Transnational mothering and the complexities of childhood among migrant Filipina domestic workers.
Left-behind children (LBCs) occupy an ambivalent role in the migration projects of Filipino transnational families. They are considered the primary motivation for their mother's departure, yet their views are often held secondary or sometimes ignored by adults. In this paper, we examine relations of...
| Published in: | Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies Vol. 52; no. 6; pp. 1436 - 1456 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Mar2026
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=192155782&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 192155782 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 1369183X 56F jtl: Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies issn: 1369183X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Mar2026 vid: 52 iid: 6 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 192155782 10.1080/1369183X.2025.2594844 ppf: 1436 ppct: 20 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 895KB tig: atl: Transnational mothering and the complexities of childhood among migrant Filipina domestic workers. aug: au: de los Reyes, Elizer Jay Yue, Audrey affil: Southampton Education School, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore su: Motherhood School children Foreign workers Mass migrations Child development Philippines Singapore sug: subj: Philippines Singapore Motherhood School children Foreign workers Mass migrations Child development keyword: digital ethnography gendered mobilities Left-behind children transnational migration transnational mothering ab: Left-behind children (LBCs) occupy an ambivalent role in the migration projects of Filipino transnational families. They are considered the primary motivation for their mother's departure, yet their views are often held secondary or sometimes ignored by adults. In this paper, we examine relations of Filipina domestic workers (FDWs) and their left-behind children in the Cordillera Mountains, northern Philippines. We use transcripts, notes, and social media posts from two periods: in 2017 involving LBCs of FDWs working in Kuala Lumpur, Cyprus, and Hong Kong; and in 2021 involving LBCs and FDWs in Singapore. We sum up our findings about transnational mothering by offering two conceptual handles, namely: infantile mobilism and mobilised infantilism. By infantile mobilism, we refer to the emphasis on the salvific motives of emigration as a source of legitimation. In contrast, we refer to mobilised infantilism as a case of tapping into the energies and trainability of LBCs to facilitate gendered mobilities and to fill the gaps caused by transnational migration. In the end, we reflect on the implications of the two concepts for childhood as a category. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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