour and counter‐claim. The paper enriches understanding of people using technologies and acting within complex networks. It emphasises the need for literacy studies, and sociolinguistics more generally, to develop richer notions of networked interaction and mediated language use in a mobile world. And it highlights for mobilities research the importance of language issues in a multilingual world.     

Adaptive flood mobilities in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

Global climate change has altered the efficacy of traditional responses to flooding in Bangladesh and has necessitated the adoption of new actions, social networks and mobilities to strengthen the ongoing viability of the community. These changes need to be accompanied by appropriate government responses. We examined these changing mobilities in Bangladesh by first classifying them according to the relevant characteristics of emergency mobilities as described by Adey (anticipation, coordination, absence and difference) and then applying, as appropriate, one or more of Sheller and Urry’s six essential bodies of mobility theory to provide a dynamic analysis from which to generate policy responses. Major findings specific to Bangladesh include the criticality of social networks and the mobility of gender roles due to flood-related migration. The policy implications, situated at the confluence of cultural tradition, the imperative to survive and current government policy which does not encourage mobility, focus on reconceptualising the use of land space to envisage a new paradigm of support for emergency mobility and resourcing people movement. Future research could apply this novel data analysis approach to other migration situations, with the purpose of informing emergency mobility policy.     

Multiple Migration Flows of Romanians

Abstract

Most studies on international migration examine population movement between a country of origin and a destination. This article aims to show that migrants often change destinations, a less studied pattern of ‘multiple migrations’. This article explores how such migration occurs and analyses the variables accounting for it. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork research amongst Romanian migrants in Portugal, the article concludes that the growth in multiple migrations of Romanian migrants throughout Europe can be explained by a combination of migration policies and social networks, mediated by migrants’ level of education and type of occupation at the destination.     

Mobile devices and their effect on the sociality on Dutch Intercity trains

ABSTRACT

Travelling by train is an activity that many people engage in on a daily basis, which is rarely performed alone. While trains are locations where many different strangers potentially encounter each other, they are also portrayed as non-social transient places of passenger conflict and disharmony. Especially the rapid rise of mobile devices has changed the way people interact on board. This mobile ethnography – based on observations, travel-diaries and diary-interviews with 16 frequent travellers of Dutch Intercity trains – contributes to earlier studies on passenger sociality by specifically focussing on how social interactions are influenced by these mobile devices. The findings illustrate that using a mobile phone is indeed the most reported on-board activity and direct interactions are limited. Nevertheless, people on the train speak a very subtle non-verbal language that enables them to interact without engaging in extensive direct interactions. Mobile devices are thus not just enabling or constraining but have become inherent parts of socialising. Furthermore, most people do watch out for each other and try not to bother others. Discomforts emerge from different interpretations and compliances of codes of conduct.     

“Whatsapping” the continuity of postpartum care in Switzerland: A socio-anthropological study

BackgroundDigital media such as Apps, Internet and social networks have become integral parts of the maternity experience for more than a decade. These media can support or undermine women’s experiences as has been shown in digital sociology research. Using Immediate Messaging Applications to provide information and support to women during the perinatal period is an emerging practice.AimThis article analyses how health and social care professionals – with a focus on community midwives – and women communicate between postpartum home visits through Immediate Message Applications in Switzerland.MethodsA socio-anthropological study that relied on qualitative methods including semi-directed interviews with midwives and health and social care professionals (n = 30) and immigrant women (n = 20).FindingsSince the introduction of Immediate Messaging Applications, women and their carer converse more regularly between post-partum home visits. Women send questions, pictures and videos to them, often allowing swift responses to their concerns. Midwives encounter difficulties answering women’s questions when they cannot be solved through quick communication (e.g. infant crying). To them, texting frequency forms a clinical clue to women’s mental health. Not all women contact their carer through digital messages; immigrant women are less likely to know and use this service.Discussion and conclusionImmediate Messaging Applications form a promising communication tool, complementary to home visits, and contribute to woman-centered care and continuity of care. As an emergent practice, it has not been framed by a guideline yet. Policy makers and practitioners should ensure that its use does not contribute to unequal access to care.     

Knowing how to help: Grandmothers’ experiences of providing and receiving support following their child’s pregnancy loss

ProblemPregnancy loss is a distressing experience for parents, however no research has addressed grandmothers’ experiences of grief and support following a child’s pregnancy loss.BackgroundNo research has specifically addressed grandmothers’ experiences of support and bereavement care following pregnancy loss.AimThis study seeks to understand three key areas: (1) the support grandmothers provide to their child; (2) the support they received themselves following pregnancy loss, and; (3) supports desired by grandmothers. The study aims to contribute insights into actions midwives could take to support grandmothers following pregnancy loss.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 grandmothers to understand their support experiences. Interviews were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s approach to thematic analysis.FindingsThemes related directly to the three research questions: one: providing support, comprising two themes — being strong, protecting their family and the challenges of knowing how to help. Two, receiving support, also comprised two themes — lack of professional support offered to grandmothers and informal support and self-support strategies. Three, desired support, comprised three themes — I had no idea: increasing knowledge of pregnancy loss, peer support helps: they know how it feels, and honouring our grandchildren, making meaning.DiscussionGrandmothers may give extensive support to their child following pregnancy loss but lack confidence and face challenges in doing so. Few formal supports are available to grandmothers themselves, with grandmothers relying on their social networks for their own support.ConclusionsGrandmothers need early access to information and guidance from midwives and hospital bereavement services, as well as ongoing peer support with flexible delivery options.