Entangled Inequalities in Transnational Care Chains: Practices Across the Borders of Peru and Italy [1. Aufl.] 9783839428863

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Anna Katharina Skornia Entangled Inequalities in Transnational Care Chains

Anna Katharina Skornia completed her doctorate in Sociology from the Freie Universität Berlin. She is a member of the Research Network on Interdependent Inequalities in Latin America (desiguALdades.net). Her research interests include migration, care, and social inequality from a transnational perspective.

Anna Katharina Skornia

Entangled Inequalities in Transnational Care Chains Practices Across the Borders of Peru and Italy

This doctoral thesis was submitted to Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Political and Social Sciences, and was written with financial support and advising in the context of the doctoral fellowship program of desiguALdades.net, the international interdisciplinary research network on social inequalities in Latin America. A publication grant from desiguALdades.net also paid a portion of the publication costs. desiguALdades.net is funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (German Federal Ministry for Education and Research).

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de © 2014 transcript Verlag, Bielefeld

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Contents

Acknowledgments | 7 1. Introduction | 9 2. Conceptualizing Transnational Care Chains | 19

2.1 Introduction | 19 2.2 Transnational Care Chains and Inequalities: Concepts and Premises | 20 2.3 Issues of Analysis and Theoretical Perspectives | 41 2.4 Conclusion | 52 3. Methodological Framework for the Study of Transnational Care Chains | 55

3.1 Introduction | 55 3.2 Characteristics and Methods of Multi-sited Ethnographic Research | 57 3.3 Fieldwork in Milan, Italy | 59 3.4 Fieldwork in Lima, Huancayo, and Cuzco/Urubamba, Peru | 69 3.5 Positionalities: My Relationships to Research Informants in Italy and Peru | 74 3.6 Considerations about Data Analysis and Presentation of Research Findings | 79 4. Peruvian Emigration and the Transnationalization of Care Practices | 81

4.1 Introduction | 81 4.2 From Internal to International Migration: Peru as a Sending Country | 83 4.3 Social, Political, and Economic Context of Emigration and Care Chains in Peru | 88 4.4 Conclusion | 111 5. Peruvian Migrants in the Sector of Home-Based Elderly Care in Italy | 113

5.1 Introduction | 113 5.2 The Transnationalization of Elderly Care | 115 5.3 Care Arrangements in Employer Households | 124 5.4 Conclusion | 157

6. The Transnational Care Practices of Peruvian Migrant Women and Men | 159

6.1 Introduction | 159 6.2 Caring for Children and Parents at a Distance | 161 6.3 Renegotiating Care in the Light of Family Migration and New Bonds of Intimacy | 186 6.4 Conclusion | 199 7. Child and Aged Care in Transnational Households in Peru | 201

7.1 Introduction | 201 7.2 Characteristics of Households and Family Members Left Behind in Peru | 202 7.3 Rearrangements of Child and Aged Care in Peru | 204 7.4 Perspectives of Children and Parents Left Behind | 219 7.5 Conclusion | 240 8. Conclusion | 243 Bibliography | 257 Appendix | 293

Maps of Fieldwork Locations | 293 Tables | 295

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This publication could not have been realized without the generous support of the International Research Network on Interdependent Inequalities in Latin America, desiguALdades.net. I developed this research as a long-term doctoral scholarship holder of this network. I am grateful to the spokespersons of desiguALdades.net, Prof. Dr. Marianne Braig, Dr. Barbara Göbel, and Prof. Dr. Sérgio Costa, for the network’s support and for the opportunities they provided for dialogue, mutual exchange, and cooperation, which encouraged my research progress and inspired me with new ideas and interdisciplinary knowledge. I also wish to thank desiguALdades.net for contributing to the editing and printing costs. I could not have written this book without the generous support of my two supervisors. First and foremost, I am deeply grateful to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Sérgio Costa (Freie Universität Berlin), for the guidance and support he has given me since I took up my thesis and work as a member of desiguALdades.net at Freie Universität Berlin, and to my supervisor PD Dr. Heike Drotbohm (Albert-LudwigsUniversität Freiburg), for sharing critical thoughts and expertise and guiding me in the most challenging conceptual and methodological questions. Since acting as my M.A. thesis advisor, she has mentored my research in its different stages. I am also thankful for the support I received at pivotal moments from Prof. Dr. Elizabeth Jelin (IDES Buenos Aires), Prof. Dr. Marianne Braig (Freie Universität Berlin), and Prof. Dr. Gioconda Herrera (FLACSO Ecuador). The comments and suggestions of these and many other investigators at desiguALdades.net helped me process the ideas that have come to form this study. I benefited from discussions at several colloquia and conferences, as well as two summer schools held by desiguALdades.net. I would also like to thank Marian Ryan for her help with proofreading. My research would not have been possible without the confidence, help, and generosity of all those who participated in this study. I want to thank the women and men who contributed to my research for sharing their time and experiences and making me feel at home in Milan, Lima, Huancayo, Cuzco, and Urubamba. Special

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thanks go to Julián, Feliciana, Aurelio, Fernando, Maya, and Charo for their friendship, care, and precious support during the fieldwork process. I also owe a great deal to the organizations that supported the collection of data for my research and to the individuals who offered practical help. I am grateful to my friends and all those who have accompanied me during the research process. I want to thank my companion and friend, Cristián, for his love, patience, and practical as well as emotional support. My greatest gratitude goes to Doris, my mother, for her encouragement and wisdom. Thanks to her, I myself have experienced the meaning of care given at a distance. Berlin, May 2014

1. INTRODUCTION “We Peruvians always want to leave this place. I would love to go to Europe.” CELIA, FROM LIMA, 41 YEARS, SANTIAGO DE CHILE, 2007

Several years ago, my encounters with Peruvian migrant domestic workers in Chile like Celia called my attention to what many of them presented as a dream: migration to Europe. A great number of them had family members and friends in European countries, mostly Italy or Spain, and they hoped to be able to join their families and friends one day in the future. As a German living in Chile, I embodied not only a longed-for destination, but also a freedom of movement and access to resources that were unavailable to many of these migrants. Listening to their hopes, I wondered about the experiences of those who had left for Europe. Back in Germany, I was surprised to hear the remarks of a Peruvian friend, who had returned from a tourist visit. “If you want to study Peruvian migration go to the Piazza Duomo of Milan and you will feel as if you found yourself in the Plaza de Armas of Lima.” I took his advice seriously and left for a spontaneous visit to Milan. The most striking thing I realized when talking to Peruvians in Milan was the parallel I encountered between the lives and daily experiences of these migrants in their birthplaces and their adopted homes abroad: on one hand, they had been introduced to domestic work, which involved relating to new people in new places and households, but this went along with a simultaneous care and concern about those who had been left behind in Peru. There was an important difference between these migrants’ experiences at home and abroad: the homes into which Peruvians in Italy were introduced demanded a particular type of care labor, which consisted not only of domestic work and childcare but primarily of taking care of the elderly. The experiences of these migrants raised questions about the meanings of care at a distance and in a

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new place for both migrants and their family members. Questions also emerged about those who employed Peruvian migrants in Italy. Who were the families that delegated the care of the elderly to migrant workers? What kinds of new relationships and inequalities emerged when Peruvian women and men left their own country and families to introduce themselves into new households? The issues and questions raised here are central to contemporary studies of migration, care, and family relations considered from a transnational perspective. They reflect a current global trend, which some authors have analyzed by using the term “global care chains” (Hochschild 2000: 131), referring to “a series of personal links between people across the globe based on the paid and unpaid work of caring.” Exploring these interdependencies and their implications for families and individuals involved is the main objective of this study. Drawing on the notion of transnational care chains, it explores the cross-border connections between individuals and households that emerge with the introduction of transnational migrants to domestic work and the inequalities upon which these relationships are constructed. By the end of the 20th century, scholars began to observe the revival of private employment of migrant domestic and care workers in different parts of the globe as a process that is sustained by the growth and feminization of international and transcontinental migration (Anderson 1997; Momsen 1999; Koser/Lutz 1998). This process has involved a globalization and new global division of care and domestic work, which connects women and families spread across different countries and regions (Ehrenreich/Hochschild 2003). In fact, this current globalization is not a completely new phenomenon, but part of varying long-term trends and therefore needs to be considered from a historical perspective (Sarti 2008).1 In this process, the care work that is commonly performed by women in the domestic sphere is be1

Historical studies reveal that servant migration has also existed in past centuries on both national and transnational levels. Sarti (2008) distinguishes several clusters of international domestics prevalent in different historical and cultural contexts that range from “imperialistic servants” and “colonialist servants” to “contemporary” international domestic workers. Until about the mid-nineteenth century, the more common pattern of international servant migration was that from richer to poorer countries and from more to less powerful ones. Servant migration, in this period, represented an aspect of colonial and imperialistic policies, while from the late nineteenth century onward, international and intercontinental migration of servants from poorer to richer countries became more common. It was only in the late 20th century that scholars observed a “resurgence” of paid domestic work. In addition to the international migration of domestic servants, the internal migration of rural women and their insertion into urban, upper-class households was and is a common pattern across the Latin American region, which also existed in the history of many European countries, as I indicate in Chapter 2.

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ing redistributed on a global level. To explore these interdependencies, my research takes a perspective focused on “entangled inequalities” (Costa 2013), referring to asymmetries between different regions and social categorizations. This perspective is suited for exploring the hierarchical nature of care relationships and the ways they are reshaped across borders. Care work is largely unpaid or poorly paid and stratified by gender and generation within families and by class and race/ethnicity within the labor market (Orozco 2009c). With the formation of transnational care chains, these asymmetries are reshaped across households, countries, and regions. Hochschild, who coined the global care chains concept in 2000, considers care as a resource that, similar to goods, can be transferred and imported from one country to another. Other authors also interpret the global transfer of care labor as a “withdrawal” or “extraction” of care from poorer to wealthier countries and households (see also Ehrenreich/Hochschild 2003: 4; Parreñas 2003: 4; 2005a: 13-14). My study offers a critical reading of this interpretation. Drawing on an ethnographic study of transnational care chains between Peru and Italy, it examines the care practices and relationships between and within the families of migrant care workers and their employers and their distributional and emotional implications. Studying these processes requires a perspective that goes beyond the intimate sphere of the family and considers the broader social context into which care relationships and families are introduced. In this research, I therefore understand care work and its transnationalization as a constitutive part of care regimes, which involve not only families but also state, market, and community networks (Razavi 2007). The state acts as an important decision maker in such regimes. As families and care relationships extend national borders, the regulative frameworks of states acquire an important role in shaping the provision of care not only through social and gender policies, but also through migration and labor market policies (Drotbohm 2009). Hence, my research looks at the ways transnational care chains and inequalities are shaped by states in the context of intersecting care, gender, migration, and labor regimes. Migration and Care Chains between Peru and Italy: a Contextualization As demonstrated in the introduction, the present work is focused on a specific case: the transnational care chains that emerge after migration from Peru to Milan, Italy. In Italy, the demand for migrant care workers has increased considerably due to an aging population, a massive change in family structures (involving a reduction in family size and thus a decrease in the number of daughters and extended kin available to care for elder relatives), rising female employment and limited social services, which have been further weakened by cutbacks in social expenditure and the privatization of care provision (Degiuli 2007). In this context of socio-demographic change, Bettio/Simonazzi/Villa (2006: 274) point to the maintenance of a familistic care regime and its simultaneous transformation through hiring migrants as home-

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based caregivers for the elderly. Peruvian migrants are among the principal groups that have filled the care gaps left by the Italian care regime. Peruvian migration to Italy and other countries can also be seen as a care strategy that extends national borders. In recent decades, increasing numbers of people in Peru and other Andean countries have opted for emigration. As in Italy, Peruvian families, and above all women, are the central agents of care. These women compensate for inadequate social and public services, but they also struggle with persisting social inequalities. Peru has one of the highest levels of inequality in Latin America, and this inequality has deepened as a result of structural adjustment policies as well as political and economic crisis (Gonzales de Olarte 2005). In this context, the emigration of Peruvian women and men has been an important strategy for securing individual and family livelihoods and improved access to resources such as health, education, and housing. In 2007, 1,635,207 Peruvians—more than 10% of the national population— were residing permanently outside the country (OIM/INEI 2009). Italy, along with Spain, has one of the highest concentrations of Peruvian migrants in Europe. At the beginning of 2012, 108,000 Peruvians were residing in Italy with regular residence status (ISMU 2013). The majority of these migrants live in the Northern Italian region of Lombardy, in particular the city and province of Milan. Most of these migrants work in the service sector, first and foremost in elderly care and other types of domestic work. The migration of Peruvians to Italy started to increase in the late 1980s and has continued to rise since then. The migration is composed of individuals of both middle- and lower-class backgrounds from the Andean highlands and the coastal areas (Tamagno 2003). While this migration mainly consists of labor migrants (60% of them women), it is also characterized by family reunification and the formation of new family ties among Peruvians in Italy. Hence, a great number of Peruvian migrants have children, partners, siblings, and other family members not only in Peru but also in Italy—an important fact to consider when studying the multiple care practices of these migrants and the dynamics of transnational care chains as a whole. Why a Study on Transnational Care Chains between Peru and Italy? My interest in studying transnational care practices between Peru and Italy emerged not only from a review of the research literature but also from the qualitative and ethnographic methodological approach chosen for this research, which studies the meanings of transnational practices and experiences on the basis of fieldwork observations and personal encounters. The first ethnographic research project, which I conducted in 2007, looked at the migration and introduction of Peruvian migrant women into the domestic service sectors of Santiago de Chile and Milan, two cities that have received important numbers of Peruvian migrants, not least because of the

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growing demand for migrant care and domestic workers. In conducting this research, I noticed that the particularities of Peruvian migration to Italy warranted highlighting several issues that until the present have received only little scholarly attention. The most central aspect, as signaled by the introductory statements, is the role that Peruvian migrants play as home-based caregivers for the elderly. The first conversations I had with Peruvian migrants in Milan in 2007 called my attention to the fact that independent of gender and their previous occupations in Peru, almost all of them had worked as caregivers for the elderly in Italian families at some point during their stay in the country. While Peruvian domestic workers in Chile were mainly women employed to assist with housework and childcare, Peruvians in Italy, including men, were hired to care for the dependent elderly. Talking to these migrants, I noticed that women in particular established intimate relationships with their care receivers that were often described with the likeness of a family relation. The important role played by Peruvian migrants as home-based caregivers for the elderly raises questions about the relationship between global care migrations and the process of aging, which has not been sufficiently explored. Recent studies show that the employment of migrants as caregivers for the elderly has become increasingly common, not only in Italy (Degiuli 2010; Di Rosa et al. 2012) but also in other countries (e.g., Agrela 2012; Hooren 2012). Compared to relatively abundant literature on global housekeepers (e.g., Momsen 1999; Lutz 2002; Ehrenreich/ Hochschild 2003), however, there is still a lack of data and empirical studies about migrant home-based elderly care. Exploring this issue may offer insight into the specificity of elderly care as compared to other types of care and domestic labor and of employment relationships in this sector of domestic work. As this research will show, elderly care is a difficult task, often accompanied by intergenerational conflicts and hard physical work. Within the private sector of elderly care, the low social recognition of this work also leads to frequent abuse and exploitation. My study asks for the consequences of such practices, not only for those who assume this work, but also for their families and the aging receivers of their care. My first talks with Peruvian migrants in Italy also drew my attention to the transnational family practices of these migrants. For those who had left children or parents behind, the simultaneous tasks of caring at a distance and caring for employers in Italy posed a particular challenge. Hence, I understood that these paid and unpaid practices were intimately connected and could not be studied independently from one other. The frequency with which migrants talked about distant children or parents made me curious to find out more about how these non-migrants lived the consequences of migration. Within existing research on Peruvian emigration, most attention is given to the experiences and practices of those who are abroad while the consequences for non-migrant family members as well as their perspectives, often go unconsidered. Overall, studies on migration flows from the

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Andean region to Europe have tended to focus on Spain (e.g., Escrivá 2005; Solé/Parella 2005; Pedone 2006; Parella 2007; Guaygua 2009) rather than on Italy (exception: Tamagno 2003; Caselli 2008). In addition, few in-depth studies address the experiences of transnational families in locations of origin. Especially in Peru, the issue has not received sufficient academic and public attention (Panfichi 2007; Durand 2010). Considering the complexity of Peruvian migration to Italy, I found a great variety of transnational care arrangements, which requires further consideration in academic research. So far, the majority of studies on global domestic workers and care chains have focused on migrant women in their shifting roles as paid nannies and transnational mothers (e.g., Hondagneu-Sotelo/Avila 1997; Parreñas 2001b; 2005b; Isaksen/Devi/Hochschild 2008). In contrast, less research has covered the caregiving practices of single women and migrant men in the roles of either paid care workers or transnational family members (for a similar critique see Pribilsky 2004; Sarti/Scrinzi 2010). Shedding light on these practices may offer insight into the renegotiation of gender and generational roles in the context of migration. Additional research is also needed regarding all elderly people involved in transnational care chains, various aspects of which which require further attention, including the effects of circumstances and conflicts faced by aging migrants, elderly co-caregivers and parents left behind and in need of care themselves, and the elderly people placed in the care of migrant caregivers (Escrivá 2005). A final noteworthy aspect is related to the role of states and immigration policies in shaping transnational migration and care practices. While talking to Peruvian migrants in Milan, I soon noticed that employment relationships and relationships between Peruvian migrants themselves, including members of the same family network, are shaped by emerging inequalities. These inequalities are based on class as well as citizenship and migration status. Most striking was the lack of solidarity and support frequently felt among the group of Peruvian migrants and members of the same family network in Italy. This issue is reflected by the statement of an undocumented Peruvian woman, interviewed in Milan in 2007: “There are Peruvians who already have their stay permit, everything, who are improving and who look down on you. They feel superior.” In short, both the workplace and the interactions between Peruvian migrants were described as sources of budding social hierarcy, which seem to be closely tied to the social exclusion and ranking to which these migrants are subjected in the context of migration and citizenship regimes. These new asymmetries and the role of states in contributing to inequalities in the context of global care chains have received little attention. The case of Peruvian migration to Italy is interesting in this regard because it allows observing the influence of state policies in the context of both care at a distance and upon the formation of new migrant households, which, as outlined above, constitute an important characteristic of this migration flow.

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Analytical and Methodological Considerations Drawing on anthropological and sociological approaches to migration, care, and global care chains, my study analyzes the multiple processes that contribute to the formation of transnational care chains between Peru and Italy. It focuses on the migration and employment relationships of Peruvian migrant women and men hired as home-based caregivers for the elderly in Milan, Italy, and the simultaneous transnational care practices of these people toward their own aging parents, siblings and, in some cases, children, who may find themselves in either Peru or Italy. It also explores the positions, strategies, and perspectives of those who employ Peruvian migrants in Italy and of the migrants’ transnational family members spread across both countries. The analysis of care practices offered in this study focuses on the processes through which social inequalities are reproduced in these chains. At first, it examines the processes that play a role in the formation of transnational care chains across Peru and Italy, which are understood to be part of a broader transnationalization of care regimes. In studying the new division of care labor, then, it looks at the dynamic construction of roles and responsibilities around care or what Baldassar/Baldock/Wilding (2007) have defined as the “normative obligation” to give care, which is based on culturally informed, gender-based notions of duty and responsibility. It also addresses the influence of states and intersecting care, gender, migration and labor regimes that shape the structures and infrastructures of relevant services, technologies, and resources (or their absence) needed for care provision. These regimes may also contribute to a reproduction of unequal roles and responsibilities as well as unequal access to resources and power. These structural frameworks are also central for understanding the implications of transnational care chains in reshaping emotional bonds and the dynamic reconfiguration of family relationships through ongoing practices of relatedness (Drotbohm 2009). To study the border-crossing configuration of these chains, this research draws on a methodological framework that follows the principles of multi-sited ethnography (Marcus 1995; Falzon 2009). The ethnographic data was gathered during fieldwork trips lasting a total of eight months between July 2011 and July 2012 to Milan, Italy and to Lima, Huancayo and Cuzco/Urubamba, Peru, which are three important origins of Peruvian migration to Italy. Organization of the Study This study consists of eight chapters. In Chapter 2, I outline the analytical concepts and perspectives that have guided this research. The chapter introduces the debate on global care chains and discusses the link between care and social inequalities. I also elaborate on the research questions, assumptions, and broad issues that inform the analysis offered in the chapters that follow. Chapter 3 describes the methodological framework and the process of multi-sited fieldwork, including the methodo-

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logical challenges, relationships to research informants, and the analysis and presentation of the research data. To understand the reproduction of entangled inequalities in transnational care chains, this study focuses on three interconnected analytical dimensions, which are part of the analysis offered in Chapters 4 to 7, including: a) the processes that contribute to the formation of care chains; b) the care practices and perspectives of multiple individual actors involved (including caregivers and receivers), and c) the role played by states in shaping these care practices and inequalities. A first step in the analysis, which is presented in Chapter 4 and part of Chapter 5, focuses on the processes through which transnational care chains emerge. The new transnational interdependencies that emerge with the emigration of Peruvians to Italy and their introduction into home-based elderly care need to be examined as part of a transnationalization of care regimes, which is driven by multiple agents, including not only families, but also state, market, and community sectors. From this perspective, Chapter 4 offers a contextualization and characterization of Peruvian emigration, and of migration to Italy in particular. It describes the processes that contribute to transnationalization of care practices between both countries, including both structural factors—socio-economic and socio-political—and micro- and meso-level driving factors in the countries of origin and destination. The micro- and meso-level factors include locally and transnationally active social networks such as transnational family ties, illegal migration networks or church networks, as well as social representations and negotiations around care and migration. The analysis of such factors is also included in the first part of Chapter 5, which explores the restructuring of the Italian care regime through the outsourcing of home-based elderly care to migrant workers and the motivations for hiring Peruvian home-based caregivers for the elderly. In addition to analyzing the driving factors of transnational care chains, a central interest of this study is to examine the care practices of multiple individual actors involved in the chains, as well as the ways in which these are influenced by state regulations. Hence, the main objective of Chapters 5, 6 and 7 is to understand these practices by means of looking, first of all, at care arrangements in employer households of Peruvian migrant caregivers for the elderly and, subsequently, at the transnational family practices and relationships of these migrants. In this context, Chapter 5 offers an analysis of the relationships between Peruvian migrant caregivers for the elderly and their employers in Milan, focusing on the strategies of care and care management by which inequalities are reproduced in these employment relationships as well as on the ways these are shaped by Italian political frameworks. In the subsequent two chapters, I take a closer look at these migrants’ transnational care practices and relationships and their implications for reshaping emotional ties between migrants and their family members. To understand these bordercrossing implications, it is necessary to look at the perspectives of transnational

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family members in both the countries of destination and origin. Therefore, Chapter 6 focuses on such practices in the local context of Milan, Italy, while Chapter 7 looks at them in the locations of origin in Peru. Chapter 6 analyzes the transnational care strategies of several groups of Peruvian migrants in Milan, including mothers, fathers, and women and men without children. While focused on transnational care at a distance, it also includes an analysis of local care arrangements that emerge as a consequence of forming new migrant households in Italy. Chapter 7 examines the practices, perspectives, and positions of transnational family members left behind in Lima, Huancayo, and Cuzco/Urubamba, Peru. This chapter offers an analysis of the perspectives and strategies of non-migrant caregivers, children, and parents involved in the transnational care arrangements built across borders. The final chapter summarizes the research findings from a cross-cutting analytical perspective, focused on the reproduction of entangled inequalities in transnational care chains between Peru and Italy. In this chapter, I return to the conceptual approaches to care and global care chains and discuss them in light of the research findings.

2. CONCEPTUALIZING TRANSNATIONAL CARE CHAINS

2.1 I NTRODUCTION In recent years, the global care chains concept has emerged as a powerful tool for approaching migration and the organization of care work beyond national borders. In observing the role of women as key agents in contemporary transnational migration and the emergence of global care markets, feminist scholars have developed new global perspectives on the social organization of care. Drawing on broader debates over the globalization of production and social reproduction, these approaches have pointed to growing interdependencies between spatially dispersed individuals and households in which care work is transferred on the basis of the unequal access to resources and power (Hochschild 2000; Parreñas 2001a; 2005a; Ehrenreich/ Hochschild 2003; Isaksen/Devi/Hochschild 2008; Yeates 2009; 2012; Orozco 2009c; 2010). At the heart of these perspectives, there is a debate on the distributive consequences of globalization for families sharing similar needs and aspirations for their daily reproduction, care, and social security, while confronting differential experiences of reproduction within a world capitalist system that restricts the fulfillment of gender-defined obligations, especially for women and families from peripheral countries. Drawing on these perspectives, in this chapter, I present the theoretical concepts and perspectives that have guided my research on entangled inequalities in transnational care chains between Peru and Italy. The conceptual framework presented in the following sections combines sociological and anthropological approaches to care and family relations with a research perspective on entangled social inequalities. This perspective was elaborated as a contribution to the Research Network on Interdependent Inequalities in Latin America (desiguALdades.net), which inspired my conceptualization of social inequalities as a product of interdependencies between different regions and diverse social categorizations that need to be analyzed within theoretical and methodological frameworks beyond the nation state (Costa 2013; Braig/Costa/Göbel 2013). For this research, I propose the global care chains concept as a relational unit of analysis for studying such inequalities.

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From this perspective, my research contributes to anthropological and sociological debates on care and family relations, which promote new understandings of family and kinship that focus on the active and dynamic construction of family bonds and care relationships (Drotbohm 2009, 2010). In a context of globalization and transnationalization, relations of solidarity and mutual responsibility are being organized in novel ways and may also extend national borders. At the same time, these social relations are structurally determined by the power of states and their regulative practices (ibid.). Thus, asking for the characteristics of family relations in transnational social spaces—and of households connected through the formation of global care chains—also means paying attention to interdependent inequalities and the ways in which these are reproduced, often asymmetrically, by varying state institutions on a global scale. Based on a reciprocal relation of data collection, analysis, and theory, the theoretical concerns guiding this chapter are closely tied to multi-sited ethnographic data collection on the formation and border-crossing impacts of transnational care chains between specific localities in Peru and Italy. This causes me to draw attention to the local and temporal specificities that were considered for this research and that inform my theoretical discussion. The presentation of analytical concepts and perspectives in this chapter is broadly divided into two parts. The first is dedicated to introducing the debate on global care chains, followed by a reflection on the link between care and social inequalities in its local and transnational dimensions. In the second part, I move to examine the broad issues of analysis and theoretical perspectives that inform my research on transnational care chains between Peru and Italy. This includes a consideration of the processes that contribute to the formation of transnational care chains within a broader perspective focused on the transnationalization of care regimes. In addition, I address the relationship between transnational care practices and social inequalities and reflect on the role of states in contributing to these practices and inequalities through their influence on intersecting care, gender, migration, and employment regimes.

2.2 T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS C ONCEPTS AND P REMISES

AND I NEQUALITIES :

2.2.1 Global Care Chains—a Concept up for Debate One of the most remarkable merits of the global care chains literature is that it connects the global flow of care labor to the intimate sphere of personal relationships and emotions. Personal care relationships, whether local or transnational, are social

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spaces through which global stratification systems are constantly (re)produced and contested. Negotiations of care commitments at the personal level thus provide a deeper insight into global processes of domination that reflect the geo-political positions of the states of origin and migration destinations. First of all, the potential of the global care chains concept is reflected by numerous studies and debates related to the concept, which have broadened significantly in scope over the last decade (e.g., Orozco 2009a; 2009b; 2009c; Yeates 2009; 2012). By focusing on global networks between households, these draw attention to the importance of global care migrations in reshaping social relationships and institutional settings through new interdependencies, not only between spatially dispersed individuals and families, but also between welfare and health institutions and systems. These approaches are highly useful for understanding contemporary migration and care practices between Peru and Italy. The origins of the concept can be found in Hochschild (2000), who draws on a study on Filipina migrant mothers working abroad as domestic servants to examine the emergence of such chains. Accordingly, global care chains emerge as women in rich countries outsource part of their “domestic duties” by hiring migrant women from poorer countries. The latter, in turn, rely on a family member or woman from an even poorer household in their country of origin to substitute for them in caring for children or other dependents left behind. In this process, the value ascribed to care labor decreases and often becomes unpaid at the end of the chain. This leads to the emergence of a global network of families linked through the “transfer” of care across borders (see also Yeates 2005; Orozco 2009c). These processes have also been conceptualized in terms of a “new world domestic order” (Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001) or a “new international division of reproductive labor,” as observed by Parreñas (2001a) in her influential work on Filipina migrant domestic workers in Rome and Los Angeles, entitled Servants of Globalization.1 Inspired by these approaches, an extensive line of research has emerged, examining the migration of “global women” (Ehrenreich/Hochschild 2003) from different peripheral regions and countries and their introduction into highly stratified care markets (e.g., Andall 2000; Lan 2003a; 2003b; Lutz 2002; 2004; 2007a; 2007b; Momsen 1999; Parreñas 2001a; Yeoh/Huang 1999; Pratt 1999). Complementing these studies, a second line of research focuses on transnational families and caregiving at a distance (e.g., Parreñas 2005a; 5005b; Baldassar/Baldock/

1

The concept of the “new international division of reproductive labor” couples Nakano Glenn’s (1992) work on the “racial division of reproductive labour,” focused on the care and domestic servicing role of black and minority ethnic women in the United States, with Sassen’s (1984) analysis of the new international division of labor, which shows how women’s labor has been incorporated into global production (see Parreñas 2001a).

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Wilding 2007; Parella 2007; Herrera/Carrillo 2009; Drotbohm 2009; 2013; Parella/ Cavalcanti 2010). Considering the transnational flow of care workers in terms of its implications for the gendered division of labor, this research points to a perpetuation of gender inequalities on a global level. Most authors observe that men do not replace women as primary caregivers either in transnational or in employer families. At the same time, the global care chains literature points to new inequalities of class, race, ethnicity, and place of residence. These need to be understood from a perspective focused on interdependent or entangled inequalities.2 In assessing the impact that these care chains have on care receivers and on the whole system of care provision both locally and globally, Hochschild (2000) and others introduced the economic notions of “care surplus” and “care drain,” grounded in neo-Marxist dependency theories that have explained the mechanisms supporting economic inequalities between the global North and the South (Cardoso/Faleto 1971; Wallerstein 1979; in Escrivá 2005). From this perspective, global care chains are created by importing care from poor to rich countries, leading to new care deficits or “care drains,” by which migrant mothers and their children are most affected. Employer parents and their children, in contrast, enjoy the benefits of outsourcing, which are also conceptualized in terms of “surplus love.” This view expands the notion of economic inequalities to embrace not only inequalities of labor but also “inequalities of emotion” (Yeates 2009: 47). Global care chains are thus conceptualized as a mechanism for extracting “emotional surplus value” and as a process that is contributing to a “global emotional inequality” (Hochschild 2010: 26; emphasis in original) between poorer and wealthier mothers and their respective children. In a similar vein, Hochschild’s influential essay entitled “Love and Gold” puts forward the idea that the care and love provided by “third world” women is “an unfairly distributed resource—extracted from one place and enjoyed somewhere else,” similar to “the nineteenth-century extraction of gold, ivory, and rubber from the Third World” (2003: 23; 26). This author concludes that love and care are the “the new gold” extracted at a low cost from the poorer countries by the richer ones. Following this argument, Parreñas (2005a: 13-14) introduced the term “the global economy of care” to draw attention to global “care inequities”—disparities of state and family care resources between nations based on the macro-process of care resource extraction, “the systematic withdrawal of care from poor nations to rich nations in the global economy.”

2

In this study, I use the terms “interdependent” and “entangled” to refer to interdependencies between various axes of inequality and between social processes at different geographical levels (local, national, and global) (Costa 2013).

