Transnational mothering - US centrict sources
I brought this up in
fireworksandice's recent post but decided to expand on it in a separate post.
This article outlines the more direct classist and sexist systems behind the present day version of this phenomenon as well as recognizing the racist colonialist history behind it. This 2nd article, also by a US based author, ends with these words that bring attention to the role that state borders, citizenship and other factors play in reinforcing systemic racism:
The ties of transnational motherhood suggest simultaneously the relative permeability of borders, as witnessed by the maintenance of strong family ties across borders, and impermeability of nation-state borders. Ironically, just at the moment when free trade proponents and pundits celebrate globalization and transnationalism, and when "borderlands" and "border crossings" have become the metaphors of preference for describing just about anything, nation-state borders prove to be very real obstacles for many Mexican, Caribbean and Central American women who work as domestic workers in the U.S. As our society slides closer to the old South African model of incorporating disenfranchised workers without accomodating their basic needs, it's time to open the discussion of what constitutes an equitable immigration, work and family policy for the 21st century.
The only non-US centrict sources I have are in book format but certaintly there is a similar phenomenon happening in Canada with an increasing influx of filipina transnational mothers working as nannies. I am sure similar phenomenons are happening in other parts of the world.
To me this is the 2nd part/complimentary discussion that must occur as we discuss international adoptions. Not only are children from the Global South being adopted and relocated in more economically privileged Global North households under problematic circumstances but there is a parralel increase in WOC raising the children of the economically privileged in similarly disturbing conditions.