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These perspectives have raised controversial debates. Many scholars acknowledge a certain degree of agency in migration processes and therefore reject a clear distinction between “winners” and “losers” of this global division of labor (Lutz 2002; Escrivá 2005; Zimmerman/Litt/Bose 2006; Yeates 2009). This goes along with the critique of the idea of global care chains as a one-way transfer and the assumption that “women careworkers (in this case, migrants) have a fixed amount of love, which, if given to an employer, must be taken from one’s own family” (Zimmerman/Litt/Bose 2006: 18-19). Instead, it is argued, attention should be drawn to the ways in which possible care deficits are addressed in the migrants’ families and communities of origin, and to the overall transformation of care practices and meanings among both migrant and employing families involved (ibid., see also Yeates 2009). As my research will show, physical separation does not equal an end to caregiving, but rather shifts the ways in which care is provided. Further points of critique also relate to the limited focus on long-distance mothering, which disregards the diversity and transitional character of transnational care (Yeates 2009) and bears the risk of reproducing stereotyped gender conceptions of domestic work and affects (Orozco/Paiewonsky/García 2008).3 The analysis proposed here supports these approaches. It also draws on the contributions of a number of scholars who have looked at care chains that emerge under migration flows that include mothers as well as other types of migrants (e.g., childless migrants, family migration) and at the central role of the elderly as transnational providers and receivers of care (Escrivá 2004; 2005; Yeates 2005; 2009; Williams 2010). This literature is important in reflecting the diversity and complexity of care practices that are being transnationalized as a consequence of migration. It highlights the need to consider the perspectives, positions, and practices of care receivers, such as children and the elderly, which tend to be largely absent in the literature (for a similar critique see Isaksen 2012). In addition, more research is needed regarding the question of how states contribute to the formation of transnational care chains and the reproduction of entangled inequalities. Here, these questions will be further elaborated. As a first step, the link between care and social inequality needs to be further explored.

3

While most research still focuses on migrant domestic workers, the use of the concept has been extended to examine the global care migrations of religious workers and the increase in migration for skilled and high-skilled care work in different occupations and to a broader range of institutional environments, including residential homes (Yeates 2009; 2012). In addition, it has been suggested to connect discussions on care chains with other forms of care-related migration, including migration for receiving care services abroad, as in medical travel, retirement migration, sex tourism, and marriage (Huang et al. 2012a; Kofman 2012; Yeates 2012).

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2.2.2 Linking Care and Social Inequalities For the purpose of this study, I define care as “the work of looking after the physical, psychological, emotional, and developmental needs of one or more people” (Raghuram 2012: 157). This encompasses the paid and unpaid provision of support, involving a dual meaning in terms of work activities (“caring for someone,” i.e., work, tasks, labor) and feeling states (“caring about someone,” i.e., emotion, affection, love) (Ungerson 1983). As signaled in the introductory part of this chapter, the conceptualization of care in this research stems from two basic premises: First, care is a key dimension of human life and development. Second, care constitutes a key element of differentiation between social groups and thus reflects, responds, and contributes to the reproduction of social inequalities. Broadly speaking, care includes a variety of human experiences and relationships of obligation, trust, loyalty, and commitment that are concerned with the well being of others, and as such is considered to be a core aspect of social reproduction (Kofman/Raghuram 2009). These practices of care, as well as the needs and meanings associated with them, are socially constructed and therefore fluid and changeable. Given its relational character, care can be conceptualized as a social and ethical praxis (Daly/Lewis 2000; Brückner 2010), which is based on an underlying ethic of care, defined as “a set of values and norms guiding human action and the interdependent relationships established with others” (Kofman/Raghuram 2009: 49). In a similar vein, Gerhard (2010: 104) notes that “[...] caring refers not only to material needs but also to a personal, emotional, affectionate relationship to a dependent other, whose demand or need for care is often justified by moral obligation.” While being linked to daily survival, the ways in which care is provided bear a strong moral and ethical significance and constitute a key dimension of human life aspirations, development, and the functioning of societies in a broader sense (Razavi 2007; Orozco 2009a). The notion of care used in this inquiry involves the satisfaction of human needs through interdependent social relationships (Orozco 2006; 2010).4 In this understanding, care is not a finished product but “a relation that is established between the cared for and the caregiver” (Orozco 2006: 181; my translation) and care needs are shared by all persons to a greater or lesser extent throughout the life cycle. In

4

This understanding questions the dichotomy between autonomy and dependency. It rejects perspectives that identify care as a one-directional practice, flowing from an (independent) caregiver to a (dependent) care receiver, and that limits care needs to those who are considered to be dependent upon others, such as children, the elderly, the disabled, and those with learning difficulties (Daly/Lewis 2000; Reynolds/Zontini 2006; Orozco 2006).

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other words, all persons have to take care of themselves and depend upon others in different ways at different moments in their lives (Nussbaum 2003). In this way, dependency constitutes a state of normalcy while independence represents a dominant masculinist and capitalist fiction (Fraser/Gordon 1994).5 Considering care as an interdependent relationship means paying attention to the agency of both caregivers and care receivers as well as the self care of those who assume the task of care provision.6 In this sense, the term “take care of yourself” points to the interdependency between the care of others and self care as a basis for care provision (Jurczyk 2010: 61). Despite its centrality and ethical foundations, the social construction and organization of care has been deeply inscribed in relationships of domination. While care is central to the functioning of markets and societies, the absence of a sense of social responsibility regarding care, coupled with the relegation of care to households, and subsequently to women, has produced a close association between care, social inequality, and exclusion from citizenship (Orozco 2006; 2010; Razavi 2007; Rerrich 2010). This is due to limited or absent remuneration and social benefits, the non-existence or non-application of legal regulation of care work, its devaluation and relegation to the private sphere, as well as its absence from statistics (Orozco 2006). Under these conditions, care work may contribute to the caregiver’s financial hardship and poverty during their working lives as well as in old age. The low value attributed to care work emerges from a cultural system of meaning production based on historical and sociopolitical systems of gender differences and racialized hierarchies (Gutiérrez Rodríguez 2010). Within this hierarchical epistemological system, rationality and productivity are favored while corporeal, emotional, and “reproductive” qualities are discredited, leading to a gender-based separation between paid and unpaid labor (Lutz 2008b).7 This hierarchy is sustained by 5

This does not mean, however, that the care need is always equally experienced in all life situations and all moments in time. Persons may find themselves in a situation of dependency, where they are in need of intensive or specialized care. However, their dependency should be understood as the product of a social condition, tied to the social construction of needs in a particular historical moment (Orozco 2006).

6

Self care, albeit a prerequisite for any type of care relation, has received only little scholarly attention. It manifests itself in multiple aspects, ranging from eating habits, hygiene, and the search for leisure time and privacy to the prevention of risks (Setién/ Acosta 2011).

7

The concept of social reproduction has been criticized for reaffirming the hierarchical placement of “reproductive” activities as subordinate to “productive” processes. Since the 1990s, therefore, the debate on care has almost, but not completely, replaced the debate on social reproduction in feminist theory (Apitzsch/Schmidbaur 2010). Yet, some scholars also argue in favor of an understanding of transnational migration and care

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contemporary capitalist production systems, which place the logic of capital accumulation above the sustainability of human life (Carrasco 2001). From the perspective of classical economics, therefore, care work is not considered part of the economy, which means that it has not been adequately measured and considered in policy making (Orozco 2009b; 2010). Deconstructing this dominant epistemology has been an important concern of feminist scholars.8 While early perspectives focused on the centrality of domestic work for the reproduction of the labor force, subsequent debates in feminist movement and academic writing have recognized the value of care work itself as the essential basis for the sustainability of human life, which, however, remains to be socially devalued and invisible (Carrasco 2001; 2009; Orozco 2006). Since the 1990s, therefore, care has occupied a central place in feminist welfare regime analyses (Knijn/Kremer 1997), which demand the social inclusion of caregivers and care receivers as citizens with equal rights and entitlements. These demands emerge from a critique of the gendered division of care work, which is twofold given that the unequal division of care responsibilities occurs not only between men and women within the family, but also between the family and the state (Gerhard 2010). Against this background, care is increasingly being brought into public debate, and addressed as a core issue of social policy and redistribution. For the present research, this perspective is important in that it allows reflecting upon care as a public issue that combines inputs from different sources beyond the sphere of households and families (Razavi 2007). In particular, it supports the idea of care as a social responsibility and emphasizes the role of states in shaping the social distribution and valorization of care, as well as the inequalities upon which care practices are being constructed. In fact, states have contributed to the social construction of families as the central agents of care. More specifically, normative standards established in political and social discourse across the European and Latin American regions have given social and cultural legitimacy to the nuclear family

through the lens of social reproduction as a concept that places care within a broader framework of activities and sites that involve the daily and generational reproduction of human beings (Kofman 2012). 8

Based on a critique of Marx’s concept of social reproduction, which refers to the perpetuation of modes of production and the structures of class inequalities inscribed in them (Laslett/Brenner 1989), early feminist debates have pointed to the central role of domestic work in the production and reproduction of society (Molyneux 1979; Benería/Sen 1981). This work has shown how the domestic work performed by the “housewife” forms the basis of the production of surplus value in capitalism, given that it is absorbed by capital without any monetary or social recompense (e.g., Dalla Costa/James 1973).

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model, considered a “natural” unit around which daily life and caregiving revolves.9 This model has shaped social and legal institutions, not only in Western societies but also through the expansion of Western market and culture in Latin America (Jelin 1990; 1998; Delsing 1995), where it has been promoted by market and state, through the design of public policies (Sunkel 2007). In both regional contexts, Catholic doctrine has also played an important role in legitimizing the nuclear family as a normative model for marriage patterns and conjugal sexuality, especially in cities and among the middle classes (Jelin 2005; Saraceno/Naldini 2001). At the same time, hegemonic discourse has obscured a large variety of alternative family forms (Saraceno/Naldini 2001; Jelin 2005; Gerhard 2010),10 including those that have emerged as a result of recent demographic changes.11 For the purpose of this research, families can be defined as social units that involve relations of production, reproduction and distribution, a hierarchical structure, strong ideological and emotional components that cement their organization and contribute to their persistence and reproduction over time, and the coexistence of collective and individual interests, which are based on the positioning of each member within the social structure (Jelin 1998). Within families, dependency relations among genders and generations may be social and economic, and/or emotion9

The nuclear family model was supported by the development of industrial capitalism. It involved the privatization of the family and its construction as an affective unit, constituted by a monogamist married couple and their children, who have set up their home by means of marriage, where sexuality, procreation, and cohabitation coincide within the domestic sphere. Following a clear sexual division of labor, men are held responsible for breadwinning and disciplining children, while women assume various “reproductive” tasks, including biological reproduction (having children), daily reproduction (household work), and social reproduction (tasks that maintain the social system, especially care and socialization of children, transmission of norms and accepted and expected behavioral patterns) (Jelin 1998; Carrasco 2001).

10 In Latin America, the existence of free conjugal unions has always involved different forms of co-residence and different degrees of stability and paternal recognition of children (Jelin 2005). 11 Since the mid-20th century, demographic changes in both regions have involved a decrease of fertility and mortality rates, an increase of life expectancy at birth, the aging of the population, increasing urbanization, and a separation between sexuality and procreation. There have also been tendencies toward an increase in the age of marriage, singles and extra-marital unions and births, divorce and separations, as well as second or third marriages (first and second “demographic transition”) (Ariza/Oliveira 2002; Jelin 2005). These transformations have contributed to a growing diversification of household structures, as reflected, for instance, by the increase in female-headed households in Peru, a point to which I return in Chapter 4.

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al, and are mainly found in the household where family members cohabitate and perform different activities according to their age, sex, and other conditions. Families are not naturally derived but rather social constructions that are reproduced and transformed on the basis of everyday action (Carsten 2000) to form a “socially constructed, situationally contingent cluster of meanings” (Holstein/Gubrium 1995: 896). This is clearly revealed by the practices of transnational families, which are not restricted to a single location, but still “hold together and create something that can be seen as a feeling of collective welfare and unity” (Bryceson/Vuorela 2002: 3). Focusing on the daily practice of “doing family” also allows consideration of the fluidity of private and public spheres in the construction of domesticity in the sense that even relations between paid domestic workers and their employers can be described as quasi-familial (Lutz 2007a). Despite the fluidity and changeability of family relations and multiple models of household organization, the gendered division of care labor has remained surprisingly stable. In both regional contexts considered here, a common characteristic of families continues to be their patriarchal organization, which involves women’s subordination to and dependency upon men (father/husband) and their exclusion from the rights of citizenship (Jelin 2005). While women’s labor market participation has significantly increased over the past twenty years, the majority of domestic and practical, “hands-on” care work still falls on women. This applies to Europe (Lutz 2008b) in similar ways as it does to Peru (Fuller 2004) and the Latin American region in general (Krmpotic/Ieso 2010). Indicators of this imbalance are time surveys that show that domestic work is unequally distributed between adult male and female family members (Esquivel/Faur/Jelin 2012). In the case of Peru, the total number of hours per day dedicated to unpaid domestic work is 19 times higher for women than for men (CEPAL 2012). Thus, when looking at transnational households and employer households in care chains between Peru and Italy, it is important to question how this unequal division of labor is renegotiated on a transnational level. A further related question involves the uneven distribution of care responsibilities between families and other non-domestic agents in the context of welfare and care regimes and the ways in which these relationships are affected by migration. The term “welfare regime” derives from a widely known study by Esping-Andersen (1990), which shows how social policies and their effects differ between European countries.12 While his model has been broadly criticized because it does not discuss

12 Based on three central dimensions—including state-market relations, social stratification, and decommodification—Esping-Andersen distinguishes three regime types: the liberal, the conservative, and the social democratic welfare regime. Decommodification in this context refers to “the degree to which individuals, or families, can uphold a socially

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gender inequalities, the key concept of his analysis—the relationship between the state, the market, and the family—has been widely embraced and expanded to incorporate the missing gender dimension (Lewis 1992; Sainsbury 1994).13 Accordingly, considering the role of the family in the context of welfare regimes means examining the particular “responsibility mix” among a number of actors, which include not only the family, but also the market, state, and voluntary sector, as suggested by the notion of the “welfare diamond” (Evers/Pijl/Ungerson 1994). In this architecture, the state plays a role qualitatively different to that of families, communities, and markets, becoming not just a provider of welfare but also a significant decision maker about the responsibilities to be assumed by the other actors. Here, for a number of reasons, the notion of the welfare regime needs to be discussed from a critical perspective. First of all, a major shortcoming of much of the literature on welfare regimes is its methodological nationalism. So far, this literature has been primarily concerned with the development of classifications and typologies allowing for international comparison and has paid only limited attention to persisting levels of class, ethnic, and gender inequalities that lead to differential access to welfare and care within but also across national borders. This applies not only to the conceptualization of European welfare regimes, which has become an established field of research, but also to attempts to develop a comparative approach to welfare regimes in the global South (Gough/Wood 2006; Rudra 2007), with some focusing on Latin America (Martínez Franzoni 2008; Barrientos 2009).14 Overall, these approaches have mainly focused on applying Esping-Andersen’s model to non-Western contexts, while ignoring central aspects of the reproduction of social inequalities (Wehr 2009). acceptable standard of living independently of market participation” (Esping-Andersen 1990: 37). 13 Feminist scholars have analyzed, for instance, the extent to which states promote or discourage women’s access to paid employment and social security, considered as important social rights that allow women to “exit” out of the family (Hobson 1990). Historically, women have gained entitlements only by virtue of their dependent status within the family as wives and mothers (Lewis 1992). This way, to a higher or lesser degree, and with some country-specific differences, welfare regimes have tended to support women’s dependency on men. 14 A central concern of this literature has been to deconstruct the privileged notion of the state, present in Esping-Andersen’s approach, as the key institutional actor in defining welfare regimes. In this context it has been argued that the notion of the welfare regime, unlike that of the welfare state, does not necessarily imply a strong state sector and may even be based on scarce or absent social policy and state presence, as in the case of Peru and many other Latin American countries (Gough/Wood 2006; Martínez Franzoni/Voorend 2009).

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A second criticism, developed from a feminist perspective, is related to the reduced capacity of Esping-Andersen’s model to examine variations and changes in the provision of care (Lutz/Palenga-Möllenbeck 2011). More specifically, this model has been criticized for its focus on social transfers, which has resulted in a strong emphasis on relationships between market and state and the social problems that may result from non-participation in the labor market (Bettio/Plantenga 2004; see also Anttonen/Sipilä 1996; Daly/Lewis 2000). In contrast, it has given little attention to relationships between state and family and, in particular, to care provision, social services, and the ways in which the division of care responsibilities are being restructured between family, market, and state. From this perspective, a number of scholars have shifted focus to the institutional frameworks of care provision in a variety of countries, also defined as “care regimes” (e.g., Anttonen/Sipilä 1996: 98; Bettio/Plantenga 2004: 85), “care arrangements” (Pfau-Effinger 2005), or “models” of care (Daly 2001: 33) as a central part of welfare production.15 Jenson (1997) raises three questions that become crucial when care is placed at the center of social policy analysis: Who cares? Who pays? and: How is care provided? These questions shift the analytical focus to specific practices and relationships, which are central for analyzing entangled inequalities in transnational care chains, including the caregivers and their relation to care receivers, the question of how care is financed, and the institutional locations of care and (changing) conditions under which care is provided. For the reasons mentioned above, the analysis offered in this study will focus on care regimes rather than on welfare regimes. Care regimes are also defined as “the institutional and spatial arrangements (locations) for the provision and allocation of care” (Kofman/Raghuram 2009: 51) or the “infrastructure of care, namely how care is organized and delivered” (Raghuram 2012: 163). Considering the fact that the social organization of care depends on the participation of multiple sectors, care regimes have also been conceptualized as a “care diamond” (Razavi 2007: 21). This notion allows evaluating the differential costs of care for families, according to the role played by the other sectors within this architecture (Esquivel/Faur/Jelin 2012).16 It has been criticized, however, that it may also be misleading to suggest a 15 In this context, it has also been shown that despite the diversity of welfare regimes across different European and Latin American countries, families, particularly women to a higher or lesser extent, have been the main providers of care in all of them (Lewis 1993; Martínez Franzoni 2007). It becomes evident that care regimes, as well as gender regimes, understood as complex rules and norms anchored in the gendered order of a society (Lutz 2007c), cut across different typologies of welfare regimes. 16 In addition to families and states, communities, including non-profit and voluntary organizations, may also play a role that needs to be considered when asking about the ways in which care is organized on a transnational level. In addition, while the market has always

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relatively stable architecture and distribution of responsibilities, especially when it is applied to the context of entire (national) societies (ibid.). In Peru, people’s access to care is strongly influenced by class, ethnicity, and place of residence, as I outline in Chapter 4. Thus, it is more adequate to presuppose the co-existence of a variety of care regimes, tied to the segmented offer and variable quality of policies that reproduce social stratification. While care regimes are considered a central part of welfare state regulation (e.g., Razavi 2007; Lutz/Palenga-Möllenbeck 2011), they encompass formal and informal modes of care provision (Bettio/Plantenga 2004). In this context, informal care refers to unregulated and mostly unpaid care for children, the elderly, or others, which is closely related to social discourses and relations of power and inequality (already mentioned in previous parts of this chapter), as well as to cultural practices and norms or “care cultures.” “Care cultures” refer to the dominant national and local cultural discourses on what constitutes appropriate care and who should provide care (e.g., families or institutions for older people’s care) (Williams/Gavanas 2008; Williams 2010; 2012). Formal provisions of care, in contrast, are those regulated by law or other contractual agreement, which depend on a variety of inputs, including provisions concerning working conditions (e.g., parental leave, career breaks, reduction of working time), monetary benefits (such as cash payments or tax benefits), and benefits or services provided in kind (the public provision of institutional and home-based care services) (Bettio/Plantenga 2004; see also Anttonen/Sipilä 1996; Daly 2001). Care regimes in Mediterranean and Latin American countries have also been deemed “familistic,” given that they most intensively resort to the family for care provision (Aguirre 2008; Batthyány 2010). In the cases examined in my research, the importance of family-based, informal care is an essential factor for understanding the formation of transnational care chains and simultaneous transnationalization of care regimes. In considering care regimes from a transnational perspective, this research draws on a recent literature that analyzes the intersections of transnational migration and care regimes, both in the context of Europe (e.g., Bettio/Simonazzi/ Villa 2006; Williams/Gavanas 2008; Lutz/Palenga-Möllenbeck 2010) and Latin America (e.g., Carcedo/Chaves/Lexartza 2011; Gil/Orozco 2011; Anderson 2012; played an important role in delivering care, this role has increased as a consequence of a growing commodification of care (Raghuram 2012), as I further outline in section 2.3.1. To consider the interplay between these sectors, the present research also uses the term “social organization of care,” proposed by Orozco/Paiewonsky/García (2008: 100) and other scholars of migration and care chains in Latin America to refer to the form, composition, and quality of the “care diamond,” its capacity to provide the care needed in a particular context, and the transformations produced by the entanglements of relations within global care chains.

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Espinoza 2012; Herrera 2012c). From this perspective, scholars have started to speak of care regimes at different spatial (local, national, regional, and global) scales (e.g., Herrera 2011) or to put forward the demand of a rights-based “global care regime” that moves away from multiple forms of exclusion and inequality (e.g., Orozco 2010). In short, a perspective focused on care regimes is suitable for understanding both the local and national particularities as well as transnational dynamics of care provision that will also be part of my discussion in the following sections. 2.2.3 Particularities of Transnational Care Chains between Peru and Italy What are the particularities of Peruvian migration to Italy? In what ways do the analysis of care practices between Italy and Peru enrich ongoing discussions on global care chains? Studying the case of Peruvian migrants in Italy allows me to address several issues that have remained marginal to this debate and were, in part, already mentioned in the introduction to this study. First, a central characteristic of Peruvian transnational migration is its feminization, which is particularly evident in Peruvian flows to Southern Europe (Italy and Spain) and to Chile and Argentina (Paerregaard 2007).17 This migration flow includes not only mothers, who make up 63.5% of all Peruvian migrant women in Italy (ISMU 2009), but also an important number of single women who migrate to take up employment in the domestic service sector (Long 2008). While Peruvian emigration responds to a diversity of factors that will be detailed in this research, the care demands and policies of the receiving countries are of central importance in sustaining and shaping this migration flow and its feminization. In the case of Italy, this is revealed by an unprecedented demand for Peruvian migrants in the sector of home-based elderly care. While the global care chains literature has commonly focused on migrant women employed as nannies, more recent publications reveal “shifts in the application of the ‘care chain’ from children to the elderly” (Parreñas 2012: 270). So far, however, there is still a lack of empirical studies about migrant home-based elderly care (Santagati 2008b; Iecovich/

17 The term feminization of migration refers to recent developments over the past two decades of the 20th century that have seen a sustained increase in the proportion of women who migrate independently in search of employment, rather than as family dependents migrating with their spouses or for the purposes of family reunification. These women often assume higher economic and social costs due to longer travel distances and the temporary or long-term separation from their family members (Ehrenreich/Hochschild 2003; Pessar 2005).

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Doron 2012), but also about the care of the aged generations in the context of transnational families (Escrivá 2005). Migrants from Peru or another Latin American countries are often preferred as caregivers to the elderly, not only in Italy but also in other receiving countries such as Spain, because they are thought to represent “a culture that still venerates the elderly” (Pedone 2007: 261). This draws attention to the role of social categorizations based on nationality and ethnicity, which shape the new division of care labor in the sector of elderly care. In care chains between Peru and Italy, ethnicity and nationality can therefore be supposed to play an important role as a marker of belonging and non-belonging and in determining the negotiation processes between Peruvian migrant workers and their employers.18 In fact, the negotiation of national/ethnic differences, status, and social boundaries between migrant domestic workers and their employers is of central importance in this employment sector, as noted by Lutz (2002: 91), who observes that with the presence of transregional migrants in European households, “the maid issue has evolved from one of class to one of ethnicity and nationality.” To understand these inequalities from a historical perspective, it is sufficient to consider the dynamics of internal migration and domestic work. The introduction of internal migrant women into urban, upper-class households has existed in the history of many European countries (Sarti 2008) and has also been common across the whole Latin American region (Jelin 1977), where it has been strongly marked by inequalities of race and ethnicity, in addition to class and social status (Bunster/ Chaney 1985; Radcliffe 1999). In Peru, ethnic and class differences have always had strong impacts on the decisions, prospects, and careers of women (Fuller 2004). As in other countries, status improvement among women of middle-class families has been largely based on the paid domestic work of women from poorer sectors, often of rural backgrounds, who have worked under a scarcely regulated regime (see also Blofield 2009). In Latin America, domestic service is deeply rooted in the colonial past, where it was an integral part of the patriarchal household unit, as noted by Bunster/Chaney (1985: 26):

18 In this research, I refer to ethnicity and race as social constructions, produced in particular through “political formations of social meanings (discourses)” (Gunaratnam 2003: 28). In this context, “race” functions primarily, though not exclusively, as a signifier of biological difference and “ethnicity” as a signifier of cultural difference and heritage. Understood in this sense, ethnicity has also been defined as “the production and reproduction of collective and solidarity bonds relating to origin or cultural difference” (Anthias 2001: 844). Still, the difference between these two categories is not always evident and the use of the notions of “ethnicity” or “ethnic group” may also minimize or draw attention away from existing racist practices (Stolcke 2000).

34 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN TRANSNATIONAL CARE C HAINS “[...] the servant throughout Latin American history—most often racially and/or culturally distinct from the master class—has subsidized the classes above her, permitting even modest Spanish households to live in a style which would be beyond their means if there were not a servant class.”

As these historical accounts have shown, most of the internal migrants have been young, single women from poor and rural families, whose migration constituted either a stepping stone toward marriage and adulthood or a strategy for achieving mobility by passing from rurality to urbanity and from pre-modern life to modernity (for Peru see also Smith 1973; Figueroa/Anderson 1981).19 In recent decades, the migration of women who look for a job in the domestic service sector has extended its reach beyond national borders (Herrera 2005a). An important novelty is the unprecedented number of mothers among global domestic workers (Ehrenreich/Hochschild 2003). In addition, compared to previous generations of women who worked in domestic service, today’s global care workers tend to be more educated. Their migration often follows the completion of educational training, sometimes higher education, or some years of professional experience (Lutz 2002). Moreover, transnational migrants, including Peruvian migrants in Italy, do not tend to be the poorest citizens in their country, as I outline in Chapter 4. Often, they leave qualified but poorly paid jobs in their countries of origin to work as domestics abroad, where they earn (comparatively) better salaries, allowing them to achieve a higher social status within their families and communities of origin. At the same time, they experience downward social mobility in their newly adopted countries due to the low social value attached to this work. This means that similar to what Parreñas (2001a: 150-196) observes with regard to Filipina domestic workers, “contradictory class mobility” is a common experience for these workers. At the same time, the employment of migrant caretakers in the receiving countries is no longer a privilege of wealthier families, but has become a practice that is found across all social classes (Ozyegin/Hondagneu-Sotelo 2008). This applies especially in the case of Italy, where the parameters of employers of migrant domestic workers have grown far beyond elites to include middle- or even lower-class sectors (Sarti 2008; Ambrosini 2010a). This is also a product of a series of social and migration policies that actively promote the recruitment of migrant domestic workers on the basis of migration quotas and amnesties as well as 19 In these cases, introduction into domestic service was often incompatible with marriage and child rearing (Jelin 1977; Blofield 2009). In exploring the patterns of rural migrants in Lima, Peru in the 1980s, Bunster/Chaney (1985) observed that these tended to be young girls or adolescents of indigenous background who searched for jobs as live-in domestics. These women, however, were often fired when they became pregnant and had to resort to street selling.

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the uncontrolled granting of cash benefits to persons in conditions of dependency.20 Based on these policies, Italy has attracted a large number of migrants from the Andean countries and other parts of the globe. Yet, while the Italian state recognizes the dependence of Italian families on migrant domestic workers, their rights and benefits have remained inferior to those of the national population (Scrinzi 2008). Hence, the present case draws attention to inequalities based on citizenship that, as argued in this research, affect not only the conditions of work and residence of Peruvian migrants but also their relationships and practices as transnational family members. Peruvian migration to Italy also sheds light on the particularities of care and gender regimes that influence the practices of both employers and transnational families in the context of migration and the migrants’ introduction into home-based elderly care. These may contribute to ongoing discussions of the ways in which gender and intergenerational relationships are reshaped in global care chains. The Italian care regime is known for its weakness in social services and policies and for the central role given to the family “as an irreplaceable resource,” as well as to “family care [...] officially approved as part of the welfare umbrella” (Dell’Orto/ Taccani 1993: 109; see also Bimbi 1993; Bettio/Simonazzi/Villa 2006). As a result, gender inequalities have tended to be higher here than in other European countries. Researchers of global care chains have repeatedly argued that female employers are the main beneficiaries of the recruitment of migrant care workers, given that they are able to reconcile paid work and family life (e.g., Orozco/Paiewonsky/García 2008; Arriagada/Moreno 2011). However, how much is this true in Italy, where female employers are expected to assume multiple caregiving tasks, which include not only elderly care but also childcare and domestic work? Besides, the hiring of migrants to care for the dependent elderly also raises questions about the renegotiation of intergenerational hierarchies. More specifically, it begs the questions of to what extent elderly care receivers participate in the decision-making process and in what ways does this affect their wellbeing. So far, these questions have hardly been addressed in the care chains literature. Gender and care regimes also shape the family praxis of transnational migrants and influence their working prospects and trajectories. Much research, however, is limited to studying the experiences of migrant mothers without separating them into 20 Chapters 4 and 5 include an analysis of these policies, which show some similarities to those that have been introduced in other Southern European countries, such as Greece and Spain. At the same time, they differ from the policies of countries such as Germany, Nordic States and Netherlands which refuse to recognize the dependence of families on foreign domestic workers, resulting in the absence of regulation and the construction of migrant domestic workers as invisible, mainly undocumented subjects, who live under the difficult conditions of life in a “twilight zone” (Lutz 2008a: 6).

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different groups according to professional and class backgrounds as well as transnational care responsibilities; additionally, much of this research does not separate groups of migrant women and men from each other (for a similar critique see Yeates 2005). Looking at the participation of Peruvian men in migration flows to Italy and their introduction into the elderly care sector21 allows going beyond the predominant focus on women in global care chains. This means considering the multiple strategies by which both migrant women and men care for the Italian aged as well as for their own transnational family members, in addition to the ways in which gender and intergenerational hierarchies are renegotiated through these practices. Here, it is important to note that migration and trans-local and shared family care practices are not new in the history of the Andes, as I noted in an earlier discussion on internal migration. These internal migration flows have also involved the separation of families and the maintenance of trans-local ties and support networks based on kinship reciprocity. Additionally, parallels exist between the transnational care arrangements of migrant women and local modes of fostering and comothering. In the Andes, child circulation is an important kinship practice based on co-residence, in which young people participate in the care of their elderly and their home; in return, these young people may be provided with access to instruction, education, shelter, or affection (Leinaweaver 2008a; 2010a). Similar arrangements emerge with the emigration of Peruvian migrant women, who rely on strategies of shared caregiving for the personal care of family dependents left behind. While there are continuities between migration and caregiving within and beyond national borders, transnationalization introduces a new dimension to the study of social relations, which also affects the reproduction of social inequalities (e.g., Weiß 2005; Pries 2008). Both local and transnational care practices are socially organized in networks involving a diversity of social agents (public services, the private, for-profit and non-profit sectors, households and other social networks, previously subsumed under the term “care diamond”). Yet, transnational care practices respond to the regulatory powers of different nation-states and institutional frameworks (ibid.). These contribute to new inequalities of citizenship and migration status that affect the migrants’ access to resources and entitlements. In this regard, the case of Peruvian migration to Italy will provide insight into the role of the Italian migration regime in shaping care practices and inequalities within care chains that extend national borders. 21 In Italy, the hiring of male domestic workers is more frequent than in other receiving countries. In the mid-1990s, a quarter or even a third of declared migrant domestic workers in Italy were male. Recently, the proportion of men among all declared (migrant and national) employees in the domestic and care sector has fluctuated at around 10-11 percent (Sarti/Scrinzi 2010).

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At this point, it is important to mention another characteristic of Peruvian migration to Italy, which is closely related to the role of migration regimes: the tendency towards family reunification and family formation among Andean migrants in Italy (Lagomarsino 2006; Ambrosini 2010a). In this process, the proportion of migrant men and children has increased considerably in recent years, leading to the formation of new migrant households. It can be supposed that these developments lead to a diversification of transnational care chains, based on simultaneous local and transnational paid and unpaid care arrangements. This reflects an articulation of labor and family migration circuits, which has not received sufficient attention in the care chains literature (Kofman 2012).22 Hence, this case allows exploring the fluidity and diverse characteristics of transnational care chains, which also depend on the particular stage of the migration process. All in all, it becomes evident that Peruvian migration to Italy may provide important insights into the multiple configurations of global care chains and their implications on the study of entangled social inequalities. These considerations flow into a number of broad questions and issues to be addressed in this study. 2.2.4 Analytical Framework and Research Assumptions One of the main aims of my study is to explore the reproduction of entangled inequalities in transnational care chains between Peru and Italy. It seeks to examine how the formation of these chains affects the social organization of care work among its principal actors and how this reorganization impacts their access to resources and power as well as the emotional bonds built within these chains. The research also asks how state policies, through their influence on care, gender, migration, and labor regimes, shape the care practices and inequalities between these actors and in what ways they contribute to a transnationalization of care regimes. The actors whose care practices are examined for my study include Peruvian migrant women and men (with and without children) with experience as caregivers of the

22 Family formation may also transcend the boundaries of paid and unpaid work. As scholars of migration in Asia have shown, migrant women may switch from being domestic workers to becoming the wives of their elderly employers. In Taiwan, elderly Taiwanese men marry Chinese women for old age, while the latter marry them for their personal, and their children’s, long-term security. Thus, marriage becomes a strategic exchange in the reciprocity of care, which reshapes the meanings of care relations in migration (Huang/Thang/Toyota 2012a). While these types of care relations go beyond the scope of this research, it should be noted that they also exist in Peruvian migration to Italy, where Peruvian women employed as elderly carers marry the Italian elderly or another member of the employer family.

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elderly in Milan, Italy, as well as their employers and transnational family members. The analytical perspective taken in this research is based on three central assumptions, which are closely related to the questions raised above as well as to the broader issues discussed in the previous sections: 1. The formation of transnational care chains is part of, and contributes to, a transnationalization of care regimes 2. Transnational care chains involve a reproduction of social inequalities that have historically shaped the social organization of care work on local and transnational levels 3. State policies impact care, gender, migration, and labor regimes and contribute to the reproduction of social inequalities in transnational care chains Starting from the first assumption, one part of this study is dedicated to understanding the particular characteristics of care regimes in Peru and Italy that contribute to the formation of transnational care chains between both countries as well as the ways in which these regimes are being transnationalized as a result of migration (Chapters 4 and 5). As argued by Raghuram (2012), considering these particularities is important to avoid the risk of generalization in the literature on global care chains and move toward a place-based understanding of care, which considers the notions of “care chains” and “care diamonds” in their interrelations (Raghuram 2012). This means analyzing not only the immediate level of the family but also the infrastructures of care that are present in the sending and receiving contexts of migration. Based on these arrangements, migrants, as well as their employers and family members, develop their own understandings, expectations, norms, and ideologies of care, and also renegotiate them in the face of changing demands, practices, and structural constraints that need to be examined in this study. As care is being reconfigured on a transnational level, this may also involve a restructuring of the institutional frameworks of care provision, which have emerged in the context of specific state regimes. Drawing on the second and third assumptions, my analysis of transnational care chains looks at the interdependent social inequalities that shape the reorganization of care practices between the main actors of these chains (Chapters 5, 6 and 7). For the purpose of this research, I use the concept of “entangled inequalities,” coined by Costa (2013), which refers to both interdependencies between different regions and diverse social categorizations. Accordingly, inequalities are defined as: “[...] asymmetries between positions of certain individuals or groups of individuals in a relationally (not spatially) determined context. This concerns economic positions (defined by in-

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come, access to resources and so on) as well as political and legal entitlements (rights, political power etc.).” (Costa 2013: 49).

This understanding builds on established definitions of inequality research, such as the concept proposed by Tilly (1999: 25), which refers to social inequalities as “the uneven distribution of attributes among a set of social units such as individuals, categories, groups, or regions,” and by Kreckel (1992), according to which social inequalities emerge where limited access to commonly obtainable and desirable social goods and/or positions persist in such a way as to restrict or privilege the life chances of certain individuals, groups, or societies. In this definition, social inequalities may be distributive, as in the case of unequal access to social goods, or relational, where the positions of individuals, groups, or societies lead to unequal rights and possibilities of action and interaction (ibid.). This concept also builds on a long research tradition in interdependent inequalities of race, ethnicity, and class in Latin America and has much in common with intersectional approaches to inequalities (see also Roth 2013), which are more commonly used in the global care chains literature.23 In contrast to these classical perspectives, however, the concept of “entangled inequalities” goes beyond the nation-state as a predefined unit of analysis and instead proposes relational units that incorporate all relevant factors contributing to the reproduction of inequalities (Costa 2011; 2013; see also Braig/Costa/Göbel 2013). In short, the concept of entangled inequalities is well suited for studying transnational care chains as relational units of analysis proposed for this study. It may also allow a critical reflection on the care chains concept, as it is applied to the study of asymmetries on a global level. In particular, it provides a ground for studying the intersection of different axes of inequality, which are of central importance in the global care chains literature. In line with the concept of entangled inequalities, I do not consider the interplay of social categorizations in a pre-determining and isolated manner. While inequali23 The notion of “intersectionality” was first introduced in the 1990s by Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989), who referred to legal cases reflecting the discrimination of black women based on both race and gender. The roots of intersectional debate, however, date back to anti-racist and postcolonial feminism, which emphasized the importance of power relations between women questioning the search for “the woman” as a coherent and stable subject both in its political and epistemic dimension (Orozco 2006). Since the 1970s, these perspectives have demanded the analysis of gender, race, and social class as interlocking categories of domination and have served as a basis for the subsequent intersectional debate (see also Winker/Degele 2009; Hess/Langreiter/Timm 2011). In Latin America, however, links between race, ethnicity, and class have already been studied since the 1930s (Costa 2011), long before these debates started in Europe and North America.

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ties of gender, ethnicity, race, class, age, citizenship, and migration status are assumed to be central in the formation of transnational care chains, I would like to highlight the need for an inductive approach to the study of these interlocking axes and the processes of domination by which they are reproduced. Besides, while these processes operate at multiple levels, including not only social interactions but also social representations and institutional frameworks (e.g., Anthias 1998; Winker/ Degele 2009),24 this research focuses on the ways in which transnational social inequalities are reproduced and reshaped through the dynamic social practices and interactions between Peruvian migrants and their employers as well as their own family members. This means looking at processes rather than at static categories of difference and domination. Considering the social interactions of migrant domestic workers with their employers and transnational family members, a number of scholars refer to West and Fenstermaker’s (1995) discussion of “doing gender” and “doing difference,” which is based on the conceptualization of gender, race, ethnicity, and class as ongoing interactional and situated accomplishments and as mechanisms for (re)producing social inequality (Parreñas 2005; Lutz 2007a; 2007c). This conceptualization is useful for understanding the ways in which gender, race, ethnicity, and class, as well as other difference categories, operate interdependently and simultaneously with one another, how their salience might vary across interactions, and what kinds of mechanisms produce power and inequality in social relationships and practices of care.25 Finally, the analysis of care practices, as well as expectations strategies and negotiation processes in transnational care chains between Peru and Italy, provides a prism for studying the influence of state policies related to care, gender, migration, 24 Anthias (1998) proposes to examine the effects of the intercrossing of difference at four levels: a) experiential: the experiences of persons within specific locatable contexts such as the workplace; b) intersubjective: the actions and practices that take place in relation to others, including non-person actors such as the social security system; c) representational: symbolic and discursive representations; and d) organizational: institutional regimes; e.g., family structures and networks, political and legal systems, the state apparatus. 25 In intersectional analyses of the care practices of migrant workers, these categories of difference are considered not only as resources of discrimination, but also as resources for action (Lutz 2007c). For example, while age constitutes a factor in discrimination within the labor markets of many countries of origin, with the result that especially middle-aged women are affected by unemployment, the combination of age, gender, and ethnicity may become a resource for elderly migrant care workers that helps them find a job in the care sector of the country of destination (Lutz/Palenga-Möllenbeck 2010). Yet, the same processes also lead to the discrimination of migrant care workers in terms of working conditions, wages, valorization of their work, and opportunities to enter other sectors of the labor market.

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and labor regimes. In other words, I propose to study these political and institutional frameworks through the lens of individual care practices rather than in isolation from them. In the following, I elaborate on the issues of analysis raised above as well as the theoretical approaches that support my analytical perspective.

2.3 I SSUES OF A NALYSIS P ERSPECTIVES

AND

T HEORETICAL

2.3.1 The Transnationalization of Care Regimes Understanding the transnationalization of care regimes requires taking a closer look at a series of interconnected processes that have contributed to contemporary migration across regions and nation-states. The literature on global care workers and care chains is largely inspired by structural approaches that understand the growth and feminization of South-North and South-South migration from a gender perspective within the context of a global economic system (e.g., Ehrenreich/Hochschild 2003; Parreñas 2005; Orozco 2009a; 2010). According to several authors, the formation of global care chains responds to a double “privatization of social reproduction” and “care crisis” that affects both the sending and receiving countries of migration (Zimmerman/Litt/Bose 2006; Orozco 2010). In the receiving countries, this crisis is reflected in the restructuring of welfare states and the breakdown of the nuclear family model, which has produced a growing “care gap” (Gerhard 2010: 105). In Italy and other receiving countries, this process occurres in the context of demographic changes, the increasing participation of women in the labor force, along with a reorganization of the welfare state through cutbacks in social expenditure (e.g., Degiuli 2007). These developments have not led to a redistribution of care between the sexes but to the outsourcing of care to paid migrant workers (Lutz 2008b; Yeates 2009; Gutierrez Rodríguez 2010). In the countries of origin, the crisis consists in the difficulties of guaranteeing social reproduction processes themselves, which have encouraged families, particularly women, to develop new survival strategies by means of migration (Orozco 2009a). In Peru and other countries of the Andean region, high levels of social inequalities in the distribution of welfare resources have deepened as a result of neo-liberal structural reforms, which went hand in hand with political and economic crises (e.g., Gonzales de Olarte 2005; Herrera 2005a). These processes have contributed to the outsourcing of care through emigration. A basic premise of these accounts is the idea that the globalization of production necessarily involves a globalization of social reproduction (Truong 1996;

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Sassen 2000; Bakker/Gill 2003; Yeates 2009).26 Drawing on these perspectives, Parreñas' (2005) concept of the global economy of care considers the exhaustion of state care resources by structural adjustment policies as one of the central processes that sustain the feminization of transnational migration. Thus, emigration is intrinsically tied to social security—the securing of care resources, through wages earned abroad, giving families access to better-quality food, education, health care, and housing. At the same time, this process involves a “depletion” of the labor supply of care workers from the global South, which responds to the needs of women (and states) in the global North, alleviating them from the burdens and costs of caregiving (Parreñas 2005: 13-14). According to Parreñas, this process perpetuates persisting economic inequalities between the global South and global North as well as neo-liberal prescriptions that designate care as a private responsibility (for Peru see also Naranjo 2009). As sending states benefit from the inflow of remittances and receiving states take advantage of the import of care workers, both may ignore the social inequalities of care caused by inadequate public policies, low wages, and insufficient employment benefits. Care transnationalization thus occurs in the context of neo-liberal globalization and large-scale social, cultural, and demographic transformations. In the context of care, or more broadly of social reproduction, a central aspect of neo-liberal restructuring is what Bakker/Gill (2003) call a “reprivatization” of social reproduction, which involves several shifts on the level of the household, the state and social institutions, as well as livelihood mechanisms. On the one hand, social provision in both wealthier and poorer countries is increasingly offloaded to, or stays within, the household, increasing the demands and pressures on women in their role as paid workers and unpaid caregivers within their families. On the other hand, reprivatization involves further shifts on meso and macro levels, including the retreat of the state from universal social protection, the privatization of important social institutions such as public health systems, and the exclusion of a large part of the world’s population from access to social security and basic resources needed for survival, favoring the migration of women as a livelihood strategy. As argued by 26 Sassen’s (2000) work is important in highlighting this connection. It conceptualizes the growing presence of women in a variety of cross-border circuits for making a living, earning a profit, and generating government revenue as “counter-geographies” of globalization that revolve around various forms of social reproductive labor, which contribute to the “feminization of survival.” While these alternative circuits operate partly or wholly in the shadow economy, they are openly or tacitly supported by states, which profit from the inflow of remittances as a means of coping with unemployment and foreign debt. From this perspective, households and entire communities, but also governments, are increasingly dependent on women for their survival. This shows that the restructuring of social reproduction constitutes the actual driving force behind economic restructuring.

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Bakker (2003: 80), neo-liberal governance involves a market-oriented conceptualization of social citizenship, based on a moral order that “privileges the private over the public and the individual over the collective, and reasserts the family as a gender-neutral self-sufficient unit of care-giving and reciprocal obligation.” As a consequence of these developments, domestic and care activities are increasingly provided through the market, including through private forms of home care and elderly care, which are of primary interest to this research. Hence, care is increasingly commodified, that is, provided in relationships that include the explicit movement of money (Folbre/Nelson 2000). This is reflected by the hiring of paid migrant care workers as a private strategy of wealthier women and families to cope with increasing workloads which, as observed by Bakker (2003) and others, also involves an increasing polarization among women based on class, race, and ethnic differences. In this process, care activities that were previously carried out outside the market at home or within community networks are transformed into discrete marketable “products” and “product lines” (Zimmerman/Litt/Bose 2006: 20), which are bought and sold, often in exploitative working conditions and on the basis of fragile relations of trust and intimacy. Commodification also takes place with the outsourcing of care through emigration and the sending of remittances to the sending-country households. Some authors consider this to be part of a growing “commodification” of motherhood, families, and of care, love, and intimacy in a broader sense (Parreñas 2001a), which involves the realms of marriage, sex, and reproductive labor (Constable 2009). Here, I adopt these perspectives to understand part of the motivations behind Peruvian migration to Italy and the introduction of Peruvians into the sector of elderly care. I also argue that these allow a critical view on the privatization of care as a process that increases the responsibilities of families, particularly of women, to organize the care of family dependents in the absence of public services. This process, as I outline below, also involves new uncertainties and inequalities, which are linked not only to commodification, but also to the important role of states in shaping transnational migration and the care relationships built in these chains. At the same time, it is important to consider the agency of families and individual members in front of these structural conditions. While families and individuals act under a diversity of political and economic constraints, the practice of “doing family,” whether locally or transnationally, and the act of migration itself, involve a certain degree of agency and autonomy from structural forces. This is best shown by social network theory (Boyd 1989), to which I return in my analysis of the process of Peruvian emigration (4.3.5). It is also a merit of transnational migration scholarship to highlight the agency of migrants in constructing new social spaces through practices, identities, and communities that extend across national borders (e.g., Glick Schiller/Basch/ Blanc-Szanton 1992; Smith/Guarnizo 1998; Pries 1999; 2008), while not denying the reproduction of social inequalities within transnational social

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spaces.27 The agency of migrants and transnational family members in constructing and maintaining social relations across borders is also captured by Drotbohm’s (2009: 147) concept of the “contributive family model,” which is based on the idea that transnational family support depends on “the actor’s individual choice and act of keeping in touch.” Finally, scholars have observed that as a result of transnational relations, local institutions and policy regimes acquire “new” meanings and functions (Faist 2010). In fact, care regimes are not merely the context in which the formation of transnational care chains occurs, but are also reshaped and transnationalized as a consequence of this process. This is also suggested by the notion of the “transnational political economy of care,” as defined by Williams (2010: 391), which considers at least three interdependent processes that are important for understanding global care chains from a transnational perspective: the personal relationships of migration and domestic/care work; the institutional level of state policies, regulations, and social discourses; and the transnational and global movement of labor. In consideration of these different levels, it can be argued that transnational care practices are affected by the continued influence of the nation-state and its simultaneous transformation by transnational flows of care labor, care commitments, care capital, as well as discourses and policies related to care. For this reason, I refer to transnational rather than global care chains and conceptualize the new interdependencies of care between individuals, localities, and states as forms of transnationalization that continue to be embedded in, and shaped by, particular local and national contexts.28 In this sense, it can be observed that in a number of countries, the employment of home-based care workers is sustained not only by migration rules and regulations but also by care policies and employment policies. In Italy, as in other Southern European countries, the strategy of employing migrant care workers has become institutionalized through government policies, including migration quotas and cash grants. These have also responded to a discourse on gender equality and the need to enable female nationals to “reconcile” care work and a working life (Lutz 2008a) 27 Recent transnational scholarship has studied the social inequalities that emerge in transnational social spaces by considering how single actors’ and their resources are positioned in relation to multiple spatial entities, which may be local, national, supranational, transnational or global (Weiß 2005; Pries 2008). In this regard, Pries (2008) observes that migrants who often circulate between Mexico and the U.S. perceive their professional and social position and social inequality structures in relation to three different reference units, which are national (Mexico and U.S.) but also transnational (their position in relation to that of other transnational migrants or in the transnational social space). 28 This does not contradict the demand for a perspective that moves beyond methodological nationalism, a term that refers to the assumption that the nation state is the logical, natural container within which social life takes place (Wimmer/Glick Schiller 2003).

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and reveal how the institutional frameworks of care provision are reshaped in the course of migration. In Italy, migrant care workers have become a central resource, as argued by Bettio/Simonazzi/Villa (2006: 272), who observe a far-reaching shift from a “family” model of care to a “migrant-in-the-family” model of care. Likewise, the emigration of, and remittances sent by Peruvian migrants have become an increasingly important source of income for the Peruvian state (Naranjo 2009). These processes have raised the attention of a number of scholars, who consider the interrelations between migration and social protection or social development in a broader sense (e.g., Piperno/Boccagni 2010; Boccagni 2011a; Piperno 2010; Hujo/ Piper 2010).29 To sum up, in looking at the transnationalization of care regimes, this research will examine not only the changing practices of families and individual members involved in transnational care chains, but also shifts in the infrastructues of care, to which these actors respond and simultaneously contribute through their daily practices. These can only be understood from a transnational perspective focused on entangled inequalities. 2.3.2 Transnational Care Practices and Entangled Inequalities Transnational caregiving at a distance and in contexts of physical closeness involves a diversity of practices, including practical, financial, personal (“hands-on”), emotional, and moral support (Baldassar 2007). These are exchanged intergenerationally (between parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, among others) and intragenerationally (e.g., between siblings) through relations of reciprocity on local and/or transnational levels (Reynolds/Zontini 2006). My study asks to what extent these practices and their meanings are transformed as a product of migration and the introduction of migrants into the sector of elderly care and how this change affects the distribution of power and resources as well as the emotional bonds built in these chains. The particular practices to be examined in this study include the local care practices of Peruvian migrant women and men as caregivers of the elderly in Milan, Italy, and their simultaneous care practices as members of transnational households. For the study of these practices, I draw on the definition of transnational house-

29 These perspectives reflect on the ways in which a transnational welfare framework is being created and raise questions about social rights and social development in a transnational and global context as part of an emerging research agenda (e.g., Faist 2009 on the “transnational social question”; Piperno 2011 on “transnational welfare”; SabatesWheeler/Feldman 2011 on “social rights beyond borders”).

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holds, proposed by Drotbohm (2009: 138-139). Accordingly, transnational households can be defined as: “[...] social units that provide care for a particular group of people who consider themselves to be part of the same family network, irrespective of biological ties or not, and who contribute to its members’ well-being, irrespective of whether they live many thousand miles away. Hence, a transnational household eventually has its centre in a certain locality, but integrates persons who have access to this social structure without necessarily living in this locality.” (Drotbohm 2009: 138-139)

Based on this definition, my research includes the study of transnational care practices at a distance, i.e., between Peruvian migrants and family members left behind in the country of origin households as well as the local care practices in newly created migrant households. This is based on the idea that a family does not need to be spatially fragmented in order to constitute a transnational family, as family members may move together across borders or may undergo a process of (partial or complete) reunification over time, but keep acting in a social space that extends national borders (Borrego 2010). Therefore, the care practices of migrants and their family members in the receiving country can also be considered transnational. Peruvian migrants who insert themselves into the sector of elderly care are both paid caregivers to the elderly and transnational family members involved in the financial or material, practical, and emotional care of parents, siblings and, at times, children. The central question to be addressed in this research is how these multiple practices affect the reproduction of entangled social inequalities. To explore this question, the particular characteristics, dimensions, and types of care work and its management need to be further discussed. Feminist scholars have repeatedly stressed the inseparability of care and domestic work, referring to the impossibility of separating material tasks from the emotional, affective care of persons (Finch/ Groves 1983; Graham 1983; Anderson 1997; 2000; Picchio 2001). Care involves both labor and love, “both affection and service” as two “interlocking transactions” (Graham 1983: 28).30 In addition, caregiving, particularly elderly care, also involves a further dimension, which is captured by the concept of “bodywork,” referring to 30 The English debate (e.g., Anderson 2000) speaks of the three C’s: Cleaning, Cooking and Caring, emphasizing that this work is often combined, as those who care for the elderly, disabled, or children are often also expected to complete domestic chores and vice versa (Anderson 1997, Lutz 2007a). Both are interwoven and represent a particular form of “affective labor” (Gutiérrez Rodríguez 2010: 4), which is always relational in character and always engages with the production of well-being and comfort. Thus, when referring to care work, my study also pays attention to the varied domestic tasks that are involved in this labor.

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forms of labor that imply “working directly on bodies of others” (Twigg 2000: 137) and thereby “take the body as the site of labour and involve close bodily contact between the worker and the object of work (whether patient, client or care-receiver)” (Näre 2008: 202). In looking at such practices, the literature on global care chains tends to highlight the perpetuation of gender and intergenerational inequalities, which intersect with other processes of domination based on social class, place of residence, and increasingly, on race, ethnicity, and migration status. While it is argued that employers benefit from this exchange, the outcomes for migrants and their family members are observed to be more ambiguous and contradictory. In this context, researchers note that the situation of today’s global care workers involves ambiguous processes of both empowerment and exclusion (e.g., Herrera 2007; Lutz 2007a; Orozco/Paiewonsky/García 2008). They also observe ambiguous impacts of migration on family members left behind, as revealed by Hochschild’s notion of the “care drain.” Beyond these general observations, however, several questions need to be further explored with regard to the reproduction of entangled social inequalities. These are primarily related to the complex and dynamic configurations of transnational care chains, which depend on gender, life course, and the temporalities of migration. With regard to the redistribution of care work between households, I already mentioned that more research is needed to explore differences in the transnational care practices of migrant women and men, and migrants with and without children. Further analysis is also needed to understand the experiences and perspectives of the (predominantly female) replacement caregivers who are left behind or join migrant women in the new country. This leads me to a broader question: how are gender and intergenerational hierarchies renegotiated through their intersections with those social inequalities that emerge on a transnational level, such as those based on class, ethnicity, and place of residence? Furthermore, what are the implications of this new division of labor for those who assume caregiving tasks in both the receiving countries and the countries of origin? The underlying questions to be examined in this regard refer to the possibilities of caregivers (including the migrants’ employers) to choose the forms of care provision, to participate in decision-making processes related to the care relation, and to meet their own care needs while caring for others. Similar questions can be asked about both younger and older generations, though particularly those that are older, that participate in care chains between Peru and Italy as care receivers and caregivers. So far, little research has included the perspectives of the elderly (as members of employer households or transnational families) and the interrelations between transnational caregiving and aging (Escrivá 2005; Baldassar/Baldock/Wilding 2007). In my brief overview of the particularities of Peruvian migration to Italy, I already mentioned the important role of Peruvians

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in the sector of elderly care. For the analysis of social inequalities, it is of interest to ask how migrants negotiate the care of their own aging parents and of aged employers at the same time and how these simultaneous practices affect the elderly care receivers. In addition, it has to be asked how the elderly, as well as children (as members of transnational families) themselves participate in these processes. Can we assume that care and love is withdrawn from those left behind when, in fact, transnational migrants continue to care for their distant family members through both material and affective forms of exchange? How do the latter perceive the changed practices of transnational care? And, what kinds of inequalities can be observed within employer families? In empirical research on global care chains, these families are often considered to “clearly benefit” from the care provided by migrant workers (Orozco 2009c: 6). Yet, the perspectives of the care-receivers are seldom considered. In both transnational and employer households, much seems to depend on the extent to which caregivers and receivers have the power to chose the forms of care provision and to influence the conditions under which this work is provided, whether on a paid or unpaid basis. These questions are also inspired by the notion of “care rights,” introduced by Orozco (2010) for conceptualizing global care chains in Latin American inter- and intra-regional migration. Care rights, which have not been formalized so far, refer to the need for recognizing care workers as “individuals who have their own care needs and responsibilities in terms of caring for others in their own lives” (Orozco 2010: 25). They include: 1) the right to receive adequate care in different circumstances and at different points in life, regardless of an individual’s access to income or family or personal ties; 2) the right to freely choose the forms of care provision; and 3) the right of care workers to due remuneration and dignified working conditions in the care sector (ibid.). These are important elements of my analysis; however, I will not use the notion of “rights,” but rather refer to different positions in terms of access to resources and decision-making power within the new care relationships built across borders. In this context, it is important to consider the dynamic character of transnational care chains and social inequalities, which may shift not only according to gender and inter-generational roles, but also according to place of residence and the stage of the migration process. In this process, family ties may be cut or new ones established, and existing relationships will change as a product of geographical distance and family migration, leading to changes in transnational care relations and practices. In addition, employment relations undergo constant transformation. These dynamics and their material and emotional implications will be further examined in this study. In addition to gender and generation, ethnicity is another category of social difference, which is central to understanding entangled inequalities in transnational

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care chains. In fact, migration also reshapes pre-existing ethnic boundaries and creates new ones (Glick Schiller/Basch/Blanc-Szanton 1992; Nagel 1994), both through the framing of the migrants’ ethnic identity by others, such as receivingcountry nationals (external identification, “from without”) and the ways in which migrants themselves renegotiate their ethnic belonging (personal and social selfidentification, “from within”) (Boccagni 2009b). In Peru, as in other Latin American countries, ethnicity is central to understanding persisting inequalities of access to power and resources (e.g., Barrón 2008; Thorp/Paredes/Figueroa 2010). Hence, a relevant question that emerges in migration contexts is how ethnicity is renegotiated upon migration and what role the construction of ethnic boundaries plays in the migrants’ trajectories as well as relationships and practices that reproduce social inequalities on local and transnational levels (e.g., Paerregaard 2005; 2008; 2010a). In this research, I did not opt for studying this question in a systematic manner. In other words, this study focuses primarily on the renegotiation of gender and intergenerational asymmetries and only to a lesser extent on the (re)negotiation of ethnic categorizations. At the same time, my research finds that ethnicity plays a central role in determining the migrants’ access to and relationships within the elderly care sector. For this reason, my analysis of care arrangements in employer households pays particular attention to ethnic categorizations that shape employer preferences and migrant-employer relations (Chapter 5). The inequalities discussed here also need to be understood within the context of the structural constraints, including the policy frameworks of the receiving and sending states, that influence transnational care practices and relationships, as I outline in the following and last section of this chapter. 2.3.3 Transnational Care Chains in the Context of Intersecting Care, Gender, Migration, and Labor Regimes States play an important role in shaping the social organization of care, not only on national but also on transnational levels. To examine transnational care chains, it is important to consider the ways in which states influence the care practices and relationships as well as the distribution of benefits, risks, and costs among their principal actors (Yeates 2012). At the beginning of this chapter, I mentioned how states impact the social organization of care through their role in the context of welfare, gender, and care regimes. In this context, states influence not only the distribution of care responsibilities between domestic and non-domestic actors, but also the normative constructions around care provision that influence the ways in which obligations and commitments to care are negotiated. In a transnational context, states also shape these practices through their influence on discourses, policies, and legal frameworks that determine the immigration and stay of non-nationals in a receiving

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country or the emigration process and practices of care in the sending countries and localities. In short, states contribute to the formation of cross-border chains and to the ways in which care is practiced and inequalities are reproduced in this process. As outlined before, the literature on global care chains has focused on processes of economic globalization and multiple crises of care in both origin and destination countries to explain the process of migration. In this context, the role of the state has been addressed mainly through a critique of its failure to guarantee social and economic rights for its population, particularly women and children (Herrera 2008a; 2010). Sending and receiving states, however, have played a more active role in contributing to migration and care chains through discourses and political frameworks. These have been addressed by an emerging literature on the intersections of welfare/care, gender, migration, and employment regimes, which integrates insights on social policy and social security perspectives with the study of transnational care migration (e.g., Williams/Gavanas 2008; Lutz/Palenga-Möllenbeck 2010; Kilkey 2010; Lutz, Kilkey/Palenga-Möllenbeck 2010; Williams 2012). As noted by Baldassar/Baldock/Wilding (2007), transnational (and local) care practices are the product of a dialectic between the capacity (ability, opportunity), culturally informed sense of obligation, and negotiated family commitments of individual members to provide, or not to provide, care. Considering the aspect of capacity is crucial for the analysis of transnational care practices, as shown by the literature on transnational families, which has drawn attention to the role of migration regimes in shaping transnational care practices (e.g., Drotbohm 2009; 2010; Dreby 2010; Herrera 2010). In this study, I refer to migration regimes as the political, legal, and normative frameworks that determine the rules for non-nationals’ entrance into and exit out of a country and decide whether migrants are granted employment, social, political, and civil rights, and whether or not they have access to settlement and naturalization (Lutz 2008a). Based on the notion of cultural desirability of immigration, migration regimes also refer to practices and histories around racial discrimination and discourses of “nationhood” (Williams 2010). These are closely connected to employment regimes, which refer to practices, policies, norms, and discourses that shape the organization of labor markets, including the care work sector and treatment of the migrant workforce (Williams 2012).31 Italy is an inter31 According to Williams (2012), employment regimes refer to a series of dynamics that shape the care workforce in a particular national context, including existing labor market divisions and hierarchies in terms of gender, ethnicity, and nationality; the impact of deregulation in shaping precarious employment in the migrant care market; the extent to which forms of social protection are extended to migrant care workers; the influence of discourses, policies, and cultural practices around work-life balance and labor market activation on demands for care workers; and national histories’ dependence on migrant and indentured labor.

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esting case for studying the impacts of such regimes on transnational care chains and the reproduction of inequalities. Italian citizenship and migration regimes, as those of other European countries, have followed a logic of “stratified entry” based on the exclusion of wide categories of “undesired” migrants (Gutiérrez Rodríguez 2010; 2013; Orozco/Paiewonsky/ García 2008) and a hierarchy, in which national citizens occupy the highest, EEC citizens the second, and non-EEC citizens the lowest ranks (Morokvasic 1991). They are also determined by the criminalization of illegal migration, and its association with delinquency and organized crime, which has become the main focus of migration policies of developed states (Orozco/Paiewonsky/García 2008). While Italian immigration policies have been perceived as less restrictive than those of other European countries, at least with regard to their application, the entry, regularization of residence, and reunification of non-European nationals have become increasingly difficult over time (Caritas 2010). This is due to a modification of the Italian immigration law in 2002, which has contributed to the increase in illegal immigration and higher restrictions on visas for work and family purposes in Italy. These and some other particularities of Italian migration and labor regimes need to be further examined in this research. In the context of tightened migration regimes and with the increase of care migration, the debate on care, inequality, and citizenship re-emerges and acquires a new global dimension (Gerhard 2010). Migrant care workers, while contributing in essential ways to receiving and sending country economies, are only permitted “partial citizenship” (Parreñas 2001a; 2010), as they remain excluded from a whole range of social benefits.32 In Italy, they are construed as “foreign family collaborators” (Parreñas 2010: 136) who may have residence and work permits, but remain legally dependent on their employers. In addition to receiving states, sending states like Peru can also be supposed to play an important role in promoting transnational flows of care labor and capital and influence the ways migrants relate to their country of origin (e.g., Berg 2010). The policies, discourses, and practices of sending states, however, are not without 32 In this research, I refer to the concept of citizenship as suggested by T.H. Marshall (1950, in Apitzsch 2010; Gerhard 2010), which conceptualizes citizenship as not only a legal but also a social status, including civil, political, and social citizenship rights as three central elements. Although this perspective was criticized by feminist scholars for its gender blindness and neglect of unpaid reproductive work mostly performed by women outside the labor market, its focus on social citizenship as inclusive of social rights draws attention to the understanding of citizenship as tied to the agency and social justice of all citizens in a civil and democratic society, as sustained by one of leading theorists in this field: “To be a citizen in the legal and sociological sense, means to enjoy the rights of citizenship necessary for agency and social and political participation” (Lister 1997: 41; cited in Gerhard 2010).

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contradictions. On the one hand, social, political, and media discourses in the countries of origin tend to stigmatize transnational care practices emerging with the increased emigration of women. In these discourses, migrant women are often blamed for “abandoning” their children (or parents) and causing a “disintegration” of the family (e.g., Parreñas 2005; Sørensen 2005: 12; Gamburd 2008). On the other hand, sending state governments also display another type of discourse, which leads to the open support of transnational migration. From a growth-based understanding of development, sending country governments embrace optimistic views that stress the positive development impacts of migration and, in particular, of remittances to the national economy and the local communities of origin (Portes 2011). This attitude has resulted in a proliferation of policies and programs directed toward the emigrant population, including transnational programs of “co-development.” In Peru, as in other sending countries, this goes along with the celebration of migrants as transnational “agents of development” (Faist 2009: 48), whose practices have moved into the center of national, local, and international policy debates. However, while the Peruvian state recognizes the universal right of its population to a decent standard of living and to a number of services, including health, education, security, and sanitation, there is a persistent tolerance of great differences in the real-life conditions of different social groups and regions (Anderson 2010). As a consequence, most Peruvian migrants and their families remain excluded from a range of social rights and entitlements, such as the access to social services provided by the Peruvian state. In current theoretical debates on the link between migration and development, these contradictory discourses have been debated from a global power perspective on migration (Glick Schiller 2009; Delgado Wise/Covarrubias 2009). According to these approaches, proponents of neo-liberal globalization utilize the rhetoric of migrants’ development agency to conceal not only the deep-rooted global inequalities that sustain migration processes, but also the emergence of new production regimes based on the control, manipulation, and exploitation of migrant labor. This points to the central role played by states in sustaining the formation of new inequality regimes within the context of labor migration. In the present research, these political discourses and policies need to be considered when looking at the care practices of Peruvian migrants, employers, and transnational family members. Their implications for the transnational social inequalities that shape the positions of these actors also need to be considered.

2.4 C ONCLUSION Understanding the formation of transnational care chains between Peru and Italy requires a perspective that connects global processes of transformation with the lo-

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calized intimacies of everyday life. Care, as conceptualized in this chapter, is an interdependent social practice rooted in daily processes of social reproduction and a key element of contemporary welfare regimes, which increasingly extends national borders. Care is also stratified according to gender, social class, place of residence, and increasingly race/ethnicity, citizenship, and migration status. As such, it is a central concept for analyzing the ways in which global power asymmetries are reproduced and reshaped in interpersonal practices. The global care chains concept constitutes an essential tool through which this research examines the current transformation of care relations and welfare regimes across both national and regional borders and its effects on the reproduction and reshaping of transnational social inequalities. As demonstrated by the observations in this chapter, there are many ways in which this research may connect and contribute to ongoing discussions on the cross-border formation and impact of care chains, as well as the deep-rooted link between care and social inequality. First, these are related to the need for understanding the local and temporal dynamics and specificities of these chains as they span across particular places, countries, and regions. Considering the process of aging as a driving factor of transnational care migration, this research focuses on the local practices of Peruvian migrant women and men as caregivers of the elderly in Milan, Italy and the simultaneous transnational care practices directed toward their own aging parents, siblings, and in some cases children left in Peru. This means extending the common focus on transnational childcare, provided by migrant mothers in employer households and transnationally, to include an analysis of a greater diversity of gender and intergenerational practices and hierarchies as well as the interrelations between transnational caregiving and aging. Second, a focus on these interrelated processes through the lens of the global care chains concept also shifts attention away from care as a linear, one-way transfer toward a conceptualization of care chains as constituted by multiple intersecting care circuits that tend to be considered as separate from each other: the insertion of migrants into the elderly care market, the transnational care of family members, as well as family formation and migration as another possible care strategy. Finally, while care regimes are transnationalized through migration and the formation of care chains across borders, states remain central actors in influencing care practices and relationships on both national and transnational levels. A focus on transnational care practices, as mediated by intersecting care, gender, migration and labor regimes, allows a deeper understanding of how states contribute to the reproduction and reshaping of transnational social inequalities.

3. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE STUDY OF TRANSNATIONAL CARE CHAINS

3.1 I NTRODUCTION What kind of methodology is most appropriate for studying the complex relationships and practices between social agents that constitute a transnational care chain? Where should empirical observation start when these agents cannot be located in one nation-state and a geographically circumscribed social setting? What methodological challenges emerge due to the hierarchical nature of relationships between these agents? These were central questions I had to address when I started designing my ethnographic case study. While some answers seemed quite obvious, others had to be constantly re-addressed in light of a series of difficulties that emerged throughout the research process. Given that I was interested in care relations and practices of individuals spread across different localities and national borders, my first decision was to opt for a qualitative methodological framework that followed the principles of multi-sited ethnography (Marcus 1995; Falzon 2009). The essential idea of this methodological approach is to follow people, connections, and relationships across space and thereby construct the “object” with material gathered at varied sites. Multi-sited ethnography has developed in close connection to the insights of the transnational migration scholarship and its focus on the formation of social spaces beyond the nationstate (e.g., Glick Schiller/Basch/Blanc-Szanton 1992; Wimmer/Glick Schiller 2003; Pries 1999; 2008). Based on these approaches, scholars have drawn attention to a series of methodological problems of transnational migration studies: while recognizing the need for moving beyond methodological nationalism, these often continue to take the nation-state as the central relevant context and ethnicity as the dominant category for empirical research on migration and use concepts that naturalize ethnic belonging (Fitzgerald 2012; Richter 2012). Building on a multi-sited ethnographic approach is a first step toward a new, non-national epistemology of migration, which provides insight into the “complexity of transnational phenomena” and

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includes a self-reflexive approach as a central tool for empirical research of transnational relations (Amelina/Faist 2012: 1715-16). For the present research, this methodological framework appeared most promising for studying transnational care chains as relational units of analysis that cannot be reduced to one single location and nation-state. In practice, tracing the different links of these chains was much more complicated than initially assumed, precisely because of the hierarchies between their principal actors. Throughout this chapter, I reflect on the particular difficulties but also facilities I encountered in my attempt to follow people and connections between Italy and Peru. Before I proceed to describe the research process with its multiple challenges, I want to discuss another question I have raised above: where to start? As existing research on transnational families demonstrates, there is more than one answer to this question.1 Entering “the field” would not have been possible without previous reflection on which links within the chains were most essential for my study. While my research looks at multiple agents, it seemed most appropriate to construct the field on the basis of the experiences and relationships of those who are protagonists of the migration process. Therefore, I started my fieldwork by examining the multiple practices and relationships of migrant care workers as central links within the care chains I sought to study. Migrant care workers are frequently caught inbetween. As mobile subjects, they move between different localities and national spaces. As care workers, they are required to simultaneously respond to the care demands of their own kin as well as those demands of their employing families. This simultaneous engagement means that they have direct connections to all other agents in the chains. My perspective as a multi-sited ethnographic researcher seemed best suited for understanding this experience of in-betweenness and simultaneous responsibility. Studying the migrants’ links to employer families and other migrant and non-migrant family members served as a vantage point for gaining access to and including these agents and their experiences in the research process. Through this kind of procedure, my research follows but also distinguishes itself from other methodological approaches. Multisited strategies that include both localities of origin and destination have become increasingly common in studies of transnational families or homeland ties (Fitzger-

1

One possibility is to first collect data on migrants in the receiving country and then travel to their family members left behind (e.g., Fresnoza-Flot 2008). Others may start the research in one or several localities of origin and then move to the receiving country (e.g., Tamagno 2003). This process, however, requires a very precise knowledge of the localities from where people migrate to particular areas in receiving countries. In addition, this process may be useful for studying transnational family relations but not for studying transnational care chains in a broader sense.

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ald 2006); however, these studies seldom include the perspectives of “non-nationals” such as the migrants’ employers. Based on these initial considerations, I decided to focus my research activities in one locality of the receiving country, the province of Milan, Italy, to study the experiences of migrants and employers, while also including field trips to some of the places of emigration. I structured my fieldwork activities into three phases, which took place over the course of a year between July 2011 and July 2012: both the initial and final phases took place in Milan for a total duration of four and a half months, while the intermediate fieldwork phase in Peru, lasting three and a half months, included research trips of approximately one month to Lima, Huancayo, and Cuzco/Urubamba. In the following, I elaborate on the methodological premises and steps that guided the process of data collection and analysis. I start with a brief outline of the multi-sited ethnographic approach chosen for this study. Then I describe how this methodological framework was put into practice and adapted to the particular conditions I encountered in the field. Finally, I reflect on the ways in which my own relationships to research informants shaped the process of data collection and I conclude with some considerations regarding the analysis, interpretation, and presentation of the research data.

3.2 C HARACTERISTICS AND M ETHODS OF M ULTI - SITED E THNOGRAPHIC R ESEARCH In 1995, Marcus was the first to define the principles of multi-sited ethnography as a research program that is thought to be a clear alternative to conventional anthropological research, which insists on prolonged fieldwork stays in single sites.2 While multi-sited research strategies already existed before that date, these had not been reflected and subsumed under a common alternative “heading.” In his approach, the sites of multi-sited ethnography are not just binary poles corresponding to the places of origin and destination, but rather social and temporal connections within a network, which is actively constructed by the ethnographer. These connections may be drawn by following not only people but also things, biographies, or conflicts (Marcus 1995). In my research, multi-sitedness is about migrants’ rela-

2

In conventional ethnography, a field site could be seen as the “container” of a particular set of social relations (Falzon 2009). Accordingly, a relatively long-term stay in a field site of choice (typically several months and upwards) constituted the basis for the production of knowledge about these relations and, to some extent, its generalization on a national, regional, or global scale.

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tionships that link them to their families in both the localities of origin and to employer households. It is also about the flow of care resources, including money, goods, and ideas associated with these asymmetric interrelations. These can and should be studied on both local and transnational levels. While multi-sited research is mostly defined as a practice of moving across multiple, geographically separated sites, it may also be understood as an inquiry into spatialized difference, independently of how distant or close the sites actually are (Falzon 2009). In my research, for instance, it was sufficient to move between migrant and employer households, located in a single geographical area, the city of Milan, to understand inequalities of distribution between them. Besides, it should be mentioned that the meanings of transnational experiences and global asymmetries may also be studied in single sites, such as migrant households (Gielis 2011) or the employer households of migrant domestic workers (Gutierrez-Rodríguez 2010). In other words, multi-sited ethnography and conventional ethnographic methodologies are not to be understood as opposing each other but rather as complementing each other (see also Drotbohm 2012). This explains why the qualitative ethnographic approach used for this study rests on principles and methods comparable to those applied in single-site studies.3 Hence, participant observation in different settings such as public meeting places, family reunions, employer and transnational households, religious celebrations, and excursions was a central part of ethnographic fieldwork. The fieldwork process also included qualitative interviewing. All together, my study relies on narrative, ethnographic, and semi-structured interviews with 55 Peruvians employed as caregivers of the elderly in Italian private homes, 42 Italian employers of migrant caregivers of the eldery (in most cases of Peruvian nationality), 74 family members left behind by Peruvian migrants in Italy (including 6 return migrants), and 6 reunified children of Peruvian migrants. I also conducted 38 semi-structured interviews with experts and representatives of organizations working on migration or social policy issues (23 in Milan and 15 in Peru).4 3

Among the central characteristics of the qualitative approach is the preference for theory generation rather than theory testing, as formulated in the framework of “grounded theory” (Strauss/Corbin 1996), the attempt to adopt an emic perspective by understanding individuals in terms of their own definition of the world and the meanings they have constructed of their experiences (Spradley 1979; Mukherji 2000), a preference for open, nonstandardized methods of interviewing, following the principles of reconstructive social research (Bohnsack 2010), and participant observation in a particular local setting (Le Compte/Schensul 1999).

4

Expert interviews were important to gain insight into the work, activities, and services offered by a number of relevant organizations in both countries. In Peru, these interviews were particularly important, as many organizations do not have Web sites or published,

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Throughout and after the process of participant observation and interviewing, different techniques of ethnographic writing allowed me to document my observations through field notes and a research diary, which were used as a basis for the development of “thick descriptions” (Geertz 1973).5 The central importance of ethnographic writing lies in its potential to go beyond the documentation of conversations and other types of verbal statements (Hirschauer 2001). This practice allowed documenting contradictions between verbal and non-verbal expressions, which were associated with the difficulty many informants had in talking about any negative impacts of migration. In interview situations and beyond, non-verbal gestures and reactions, which supported or qualified verbal statements, had to be documented in the same way as observations of physical settings, appearance, clothing, language, and interactions that were considered meaningful in a research situation. In the following, I turn to a more detailed outline of the different fieldwork phases.

3.3 F IELDWORK IN M ILAN , I TALY 3.3.1 Reflections on my Access to the Field During the first research project I conducted in 2007, I established numerous relationships with Peruvian migrants in Milan, with whom I maintained contact over time. For my current research, several of these contacts were interviewed for the second time and helped me to extend my research contact base. Thanks to these longterm relationships and the additional technique of snowball sampling, my search for Peruvian research participants with experience as caregivers of the eldery turned out to be easier than expected. My decision to stay in the apartment of two Peruvian sisters, Ester and Lizethe, with whom I had become acquainted in 2007, also opened opportunities for further contacts. Through this form of co-residence, I was able to share my observations while also observing their daily activities, conversations, and conflicts from the perspective of an insider and friend. Furthermore, Ester and Lizethe had more than ten years of work experience as caregivers of the elderly in Italy, and they were therefore able to facilitate my contact with a number of their current and previous employers.

updated information on their activities. A list of experts interviewed for this study is included in the Appendix (Table 6). 5

I made use of three types of ethnographic writing (Clifford 1990; in Hirschauer 2001): inscription (taking note of observations), transcription (transcribing the statements made by informants in situations of dialogue), and description (the development of coherent descriptions at the desktop).

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Despite these contacts, my search for employers willing to participate in the research project was much more difficult. Following the relationships between Peruvian caregivers of the elderly and their employers was certainly the most challenging part of my research activities in Milan. While the central vision of multi-sited research consists in following connections across space, my fieldwork activities made me realize the importance of this research strategy in uncovering disjunctures, tensions, and communication gaps that characterize a large part of the practices and relationships in transnational care chains. These disconnections are an aspect of transnationalism that is as important as flows and connections, but often receives little attention (Falzon 2009). This aspect helped me understand that construction of “the field” is a highly unpredictable process, because its meanings and confines are continuously negotiated by the ethnographers and their informants (Gallo 2009). Entering the field, I imagined that researching migrant employer relations from the perspectives of both parts involved in this relationship would be a difficult task. In fact, interviewing employers of migrant informants was possible only in a limited number of cases, in which the work relation was predominantly positive and had lasted for several years. In the majority of cases, this was not possible due to the lack of confidence, irregularity of work relations, or unavailability either on the part of the employer or of the migrant to ask the employer for an interview.6 Faced with these difficulties, I found that the multi-sited strategy had to be combined with additional methods of data collection, including the search for different channels through which I might enter into contact with an independent set of Italian employers, who were not directly related to the migrant workers interviewed. First, I contacted church organizations such as Caritas, offices of pastoral services for migrants, Peruvian associations, Italian associations and job agencies, which provided limited support. Once I had established some contacts, a relatively successful strategy was to use the technique of snowball sampling by asking those employers I had interviewed for support in my search for other potential participants. However, difficulties in establishing contacts with Italian employers were also due to the fact that my research stays in Milan coincided with the long summer

6

I tried out some strategies to contact the migrants’ employers: I asked Peruvian informants to submit a letter to their employers in which I outlined my research interests and asked for their collaboration through an interview. Most of those who had submitted the letter, however, did not receive any response. Others who had preferred to directly ask their employers commented that these either did not want to be interviewed or noted that they had “no time”. In some cases, I asked if I could interview the elderly care-receiver, but the elder’s children were opposed.

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break in July and August, during which many organizations are closed and Italian families are on vacation.7 Given these difficulties, my second research stay in Milan aimed at continuing the search for interview participants and extending the sample. Still, the basic problems remained the same and the restricted period of one month posed an additional limitation. During this second stay in Milan, I resumed contact with a number of representatives of organizations who had offered to help me make contact with Italian employers. Nonetheless, only few additional contacts could be made through these intermediaries. Over time, I noticed that a further promising strategy was searching employers through Peruvian informants who had been living in Italy for a longer period of time and helped me establish contact with employers to whom they were related as friends rather than as employees. 3.3.2 Organizing Fieldwork Activities in Milan While I was building contacts and conducting my first interviews, I soon noticed several practical challenges that accompanied me during the whole period of my stay in Milan. These were mainly related to the organization of fieldwork activities. First of all, Peruvians in Milan, and Italians who employ them in their households, are broadly dispersed not only in the city center but also in the surrounding villages. Frequently, Peruvian workers cover long distances to get from home to workplace or to move from one employer household to another, unless they live and work in the same place. Following informants was a time-consuming and tiring process, yet, there was no better way of understanding what it means to live and work in the city of Milan. Conducting research on Peruvians employed in the care sector and their employers also confronted me with frequent questions of time management. Italian care managers, who had delegated the work of caregiving to the migrant worker in order to save time for their own activities, easily used the time factor as an excuse not to participate in the research or to be relatively short-spoken in interviews. Most migrants employed as care workers were always busy, too, even when they were not employed as live-in caregivers. Accompanying them during their daily activities was complicated, especially when Peruvians lived in the households of employers who did not accept external visitors or, at best, only approved visits in exceptional

7

Given the hot climate during this season, many elderly care-receivers leave the city of Milan, too. These factors limited the possibilities of establishing contacts to both caremanagers and receivers. Due to the time constraints under which the ethnographic research was carried out, it was not possible to extend the research stay or return to Milan in a different period of time.

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cases. Hence, I had to find ways to manage and organize the fieldwork under the time constraints of the research phases and of the informants, as I noted especially in the last weeks of my fieldwork in Milan: “Waiting for interview participants has become almost normal, but keeps making me tired, especially in this final fieldwork stage. Yesterday, Maritza made me wait for one hour, because her employment as a childminder required some extra work after the official work hours. We talked for an hour and then returned home as it was getting late and we are both living in peripheral areas outside the city. Diego, on the contrary, called at the last minute to move our meeting to an earlier time because one of his clients had asked for a service. I hurried to our meeting place but still felt pressure to complete the interview during the entire conversation. [...] In Milan, informants seem to always be in a hurry, even if they have already left the workplace. No one wants to waste time, and sitting around having a coffee and talking seems to be a privilege they can’t afford often, if at all. Many informants work the entire week, and some even on weekends. Others such as Elsa, who has found a job with an old lady in the mountain area, leave their employer households just once a month. This poses a challenge to ethnographic research, especially when fieldwork phases are as short as the last one. Ideally, I would seek to spend as much time as possible with informants and accompany them in their daily lives and routines. Under the present conditions, this is impossible and research findings necessarily rely on the data I am able to collect through a few conversations and the interview itself.” (Field diary, original in English; July 10, 2012)

On several occasions, informants were late, cancelled, or just did not appear at a meeting without giving any explanation. Talking to family members or friends, I was able to get a glimpse of the actual reasons, often tied to problems at work or in their families. In other words, the organization of the fieldwork gave me some impression of the migrants’ local living and working conditions as well as relationships to others in each particular social setting. The informality of care practices, whether paid or unpaid, meant that research informants had to adjust their schedules to the needs of those for whom they were working. This occurred not least due to the hierarchical nature of care relations, in which migrants were subjected to employers or wealthier family members. Interviews with Peruvian migrants were often preceded and followed by conversations and participation in activities, meetings, and events. These were indispensable for the research process and my visits to their family members in Peru, which were only possible thanks to the migrants’ confidence. The degree of closeness that shaped my personalized encounters converted the fieldwork into a process of “thick participation” (Hauser-Schäublin 2008: 42), which has both advantages and difficulties (see also Drotbohm 2012). Studying elderly and transnational family care often meant listening to strategies of coping with disease, death, and physical as well as emotional pain. While I empathized with informants who had to cope

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with these issues day by day, I also noted the risk of being literally swept away by sadness and depression or of getting too absorbed in my daily encounters. To manage this “balancing act between closeness and distance” (Hauser-Schäublin 2008: 41; my translation), I found it helpful to withdraw from the field from time to time to “digest” the flood of daily observations. Subsequent meetings and conversations brought important additional information, which provided a more differentiated picture than a single interview or conversation. Hence, they allowed insight into the fluidity of transnational caregiving, which is closely tied the migrants’ (changing) living and working conditions. This leads me to a common criticism raised regarding the multi-sited research agenda, which argues that moving between locations involves a lack of depth achieved in conventional ethnography (Hannerz 2003; Burawoy 2003; Falzon 2009; Mazzucato 2009). For instance, Burawoy (2003: 673) notes that “Bouncing from site to site, anthropologists easily substitute anecdotes and vignettes for serious field work.” In a review of multi-sited empirical transnational studies conducted in 2005, Mazzucato observes that researchers often move step-wise from one site to another and obtain their primary information mainly from interviews, through short contacts to respondents. According to this author, building longer-term relationships with respondents is difficult when dividing oneself among multiple research sites (Mazzucato 2009). According to Candea (2007: 174), moving between different sites may also lead to a sense of incompleteness and arbitrariness, “of never being in the right place at the right time.” However, based on my experience, I hold that despite the time constraints and short duration of fieldwork stays that I often experienced as a limitation, multi-sited research does involve the possibility of building and maintaining longer-term relationships with informants. In particular, my return to Milan one year after I had started the fieldwork allowed resuming contact with interview participants and getting an idea of the ways in which their lives and practices had changed over time. Besides, communication technologies, i.e., conversations via phone or Internet, also facilitated contact beyond the period of my stay in Milan. Surely, being present in the place was central for building such contacts. Therefore, as argued by Drotbohm (2012), spending a certain period of time in a single place is necessary for understanding these experiences and multi-sited research should rest on local perspectives obtained through immediate ethnographic encounters in particular localities (see also Lauser 2005; Amelina 2010). At the same time, fieldwork involves constant choices about which sites to prioritize (Hannerz 2003; Candea 2007; Gallo 2009; Drotbohm 2012). Being selective helped me to focus my research activities within the limited time available. Had I strictly followed the principles of multi-sited ethnography as proposed by Marcus (1995), I would have followed the migrants’ ties to family members not only in Milan but also in Rome, Bologna, and other cities. Similarly, I would have visited a

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broader range of sending localities to which the participants of my research were connected. Extending the field spatially, however, would have meant reducing the time available for repeated personal encounters in one single site. In short, focusing my fieldwork in a single locality of the receiving country also facilitated the simultaneous interviewing of migrants and employers. 3.3.3 Interviews with Peruvian Migrants: Profiles and Interviewing To study the migrants’ experiences as home-based caregivers of the elderly, I selected interview participants with some experience in this employment sector. Besides, I consciously included migrants with other job experiences in addition to elderly care, or in care institutions, to examine how these informants perceived the work of home-based elderly care as compared to other types of (care) work. At the moment of interviewing, more than half of the migrant informants (53%) were still working as caregivers of the elderly, either in families or in institutional settings. The rest were occupied in other types of care work, other employment sectors, and in some cases as independent workers (Appendix, Table 12). Interview participants were also selected according to a number of further criteria. First, I wanted to make sure that the sample was composed of women and men in order to capture gender differences. However, due to the feminization of Peruvian migration to Italy as well as the higher proportion of migrant women in the care sector, my search for female informants was much easier. As a result, 80% of the migrant informants were women. A further important criterion was to include the experiences of women and men with and without children (left behind and/or reunified), to address possible differences between these groups concerning their care practices. Among the total of migrants interviewed, 60% had children. Out of all the women interviewed, the percentage with children rises to 64%. Out of these mothers, 36% had all of their children in Peru, 36% had all of them in Italy (or another country), while 28% had children spread across Peru, Italy and, in some cases, other countries still. In terms of their civil status, it is important to note that only 39% of the interviewed mothers were married, whereas all others were single, divorced, or widowed. This is an important difference from the fathers interviewed, all of whom were married.8 The childless migrants interviewed, in contrast, were mostly single.

8

I also interviewed a small number of young people, who had been brought to Italy through the process of family reunification, but are not included in the numbers presented here. These interviews addressed questions concerning the ways they had experienced the departure and absence of their parent(s), the substitution of other caregivers such as grandmothers or aunts in place of parents, and the process and implications of family

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About half of these migrants had emigrated between 1989 and 1998, whereas the other half had left Peru between 1998 and 2010. Most of them (87%) were between 17 and 45 years old at the time of emigration . While illegal immigration to Italy has become increasingly common, only 11% were not in possession of a stay permit at the time of contact. An important proportion of 16% had obtained Italian citizenship. With regard to their educational levels, 27% had completed secondary school, another 27% had graduated from university and 20% from an institute of higher education, while 14% interrupted their university careers (Table 11). In Peru, the majority of them had worked in the service, commercial, or educational sectors (Table 9), often in poorly paid and precarious employment conditions. Finally, my study included interviews with Peruvians from both the capital and the provinces and of urban and rural origins, including the coastal region, Andean highlands, and/or selva (rainforest) (Table 10). While it took time to establish these contacts,9 they were important to my second research phase in Peru. Based on these contacts, I was able to contact families left behind in both the capital and the highlands. In sum, sampling techniques were closely tied to my research questions and interest in understanding the diversity of employment conditions and transnational care arrangements established through migration. Here, some additional remarks need to be made regarding the interview process. Interviews with Peruvian migrants were conducted either in private homes, in public places or, in a limited number of cases, in rooms made available by organizations. The interview location was always chosen by participants themselves to make sure that they felt comfortable and could integrate the interview into their daily schedules. As a result, a considerable number of interviews were held in localities and villages outside Milan, where the interview participants were living and, in some cases, also working.10 The duration of interviews also varied according to the participants’ availability, ranging from thirty minutes to two hours. Some participants were interviewed in the households where they worked or during their short reunification. They allowed complementing the information collected during interviews with family members in Peru that will be detailed below. 9

There are several reasons for this difficulty: First, migrants from Lima represent the highest proportion of Peruvian migrants in Italy. Second, some migrants of provincial origin are reluctant to openly accept their local backgrounds, as these are closely tied to the classifications of these migrants as “uneducated” and “backward” that are present in Peruvian society (Rodríguez Maeso 2007). Third, migrants from other origins are concentrated in specific parts of Milan and the surrounding cities. Getting access to them required some insider knowledge.

10 These include Abbiategrasso, Agrate, Bellinzago Lombardo, Bollate, Cinisello Balsamo, Legnano, Lecco, Magenta, Monza, San Donato Milanese, Sesto San Giovanni, Sulbiate, Vigevano and Vimercate. See: Appendix, Map of fieldwork locations in Italy.

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lunch or after-lunch break of one to two hours, which limited the time for additional or more in-depth questions. Interviews were conducted in Spanish, the language I assumed would be most comfortable to Peruvian informants. However, unconsciously or intentionally, informants frequently shifted into Italian. Speaking to me in Italian seemed to be a way in which some migrants sought to raise their status and appear “more Italian”—something that was also noted by non-migrant family members regarding emigrants who return to Peru. In interview situations, however, it was more frequent that interview participants unconsciously switched to the Italian language or mixed Spanish and Italian words, especially when they described their daily living and working conditions.11 Therefore, my ability to speak and understand Italian was important even in front of Peruvian research informants. Following the techniques of narrative and semi-structured interviewing, interviewees were encouraged to talk about a number of broad issue areas and asked to expand on certain questions following a previously formulated questionnaire and taking up new issues that were of interest to them. The issues raised throughout the interviews included the migrants’ experience of migration to Italy, family lives and care practices within their families, employment histories, and relationships and practices in their employer household(s) in Milan, as well as the migrants’ future projects. All interviews were audiotaped and transcribed, except in very few cases where interview participants felt more comfortable talking without a tape recorder. 3.3.4 Interviews with Italian Employers: Profiles and Interviewing Due to the difficult sampling process, the employers interviewed for this research form a hybrid group of informants. In some cases, the employment relationship was current at the time of interviewing, but in other instances, informants had formerly employed migrant caregivers for the care of family members who were already deceased.12 Some had not employed Peruvians but migrants of other nationalities as caregivers of the elderly. The majority of employers interviewed were managers of the employment relationship (69%) and women (74%), mainly daughters or daughters-in-law of the care receivers or, to a lesser extent, sons or sons-in-law. Interviewing elderly care receivers was also considered important for the analysis of

11 Due to the similarity between the Spanish and Italian languages, Peruvians in Italy often communicate through a mix of both languages, colloquially called itagnolo. 12 Some informants did not remember the exact period of employment and other relevant details, such as wages, the care worker’s background, or nationality. Still, I was able to get some idea of aspects that were most relevant to these informants and those that were still remembered.

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employment relations.13 Out of all the employers interviewed, 29% were carereceivers, some of whom were also care managers. Most Peruvian migrants work for the dependent elderly, usually persons with physical and/or mental handicaps who may have reached an advanced age above ninety years old. Given the limited availability of these persons for interviews, I opted for including interviews with another group: persons who were relatively self-sufficient but chose to employ Peruvians on a part-time/hourly basis to provide some practical domestic support or to keep them company. The care managers were between 39 and 84 years old at the moment of interviewing, while the majority (80%) of care receivers were above the age of 65. A relatively high proportion of the employers were retired at the moment of interviewing (38%), housewives (17%), teachers or academics (17%), employees (9%), or managers (7%) (Appendix, Table 13). Interviews with employers were guided by questions regarding their motivations for employing migrant workers, the migrants’ tasks and working conditions, employers’ relationships to workers and to care receivers, knowledge about the workers’ geographical and family backgrounds, and overall perceptions of migration to Italy. The set of questions was slightly modified for each interview, depending on whether the interview participant was the care receiver, the manager of the care relationship, or both. Most of the interviews with employers were conducted in their private homes14 and, to a more limited extent, in public places, parishes, or organizations. Interviewing the employers in their own apartments gave the advantage of observing their living conditions. This allowed inferences about the employers’ class backgrounds, which I supposed to be an essential factor in shaping the employment relationship. In a few cases, friends or relatives were also present for interviews. While this involved dealing with interruptions through third persons, such reunions also facilitated a confidential atmosphere and were occasions for observing the social lives of employing families. The duration of interviews was highly variable and depended not only on time constraints but also on the willingness of employers to expand on certain issues. While some participants dedicated just ten to twenty minutes to responding to my

13 Informants who were primarily care receivers tended to be more open to participating in the research. They were interviewed in places where their physical and mental health allowed and, in cases where management of care was completed by a third party, in places that were met with care managers’ approval. 14 Employers resided in the city of Milan or in other surrounding localities including Cornaredo, Magenta, Rho, and Sesto San Giovanni. See: Appendix, Map of fieldwork locations in Italy.

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questions, others took much more time, in some cases up to one and a half hours.15 In general, employers with good experiences and relationships to the migrant caretaker(s) were not only more willing to accept an interview but also felt more comfortable talking and elaborating on certain issues. Consequently, the majority of those who accepted the interview reported positive experiences, but these are certainly not representative of the entire group of employers in the elderly care sector. Obstacles to interviews with employers were also related to my own time constraints and difficulties in managing the simultaneous search and interviewing of Peruvian migrants and employers. For me as a native German speaker, switching between the Italian and Spanish language constituted a particular challenge. From the beginning, I conducted all interviews with employers in Italian. However, given my initial difficulties in speaking Italian fluently, along with my tendency to confuse words due to the similarity of both languages, some Italian informants might have gotten the impression that I was not only linguistically but also culturally more aligned with the Peruvian migrant population. This idea was easily reinforced in cases where contacts with Italian employers were established through the support of Peruvian representatives of organizations. For instance, some Peruvian members of church networks involved in the placement of Peruvians as care workers had many contacts with Italian employers and offered their help at several stages of the research process. Yet, these contacts were not always best suited toward establishing relationships of confidence to Italian participants who easily considered me a partisan of migrant interests rather than an independent researcher. Opting for different channels of contact was one way of coping with this problem. Another strategy was to separate the interviewing of Peruvian and Italian informants more clearly, wherever this was possible under the time constraints. This involved presenting myself in a different way when meeting Italian employers by wearing Italian-style clothes. My increased fluency in the Italian language made me feel more comfortable in approaching employers, reformulating questions, and encouraging them to talk about more sensitive issues. I also highlighted my interest in understanding the employers’ perspectives to make them feel like the protagonists of my study. However, the constant movement between social fields permeated by different linguistic and cultural knowledge and habits remained a difficulty throughout the 15 The short duration of some of the interviews may be explained by the fact that they were organized spontaneously by representatives of church organizations, who took me to the homes of persons they knew without announcing the interview in advance. These informants often suggested conducting the interview right away, but their answers remained superficial. In contrast, the interviews I had been able to organize through the help of friends or relatives of the employers interviewed were usually more fruitful both in terms of duration and content.

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entire research process. By researching employment conditions, I could easily be mistaken for a troublemaker, or so I was told by a job service representative who placed migrant care workers into Italian families. When I asked for help with my search for informants, the representative made an interesting distinction between contacting migrants versus Italian employers. While she would have asked migrants for their availability to be interviewed, she was not willing to do so in the case of employers. “Italians don’t want to be annoyed,” I was told on the phone. As demonstrated by these difficulties, interviewees may feel pressured or frightened when asked to talk about issues that are not meant to be disclosed to others (Jeggle 1984). Researchers have to respect these fears and cope with the inaccessibility of certain aspects of the social realities studied. A particular advantage of this research was its success in confronting the experiences and perspectives of care managers and receivers with those of Peruvian care workers, whose descriptions provided additional insight into the varied types of migrant-employer relations. Looking back to my fieldwork in Milan, I find that the arduous task of tracing connections between Peruvian care workers and employers was an important first step in understanding the ambiguous and often conflictive character of these employment relations. While the process of getting involved in hierarchical employment relations remained incomplete and unsatisfactory, it showed the problematic aspects of these relations quite plainly. To a lesser extent, I faced similar difficulties in my attempts to establish contact with the Peruvian migrants’ family members in Peru.

3.4 F IELDWORK IN L IMA , H UANCAYO , C UZCO /U RUBAMBA , P ERU

AND

3.4.1 Reflections on my Access to the Field Researching migration impacts in Peru is not an easy task. For several reasons, the migration of family members is often kept a secret. First, having a family member abroad tends to be considered synonymous with being in possession of money and material wealth. This is why transnational families are subject to frequent criminal assaults and become reluctant to talk publicly about migration or to let unknown persons enter their homes. Others might be afraid of talking about the irregular stay of family members in distant countries because they fear the possibility of deportation. Finally, migration tends to be associated with progress and success, but its actual impacts are much more ambiguous. Informants might be ashamed to admit that a migrant family member has not been successful or does not tell them about life abroad. All these are reasons for which people may reject interviews or conversa-

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tions on the issue of migration. I faced these difficulties where I tried to contact, talk to, and interview transnational family members beyond the network of contacts established with the help of informants in Milan. The few researchers and organizations that had studied migration in Peru confirmed this difficulty. Not all of them could build on similar relationships of confidence that in my case were facilitated by first contact with the migrant. In Italy, I had taken photographs of most informants and asked whether I could give them as a present to their distant family members. All those who had agreed to put me in contact with their families welcomed this idea. My initial plan was to offer them to carry presents they wanted to send to their families, as done by other researchers of transnational families (Tamagno 2003; Baldassar 2008, Fresnoza-Flot 2008; Drotbohm 2012). However, my study was organized in a way that would have made this effort difficult to manage.16 Preparing a set of photographs allowed me to bring a gift that still somehow contained the migrant family member in person. In addition, by carrying a small present from my own country and some photos of my family, I demonstrated that I was open to talking about myself and my own origin. In practice, I noticed that being a friend of the migrant often sufficed for family members who then welcomed me with open arms. Still, my gifts were an important step in gaining the confidence of informants and encouraging them to talk and ask questions. Sending or showing photographs is a central part of transnational communication. Reactions to these photos gave me a good idea of how transnational family members related to each other and how caregiving at a distance was organized in each case. 3.4.2 Organizing Fieldwork Across the Peruvian Coast and Rural Highlands Conducting research in Lima, Huancayo, and Cuzco/Urubamba meant becoming immersed in the particular local conditions where decisions to migrate had been made. To reach the places where transnational families were living, I had to cover long distances not only between but also within each of the selected localities. As in Milan, I also faced a series of organizational challenges. My research stay in Lima, the capital of Peru, was the first of three fieldwork phases I had planned in the country and coincided with the coastal summer season. Starting my fieldwork in Lima meant adapting to the living conditions in a largely unknown metropolis that seemed chaotic upon arrival. Together with the province

16 Between the first and second fieldwork phase, I stayed in Germany for about half a year and then traveled to Peru. Therefore, I was not able to meet migrant informants before departure.

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and seaport of Callao, it constitutes an agglomeration known as the Lima Metropolitan Area, which registers more than 8 million inhabitants—around one third of the country’s total population. The system of public transport is unorganized, largely informal, and inscrutable to the outsider. Thus, getting to a meeting required a great deal of time. The families I visited in Lima were spread across the entire city. From my department in Miraflores, I moved to the homes of families situated in districts as diverse as Jesús María, Independencia, Ate, San Juan de Lurigancho, and Chorrillos (Appendix, Map 2). Long distances between these districts meant that organizing more than one meeting per day was hardly possible. Walking on the streets alone, as an unaccompanied woman who was easily identified as an outsider, was also stressful in terms of security. At the same time, my visits to the homes of transnational family members were a particularly valuable part of the fieldwork, which allowed observing where migrants had grown up and how their families were living. Many of the migrants’ parents were themselves internal migrants, who had built their houses in the desert sand. They were often proud of material changes they could show me and also took me to new houses or floors that had been constructed with the financial support of migrant children. Some invited me to new shopping malls, parks, or restaurants. Such places, in addition to private households, held particular meaning for these families, and were associated with ideas of progress, status, and modernity. Capturing these ideas not only through interviews but also by means of participant observation was an enriching part of my study. After spending more than one month in Lima, I moved to Huancayo to continue my fieldwork in the Andean highlands. The city of Huancayo is located in the Central Sierra and functions as the capital of the department of Junín. It is situated in the Mantaro Valley, one of the most fertile areas of the Central Andes, at an altitude of 3,271 meters. It can only be reached by means of a bus ride of approximately seven hours. My contacts in this area were located not only in the city but also in some small rural places near by the city, including Huancán, Chongos Bajo, Huachac, Chupaca, and Sicaya. As in Lima, internal and international migration were widespread experiences in this region. Due to its geographical closeness to Lima, circular migration movements between this city and the capital are common. This might explain why initiating conversations about migration experiences was not as complicated as, for instance, in the region of Cuzco, the third locality in which my fieldwork took place. The small mountain town of Urubamba in the Cuzco region is located 57 km from the city of Cuzco in the Sacred Valley. While this area is visited by tourists from all parts of the world, few inhabitants of this region have themselves made the experience of migration. Moving to Lima requires a twenty-two hour bus ride or a costly plane ticket, which many cusqueños are not able to afford. Emigration from this place was less common than in the other places and seemed to be a silenced is-

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sue. Under such conditions, participant observation was central for understanding the reasons why people talked or did not talk about migration, and why they expressed their feelings and thoughts in a particular, often non-verbal, manner. My research activities in Huancayo and Cuzco were facilitated by closer distances and better conditions of security than those found in the capital. Yet, this did not mean that organization and time management were necessarily easier. Coping with the famous “hora peruana” (Peruvian hour), a delay of one hour that at times became one and a half or two exhausted my patience on several occasions. In this way, I felt a similar experience to those migrants who returned home after long periods abroad to visit their families and reported similar irritation about delays and lack of organization. The hurry and time pressure I had observed in the lives of migrants in Milan was completely nonexistent in their home country. Additional problems emerged due to informality. At times, I was disappointed by “gatekeepers” claiming to be able to facilitate a number of contacts for me that turned out to be unavailable. While unexpected incidents are common problems of ethnographic research, these were difficult to handle under the constraints of limited time. Again, I was confronted with the drawbacks of the multi-sited methodology and of the strict time period to which my research was subjected. Under these conditions, it was not always possible to develop alternative contacts and strategies. Especially in Huancayo, I faced problems because I had established only a few previous contacts with people from this area. Considering the importance of migration from Huancayo to Milan, I still decided to spend about three weeks of fieldwork there, with the hope of seeking further contacts once on location. However, I also received a lot of help from other researchers as well as the contacts I had been able to establish to huancaínos in Milan. Several representatives of the Institute of Migration and Development in the Andean Region (INMIGRA), located in Huancayo, supported my research in this locality and accompanied me during my visits to rural areas, where people were said to be quite reserved in front of unknown external visitors. They played the role of local intermediaries who took me to the homes of several parents left behind as well as to village fiestas. They also shared with me their knowledge about migration in the region. Finally, some remarks have to be made about the condition of my residence. For my stays in Lima and Huancayo, several migrants had offered up their parents’ homes. I opted instead to rent a room on my own because staying with a family, even with all its advantages, also limits a researcher’s independence and privacy (see also Le Compte/Schensul 1999). However, I did not want to miss out on the experience of living in a transnational household, so I decided to stay with a transnational family during my one-month fieldwork in Urubamba and during several days I spent in the city of Cuzco. Accompanying its members for an extended period of time was a valuable means of becoming immersed into their daily life and practices.

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3.4.3 Interviews with Family Members Left Behind: Profiles and Interviewing Among the transnational family members interviewed in Peru, the majority were adult women who were related to the migrant(s) in Italy as mothers (40%) or sisters (24%). Only the minority were fathers (16%) or brothers (9%) of migrants in Italy. Some interviewees were children with one or both parents abroad (11%) (Table 14).17 With regard to the occupations of these informants, the majority were involved in extra-domestic activities. A relatively high proportion were business owners (22%), students at technical institutes or universities (mostly private institutions) (19%), housewives or retired persons (20% in total), employees (17%), farmers (12%), or merchants (8%) (Appendix, Table 15). In the case of business owners and students, the occupation reflects the investment of remittances received from abroad. The majority of the informants interviewed in Peru had never migrated themselves and did not immediately understand why I had come to Peru to study migration. However, I also interviewed a small number of return migrants who had spent a prolonged period of up to ten years abroad. In addition, among the parents interviewed, an important proportion had visited their migrant family members in Italy. Those parents who had not migrated themselves at times did not know where their children were living exactly and in what kind of jobs they were employed. This gave me some idea of cognitive distance, i.e., the ways people look at, imagine, and interpret the space separating them from their distant family members (FresnozaFlot 2008). While most Peruvians were open to being interviewed, negative reactions to migration were also a reason for rejecting participation in the research, as in the case of one man left behind by his emigrant wife in Cuzco: asked for an interview, he said that he had nothing to do with migration because “the family dissolves” as a result of physical distance. Unlike in Italy, my visits to households in Peru opened up more opportunities to meet and interview several members of a transnational family rather than single individuals. This enabled me to observe and listen to interactions and dialogues, such as those between the migrants’ grandmothers and children. However, interview participants did not always freely talk about intimate issues or mentioned only certain aspects and details they shared with the other persons present at the moment of the encounter. The particular issues raised during interviews focused on reactions to migration and perceptions of changes that had taken place in the household after

17 Many of these informants had not just one but several family members in Italy. Thus, what is indicated by these percentages is just one family relationship, which was defined as the most important transnational tie during the process of interviewing.

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migration. I also asked about general views of migration and personal plans to migrate. All interviews were conducted in Spanish. In sporadic cases, informants of provincial and rural origin preferred responding in Quechua or mixed Spanish with Quechua or, in Huancayo, the local Huanca dialect. In these cases, gatekeepers and friends helped me with translations. Given that the use of a voice recorder would have disturbed some of my interactions with family members in Peru, I also followed the methods of ethnographic interviewing understood in terms of guided conversations (Schirmer 2009).18

3.5 P OSITIONALITIES : M Y R ELATIONSHIPS TO R ESEARCH I NFORMANTS IN I TALY AND P ERU The previous sections have shown that establishing relationships of confidence to the different agents of transnational care chains was of central importance for the process of data collection. This process required high levels of sensitivity and empathy in front of those who participated in the research. In addition, I had to be aware about the ways in which interactions in the field were shaped by my own position as perceived by my counterparts. In this section, I will therefore reflect on the issue of positionality, which refers to the role of the researcher in the construction of knowledge or, in other words, to “the question how the researcher’s standpoint influences the access to the ‘field’; the relation of the researcher to the research participants; and, the process of interpretation and data analysis” (De Tona 2006: 2). Here, I refer to “positionalities” to suggest that the boundaries between the researcher and the researched are multiple and constantly redefined in a situational manner (Schinozaki 2012). By reflecting on positionalities in the research process, migration scholars may critically engage with methodological nationalism and move toward constructionist understandings of categories of social difference that may shape the situational hierarchies of power between the researchers and the researched (Amelina/Faist 2012; Shinozaki 2012). These processes, however, are seldom addressed in a systematic manner in methodological reflections within the literature on transnational migration (ibid.). In establishing and maintaining contacts

18 Schirmer (2009) defines ethnographic interviews as guided conversations, part of participant observation, which are not held in a pre-arranged setting and time frame. Usually, they do not involve the explicit consent of the interlocutor and are not audiotaped. Like all other interviews, however, these were held only after participants had been informed about the research and its objectives. In these cases, I asked a similar set of questions and took notes afterwards.

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to a wide range of research participants spread across national borders, I had numerous occasions on which to reflect about these hierarchies. 3.5.1 Divisions of Nationality, Race, Ethnicity, and Class Toward the end of my first stay in Italy, a Peruvian friend asked how I had felt interviewing his compatriots. My sincere answer was that despite the time constraints of many informants, I had noted a high degree of interest and availability to support and participate in my research. His reaction was to contrast my physical appearance and origin with that of a dark-skinned, small, and indigenous Peruvian woman from the highlands. In her case, no one would have been available for an interview, he said, and he continued talking about the pleasant but somewhat strange experience of meeting a young, light-skinned European—not Italian—woman coming from “abroad” to talk to people like him and his family members: “Imagine, if my family sees you arrive, they will be perplexed and respond to all your questions. That’s just the way we Peruvians treat people with white skin and bright eyes, and pretty, too!” These spontaneous remarks made me think about the ways constructions of race, nationality, class, and gender influenced the perceptions and availability of my research participants. The researcher’s national origin and cultural closeness or distance to informants may be both a facilitating or hindering factor in the research process, depending on intersections with other categories of social difference. Researchers entering the field as members of the same nationality often enjoy an insiders’ status that is beneficial to the research process, yet, they may still find themselves in an unequal relationship to their informants (Ganga/Scott 2006; Alcalde 2007). Others who are citizens of the destination country studying the experiences of migrants are easily considered part of the dominant group and face initial distrust and suspicion (Pérez 2006). In my case, I was in an ambiguous and shifting position. “Where are you from?” was a frequent question posed to me with some initial confusion. Once I clarified my German nationality, I emphasized not only my research interests but also my sympathy toward Peruvian language, music, dances, food, and religious celebrations. In this way, I was easily accepted into ethnic traditions that not all migrants continued to cultivate themselves. Some migrants also noted that my Spanish seemed quite close to that of their families left behind and “more Peruvian” than their own itagnolo accents. Being neither Italian nor Peruvian was a clear advantage in my relationship to Peruvians in Milan. I was seen as an insider in terms of knowledge, while simultaneously remaining a foreigner, a person from “abroad” who studied their daily lives and work relations from the perspective of an outsider. This had the advantage of encouraging Peruvians to tell me with openness and frankness what they thought about Italians and their own compatriots.

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Even when calling Italians egoistic, materialistic, or cold-hearted, they would not offend me in any way. This facilitated relationships of trust as well as my access to insider knowledge. In these relationships, positive constructions of whiteness, appearance, and class also played a role. Perhaps this is best reflected by false expectations I raised on the part of a couple of Peruvian women, who took me for a potential employer or job intermediary when I contacted them for the first time. Such impressions emerged spontaneously, even after I had clarified my research aims, my “foreignness” in Italy and the limit of my stay in Milan. As such divisions could not be simply erased, my research encounters remained highly asymmetrical. In front of Italians, nationality seemed most important in shaping my research encounters. On the one hand, not being Peruvian was a clear advantage. Similar to my Peruvian informants, Italians considered me as an outsider to their employment experiences. At the same time, being German, not Italian, meant that some additional effort was needed to explain and justify why I had left my German context to study the perspectives of Italian employers. Some employers demanded clarification but also relativized and defended their own practices in suggesting that the employment of migrant elderly carers was actually nothing special in the Italian context. As I switched from one region to another, my racial and class position shifted again. In the eyes of family members in Peru, being German or Italian seemed to make no difference, as the knowledge of national difference tended to be limited. Being European, in contrast, meant being part of a privileged social group. As noted by others, the presence of curious researchers from the global North is often viewed as a prestige in different localities in the South, because these researchers are placed outside of local hierarchies and are viewed as embodying a privileged access to relationships and desired goods that are unavailable to many of the people studied (Hauser-Schäublin 2008; Schlehe 2008; Drotbohm 2012). In my case, the differential access to resources based on my citizenship status seemed to be an important reason why I was of interest to informants in Peru. My position was that of a traveler, able to move freely across countries and regions—an ideal position in the eyes of many Peruvians who had never left their country. As such, I was able to give informants access to first-hand information on living conditions and work opportunities in Italy or my own country. In addition, my relationship to transnational family members in Peru and Italy was also shaped by my role as an intermediary. Given my close contact and friendship to family members in both places, people could ask me what I knew about their distant relatives. It also happened that informants emphasized certain aspects to influence their family members at a distance and asked me to transmit certain messages such as their dissatisfaction about insufficient remittances. Dealing with such assignments was a tricky business that required constant awareness of my ethnographic responsibility. Often I decided to transmit relatively general messages in

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order to avoid reinforcing conflicts as a result of my presence. This was particularly important in cases of informants who had hidden certain aspects of their life from distant family members. At the same time, it should be clear that even the most general fact I reported, through words or photos, was a valuable piece of information for people who had not met their family members for months or even years. Inevitably, this information caused positive and negative reactions that I was not able to foresee or control. In short, I became part of the transnational communication and of the power inequities that were simultaneously reproduced and reshaped through my transnational presence. 3.5.2 Moving within Gendered Fields In my relationships to informants, gender also played an important role. Among ethnographers, gender and sexuality have been discussed as categories that inevitably shape the process of participant observation and interviewing (Bell/Caplan/ Karim 1993; Behnke/Meuser 1999; Markowitz/Ashkenazi 1999). As participant observers, ethnographers are viewed as sexual beings and placed into gender categories. In addition, the practices of informants themselves are deeply gendered, which means that men and women may react differently in interview situations (Schwalbe/ Wolkomir 2001). In my case, this meant struggling with the difficulty of interviewing and maintaining contact with male informants. While their perspectives were important for my research, relating to these informants was difficult, due to both the ways male and female informants constructed my role as a female researcher and to men’s performances during the process of interviewing. During interviews with single men, for instance, I was often perceived as a young and unaccompanied woman in need of help and company beyond the research encounter. From time to time this involved coping with sexual advances and required strategies of desexualization, “the construction and maintenance of a definition of nonsexual interaction” (Trevino 1992: 516). In such cases, it was helpful to maintain a cordial and sincere relationship to male informants, in which I disclosed details about my personal life and included my distant partner into conversations. In some cases, I decided to limit myself to a single interview or a reduced number of meetings. While married informants often behaved differently than single men, establishing confidential relationships to them was not necessarily easier, as the following example reflects. Diego was single when I interviewed him for the first time in 2007. While interviewed, he was loquacious and gave long, extended answers. Four years later, he was married to a Peruvian woman. He was glad to participate in my new research project again. I soon noticed, however, that his way of talking had changed. In the presence of his wife, he was sparing of words, lowered his voice, and mumbled.

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Several additional meetings were helpful for gaining further information. On one of these occasions, he mentioned that his wife was jealous. I had presented my study interests and research project to her, but despite this fact, I was taken for an intruder, a woman interested in her husband, and not a curious researcher. In addition, I also struggled with male informants’ attempts at taking control over the interview situation and subject matter. According to Schwalbe/Wolkomir (2001), the interview situation may pose a threat to masculine power, where it requires informants to subordinate themselves to another person who sets the agenda, asks the questions, controls the flow of talk, and may also raise sensitive issues. Such conditions may be met with attempts at exerting compensatory control over interviews. Particularly Peruvian men in both countries, including experts, tended to demonstrate power by delivering relatively autonomous talks and monologues that did not leave much space for interposed questions and strategies to bring the central issues back into the conversation. In other cases, male informants, including Italians, reasserted their masculinities at the very moment of being asked for an interview. Not all of them considered themselves as competent to talk about the issue of family care and tended to avoid participation in interviews to a higher extent than women. In contrast, women in both countries, independent of their nationality, tended to be much more open than men to talking about this issue, including its affective dimensions. When I visited employer couples in their homes, I often noticed how men tended to greet and disappear or to participate to a much more limited extent in the interview, even when they collaborated in managing the employment relation. In Peru, I observed how male informants, if present during my visit, left the issue of care to be outlined by women. This tells much about the sexual division of labor and its reproduction in transnational care relations. In addition, male interview partners, to a higher extent than women, tended to talk about individual (rather than family) projects and work-related experiences or about macro-political and economic conditions that influence migration. Asked about their immediate family relations and emotional dimensions of care, by contrast, they were often sparing of words, especially when their family situation was challenging or breaking social norms. This stood in a sharp contrast to the inexhaustible talks that many women interviewed gave on their family lives, and it points to a clear limitation of this research: its inability to represent the perspectives of women and men in an equal manner. Yet, the way men responded to research questions actually tells a lot about gender-specific ways of dealing with care and family issues. In short, the “nondisclosure of emotions” (Schwalbe/Wolkomir 2001: 95) can be made part of the analysis. In light of these challenges, the collection of additional data beyond single interviews was particularly important for studying men’s family and care practices and perspectives on these issues. This included considering the perspectives of fam-

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ily members and friends in the different research sites. In other words, the multiplicity of perspectives on one single practice or relationship could only be captured through the multi-sited practice of moving within the migrants’ social networks. This allowed grasping “multiple angles” to the research object without pretending to be comprehensive (Fortun 2009: 82). Moving across space also enabled me to uncover tensions and contradictions within these networks by juxtaposing the varied data sets collected in different sites.

3.6 C ONSIDERATIONS ABOUT D ATA A NALYSIS P RESENTATION OF R ESEARCH F INDINGS

AND

Analyzing and interpreting research data are processes that rest on a certain degree of distance from the personalized encounters described in the previous sections. This is only possible by returning to a desk and sorting out those aspects that are most relevant for further analysis and interpretation. This meant transcribing interviews and ordering the wealth of collected material, not only in the periods after each research phase but also during the period of data collection. For this purpose, the verbal statements available in the form of interview transcriptions needed to be complemented and compared to other available data sets such as protocols, field notes, visual data, and secondary sources. The process of ordering was based on the reciprocal relation of empirical data analysis and ongoing theoretical debates that were presented in the previous chapter. New questions and insights raised in such debates enriched my reflections and analytical perspective. Considering the magnitude of data collected, I had to make choices about which issues to prioritize and orient myself according to open questions and blank spots that still exist in academic writing. However, while my initial research questions and theoretical knowledge background were central in guiding my perspective, I was careful not to use preestablished categories for the analysis of my research data. As a first step, it was necessary to reduce and select some of the collected data that was particularly illuminating to answer the research questions. With regard to the verbal data that was available in the form of transcriptions, this was best achieved through macro structure analysis, a strategy that allows the reduction of interview material by means of summarization, coding, and categorization (Flick 2007).19 This type of analysis allowed an initial deeper understanding of the verbal

19 The aim of this procedure is to obtain a set of relatively abstract categories and more specific codes which allow comparing and juxtaposing data sets that refer to each single case and beyond. This involves several steps: First, the content of the interview is paraphrased.

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data and of similarities and differences within the groups of interview participants, and was also useful in providing an overview of the central issues addressed in interviews. It also involved paying attention to issues that had been silenced or neglected, considering not only the interview material but also the many conversations and statements I had captured in the field. Finally, I obtained an overview of processes by which social inequalities are reproduced and reshaped in particular cases and conditions. These had to be subjected to a more focused analysis regarding which categories of social difference play a role in the processes examined and how they intersect with the experiences and practices of individual actors. For the purpose of this research, these categories were also inductively extracted from the qualitative data. To conclude the present section and chapter, some brief considerations need to be made on the presentation of the research data. To protect the anonymity of participants and the confidentiality of the information, this study uses pseudonyms and avoids certain details by which informants could be identified personally.20 In presenting my research data in the following chapters, I will offer insight into the results of the analysis, including the differences I found while contrasting the experiences, practices, and views of the research informants. I will also refer to specific cases from my ethnographic research, which I found best suited toward supporting my analysis in an illuminating manner. The quotes that will illustrate my findings are translations from Spanish (in the case of migrants, their family members, and Peruvian experts) and Italian (in the case of Italian employers and experts). Complementing the data that is presented throughout the analysis, the Appendix (Tables 1-6) provides a detailed overview of the profiles of the informants whose experiences were considered for this study.

Next, the paraphrases are coded and the codes are again summarized and categorized (Flick 2007). 20 An exception is made in the case of experts, who have given their consent to be interviewed and cited as representatives of their specific institutions.

4. PERUVIAN EMIGRATION AND THE TRANSNATIONALIZATION OF CARE PRACTICES 4.1 I NTRODUCTION “I have quite a lot of classmates over there in Italy. [...] I observe all these people, my classmates who come to visit and build a house of five floors for themselves in Urubamba. I’m left surprised and say to myself I’d really like to be there!” MARIANELA, 27 YEARS, CUZCO, SISTER IN ITALY

This chapter looks at the process, characteristics, and driving forces of Peruvian emigration and the transnationalization of care practices. In Chapter 2, I proposed exploring transnational care chains as part of a process of transnationalization, through which care regimes are affected as much as single individuals and families. This perspective will guide my analytical perspective in this and part of the following chapter, allowing me to address several questions that are important for understanding transnational care chains and their implications for the reproduction of entangled social inequalities: what are the characteristics and specific processes that have sustained the growth of Peruvian emigration more broadly and of Peruvian migration to Italy in particular? What are the particularities of care and migration regimes in Peru and Italy that have contributed to these migration flows and what role do the policies and discourses of sending and receiving states play in this context? In exploring these questions, I will draw not only on relevant statistical data and secondary sources, but also on the qualitative data collected during the fieldwork process in Peru and Italy. As I aim to show, the historical processes that are of interest here are part of the lived experiences of the Peruvian migrants and families considered in this study. Understanding their motivations and expectations at the moment of migration is a first step in the analysis of transnational care practices and social inequalities, which are at the center of my interest in this study.

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In Peru, migration is a well-known reality, as revealed by an important body of literature that examines the multiple processes and consequences of internal migration (e.g., Bourque/Warren 1981; Altamirano 1984a; 1984b; 2000b; Golte 2001). While Peruvian international migration has started to increase since the 1960s, these migration flows and, in particular, their social effects in the sending country, have not received comparable attention in public discourse and academic writing (for a similar critique see Panfichi 2007; Durand 2010; Torres 2011). Talks with experts, held during my fieldwork in Peru, confirmed this observation. In recent years, a notable increase in academic production on Peruvian migration has developed, but the scope of this research is mostly limited to the (economic) development impacts of emigration and, in particular, of remittances sent to Peru (Altamirano 2004; Alvarado/Gonzalez/Galarza 2005; Espejo/Loyola 2007; Loveday/Molina/Rueda 2005; Molina/Rueda 2005). In contrast, there is very little research on the non-economic aspects of migration, including the transnational care strategies that are of interest here. Several existing case studies on migration in the sending localities of the Peruvian highlands adopt an actor-oriented approach, which focuses on migration as opening “new opportunities” for families in the rural Andes (Barker 2005: 9; see also Tamagno 2003; Long 2008; Pérez 2009).1 The focus on the agency and problemsolving capacities of migrants and their families, however, risks omitting the structural forces that shape migration processes, including the ways in which social inequalities are perpetuated by state regimes. Based on these considerations, this chapter examines the process of emigration and care transnationalization in Peru. In the first part, I provide a brief overview of the historical context and characteristics of Peruvian emigration in general and of migration to Italy in particular. Then, I move to a more detailed analysis of the social, political, and economic context in which Peruvian emigration takes place. This means considering multiple factors that have sustained Peruvian emigration, including economic and political crisis, the social organization of care and its transnationalization, the care demand and migration regimes of the receiving countries, social representations of migration, transnational social networks, and the policies and discourses of the Peruvian state.

1

Tamagno’s study (2003) on migration and development between Huancayo and Milán points to the new opportunities of agency, development, and empowerment created by migration, and concludes that transnational migration enables subaltern groups “to build a transnational life and become the agents of development for their home communities” (Tamagno 2003: 375).

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4.2 F ROM INTERNAL TO I NTERNATIONAL M IGRATION : P ERU AS A S ENDING C OUNTRY 4.2.1 Phases and Characteristics of Peruvian Emigration In the past eighty years, more than 3 million Peruvians emigrated to search for better opportunities for life and development abroad. According to the 2007 National Census, 1,635,207 Peruvians, more than 10% of the national population, are residing permanently outside the country (OIM and INEI 2009). Peruvian emigration can be understood as part of a long-term process, which is deeply rooted in the history of the Andes. Even in Incan times, migration constituted a common strategy by which Andean families sought to better their life conditions. Since the 1940s and 1950s, internal migration from the highlands to the cities has contributed to important socio-demographic and cultural transformations, accelerating the process of urbanization and simultaneously an “andinization” or “ruralization” of the cities, particularly in the Peruvian capital of Lima (Altamirano 1988). This population flow increased during the 1980s due to economic crisis and escalating terrorism, a period that also marked a significant rise in the numbers of Peruvian international migrants. The continuities of internal and international migration are well documented, especially by the work of the Peruvian anthropologist Teófilo Altamirano (e.g., 1984a; 1984b; 1996; 2000a; 2000b; 2009). His research shows that Peruvian internal migration from the highlands to the cities has much in common with more recent emigration flows. In particular, it often involves the construction of trans-local family networks between the coast and the highlands as a development strategy employed by rural families to maximize individual and family options (see also Bourque/Warren 1981). Most internal migrants stay connected to their villages of origin through their participation in regional clubs and public improvement projects as well as the sending of remittances. More specifically, Altamirano points to the rural origins of contemporary family and collective remittances by which Peruvian migrants support their family members across borders. In the rural Andes, these are considered “encargos” (“orders”) or “cariños” (gifts), which respond to the Quechua concept and practice called kuyay and kuyanakuy (Altamirano 2009: 64-65). The first refers to the affection or subjective ties between relatives (ayllus) and the second to the act of appreciation expressed by a gift, generally a personal or food product rather than money. These exchanges are maintained when a family member migrates to the city, with the difference that migrants may also send urban products and money to compensate for their physical absence in the village. Likewise, as a sign of reciprocity, the family left behind sends products of alimentation and handicraft to the migrant and thereby

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contributes to the maintenance of local and family ties across geographical distance. While international migration involves the families’ introduction into two or more nation-states, it can be interpreted as a new phase in this long-term process, in which antique practices are at the same time reproduced and transformed according to new conditions. Since the 1960s, Peruvian emigration has gone through several phases, which reflect the growing diversification of the geographical scope and composition of these migration flows (Altamirano 2003). In its early phase, emigration was mainly directed to the United States and was an option almost exclusively reserved for the middle-upper and upper classes. The late 1980s and early 1990s then witnessed an explosion of Peruvian emigration to new destinations. This diversification was caused by two simultaneous processes: the conditions of economic and political crisis in Peru, which I examine subsequently in this chapter, and the tightening of U.S. immigration policies and border controls (Paerregaard 2008). The latter coincided with a change of immigration laws in Spain, Italy, and Japan that encouraged an influx of migrant workers to satisfy the rising demand for labor in the domestic service sector and the manufacturing industry. These conditions contributed to an important growth of Peruvian emigration to Spain and Italy from the early 1990s and, in the mid-1990s, of intraregional migration to Argentina (from 1994) and Chile (from 1997).2 Recent Peruvian emigration includes individuals from nearly all social classes, geographical backgrounds, and educational levels. Among the Peruvians who emigrated between 1994 and 2009, 29.5% declare themselves as students, 13.2% as office workers, 11.0% as housewives, 10.5% as sales and services workers, 9.7% as professionals, academics, and intellectuals, and 5.5% as technicians and mediumlevel professionals (OIM/DIGEMIN/INEI 2010).3 As I outline below, these social

2

Peruvian emigration to these destinations is also closely tied to previous immigration flows to Peru, as reflected by the correlation between the six principal immigrant groups in Peru (Spanish, Italian, Argentinean, Chilean, North Americans, and Japanese) and the six preferred destinations of Peruvian migrants (Paerregaard 2008). In 2010, 88.7% of all Peruvian emigrants were concentrated in the United States (32.6%), Spain (16.6%), Argentina (13.5%), Italy (10.0%), Chile (7.8%), and Japan (4.2%) (OIM/DIGEMIN/INEI 2010).

3

A comparative study (LAMP) shows that on average, Peruvian emigrants are better educated than other groups of migrants from Latin America. In addition, Peruvian emigrants also have a higher educational and class background than those who have never left Peru. This is largely due to the high costs of migration, which means that people from the poorer sectors, which are deprived of resources, education and information, usually cannot emigrate (Takenaka/Pren 2010).

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sectors are among the most affected by the political and economic changes that have occurred in Peru since the 1980s. A central characteristic of these recent emigration flows is their feminization. While women account for 50.4% of the 1,785,429 Peruvians who left the country between 1994 and 2009 (OIM/DIGEMIN/INEI 2010), the percentage of women amounts to about 60% in Italy, Spain, and Argentina, and to even 65% in Chile (Argentinean and Chilean National Censuses 2001 and 2002; Escrivá 2003; Caritas 2011). In addition, the majority of Peruvian emigrants is part of the economically active population who leave the country in search for a job: 32.3% of those who emigrated between 1990 and 2009 were between 15 and 29 years old and 42.2% between 30 and 49 years old at the moment of departure, while only 10.1% were minors under 15 (OIM/DIGEMIN/INEI 2010). With regard to their occupations abroad, 84% of Peruvian emigrants are categorized as “non-qualified,” while 16% work in private businesses, educational institutions, banking, international organizations, and other sectors of qualified work (OIM/INEI 2010). In Peru, the growing importance of emigration is also reflected by the rise in transnational households. According to the 2007 Peruvian National Census, transnational households (with at least one member abroad) constitute 10.4% of total Peruvian households and are distributed across the entire Peruvian territory, with a major concentration in the coastal region (70.6%) (OIM/INEI 2010). Considering the particular sending localities in which my research was conducted, Lima shows the highest levels of emigration on a national level, with a concentration of transnational households of 15.6%. This is also a result of the fact that international migration tends to follow earlier internal migration to the capital. Yet, a notable proportion of Peruvians also migrate directly from their hometowns in the Andean highlands. The departments of Junín and Cuzco register a percentage of 8.0% and 8.2% of transnational households, respectively. This proportion is even higher in the specific provinces of Huancayo, Cuzco, and Urubamba, reflecting their importance as sending localities of migration (Appendix, Table 7).4 Peruvian migrants in Italy come from all 24 departments of Peru, but particularly from Lima (52%), Junín (9%), Cuzco, La Libertad, Ancash, Arequipa, and the constitutional province of Callao (each with 4% approximately; Consulado General del Perú en Milán 2008).

4

While some research has been conducted on migration in Lima and Huancayo (e.g., Tamagno 2003; Ansión/Mujica/Villacorta 2008; Anderson 2010b; Romero et al. 2010; ASPEM 2012), very little is known about migration in Cuzco and Urubamba.

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4.2.2 Characteristics of Peruvian Migration to Italy and Milan Italy has become particularly attractive for migrants from innumerable extraEuropean countries. Here in the beginning of the 21st century, it is one of the European countries with the highest number of immigrants and it is also among the industrialized countries with the highest growth rate in immigrant numbers (Caritas 2007). At the end of 2011, the total number of foreign immigrants living in Italy had passed the threshold of 5 million people (5,011,000), which constitutes around 8% of the country’s inhabitants (Caritas 2012). Out of these, 8.3% came from the Latin American region. Italy, along with Spain, is another European country with one of the highest concentrations of Peruvian migrants. At the beginning of 2012, 108,000 Peruvians were residing in Italy with a regular residence status (ISMU 2013). It is estimated that there is also an increasing number of Peruvian migrants in irregular conditions, which amounts to 13,000 in 2009 (ORIM/ISMU 2010). The majority of these migrants live in the region of Lombardy (54,600), which has seen an important increase in the number of Peruvian migrants from 19,400 in 2001 to 54,600 in 2013 (ORIM/ISMU 2014; Table 8). Within the region of Lombardy, Peruvians are concentrated in the city and province of Milan. In July 2010, the number of Peruvians totaled 33,850 (plus 3,930 irregular residents) in the province of Milan and 20,150 (plus 2,410 irregular residents) in the commune of Milan (ORIM 2011). In this commune, Peruvians represent the forth-biggest group of immigrants, following the Filipino, Egyptian, and Chinese communities. As a consequence of this spatial concentration, Milan has acquired a specifically “Peruvian” connotation (Marzadro 2009). In addition, Peruvian migrants have also settled in the regions of Lazio, especially in the Italian capital Rome (17,960), Piemonte (Torino) (13,906), Emilia Romagna (Bologna) (no statistical data), Toscana (Florence) (10,130) and Liguria (Genoa) (5,026) (Caritas 2012). In the previous section, I pointed to the feminization of Peruvian migration to Italy, which is strongly tied to the employment opportunities available on the Italian labor market. In Italy, women constitute 60.1% of the Peruvian immigrant population (Caritas 2011). A large proportion of this population is employed in the care sector5 and belongs to the young and economically active population: 44% are between 26 and 45 and 17% between 18 and 25 years old (Consulado General del Perú en Milán 2008). At the same time, there is an important proportion of Peruvian minors, amounting to 29% of the Peruvian population in Italy. While the proportion

5

In Chapter 5, I will provide further information on the employment of Peruvian migrants in the care sector as well as in other sectors of the Italian labor market.

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of Peruvians above 60 years old is small (2%), it reflects the migration of aging parents by means of family reunification (ibid.). This data shows the importance of family migration and of family formation as another central characteristic of Peruvian migration to Italy. Most Peruvian women over 14 years old residing in Italy are mothers (63.5%) and among these, a significant proportion (48%) have all of their children in Italy, while 38% have left all and 15% have left some of their children in Peru or another country (ISMU 2009). This reflects the coexistence of transnational and local mothering practices, which have resulted from the current trend toward family reunification, the formation of migrant households, and the birth of children in an Italian context. Finally, the process of Peruvian migration to Italy can also be divided into various historical phases, which show a very different composition in terms of the migrants’ socio-economic backgrounds and educational levels (Lainati 2006). In the initial phase, it mainly consisted of students, professors, graduates, elementary and upper-school teachers, policemen, and qualified workers who came to Italy between the 1980s and the preceding decade.6 The second flow, which started in the 1990s and is marked by particularly high numbers between 1994 and 1997, distinguishes itself from the first due to its different composition and characteristics. It is driven by stronger economic motivations and composed of a wider range of the population, showing medium to low schooling rates. The third phase of Peruvian migration begins in 2001, with the restriction of immigration to the United States, the immigration amnesty of 2002,7 and the increase in family reunification. Especially in the last period, the number of children and men among Peruvian migrants in Italy has increased considerably. These different phases have increased the heterogeneity of the group of Peruvian migrants in Italy, who distinguish themselves considerably, not only according to their period of stay in the country, but also in terms of their socio-economic status and level of education. Considering this heterogeneity is important for understanding new social divisions and inequalities in transnational families, which will be examined in Chapters 6 and 7. Overall, it is worth mentioning that Peruvian migration to Italy has not decreased in front of growing re6

In this early phase, Peruvian migration to Italy was also a result of previous Italian migration to Peru. The Peruvian government of Manuel Prado, through a program created in 1872 that supported the immigration of European workers to be incorporated into agricultural work at the coast, obtained the immigration of almost 3,000 Europeans in a period of only two years, most of them from Genoa, Italy (Altamirano 1996). Since the mid-20th century, descendents of these immigrants started to return to Italy in the face of growing economic and political crisis. Through their networks, they paved the way for additional Peruvians to enter the country.

7

The influence of Italian migration policies on Peruvian emigration will be examined below.

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strictions to immigration and improvement of economic indicators in Peru. In the following sections, I examine why this is so and how the parameters of Peruvian emigration have changed over time.

4.3 S OCIAL , P OLITICAL , AND E CONOMIC C ONTEXT E MIGRATION AND C ARE C HAINS IN P ERU

OF

In Peru, the growth of both internal and international migration flows, especially since the 1980s, has responded to a multiplicity of interconnected factors. On the one hand, migration is clearly tied to conditions of economic, political, and social instability and crisis, which were particularly serious during the period of political violence and structural adjustment in the 1980s and 1990s. While the turn to the new century marks a transition toward economic growth, emigration continues due to employment instability and the lack of efficiency and legitimacy of social and public policies. A cross-cutting element behind these multiple causes is various types of intersecting racial, ethnic, gender, and class inequalities and forms of discrimination, which were also observed by other scholars of emigration from the Andean region (Herrera 2008c; Boccagni 2009a). On the other hand, Peruvian emigration is driven by social networks and social representations about migration and opportunities abroad. Finally, it is also a response to the rising demand for migrant care workers in many parts of the globe and sustained by policies and discourses in the receiving and sending countries. The principal aim of this section is to contextualize the present study on transnational care chains and entangled inequalities between Peru and Italy based on a consideration of these multiple dynamics. In this context, it is important to consider both the agency of families and individuals in meeting their daily needs through new transnational movements and care practices and the continued role of nation-states in shaping these practices in both the contexts of reception and places of origin. 4.3.1 Emigration in Times of Political and Economic Crisis Existing studies that analyze the causes of Peruvian migration throughout the past decades emphasize the close connection between emigration and political and economic (in)stability (Altamirano 2003; Abusada/Pastor 2008; Villanueva 2010). The onset of massive Peruvian emigration in the 1980s occurred in a period characterized by economic opening and neoliberal policies, the bankruptcy of national firms, and the beginning of civil war and terrorism (Durand 2010). These factors contributed to a sharp increase in both internal and international migration.

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This is particularly evident in the period immediately after the first government of Alan García (July 1985–July 1990), which was marked by high levels of political violence and economic recession, along with an unprecedented growth of emigration, from 32,000 in 1985 to 75,000 in 1990 (Altamirano 2003). Simultaneously, this period witnessed an intensification of internal migration and forced displacement, as people fled both the terrorists and the military.8 Several of the migrants interviewed for my research emigrated during this period, mainly in response to poverty and economic and political crisis. Since the 1980s, the Peruvian economy has also been affected by unprecedented economic globalization, including the implementation of a series of neo-liberal reforms (Hays-Mitchell 2002).9 In particular, the structural adjustment programs inaugurated by the newly elected president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) in 1990 became known for their disastrous effects in leading to an unprecedented deterioration of living standards. While the immediate goals of the programs consisted in stabilizing the Peruvian economy and halting inflation, the actual developments of August 1990 became known as the “Fujishock,” charac8

The principal agent of political violence was the terrorist group called Shining Path (Partido Comunista del Perú Sendero Luminoso, SL), which began its armed actions under the direction of Abimael Guzmán in May 1980, in Ayacucho, one of the poorest departments of Peru. Its presence progressed over various areas of the national territory. The second agent of violence was the Revolutionary Movement Túpac Amaro (MRTA). Although less influential compared to the first, MRTA began its armed actions in 1984. It had an important presence in the valley of Central Huallaga, where it established an alliance with drug traffickers and was also active in the central highlands and the capital (Blondet/Montero 1994). These developments led to a new wave of internal migrants from the rural highlands to Lima and to provincial cities, such as Huancayo, who differed from earlier internal migrants because they were predominantly impoverished women, children, and elderly people of low educational background, many of whom were monolingual Quechua speakers, who settled in one of the shanty towns at the outskirts of the cities (asentamientos humanos). These women and their families also started to participate in international migration (Tamagno 2003). I do not go further into these processes here, given that only a small number of my informants migrated in response to political violence.

9

The first reforms were initiated in 1980 under the government of Fernando Belaúnde (1980-1985), as part of an agreement made under international pressure to service foreign debt and control inflation. Under deteriorated economic conditions, Alan García (19851990) launched a so-called “unorthodox” structural adjustment program, which imposed a ceiling on foreign debt service. Due to this deviation from the policies prescribed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Peru was ostracized from the international financial community. With the collapse of the Peruvian economy by mid-1987, the program proved unsustainable (Hays-Mitchell 2002).

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terized by hyperinflation, a decline in real wages by more than 50%, a drop of GDP per capita to 1960s levels, and underemployment beyond 80%. Women and the elderly were particularly affected by these developments. On the one hand, economic crisis and structural adjustment negatively impacted the aging population and consequently the subsequent generations who now feel obliged to support their parents during illness and old age. The crisis of the public pensions system that reached its peak around the end of the 1980s contributed to a high level of distrust in both domestic public and private institutions that support the aged (Escrivá 2005). Consequently, the vast majority of Peruvians relied on their children for their care and on investments such as housing. This explains the emigration of Peruvian middle and working class men and women, who have seen international migration as a solution to immediate health problems or for saving money for times when no or insufficient income can be earned. On the other hand, feminist scholars have drawn attention to the adverse gender outcomes inherent in the implementation of neo-liberal reforms. These tend to bypass those economic sectors in which women predominate, reducing their income-earning power as well as social provision, while increasing the time and activities needed to meet their own and their families’ basic needs (Cagatay/Ozler 1995; Elson 1991).10 These processes contributed to the increasing emigration of Peruvian lower middle and working class women throughout the 1990s. In Peru, many of these women had worked as teachers, secretaries, assistants, or vendors, and subsequently became heads of emigration (Paerregaard 2007). The mid-1990s marked the return to new economic growth, decreased levels of inflation and unemployment, and the cessation of political violence, which followed the capture of the Shining Path leader Abimael Guzmán, and corresponded to the period in which the Fujimori government enjoyed the highest level of acceptance. Under these conditions, the emigration rate remained stable and later even decreased to 17,886 in July 1995 (Altamirano 2003). The year 2000, however, was marked by a new deepening of economic recession, growing unemployment, a return to higher poverty levels from 46% in 1990 to 54%, and electoral fraud in the 2000 presidential elections. These developments reflect the peak of economic and political instability and the loss of confidence in the government among large parts of the Peruvian population (ibid.). Under these conditions, the rate of emigration reached a new historical record from 70,909 emigrants in 1999 to 183,811 in 2000. 10 Besides, neo-liberal policies rely on women’s unpaid work, including the resources this work requires, thereby perpetuating and exacerbating the gendered division of labor, responsibilities and rights between men and women in conditions of poverty, and ultimately restricting development. Women are thus subjects of “double injury” (Hays-Mitchell 2002: 75): they are affected not only by structural adjustment but also by gender inequalities, which I examine in the next section.

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After a short reduction between July 2000 and July 2002, partly due to political transition during the period of Valentín Paniagua, the emigration rate reached another unprecedented growth with 220,406 emigrants and a monthly departure of 24,400 Peruvians on average (Altamirano 2003). A great number of Peruvian migrants interviewed for my study were affected by these developments. One example is the experience of Vanesa, a single childless woman who migrated to Milan in 2000 at the age of 23. Prior to migration, she was still living with her parents and siblings in Huancayo, where her father was saving money to build a house for the family. Vanesa had entered the university, but when her father lost all his savings and inflation under the Fujimori government, it forced the family to migrate to Lima to struggle for survival. They were received in Lima by Vanesa’s uncles, but they had no stable jobs, either. To contribute to her family’s keep, Vanesa took up occasional jobs as a shop assistant, but was discriminated as an internal migrant from the highlands. In addition, she was unable to complete university education because of her family’s poor conditions. When her father fell critically ill, emigration to Italy was her last resort. She had a number of cousins in Milan and one of them helped her to enter the country. Vanesa’s case reflects the consequences of political and economic crisis, which motivated emigration. As revealed here, these developments had particularly adverse impacts for those groups who were disadvantaged in terms of gender, class, ethnicity, and age and thus, were among the first to be affected by poverty, political instability, as well as cutbacks in social expenditure (Blondet/Montero 1994; Hays-Mitchell 2002). While Peru experienced an average economic growth of 5.9% per year between 2000 and 2008, broad sectors of the Peruvian population have remained excluded from its benefits (Villanueva 2010). Thus, many Peruvians continue to consider emigration as an option for achieving better life conditions. With more than 200,000 departures of Peruvians per year, the numbers of emigrants have continued to increase in spite of growing restrictions posed on migration (Abusada/Pastor 2008; Sáenz/Tamagno 2009). This is also due to unequal care and gender regimes, which have supported transnational migration as a care strategy. 4.3.2 Transnational Migration as a Care Strategy Transnational migration occurs in response to and reproduces deep-rooted structural inequalities that have historically shaped the social organization of care work as well as people’s access to care and welfare resources in Peru. These were already mentioned in part in the previous outline of the conditions of economic and political crisis, which have involved a deepening of social divisions based on class, gender, and ethnicity. Migration is one of the informal and private strategies by which families and individuals of different social sectors seek to secure income, diversify risks,

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make investments, and increase their autonomy and social status in the face of insufficient social policy and social welfare programs (Hujo/Piper 2010). Here, I address these strategies by taking a closer look at the interdependence of families, market, and state in relation to the provision of care in Peru and its transnational dimensions. To begin with, it is important to consider that migration strategies in Peru and the Andean region have been strongly connected to the role of families as the primary location of social provision and care (Herrera 2012b). Within a three-cluster typology of welfare regimes across Latin America proposed by Martínez Franzoni (2008: 88), Peru is also classified as part of a cluster of “informal-familiarist welfare regimes,” characterized by a high degree of familiarization, i.e., the central role of families, and women, in compensating for low wages and weak or inexistent public policies. In this context, the social organization of care is also shaped by low levels of commodification, referring to people’s access to wage labor and income, and a low degree of de-commodification, i.e., the capacity to make their living and accede to welfare independently from pure market forces (Martínez Franzoni/ Voorend 2009), along with a large-scale reliance on informal employment and a participation of important parts of the population in transnational labor markets (Martínez Franzoni 2008). In the previous section, the weakness of public policies was already addressed as part of my considerations of the impacts of neo-liberal reforms. Here, it is important to add that today, the social expenditure of the Peruvian state remains among the lowest in Latin America, constituting only 9.14% of the gross domestic product (CEPAL 2010).11 As in other countries across the Latin American region, the Peruvian state also fails in its central function to reduce income inequalities.12 In addition, the weakness of state support is also revealed by low levels of coverage, which are reflected by the available data on health and pension schemes. In 2007, hardly more than 40% of the Peruvian population were covered by some kind of health insurance; furthermore, within this group, there were huge differences in terms of benefits offered by the various types of insurances schemes, which persist even today and reflect high levels of inequalities between the urban and rural popu-

11 Approximately one third of this expenditure corresponds to pensions, another third to education, 15% to health, and the rest to diverse social programs (Anderson 2010a). 12 On average, the gap between high and low income is reduced only by 1.5% in the region; in the case of Peru, it increases even more. This is due not only to the low levels of economic development, but also to the weak tax base and frequency of tax evasion (Wehr 2009). In addition, higher-income earners profit from social services more than average. Compared to Europe, where each fifth receives about 20% of social spending, in Latin America, 70% of social spending goes to the two highest income-earning fifths (ibid.)

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lation.13 Due to high levels of underemployment as well as informal and precarious employment conditions, there are still around 16.8 million Peruvians who are not covered by any type of health insurance (Villanueva 2010). In addition, the majority of the economically active population is not affiliated with a pension scheme. Existing pension schemes are known for a series of deficiencies, which are linked, for instance, to insufficient or failed payments and bureaucratic procedures that hinder exercising the right to pensions for many people, especially for those employed in sectors where it is difficult to provide evidence on the employment relation, its continuity, and the contributions paid (Anderson 2010a).14 Under these conditions, family transfers play an essential role in supporting persons once they are incapable of earning their own income due to disability, illness, or old age. Research has shown that almost half of the households headed by persons above the age of 65 receive family transfers (Frisancho/Nakasone 2007), a situation that has maintained itself in spite of reforms of the pensions system and some programs designed to support the aged population (Anderson 2010a). Increasingly, these informal strategies are sustained by emigration and the monetary transfers provided from abroad to support the aging generation. In addition, the weakness of public policies is also revealed in the sector of education. Neo-liberal policies involved a reduction of state intervention in the educational sector and the simultaneous promotion of private participation, creating an educational market regulated by offer and demand (Jerson 2011). For low-income families, private schools and university education are often unaffordable. Almost two thirds of the migrants interviewed for this research had attended courses at the university or an institute for higher education in Peru, but 14% of these were unable to complete these careers due to financial problems (Table 11). Several of them considered migration and employment abroad as an option for saving money with 13 Anderson’s (2010a) study shows that those covered by ESSALUD (old System of Social Security) or by private insurance are better protected than those covered by the SIS (Integral Health System), which is managed by the state and involves limited benefits and access only to the services of the public institutions of the Ministry of Health. These differences also reflect the urban-rural divide, which persists in Peru. The first two insurance schemes predominate in urban areas, whereas the latter (SIS) predominates in rural areas. 14 In 2010, there were basically three pension schemes in Peru: a) a private pension scheme, created in 1992; b) a regime created by Law Decree No. 20530/Cédula Viva, in the process of deactivation; c) the national pension system, created by Law Decree No.19990, which was created for workers of private and public sectors, domestic workers and independent workers, who contribute 13% of their income to be covered not only at the moment of retirement but also in cases of disability, widowhood, or orphanage (Anderson 2010a).

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the aim of completing their studies afterwards. Additionally, large numbers of my informants emigrated with the intention of paying their children’s or siblings’ school or university fees.15 In short, migration is also motivated by the desire for improved access to education, which is largely dependent on income-earning power and on remittances earned abroad. Furthermore, emigration responds to persisting inequalities that determine people’s access to work and income in Peru. Overall, 60% of the Peruvian gross domestic product is produced in informal conditions and 66% of the labor force is deprived of protection and rights (Villarán 2006). Women are particularly affected by these conditions. While women’s participation in the labor market has increased due to rising educational levels,16 women’s position in the labor market is still disadvantageous, as reflected by considerable salary differentials according to gender and type of employment. In Lima, for instance, the average income of women constitutes only 60% of men’s income, while there are no substantial differences in the hours dedicated to employment (Anderson 2010). Hence, women are more likely to be, and remain, affected by conditions of poverty, as shown by statistics that indicate that 70% of poor people in Peru are women (Naranjo 2009). These conditions, as well as frequent unemployment and employment instability, are common reasons for emigration. Women are also affected by their unequal roles and positions on a family level. As I argued in Chapter 2, the construction of care and welfare as a family responsibility in both Italy and Peru is associated with gender and care regimes that rely on a highly uneven distribution of workloads between the sexes. These inequalities contribute to women’s disadvantaged position in Peru and thereby, to their desire to search for job opportunities in distant countries. In Peru, women’s increased education levels and labor market participation have not been accompanied by a reduction in their workloads as wives and mothers. While boys participate in household 15 Teachers themselves have also left the country due to their deteriorating living conditions and the devaluation of their work. While teachers were part of the middle class sectors until the mid-20th century, they have become increasingly part of the poorer and underprivileged sectors of Peruvian society (Jerson 2011). Around 13% of the migrants interviewed for this research had been trained as school teachers in Peru (all of them women) and emigrated due to low salaries or lacking work opportunities in the educational sector. 16 In Peru, due to the reduction of the illiteracy rate for the female population and the growing female incorporation into higher education, women have also experienced an amplification and diversification of their roles in the fields of work and public spaces in general, and in the patterns of fertility and the conformation of the domestic unit. However, there are still huge differences in the educational levels of urban and rural women (and men), which impact their access to healthcare and employment (Blondet/Montero 1994; Thorp/ Paredes/Figueroa 2010).

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tasks until a certain age and are even in charge of younger brothers, this practice usually disappears at the age of adolescence and adulthood, with the consequence that women are almost exclusively responsible for housework (Anderson 2007b).17 At the same time, it has been shown that Peru is the country with the highest level of female labor market participation in Latin America, which amounts to 59.2% (Martínez Franzoni/Voorend 2009). It is known, however, that female paid work does not free women from their responsibilities as unpaid caregivers, but goes along with extended hours of unpaid housework, which means that for women “the simultaneous performance of income provision and caretaking reaches its peak” (Martínez Franzoni 2008: 88). Given these simultaneous responsibilities, women in Peru continue to be in a disadvantaged position. The social organization of care work thus intersects with persisting gender inequities, which are central in sustaining the growing feminization of migration. It has to be added that the recent decades have witnessed an increase in singleparent households headed by women, corresponding to around 60% of all female headed households in 2010 (the latter constituted 25% of all households in Peru in 2010). The 2007 National census reveals that 68.7% of the women who are heads of households do not rely on a co-residing partner and that 73.3% of the members of these households are children or adolescents. This has contributed to the image of women as being more autonomous in their decisions but has also increased their workloads because they have to manage paid work and unpaid family care simultaneously (Naranjo 2009). Households headed by single mothers also show a higher incidence of poverty, due to the reduced or lacking support of additional incomeearners and the lower incomes working women receive on average (Arriagada 2007). As my study will show, a large proportion of Peruvian women in Italy are single mothers. These women emigrate because they are often the only financial providers to their children, but are unable to meet this responsibility due to their limited access to well-paid jobs in the Peruvian labor market. Finally, inequalities of access to income, services, and entitlements in Peru are also based on persisting class, ethnic, and rural-urban divisions (Anderson 2010a; 2012). Since the nation-building process, the Peruvian capital of Lima has constituted itself as the center of the nation-state whereas the rest of the country has remained fragmented, distant, and disconnected from the state and its basic services, a 17 This strict division of labor is also explicit in many norms, laws, programs, and educational plans across the Andean region. Based on Christian ideals and models of socialization, it has been diffused by the dominant classes since the period of Colonialism (Cerna/Estrada/Godoy 1997). Today, it remains very difficult for political and government leaders to publicly recognize the possibility of alternative family forms, which are referred to in terms of exceptionality, misfortune, or as a transitional condition (Anderson 2007a).

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condition that has maintained itself until the present (Cánepa 2007). Poverty levels diverge considerably, constituting 20% in Lima but more than 50% in the other Peruvian departments (Naranjo 2009). Social policies and programs are divided between services directed to middle-income families and those aimed at lower-class and poor families and continue to be mostly concentrated in Lima and other big cities. This unequal reach of social programs, services, and consequently of care resources, means that some groups of the population are more exposed to care deficits than others (Anderson 2010a). In short, great differences persist in the real life conditions of different social groups and regional areas, and these have contributed to the transnationalization of care strategies of large parts of the Peruvian population. A visible sign of such strategies is not only the rising number of transnational households, but also the volume of remittances sent by Peruvians abroad, which has increased from US$87 million in 1990 to US$670 million in 1999 and US$2.4 billion in 2008 (OIM/INEI 2010). On a macro-economic level, remittances have become an important income for the national economy, which has increased from 0.3% of the gross domestic product in 1990 to 1.9% in 2009 (ibid.).18 On the microlevel, slightly more than half (54.2%) of the members of transnational households depend on remittances as their only income and the highest proportion is used for household expenditure (66.2%), followed by education (21.4%), housing (3.2%), savings (4.8%), and other expenditures (4.5%) (IOM/INEI 2010). Thus, remittances are a central part of the survival and care strategies of transnational families, and are primarily used to cover the immediate and basic needs of family dependents left behind. Remittances have allowed many receiving households to overcome situations of poverty and enjoy a standard of living above the national average in terms of improved material conditions, better access to education and healthcare, and the possibility of creating their own businesses through small investments (OIM/INEI 2010). At the same time, in most cases, improved material conditions have not transformed into a self-sustained condition, as families remain dependent on the periodic reception of money from abroad (Sáenz/Tamagno 2009).19 In addition, remit18 It has been noted, however, that in Peru, unlike in other countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, remittances are not the only or most important driving force of current economic growth (OSEL 2008). Despite this fact, remittances have been widely celebrated by experts and by the Peruvian government, as I show subsequently in this chapter (Sotelo 2008; Berg 2010). 19 Studies conducted by INMIGRA (Instituto de Migración y Desarrollo en la Región Andina) in Huancayo have shown that there is a lack of knowledge about the possibilities of investing remittances in employment and income generating activities, especially in the rural areas. Families keep expecting emigrant members to send remittances. This becomes a problem when migrants diminish the amount or stop sending remittances. For

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tances do not have any immediate effects on the rest of the Peruvian population. Especially rural families, which suffer the highest poverty levels, are excluded from the possibilities of migration and remittances (Loveday/Molina 2005). At less than 6%, families that receive remittances are part of the lowest quintile, which explains why remittances are estimated to have a very modest effect on the distribution of income in the country (Fajnzylber/López 2007). Transnational migration thus risks reproducing existing inequalities in people’s access to income and care (Takenaka/ Pren 2010; Anderson 2012). While migration may allow transnational families to improve their material quality of life, it also challenges common models of care and household organization. As I outline in Chapters 6 and 7, women’s migration requires a renegotiation of child and aged care arrangements in the localities of origin and, due to the increasing tendency toward family reunification, also in the receiving countries. These changes may create or reinforce a series of care demands. Thus, they pose new challenges to the development of social programs and public policies in the Andean region, which until now have not responded to the needs of transnational families that have emerged with the feminization of migration (Herrera 2011). Transnationalization also involves growing interdependencies between care strategies adopted in distant localities and countries. As a consequence, Peruvian emigration and transnational care strategies are shaped not only by the conditions of departure but also by the demands, policies, and legal frameworks of the receiving countries. This leads me to the next point that will be examined in this chapter: the growing demand for migrant care workers and the particularities of the Italian migration regime. 4.3.3 Care Demands of the Receiving Countries and the Italian Migration Regime In several of the destination countries of Peruvian migration, including Italy and also Spain, Argentina, and Chile, the new demand for care workers has been of central importance in attracting Peruvian migrant women. This is well reflected by existing research on Peruvian labor migration to these countries, which focuses on their work experiences in the care and domestic service sector (e.g., Stefoni 2003; 2009; Escrivá 2004; Anderson 2007b; Paerregaard 2007; Escrivá/Skinner 2008; Arriagada/Todaro 2012). The migration, social, and labor market policies of the receiving states play a central role in shaping the ways in which these migration flows

this reason, the NGO is supporting training activities on the planning of remittances for families in these areas (interview with Liz Tovar, President of INMIGRA, 26.03.2012; Huancayo).

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evolve over time. Relative to other European countries, Italy has been perceived as being open to immigration from outside the European Union (Caritas 2006). This is also due to the cyclical declaration of immigration amnesties since 1986, which has allowed many Peruvians, and migrants from other countries, to regularize their residence status after some months or years of illegal stay in the country.20 This has gone along with a relatively tolerant political attitude toward irregularity and illegal labor (ibid.), which is widespread in the domestic work sector, as I outline in Chapter 5. Yet, the possibilities of immigration and regularization have become more limited over time. On one hand, the Turco-Napolitano Law, adopted in 1998, marked progress for immigrants already present in Italy by extending their social rights and developing a framework for their integration into Italian society. For instance, it was established that immigrants be granted access to the national health system and the welfare system available to Italian citizens (Mendoza 2006).21 However, this law also developed guidelines to repress and reduce “illegal” immigration. In 2002, the Bossi-Fini law was adopted to further limit the possibilities of legal immigration and employment and to reduce the presence of “irregular and clandestine” immigrants in Italy.22 Since then, the most common way for Peruvians and other “extra-communitarians” to receive a permit of stay as workers in Italy has been through the quotas of the so-called Flow Planning Decrees (Decreti Flussi), an annual quota system by which the Italian government fixes a maximum number of workers who may enter the country for employment. This procedure depends on the employer, who may apply for hiring an “extra-communitarian” worker. In practice, it has been used for the admission of those immigrants who are already staying and working irregularly in the country (Cesareo 2007).23 Peruvian migrants have also made use of this pro20 Amnesties (sanatorie) were passed in 1986, 1990, 1998, 2002, 2009, and 2012. 21 As I argue in Chapter 6, this may be an important motivating factor for further migration, especially for the migration of aging parents who are in need of medical treatment. 22 With the Bossi-Fini law of 2002, the regularity of immigration and residence for reasons of work has become dependent on the existence of a work contract. The characteristics of the latter has repercussions on the residence permit, due to its temporal duration of 1 year in the case of a fixed-term work contract and 2 years in the case of a permanent work contract. This means that job instability faced by migrants affects their legal status and thus also their ability to benefit from support services offered by the state (Meloni 2008). 23 As most Peruvians immigrate without a previous relationship to their future employers, they tend to start working irregularly with the hope that employers will apply for their regular entry through the quota system. If the application is accepted, authorizations are sent by the general immigration office to the Italian diplomatic and consular offices in the worker’s country of residence, and that worker has to apply in person at the office closest to his/her home town for the visa to be able to enter the country on a regular basis. After

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cedure to facilitate the migration of siblings or friends through fictitious work contracts or to sell such contracts to their compatriots who are already in Italy and in need of regularization. Through the quota system, the Italian state has also responded to the families’ needs for home-based care workers, a point to which I return in Chapter 5 (5.4.2). By way of these policies, the Italian state has played a central role in contributing to the introduction of migrants into domestic work, while discouraging other types of labor migration.24 These policies have strongly favored the feminization of Peruvian migration to Italy, in addition to favoring the preferences of Italian families themselves. Migrant women, who tend to be preferred as care and domestic workers, have responded to this new demand and spread the message, “hay trabajo” (there is work) for Peruvian women in Italy. This information is transmitted to nonmigrant family members or friends, who are quite aware of the type of work demanded by Italian employers, as noted by a mother of three daughters in Italy, interviewed in Huancayo, who says: “Now my daughters are caring for old people because migrants go to care for old people.” At the same time, Peruvians in Italy have discouraged male family members from joining them, as migrant men tend to face more difficulties when searching for a job in the care sector. This is reflected by the statement of a migrant mother, “I also wanted to send for my son, but unfortunately I haven’t been able to do so, because there’s no work for men.” While there are cases where migrant men are preferred as caregivers to elderly men, their job search tends to be more difficult. In addition, migrant men are often more reluctant to stay within this employment sector, as I argue in Chapter 5. As a consequence of the strong association between employment status, legal status, and domestic work, taking up another job outside the domestic labor market also reduces migrant men’s possibilities of regularization. These difficulties have discouraged the immigration of men or encouraged their faster return to the place of origin. Talking to the family members of Peruvian migrants in Peru, I met several men who had followed their sisters or partners to Italy, or had thought about doing so, but had been discouraged by the type of work available for male migrants outside the care sector (most commonly construction work) or by the difficulties of obtaining a legal status through such type of employment.

his/her return to Italy, the employer has to accompany the worker to the immigration office to sign the contract for employment (Codini 2007). 24 There is also a specific agreement between Peru and Italy, which foresees and regulates the migration of Peruvian nurses (Anderson 2012). However, while several migrants interviewed for this study were qualified nurses, none of them had immigrated under this program.

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In addition to these gender differences, the migrants interviewed for my research observed important changes in the job opportunities available on the Italian labor market. Today, Peruvian migrants compete with immigrants from a number of other countries, all of whom have been attracted by the possibility of working as caregivers in Italy, particularly women from Ukraine, Philippines, Moldova, Poland, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Morocco, and Albania (Caritas 2012). Some of these immigrants work for lower salaries, which has complicated the search for well-paid jobs. In contrast, early Peruvian migration to Italy in the 1980s and 1990s was often a direct response to the active recruitment of Peruvians by Italian employers and church representatives. This is shown in the case of Cristina, a childless woman from Cuzco. Asked why she had decided to migrate to Italy, Cristina said: “Well, actually I did not plan to come here, to be honest.” Prior to her migration in 1997, she was working as a schoolteacher and had little intention to quit her job. Her sister Alejandra had already emigrated to Italy. One day, an Italian nun, who had been in touch with Alejandra, came to visit her family in the city of Cuzco and suggested facilitating Cristina’s migration to Italy and helping her find a job. Cristina told her that she did not intend to leave the country. The nun, however, insisted and called her continuously. Despite her initial reluctance to leave her job and partner behind, Cristina finally decided to migrate to see what life was like in Italy. Two days after her arrival in Milan, the nun had placed her with an Italian family, where she was employed as a caregiver of the elderly. This case reflects the demand for care workers and the important role of the church as another agent in favoring transnational care migration and the introduction of migrant women into domestic service, to which I return in the next chapter. While non-migrants are aware that job opportunities have been more limited in recent years, many still think of migration to Italy as an opportunity to improve their access to income and care resources. This is also due to a series of ideas and images transmitted about life and work in Italy that are part of a broader range of social representations that work together to sustain Peruvian emigration, as I show in the following section. 4.3.4 Ideas of “Progress”: Social Representations of Migration Teresa, a 59 year-old mother of four children interviewed in Chorrillos, Lima, was enthusiastic when telling me how she had managed to organize and finance the migration of her daughter Carina to Italy. One of Teresa’s sons was living in the United States. Thanks to his remittances, the family had been able to open a bar as a first step out of financial problems and poor living conditions. Carina, a mother of two children, was suffering in an unhappy marriage. She had already made two

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failed attempts to emigrate to the United States and Spain and had resigned herself to staying in Peru. After two years, she received a call from the agency from whom she had asked for support with migration, offering to help her obtain a tourist visa for Italy. The procedure would cost US$11,000.25 Carina was skeptical because she had obtained a stable job and contract and no longer planned to emigrate. Teresa, in contrast, encouraged her to apply and asked her son and several acquaintances to lend them money. In Teresa’s words: “Thanks God she got it [the visa; A.S.]. [...] And the woman who got it for her said to her ‘Carina don't worry, because you'll get back these eleven thousand dollars. You’ll go not for your sake but for the progress of your children, of your family’, that's what she said. ‘So think positively, don't be pessimistic’.” (Teresa, 59 years, Lima, daughter in Italy, son in U.S.A.)

This case reflects the structural factors sustaining Peruvian migration that were discussed in the previous sections. These factors are related to poverty and gender inequalities, including marital problems that may cause women to seek more independence from their partners to avoid being subject to further inequalities. One way of achieving such independence is to opt for migration (see also Sørensen 2005; Hernández 2007). A closer look at this case, however, also reveals the central importance of additional factors motivating migration. Firstly, there is the importance of social impressions of “progreso” (progress), which are inherited from the history of internal migration and from ideas transmitted by those already living abroad. Secondly is the relevance of social networks based on kin and friendship, which are central in influencing not only the process of migration as such but also the moment of decision-making on migration. Illegal migration networks, which have gained importance due to increasingly restrictive migration regimes, may also draw on social impressions to convince their “clients” of the advantages of migration, as reflected by the forementioned quote. These will be examined in a second step. In the following, I elaborate on the first aspect, the role of social impressions in sustaining Peruvian emigration. In Peru, as in other sending countries, migration is socially constructed as a way of achieving progress by climbing up the socioeconomic ladder. This is clearly reflected by a series of terms used by migrants and their family members to explain motivations for migration. Commonly, migration is considered a way to “salir adelante” or “progresar” (to get ahead, to make progress), which clearly associates migration with socio-economic mobility (see also Takenaka/Pren 2010). Migration is also referred to as an opportunity to “ser otra persona” (to be a different person), “superarse” (to improve oneself), “independizar” (to become independent), “sobresalir económicamente” (to be economically successful), “buscar algo mejor/una mejor vida” (search for something better/a 25 The costs of migration were mentioned in US$.

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better life), all of which were expressions used by most of the migrants and nonmigrants interviewed for this study. Several authors have examined the significance of notions of “progreso” (progress) in Peruvian internal (Degregori/Blondet/Lynch 1986; Paerregaard 2000; Condori Azapa 2008; Leinaweaver 2008b; Ødegaard 2010) and international (Tamagno 2003; Takenaka/Pren 2010) migration. In their study of migration from the Andean highlands to Lima, Degregori/Blondet/Lynch (1986: 76) argue that while poverty and increasing political violence contributed to internal migration from the 1980s, “the ideological driving force of migration is the longing for progress, ‘self-improvement’ and freedom” (my translation). In Andean migration, this “myth of progress” (Degregori 1986) is based on an intimate association of class and racial/ethnic mobility, which Peruvians expect to achieve by means of migration. Migration to the cities opens the possibility of access to formal education, in addition to other resources, as a way of improving social status by moving from traditional indigenous to urban mestizo culture (Altamirano 1996), thereby undoing an indigenous identity, which is associated with rurality, backwardness, and ignorance (Rodríguez Maeso 2007). These ideas respond to racial discourses that have emerged in the Andean region as a product of colonialism and its legitimation, in which class and racial hierarchies are intimately intertwined. While a darker skin color is associated with fewer possibilities of success and social prestige in all sectors of society, class, social status, or other forms of material or symbolic power allow people to rise in the racial hierarchy and promote the process of “whitening” (Van Dijk 2005). As noted before, in Peru, class and racial/ethnic hierarchies also have a geographical dimension. This is closely tied to the centralization of welfare resources in urban areas and above all in the capital, with the simultaneous exclusion of the rural and provincial areas from these resources. Given these inequalities, the closeness to or distance from Lima may either “deindianize” or “indianize” a person (Carrillo 2005: 175). In short, migration is strongly associated with upward class and racial/ethnic mobility based on better educational possibilities, along with economic improvement and access to social services and modern lifestyles, which are expected to improve the living conditions particularly of the migrants’ children (Scurrah/Montalvo 1975; Paerregaard 2000). These children are expected to become professionals, to “be somebody different,” i.e., people of higher social standing than their parents (Huber 1997: 15). In Peruvian emigration, such ideals are sustained by financial remittances as well as by flows of social capital, knowledge, and ideas, which are often defined as “social remittances” (Levitt 2001; Levitt/Sørensen 2004). They are transmitted by means of communication, visits, economic remittances, and investments made by emigrants in Peru, which tend to reproduce optimistic perspectives on migration while obscuring negative aspects of it, even in front of more intimate family mem-

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bers and friends. In neighborhoods where most people are living in poor conditions, transnational families are characterized as the “nuevos ricos” (“the new rich,” Tamagno 2003: 306), whose new social mobility becomes an incentive for others to emigrate with the aim of achieving the same kind of mobility. Most of the migrants from urban marginal sectors of Lima, Huancayo, and Cuzco send money for improving housing conditions and setting up family businesses. In rural areas, social differences between transnational families and others are less visible, as remittances are less often invested in the construction of houses. Transnational families in rural areas distinguish themselves from others mainly by certain equipment (furniture, electro domestics, pictures of their children abroad, products sent from abroad), which are only visible once a person enters their homes. In the Mantaro valley and other areas of the Andean highlands, these families gain social prestige in different ways, such as through the migrants’ role as financers of fiestas or in the collaboration of village projects (e.g., Paerregaard 2010b). Shown by these observations, migration has created the image of a new “migrant elite” (Goldring 1999: 175) whose strength is derived from wage labour earnings obtained abroad, access to employment, social networks, information, knowledge of the language, and other resources needed for migration such as legal status, which I examine more closely in the following section. Transnational family members interviewed in Peru also noted the frequent tendency of visiting migrants to demonstrate their newly gained status by means of a different way of talking, clothing, and cooking, which transmits the new customs acquired abroad. At times, these practices were held to be funny and exaggerated, but ultimately, they call attention to those who have not left the country. In other words, social remittances serve to reproduce the exclusive character of Peruvian emigration, especially to transregional destinations such as Europe and the United States, which are associated with higher opportunities of social mobility than other internal or intraregional destinations. 4.3.5 Transnational Social Networks and the Growth of Illegal Migration Peruvian emigration is also sustained by social networks’ increasing importance in the context of restrictive migration regimes. Migrant networks are defined as “sets of interpersonal ties that connect migrants, former migrants, and nonmigrants in origin and destination areas through ties of kinship, friendship, and shared community origin” (Massey et al. 1993: 449). As social network theory has shown, these migrant networks play a central role in shaping the characteristics, composition, direction, and persistence of migrant flows long after the original structural conditions that caused migration have changed. Social networks can also be seen as a form of

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social capital that people can draw upon to gain access to information, foreign employment, and social and financial assistance (Boyd 1989; Massey et al. 1993). They may lower the costs and risks and increase the expected net returns on migration; however, social networks are constituted not only by horizontal ties based on solidarity and mutual benefits, but also by vertical ties, referring to social inequalities in power and status (Pedone 2006; Levitt/Glick Schiller 2004). These are clearly reflected in Peruvian migration to Italy. Restrictive migration regimes have essentially given power to transnational social networks to sustain illegal migration of Peruvians to Europe as well as to the United States. Among the total number of Peruvians who left the country between 1994 and 2009, only 12.9% declare that they emigrated with a regular visa (OIM/DIGEMIN/INEI 2010). Increasing restrictions on Peruvian migration to Italy has proliferated illegal chains of Peruvian “recruiters.” These recruiters go to places of origin to motivate emigration by offering visas, work contracts, housing, and food that must be paid for either partially before emigration or upon arrival with the introduction of paid work. While such networks have existed since the introduction of the visa requirement for Peruvians in 1991, their use has boomed since the restrictions posed on immigration to Italy in 1998 and 2002. This is reflected by the experiences of Peruvian migrants who participated in this study. For those who left the country between 1989 and 1998, their legal and illegal entry was not accompanied by major risks in most cases. Those who entered the country before the introduction of the visa requirement in 1991 simply had to pay their flight and travel expenses. Others who migrated later applied for tourist visas, mostly through the support of family members or friends already living in Italy or of Italians who traveled to Peru and offered to help with emigration.26 Another strategy, quite common until around 1997, was to travel to another European country that did not require a visa and then cross the border into Italy illegally, walking or by train. These forms of illegal immigration emerged in response to the difficulty in meeting requirements for tourist visas, especially for lower-class migrants who were unable to provide proof of financial means, or for those who did not rely on the essential social networks.27 In this period, however, it was still easier 26 Peruvians have to apply for a Schengen Visa at the Embassy of Italy in Lima. Among other requirements, Peruvians have to present proof of financial means, their return ticket, and a letter of invitation (“host declaration”) by a family member or friend in Italy, proving his financial means and ability to accommodate the invited person. http://www. amblima.esteri.it (21.12.2012). 27 Between 1991 and 1994, all-inclusive packages promising work and accommodation at arrival were sold for $US2,000–3,000 (Luna 2000). Some mediators offered specific arrangements, in which the first salaries of the immigrant in Italy were transferred to the mediator as a form of payment plus interest rates of at least 10% per month.

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for migrants to obtain a stay permit and find a job that allowed them to pay back their debt quite soon after arrival. For those who migrated between 1998 and 2010, emigration was increasingly complicated. During this period, the proportion of those who migrated to Italy on a regular basis decreased markedly, while the use of illegal migration networks skyrocketed. The majority migrated by means of false tourist visas or false passports and the use of transit countries, which served as strategic points of departure for Peruvians migrating to the European Union. For instance, Peruvians who left between 1996 and 2002 emigrated with false Ecuadorean passports, while those who followed, between 2003 and 2006, migrated with Brazilian, Venezuelan, and Bolivian passports.28 Peruvians who left the country more recently transited in other countries, such as Argentina and Brazil, from where they moved to Spain or France and then to Italy. In addition, migrants and family members mentioned new strategies of entry into Italy, such as travelling as a member of a folkloric group or marrying an Italian citizen in Peru for the purpose of immigration. These forms of illegal migration are associated with high risks and costs, because prices charged by irregular networks have increased to 7,000 or even 9,000 euros. Given these costs, decisions on migration are increasingly shaped by the availability of family members or friends to support the migration process in organizational and financial terms (see also Romero et al. 2010). In Peru, I met several people who had lost huge sums of money after their children had attempted to emigrate and were deported. The money invested in these failed migrations was seldom recuperated. However, even the experience of deportation does not keep some individuals from making a second or third attempt to leave the country. Family members already living in Italy often have their own interests in siblings or parents joining them in Italy, as I will show in my analysis of family migration (6.3). Carmen, a young and single woman from Lima, Chorrillos, followed her migrant sister Maribel to Italy in 2007. She had never planned to leave the country but thought that migration could be a means to achieve many things unavailable to her in Peru. Looking back, however, she is disappointed about life in Italy and says that it was not her own but her sister’s plan to initiate her migration:

28 Until 2003, Ecuadorians could enter the EU as tourists for three months without the need for a visa. Bolivians, in turn, were able to do so until 2007. The Bolivian police found out that there was a network organizing migration of Peruvians to the European Union by providing them with false Bolivian passports and teaching them the history of the country and the Bolivian national hymn. This way, they were supposed to cross the border to EU countries as Bolivians with the same benefits that are granted to Bolivian citizens (Ríos/ Rueda 2005). My research finds that this also occurred with those who migrated via Ecuador, Venezuela, and Brazil.

106 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS Anna: “Did you want to go to Italy because you had family members here?” Carmen: “No! I never wanted, in my life I never thought about coming to Italy, never! I followed the plan of my sister, I imagined my life in Peru. [...] I came here with the illusion that I’d work with my sister, because I studied nursing, pharmaceutics, and she told me you’ll be working as a nurse, you’ll see that you find a good job. My sister painted quite a colorful picture to me.” (Carmen, 29 years, from Lima, in Italy since 2007)

As revealed here, migrants already living in Italy are protagonists not only in facilitating the migration of other family members but often also in taking the first initiative. At the same time, the relationships established between the first migrants and those who follow are highly asymmetrical, due to the elevated costs of immigration and increasing difficulties associated with the regularization of residence in Italy. Carmen lost her legal residence status after two years in Italy, while her sister Maribel has obtained Italian citizenship and finds herself in a more stable economic and legal situation. As demonstrated by this case, the emigration process is increasingly shaped by the distinction between regular and irregular migrants, which creates new hierarchies not only between but also within transnational families and households. This means that newly migrating and arriving migrants “become dependent not only on moneylenders, travel agents, people-smugglers, employers, lawyers, and bureaucrats, but also on their own relatives, friends, and fellow countrymen, who help them pay their travel expenses, obtain visas, provide them with new ID papers, and find work.” (Paerregaard 2008: 227). As I argue in Chapters 6 and 7, these hierarchies also shape the transnational care arrangements that emerge with migration. In addition, the increasing use of illegal immigration strategies influences the ways migration is prepared and negotiated within families prior to departure. These strategies are not only associated with high costs and risks but also with long waiting periods, which make it almost impossible to calculate the moment of emigration. Potential migrants are often afraid that others will pose obstacles to their departure. For this reason, they tend to conceal their migration plans as long as possible, even in front of the closest family members such as partners and children. Carina, for instance, informed her husband and children only two weeks prior to her departure, and her father only one day prior. In other cases, children may be informed about migration only on the very day of the parent’s departure and are therefore not well prepared to cope with their sudden absence (see also Ansión/ Mujica/Villacorta 2008; Alvites 2011). A small proportion of Peruvians interviewed had been able to migrate by means of fictitious work contracts obtained through the quota system. Also in these cases, waiting periods were so long that they had already resigned themselves to staying in Peru. Marleny, a mother from Lamas, San Martín, migrated to Milan in 2010. Her sister, who had emigrated fourteen years before, had applied for her immigration

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through the quota system. When the visa arrived after more than three years, Marleny had already opened her own business and migrated so that she wouldn’t miss out on an opportunity for legal migration. In Italy, however, she had to start from scratch and had difficulties coming to terms with her decline in social status as well as the separation from her son left in Peru. Cases of recent migration like those of Marleny and Carina reflect the role of migration regimes in structuring migration plans and the actual time of emigration. For both migrants and their family members, the opportunity for migration comes as a surprise, which means that potential migrants have a short period of time in which to decide whether to leave everything behind. These hurried departures, and uncertainties associated with restrictive migration regimes, increase the emotional strains and difficulties of family separation, which are part of my analysis of transnational care arrangements. In short, it can be observed that the policies of receiving states play a central role in shaping the process of emigration. At this point, the question arises: in which ways is emigration supported in public discourse and in the policies of the Peruvian state? My previous analysis suggested that the Peruvian state plays a marginal role in shaping the emigration process. However, public and political discourse contributes to sustaining an optimistic image of migration. 4.3.6 Policies of the Peruvian State and Public Discourse on Migration Concerning the role of the Peruvian state in relation to migration, there has been a substantial change of both political discourse and policies that address the Peruvian emigrant population. While the issue of emigration has received growing political attention throughout the past few decades, emigration and social policy tend to be treated as separate issues, not only in academic research but also in public discourse and policymaking. In this context, the Peruvian state endorses an optimistic discourse on migration and development, which largely ignores the social effects of transnationalized care provision. Considering the change in political discourse, Berg (2010: 122) observes an “oscillation between publicly condemning and endorsing migration,” related to processes of contemporary nation building in Peru. In the early 1990s, Peruvian emigrants were condemned as “traitors to the patria,” whereas one decade later, emigration was celebrated as beneficial not only for migrants but also for the Peruvian state and Peruvians left behind (ibid., emphasis in original). This is reflected by an editorial entitled “The Virtues of Migration” that appeared in 2007 in El Comercio, one of Peru’s established newspapers, in which the Peruvian economist Daniel Córdova presented migration as a personal achievement for the migrant, who obtained a better life abroad than in Peru and was taught “authentic daily lessons

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about modernity” and life according to capitalist and democratic values (in Berg 2010: 122). Migration, he argued, also constituted a benefit for the state that improved the national economy and lowered the pressure on the Peruvian labor market. These statements reflect a shift in political discourse, where emigrants are increasingly incorporated into the nation-building process and celebrated as a central resource for Peruvian economy and society. Clearly, the export of workers and inflow of remittances are means for governments to cope with unemployment and foreign debt (Sassen 2000). To secure these benefits, some states, such as South Korea and Philippines, have developed specific labor export programs and portrayed emigrants, in particular women, as “new heroes” of the nation (Liebelt 2011: 15). While there are no such programs in Peru, there is a similar tendency of government officials as well as some academics to openly support migration and transnational linkages as a benefit for the nation-state. This shows how the association of migration with progress, outlined before, is reproduced at different levels, including the state and civil society. For the Peruvian state, there are both economic and political reasons for promoting migration and linkages to the Peruvian emigrant population (Berg 2010). On the one hand, as a labor-exporting nation, the Peruvian state increasingly relies on migrants and their resources to capture foreign currency and support the country’s financial sector through remittances. On the other hand, the volume of emigration has increased to an extent that government officials can hardly ignore migration as a national issue, given the increasing numbers of Peruvians voting from abroad (Castañeda 2010).29 In response, the Peruvian state has taken a series of steps to establish connections with the Peruvian emigrant population. The first attempts were made from 1995 onwards through the law of dual nationality (Ley n° 26574 of 1995) and the right to vote, which stipulates voting obligations for Peruvians living abroad (Reforma a Ley Orgánica de Elecciones n° 26859 of 2001). Since 2001, a series of institutional reforms involved the creation of the Undersecretary of Peruvian Communities Abroad and the Consejos de Consulta Consular (advisory councils), i.e., authorities of representation for the Peruvian population residing in the jurisdiction of the consular office, aimed at creating a space for dialogue and cooperation between civil society and consular services (Piras/Gonzalez 2010). Since 2005, these policies have been accompanied by the development of various programs that seek to facilitate the process of remitting money and purchasing homes in Peru through remittances and to encourage emigrants to promote Peruvian products abroad, such as El Quinto Suyo, Programas y Proyectos para las Comunidades Peruanas en el 29 By August 2009, the number of migrant voters amounted to 671,491, 3.53% of the electorate, who have thus gained a more significant weight in national elections (Castañeda 2010).

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Exterior (Programs and Projects for Peruvian Communities Abroad) and Un Peruano en el Mundo, Un Empleo en el Perú (One Peruvian in the World, One Job in Peru) (Takenaka/Pren 2010). The first of these, for instance, involves the designation of migrants abroad as El Quinto Suyo, the Fifth Region, in reference to the Quechua term for the Inka empire, Tawantinsuyo, “The Four Regions,” which aims at linking Peruvian migrants to their country of origin and reincorporating them into the national polity (Berg/Tamagno 2005). As demonstrated by these programs, emigration policies are about both economic concerns and the construction of national identity (see also Solari 2010). This is also revealed by the growing interest of both policymakers and academics in co-development as a means of enhancing national interests and progress through the migrants’ active contributions as “agents of national development” (Nuñez-Melgar 2011: 24). In this respect, Vega Cabieses (2011: 15), representative of the General Bureau of Peruvian Communities Abroad, affirms that consular policy is aimed at maintaining a close connection between migrants and the Peruvian state, allowing for migrants to contribute to the development of the country and thereby, “to the projection of national interests in the international arena” (my translation). Most programs, policies, and projects, however, are still limited in scope or to declarations that have not produced tangible results (Altamirano 2009; Sáenz/Tamagno 2009). Only in the past few years, Peruvian migration policy has received a specific institutional space in the action of the government, by virtue of the connection of sectors between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Labor (Piperno/ Boccagni 2010). Through these bodies, migration is managed as a segmented process limited to the entry and exit of people or to the labor market (Mendiola 2011). Indeed, many experts interviewed for this research noted that a comprehensive migration policy is still lacking. For this reason, in 2011, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs created the “Mesa Intersectorial para la Gestión Migratoria en el Perú,” a roundtable on migration management that includes different stakeholders, with the aim of implementing a comprehensive migration policy and of promoting regular migration, migrants’ rights, and public awareness about migration (Moura/ Balarezo/García 2012). This has also been interpreted as a new phase of public migration management and as an attempt to promote the beneficial impacts of migration (Vega Cabieses 2011). Yet, there is still a lack of programs and policies that address the issue of migration in connection to care. In Peru, the absence of the state in matters of care and migration also goes along with a very limited involvement of civil society organizations in these issues. These organizations have only recently started to dedicate some attention to migration, as reflected by the formation of the RED PEMIDE (Peruvian Network of Migration and Development) in 2009, a network constituted by thirteen civil society organizations, which decided to take collective action to promote the generation of infor-

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mation, public awareness, training, and dissemination of knowledge on migration impacts in Peru. In addition, several co-development projects have been initiated in recent years. The most prominent one is the pilot project Junín Global, which was developed by the NGO INMIGRA in 2007.30 This project aims to support the development of the region of Junín by promoting Peruvian culture and products in different parts of the world. It has also sought to prevent the risks of unplanned and irregular migration, to promote legal and psychological support services for transnational families and to encourage them to invest their remittances in the creation of businesses (Hall 2010).31 Beyond these recent initiatives, the attempts to promote legal changes in the fields of migration and public policies as well as public awareness of migration are still reduced. Also, church institutions have only recently started to pay attention to the issue of migration. So far, the church has played a relatively passive role, characterized by the absence of a clear position and of participation in projects and political advocacy related to migration. In addition, there is no systematic information on how many and which particular parishes have developed activities in this field.32 30 The project is based on a collaboration of Peruvian migrant associations, the families of migrants in the places of origin, the state in its decentralized instance (regional government of Junín), and NGOs that work on issues related to migration (Sáenz/Tamagno 2009). 31 In addition, there are two recent co-development programs, which are more directly linked to Peruvian migration to Italy. The first, Due Sponde/Dos Orillas, carried out by the Italian organization ASPEM, includes services for transnational families, training and possibilities of investing remittances, and research on transnational families (ASPEM 2012). The second, Perú Migrante, coordinated by Italian and Peruvian institutions, promotes the rights of migrants through activities carried out by civil society organizations and public entities and by entering the field of political advocacy, with the aim of promoting a change of the current out-dated legislation on migration. This includes the development of a series of bills to be handed in to the Peruvian Congress, based on a collective action taken by the RED PEMIDE in 2011. Interviews with Daniele Ingratoci, ASPEM, 12.03.2012 and Miriam Torres, Forum Solidaridad Perú, Lima, 15.03.2012. See also: http://www.perumigrante.org/ and http://proadelperu.jimdo.com/proyecto-dos- oril las-due-sponde. 32 To raise awareness of this issue, the Jesuit Migrant Service in Lima has started to organize a training program for pastoral agents coming from different regions of Peru, which is given in cooperation with the Pastoral de Movilidad Humana and the Universidad Antonio Ruíz de Montoya. The training includes courses on the issues of migration and development, family and accompaniment, the rights of migrants and their families, and public policies. Interview with Allison Peralta, representative of the Jesuit Migrant Service, Lima, 20.04.2012.

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In short, there is still a lack of awareness and support in the fields of migration and transnational care, not only by the state but also by civil society institutions. Virtually none of the interviewed migrants and family members mentioned the use of any service or program offered by the state or civil society, in relation to needs that emerged with migration, and very few were actively involved in codevelopment projects. Instead, most of them mentioned the absence of adequate public policies in Peru, which affects families with and without emigrant members in similar ways and continues to be an important incentive for emigration. Overall, this reveals the continued privatization of care strategies, which are constructed as family responsibilities, before and after migration.

4.4 C ONCLUSION Peruvian migration to Italy and other destinations is driven by a multiplicity of processes. In this chapter, I have shown that along with economic, political, and social conditions in Peru and Italy (including inequalities in the division of care labor and access to care), social networks, social representations, and policies and discourses related to migration and remittances of the sending and receiving states have played a central role in sustaining the process of emigration. Responding to these diverse factors, Peruvian emigration involves a transnationalization and continued privatization of care provision. Concerning the characteristics that distinguish this process from previous internal migration, two aspects need to be stressed: the growing feminization of migration and the increasing restrictions posed on migration to Italy and other countries of the global North. In Peruvian migration to Italy, the Italian state has played a central role in influencing these processes, by establishing the conditions of immigration and insertion into the labor market. As I will show in the following chapter, these policies also influence the migrants’ working conditions in the care sector. At the same time, the Peruvian state has supported emigration through an open discourse in favor of emigration and a reliance on migrants as agents of national development. The role of the Peruvian state and of civil society organizations as providers of support services, however, has remained marginal. In short, sending and receiving states have not only contributed to the continuity of Peruvian emigration but also shaped the conditions under which this process has taken place and evolved over time. In the following chapter, these observations will be explored to examine the conditions under which Peruvian migrants insert themselves in Italy and care for Italian employers and their distant family members.

5. PERUVIAN MIGRANTS IN THE SECTOR OF HOME-BASED ELDERLY CARE IN MILAN, ITALY “My mother-in-law told me: ‘There is no need for another person, because anyways there is you.’ At the age of eighty five, she did not realize that I had my life and I couldn’t sacrifice everything and I did not want to sacrifice everything.” ALESSIA, 62 YEARS, EMPLOYER “When I arrived, this woman my God, she had a strong character, she was shouting, commanding do this and do that [...] ‘What kind of a way is that?’ I told her, ‘If you don't like my work, tomorrow I'll talk to your nephew and I take another job.’” ADELA, 51 YEARS, FROM TRUJILLO, IN ITALY SINCE 1998

5.1 I NTRODUCTION While care strategies are transnationalized through Peruvian emigration, the Italian regime of home-based elderly care is also undergoing a process of restructuring, linked to the employment of migrant workers for the care of older relatives. This is revealed by the aforementioned quotes: Alessia, an Italian woman in Milan, explains why she preferred delegating the care of her mother-in-law to a paid migrant worker. And Adela, a Peruvian migrant woman, recalls the difficulties of her previous job as a caregiver for the elderly in Milan, Italy. Both women describe the care of an older person as a difficult and demanding job, but they also develop ways of coping with this challenge, either in coming to terms with this work or in delegating it to another person. The principal aim of this chapter is to analyze these practices from the perspectives of the principal agents involved. Hence, the interpersonal practices and relationships between Peruvian home-based caregivers for the elderly in Milan and their employers, including the elderly, are the main focus of this chap-

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ter. These are a central part of transnational care chains between Peru and Italy. Their analysis constitutes a first and necessary step for understanding the migrants’ transnational care practices and their cross-border implications. In Italy, the employment of migrants for the care of dependent elderly started to increase toward the end of the 1990s, marking a break with the traditional care model, in which families, in particular daughters, were the main caregivers of their aging parents (Da Roit/Facchini 2010). Peruvian migrants are among the principal groups of workers that have inserted themselves into Italian families as home-based caregivers for the elderly. The outsourcing of elderly care to migrant workers is driven by a new “care gap” (Gerhard 2010: 105) that has emerged due to the aging of the population, the change in family models, women’s increasing participation in the labor market, and a limited provision of social services by the state. While these changes have also occurred in other European countries, Italian care, gender, migration, and labor regimes show a number of particularities that influence the practices and interrelations of Peruvian migrants and their employers in the home-based elderly care sector. Hence, the main questions that will guide this chapter are the following: What are the particularities of Italian care, gender, migration, and labor regimes that have sustained the demand for Peruvian home-based caregivers for the elderly? In which ways does the Italian state contribute to this process and thereby to a transnationalization of the sector of home-based elderly care? And finally, how are social inequalities reproduced in the care arrangements and negotiations between employers (including the elderly) and migrant workers? The analysis offered here dialogues with an extensive literature on the intersections of Italian welfare/care, gender, and migration regimes (e.g., Sciortino 2004; Bettio/Simonazzi/Villa 2006; Da Roit 2007; Scrinzi 2008; Di Rosa et al. 2012) as well as studies on migrant domestic workers in different parts of the globe (e.g., Anderson 1997; 2000; 2001a; Parreñas 2001a; 2012; Gutierrez Rodríguez 2010). It draws on a range of studies of migrants in the elderly care sectors not only in Italy (Degiuli 2010; Di Rosa et al. 2012) but also in other countries of Europe (Elrick/ Lewandowska 2008; Agrela 2012; Hooren 2012), the Middle East (Porat/Iecovich 2010; Iecovich/Doron 2012), Asia (Lopez 2012; Huang/Yeoh/Toyota 2012b), and North America (Bourgeault et al. 2010). Based on these studies and my qualitative data, I seek to show that the introduction of Peruvian migrants into home-based elderly care is part of a broader process of restructuring of the Italian care regime for the elderly, which influences the demands, expectations, and strategies of the migrants’ employers as well as the working conditions, practices, and trajectories of migrants in this sector. This will be examined by looking at the motivations behind the employment of Peruvian caregivers for the elderly, the characteristics and organization of employment relations in this sector, as well as the particular strategies of care and care management through which social inequalities are reproduced and contested between Peruvian migrants

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and their employers. As noted in Chapter 3, most of the employers interviewed were care managers whose perspectives will therefore dominate in my analysis over those of the elderly care-receivers. The latter are often persons of advanced age with physical and/or mental handicaps, whose perspectives could hardly be captured directly through interviews. This chapter therefore does not include a separate section on the care strategies of the Italian aged. Still, different parts of the analysis pay attention to the positions of the cared-for, which are seldom considered in empirical studies such as those mentioned above. I begin with an analysis of processes tied to the restructuring of the Italian care regime that have contributed to the hiring of migrant domestic caregivers of the elderly. After that, I proceed to examine the care arrangements between Italian employers and Peruvian migrant employees.

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5.2.1 The Social Organization of Elderly Care in Italy: Changes and Continuities Elsa, an Italian woman in her late fifties, started to hire live-in migrant workers when her widowed mother Grazia fell ill and became dependent on round-the-clock attendance. Elsa lived a couple of minutes away from her mother’s home and visited her twice a day. Being the only child, she felt responsible for her mother’s wellbeing, but was not prepared to give up her job and family life to take care of her mother personally. Faced with Grazia’s sudden disease, Elsa and her husband Alfredo informed themselves about the costs of institutional care but found that 2,000 euros per month was too expensive. More important, however, was their reluctance to send Grazia to a residential home. Elsa proposed that her mother move into the house she shared with her husband and son, but her place was small and Grazia did not want to leave her personal belongings behind. Therefore, Elsa decided to hire a number of live-in migrant workers, one of them a Peruvian woman, who took care of her mother until she died. Elsa’s friend Sara found herself in a similar situation. For a long time, her mother Michela had an Italian domestic servant in charge of the housework. When Michela developed senile dementia, she was in need of a live-in caregiver, but her Italian domestic worker would not have been available to do this type of round-theclock work and nor would Sara have been. Michela herself had spent ten years caring for her own mother, never had a paid job, and always depended on her husband’s income and pension. Sara was not willing to make the same kind of sacrifice. Initially, she cared for her mother herself but did not rely on her brother’s help. Finally, she decided to hire a paid live-in worker “per stanchezza”—“because of

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tiredness” from doing this work every day while abstaining from financial independence through paid work as well as putting her family life and social relations on hold. Delegating the burden of elderly care to a paid migrant was a privilege, allowing her to maintain her daily activities despite her mother’s illness. The two cases outlined here indicate some of the profound changes that have affected the organization of elderly care in Italy. These processes indicate a restructuring and transnationalization of the Italian care regime, which has also been described as a shift from a “family” model of care to a “migrant-in-the-family” model of care (Bettio/Simonazzi/Villa 2006: 272). Here, these transformations need to be further discussed. The Italian care regime, like those of other Southern European countries, is commonly defined as “familistic,” given that it promotes intrafamily solidarity and relies on the central role of the family, and of women, for care provision, which compensates for weakness in social services and policies (e.g., Bettio/Simonazzi/Villa 2006: 274; see also Da Roit 2007; Bergamaschi 2008). Following Esping-Andersen’s (1990) typology of welfare regimes, these countries have been identified as a distinctive cluster of regimes in which the management of care is delegated almost entirely to the family (ibid.).1 This includes the construction of elderly care as the responsibility of families and women. Based on the cultural norm of “welfare fatto in casa” (“welfare made at home”; Simoni/Zucca 2007), the elderly are expected to spend their final years at home and to be cared for by their children (Degiuli 2010; Baldassar 2007; Rossi 2008). In the late 2000s, only about 3% of older people lived in residential homes, a figure that is markedly lower than in other industrialized countries (Gori 2011). This is also due to the negative image of the use of institutional elderly care, which is popularly characterized as a kind of abandonment and betrayal and as a solution of last resort, as noted by most of the other employers interviewed for this research. At the same time, Italy has been characterized as the European country in which the work of the family is “least well-shared between spouses” (Trifiletti 1995; in Andall 2000: 290). In Italy, scholars tend to speak of a “triple” rather than “double presence” of women, who are expected to meet not only the needs of waged labor and of their children, but also of the elderly (Scrinzi 2008: 33). In this context, the workload of women increases due to limited social and socio-educational services, which has the consequence that the domestic care of children and dependent adults is mostly provided by informal and private networks (Trifiletti et al. 2002; in Scrinzi 2008). In short, the social organization of care work in Italy is shaped by an unequal division of care responsibilities, both between the sexes and between fami1

This is different in the Northern European countries, where there is a higher availability of formal care for the elderly (Da Roit 2007) and where migrant workers are more frequently employed by formal care service providers than by families (Lamura et al. 2010).

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lies and the state, similar to what I observed with regard to the Peruvian case in the previous chapter. Recently, a series of socio-demographic changes have put increasing pressure on this model of care. In Italy, as in many other European countries, the aging of the population has become a central factor of change. About 25% of the Italian population is over 60 years old, which means that 15.9 million people are likely to require care at some stage of their lives (ISTAT 2010). In Lombardy, it is estimated that in 2015, there will be three million persons above 65, one million more as compared to 2010, leading to an exponential need for assistance (Caritas 2010). An increasing proportion of older people, especially older women, are living alone and need help with household chores and physical care. Throughout the last twenty to thirty years of the 20th century, a massive change in family structures also contributed to this situation. It involved a reduction in family size and thus a decrease in the number of daughters and extended kin available to care for elder relatives (Degiuli 2007). At the same time, while the rate of female participation in the labor market is still lower than in other European countries, it increased from 42% to 51% between 1994 and 2004 and has continued to rise since then (Lamura et al. 2010). According to Eurostat data, there was an increase in labor market participation of aging women between the age of 55 and 64 to 32.5% in 2007—these aging women were potential informal caregivers to their elderly parents (ibid.). Since 2008, economic crisis has caused a notable deterioration of living and working conditions in both the Italian and immigrant population (Caritas 2010). As a consequence, it is considered increasingly necessary for women to earn their own income in order to maintain a certain level of wellbeing in case their husbands are underemployed or lose their jobs (Rossi 2008; Caritas 2011). Demographic changes and women’s increased labor market participation have not led to significant changes in Italian care and gender regimes, but to a growing delegation of elderly care to migrant workers. Where the elder’s children are no longer available or willing to do the care work themselves, hiring a private care worker is considered more respectful to the habits and dignity of the elderly than hospitalization in a nursing home (Ambrosini 2010a). The delegation of care to a home-based rather than an institutional caregiver is also based on the expectation that the first will be more caring and therefore able to avoid feelings of loneliness and abandonment in the elderly themselves. Institutional care, in turn, means “locking” the elderly away (Baldassar 2007: 280) and abandoning them to persons “who don’t love you” (Antonella, author interview).2 2

The association of institutional care with abandonment and lack of affection can also be observed in other Southern European countries, such as Greece (Van der Geest/Mul/ Vermeulen 2004) and Spain (Escrivá/Skinner 2008; Gil/Orozco 2011). In the Italian case,

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In addition, many employers note that hiring a paid caregiver for the elderly allows saving money, given the high costs of residential facilities. These are unaffordable for people with lower income, as pensions alone are insufficient to cover the monthly fees.3 While the costs of public residential institutions are lower, admission often requires long waiting periods and there is a widespread sense of dissatisfaction and distrust toward public care-services and agencies (Baldassar 2007; Degiuli 2010). The scarcity and inadequacy of the public provision of services has also contributed to the employment of migrant domestic workers (Gori 2011).4 Given that many elderly people live in homes larger than they need, receiving a live-in care worker causes little additional costs, allowing them to obtain a surplus in care while saving the costs of institutional services (Rossi 2008). In short, the employment of migrant elderly carers offers a cheaper, more immediate, and flexible alternative to costly private care services and inadequate public facilities, and allows Italian families to maintain the customary model of elderly care and welfare “made at home” despite demographic changes.

it explains why migrant elderly carers are hired by families to care for the elderly even in hospitals or residential homes. My study finds many cases in which Peruvian migrants are hired as home-based caregivers of the elderly first and then switch locations to care for the same person once domestic care is no longer possible due to a worsening of the elder’s health conditions. However, even where migrant workers are employed by domestic actors (families), working conditions in institutions are not necessarily comparable to those in private households and would need a more detailed analysis and comparison, which goes beyond the scope of this chapter and research. 3

A monthly fee at a residential care home for people with low-intensity care needs ranges between 1,100–1,200 euros, while a nursing home may cost around 2,000 euros (Lyon 2006: 216).

4

There is a public service called Assistenza Domiciliare Integrata (Integrated Domiciliary Care), which is provided by regional authorities to grant both home help and healthcare inputs, including home nursing, physiotherapy, and visits by specialists, provided for free according to individual needs. However, the public expenditure devoted to this type of service and its average intensity (number of visits per beneficiary) are very low and have been decreasing (Lyon 2006; Gori 2011). While Lombardy is one of the Italian regions with the best economic conditions and more developed public welfare systems, relatively few of the employers interviewed had actually received this kind of support and those who did said that it was relatively reduced and clearly no alternative to the work provided by a home-based caregiver.

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5.2.2 The Role of the Italian State: Cash Grants and Migration Policies Saving on costs of care is not only of interest to single families but also to states that profit from the cheap and flexible labor provided by migrant caregivers of the elderly. In Italy, the hiring of migrant domestic workers has therefore become institutionalized through government policies, including cash grants and migration quotas. In addition to monetary transfers granted in the form of pensions, the Italian state offers cash benefit schemes specifically targeted to the care of the elderly. The most important one is the Indennità di Accompagnamento, an attendance allowance of 487 euros per month (in 2011) for dependent persons with severe disabilities, which is granted irrespective of the receivers’ age and financial situation, based on the assessment of their needs by the local health authorities, according to relatively vague eligibility criteria set by national legislation. There are no restrictions over its actual use, which means that the beneficiary may use it to buy private services or pass it to care-giving relatives (Gori 2011). It is the principal direct monetary transfer offered by the state for the support of the dependent elderly, both in terms of the amount of spending (9.4 billion euros, almost half of the total public cash grants for care in 2007) and in terms of the number of beneficiaries, which amounted to 9.5% of older people in 2009 (Da Roit/Facchini 2010; Gori 2011).5 This benefit is often used to employ migrant caregivers for the elderly, mostly on a live-in basis, who are present in 9% of households with older people (Gori 2011). My interviews with employers confirm that cash transfers, while usually not the initial trigger for many families to employ a migrant caretaker, encourage the maintenance and/or extension of paid care arrangements (see also Degiuli 2010). Many employers interviewed had received these kinds of benefits. Some, however, also mentioned the insufficiency of these payments that, even when added to the elder’s pension, are insufficient to cover the costs of a live-in care worker who is regularly employed. Thus, the generous and uncontrolled cash benefits granted by the state have played an important role in encouraging the illegal employment of migrant home care workers (see also Da Roit 2007; Marchi/Sarti 2010; Gori 2011; Hooren 2012). In general, it is estimated that only one out of three caregivers for the elderly who are employed by families in Italy has a work contract, while 60-70% are em-

5

The second benefit scheme is a care allowance, which is means tested and granted by local authorities to elderly people at risk of institutionalization (Bettio/Simonazzi/Villa 2006). It is usually lower and less widespread than the first. None of the employers interviewed had received this benefit.

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ployed on an irregular basis (Pasquinelli/Rusmini 2009). On average, the monthly costs of a live-in caregiver hired without contract range from 700–1000 euros for 54 hours/week and to approximately 700 euros or less in the case of a live-out worker employed for 25 hours/week (Da Roit 2007; Pasquinelli/Rusmini 2009).6 This is more or less equal to the sum of the minimum pension and the care allowance for dependent people (Da Roit 2007). In the case of regular employment, in contrast, the monthly costs rise to 1,350 euros for a live-in worker and approximately 850 euros for a live-out worker who works for the same number of hours. The cash benefit provided by the state, however, is insufficient for many families to afford the transition from irregular to regular employment (Pasquinelli/Rusmini 2010). Especially for middle to lower class families, the illegal employment of migrant caregivers for the elderly has become an option that was unavailable in the past, when the employment of migrant domestic workers was a privilege of the upper and upper middle classes (e.g., Ambrosini 2010a; Sarti 2008; Scrinzi 2008).7 In addition to cash benefits, migration quotas are another way in which the Italian state has promoted the employment of migrant home care workers. In Chapter 4, I mentioned the cyclical declaration of immigration amnesties and the annual quota system, through which the Italian government fixes a maximum number of workers who may enter the country for employment. As shown by Catanzaro/ Colombo (2009: 28), the quota reserved for migrant domestic workers increased markedly within a very short period from 19% in 2005 to 38% in 2007 and to even 70% in 2008, corresponding to more than 100,000 domestic workers. A special amnesty launched in 2009 as an alternative to the annual flows decree was limited to the regularization of migrant domestic workers and caregivers for the elderly and attracted almost 300,000 demands by employers, despite the economic crisis (Cari8 tas 2010: 8). These measures reflect a policy of active and selective recruitment of

6

According to other sources, migrants who are residing irregularly in Italy for less than two years earn an average amount of 743 euros/month for 49.9 hours/week (Istituto di Ricerche Educative e Formative 2007: 36; in Hooren 2012: 140). My research data confirms that illegally employed migrants may also earn far below 700 euros/month.

7

Similar observations are made in Spain, where the working class with an average income is excluded from public assistance services and has found an alternative solution in the mostly irregular employment of domestic caregivers for the elderly (Agrela 2012).

8

General political discourse was in favor of a limitation or even repression of the arrival of new migrant workers in Italy, in view of the economic crisis and its negative impacts on the Italian labor market. This led to the suspension of the quota for the year 2009. Yet, the high demand for care workers caused the government to issue a special amnesty, which was limited to the regularization of migrant domestic workers (colf) and caregivers for the elderly (badanti) already present in Italy (Callia et al. 2010). The 2012 amnesty

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care workers adopted by the Italian state to promote a model of care based upon the indispensable role played by migrant workers (Catanzaro/Colombo 2009; Caritas 2010). Many of the employers interviewed made use of these procedures to sign a contract for migrant workers who had no legal residence status. Overall, this shows how Italian migration policies contribute to the transnationalization of the Italian care regime. However, while the state recognizes the dependence of Italian families on migrant domestic workers, the rights of migrant care workers remain limited and their basic welfare benefits are still inferior to those of other categories of wage earners (Scrinzi 2008). Below, this will be demonstrated by my analysis of the organization of work in the sector of elderly care. Moreover, in Italian social and political discourse, the migrant workers’ contributions are often downplayed through the use of derogatory terms such as the denomination of non-European migrants as “extracommunitari” (“extra-communitarians”), a term implying that they are considered “outside” and thus excluded from Italian society (Tamagno 2003: 374). Homebased migrant caregivers for the elderly are commonly referred to as badanti (caregivers), a disparaging term usually declined in the feminine.9 This discourse contributes to the maintenance of a gendered and exclusionary labor regime, which benefits the Italian state and employers, while concealing the precarious legal and working conditions of migrant domestic workers. 5.2.3 Peruvian Home-based Caregivers for the Elderly The rising demand from Italian families as well as the supportive political framework have contributed to a constant increase in the numbers of migrants employed in home-based elderly care. Given the frequency of illegal employment, there are different estimations about the actual magnitude of this development. These indicate that the number of home-based caregivers for the elderly ranges between 713,000 and 1,134,000 (Marchi/Sarti 2010: 249). According to data published by the Ministry of Work in 2010, there are at least 774,000 home-based caregivers for

was again open for other employment sectors; http://www.sportelloimmigrazione.it/ richiedi-documenti/sanatoria-2012.html (22.12.2012). 9

The term “badante” was first adopted by the center-right government in Law No. 189 Art. 33, 30 July 2002, to define a “migrant person from a non-EEC country, who offers assistance to a person whose self-sufficiency is limited by pathologies or handicaps” (Degiuli 2007: 206). Originally used to define people who take care of animals, it has been considered offensive. Political and civil society representatives have therefore argued for the use of the term “home eldercare assistant.” In my interviews, however, the term “badante” was the one most widely used by both employers and migrant workers themselves.

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the elderly in Italy, around 700,000 of which are immigrant women (Caritas 2010: 101). Peruvian, Filipina, and Polish migrants were among the first to be employed as caregivers of the elderly in the early 1990s. Today, migrant domestic workers also come from a broad range of other countries, particularly Ukraine, Moldova, Russia, and Ecuador (Catanzaro/Colombo 2009). Domestic workers from Latin America represented 9.5% of all foreign-born domestic workers registered by the Italian National Security Institute (INPS) in 2008 (Caritas 2011: 261). Of these, 4.5% came from Peru. It can be assumed that the proportion of Peruvians employed in this sector is much higher in the major areas of residence of the Peruvian population, including in particular the region of Lombardy and city of Milan. However, there is a general lack of data on the numbers and origin of migrant care workers, given that most of them are irregularly employed and not represented by the statistics. Available numbers on the sectors of occupation of Peruvian migrants in Italy do not include workers employed on an irregular basis either, but provide some idea of the important role of Peruvian migrants in the care sector. According to a survey of the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), Peruvian labor migrants in Italy are mainly employed in the sector of services, including home and family care (41.6%), the commercial sector (3.8%), as well as hotels and restaurants (4.9%), and another 13.3% work in the sector of industry (Callia et al. 2010: 32).10 This data shows the stratified entry of Peruvian migrants into the domestic service sector. The same source indicates that 95.8% of Peruvians in Italy are dependent and only 4.2% independent workers, and that 67.4% work in full-time and 32.6% in part-time jobs. Agents of Job Placement in the Market of Elderly Care Beyond the Italian state and its policies, which other actors are involved in the migrants’ introduction into the Italian labor market? For Peruvians in Italy, the most common practice is to search for a job by word of mouth and through the support of family members, friendships, and recommendations. In part, this also explains the introduction of migrant men into the domestic service sector, because these men usually follow female migrant relatives who already work in the sector and also make use of the possibility, offered by the state, to accede to regular work and residence permits through employment in the domestic sector (Sarti/Scrinzi 2010). However, the search for jobs in the care market is increasingly competitive, as mentioned in Chapter 4, and salary levels have decreased, especially in times of eco10 This survey shows that the proportion of migrants working in home and family care is twice as high among Peruvian migrants than among the total of the main migrant groups in Italy (41.6% compared to only 21.5%), and also higher than among Ecuadorean migrants (39.1%), but lower than among those from the Philippines (64.6%) and Ukraine (59.0%) (Callia et al. 2010: 32).

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nomic crisis. In addition, employment relations in this sector are highly unstable, as they may suddenly end due to the death of the elderly. Thus, migrants might have to look for a new job several times per year, even though there may also be employment relations of up to ten years or longer. Hence, the job search is a repeated process, which requires the activation of multiple support networks. Given the rising competition for jobs on the care market, migrants may have to accept not only lower salaries but also considerable sums charged for intermediation. While job agencies usually do not require migrants to pay for their service, it may happen that other migrants, including family members, charge money for operating as “informal job agencies,” as Elrick/Lewandowska (2008: 7) observed for the case of Polish caregivers for the elderly in Germany. Several migrants interviewed mentioned having been charged substantial amounts of 200-400 euros by compatriots who sold their jobs as caregivers for the elderly. They agreed to pay the required amount because of difficulties in finding a well-paid job and the urgency to send money to their family left behind. Afterwards, however, job seekers may find that employment conditions are inconvenient or exploitative (see also Rossi 2008). In short, the mediation of jobs in the sector of elderly care has transformed into a business, which involves not only costs but also risks of exploitation. To avoid these risks and increase their chances of finding a job, some migrants make use of employment through social cooperatives or non-profit organizations, providing institutions or private clients with home-based domestic and care work, social and sanitary services. In such cases, however, the salary tends to be lower, as part of it goes to the institution that formally employs the migrant worker. Not only for migrants but also for employers, informal networks are the most important channels through which employment contacts are established. To some extent, employers also use agencies as intermediaries, but unlike the job-seekers, employers are required to pay for this service. However, agencies’ support seldom goes beyond the matching of demand and supply and there are almost no agencies that offer counseling and mediation services to employers and migrant workers once the employment contract is signed.11 For this reason, most employers use them just to establish the very first contacts. The Catholic church is another important intermediary between migrant jobseekers and Italian employers. This is also a result of the central position the church has historically occupied in the organization of the domestic service sector in Italy. Even before the increase in immigration in the 1970s, the church supported the internal migration of rural women to the cities and their insertion into domestic work 11 One of the few exceptions in the city of Milan is the association Piccolo Principe, which offers a matching of demand and supply and support with the definition of the work contract, but also a monitoring of the work relation. Interview with Grazia Macchieraldo, 13.10.2011, Milan.

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(Andall 2000; Scrinzi 2008). It has also contributed in significant ways to the development of labor legislation in the domestic sector, in particular through Acli Colf, a Catholic organization founded in 1946, which is also the most important national association of domestic workers. In the period of immigration, the church has continued to be an active intermediary in the social organization of care work and in channeling the recruitment of migrants into the care sector through its network of missions, parishes, and religious organizations based on volunteer work. These, in part, also compensate the low level of state involvement in the provision of welfare by offering legal, psychological, spiritual, health, and other types of assistance for job-seekers and migrants already working in this sector. The church and other public and private agents involved in the recruitment process have become central agents in the construction of a labor regime, which is highly segmented in terms of gender and race/ethnicity. Catholic networks, for instance, build upon and reproduce the common discourse of domestic work as “suitable work for women,” which supposedly appeals to their “natural” skills (Scrinzi 2008: 37). They also respond to preferences for a care worker with a certain moral “affinity” which is based on shared Christian values (Catanzaro/Colombo 2009). Many agencies also offer a pre-selection of potential candidates on the basis of predefined criteria, such as age, sex, and at times nationality and/or skin color, which often guide the selection of a migrant worker, as the next section shows.

5.3 C ARE A RRANGEMENTS IN E MPLOYER H OUSEHOLDS 5.3.1 Expectations and Strategies of Care Managers and the Elderly Regarding the expectations and strategies of Italian employers, it is important to point to the complexity of decision-making processes that precede the actual employment of a migrant caregiver for the elderly. In most of the cases examined, the decision to employ a migrant is not made by the care-receiver but rather by adult daughters or, less frequently, by sons in response to their gender-based normative obligation to care for aging parents. By delegating the care of a parent to a migrant worker, adult children continue to fulfill their filial role, but instead of being “care providers” they become “care managers” (Degiuli 2010: 774). Frequently, this decision is made at the moment in which elderly parents become dependent due to severe illness, such as Alzheimer’s, senile dementia, epilepsy, osteoarthritis, stroke, or cancer, which means that they participate in the decision-making process to a very limited extent, if at all (see also Rossi 2008). However, there are also cases in which the initiative for employment is taken by the elderly, when they are still independ-

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ent but in need of practical and emotional support. This and other research finds that people who feel lonely due to the death of conjugal partners, or who have remained single, may hire a domestic worker to have someone to accompany them (Santagati 2008a). Care Management and the Renegotiation of Gender In many cases, the decision to hire a migrant caregiver is not only a sign of recent socio-demographic transformations, discussed above, but also reflects new ways of coping with intergenerational conflicts and obligations and, more specifically, with the conflictive process of aging and its social construction. Aging is associated with declines and losses of physical, mental, and/or negotiating power, which at times go along with marginalization. Unlike in many non-westernized family formations, where the oldest members (regardless of sex) enjoy more authority and prestige within the family, the modern nuclear family model has placed elders, especially those who are fragile, in a marginal position by considering them a burden and devaluing their experiences, skills, and wisdom (Escrivá 2003). Caring for the dependent elderly is regarded as the least attractive of all care and domestic tasks by many employers interviewed. It is also described as a task that is not only physically but also psychologically demanding. In addition, it mostly requires abstaining from any other family and social relations, while also confronting the caregiver with the physical and/or mental decline that goes along with aging (see also Baldassar/Baldock/Wilding 2007; Hrženjak 2012). As mentioned in Chapter 3, the majority of the employers interviewed for my study are women (74%), mainly daughters or daughters-in-law of the cared-for or, to a lesser extent, sons or sons-in-law. Italian women who decided to hire a migrant worker for the care of their parents or parents-in-law often describe this type of work in terms of a “sacrifice” that they are not or no longer willing to make themselves, as in the case of Alessia, cited in the opening part to this chapter. Another example is the case of Gloria: “ I had my job, my children, my grandchildren, my family, and I didn’t have time, but I didn’t even feel like going to visit my mother every day, I have no problems to say that. And I have to say that the more my mother’s illness worsened, the less I had the desire to be close to her, because my mother didn’t even recognize me anymore. I mean, it was a very severe form of Alzheimer’s at the end, very severe, that’s why from my part there was no relation to her.” (Gloria, 61 years, former employer)

As suggested here, migrant caregivers for the elderly are not only hired to allow the permanence of Italian women in the labor market, as frequently mentioned in the literature (e.g., Sarti 2008), but also to allow female employers to make decisions about what types of care work they prefer to do themselves and what to delegate to

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others. Thus, care managers delegate the most unpleasant parts of care work (see also Anderson 1997; 2000; Lutz 2004) and free themselves from the intergenerational struggles often associated with elderly care. This allows them to save time for other paid and unpaid activities, including self care (see also Degiuli 2010; Arriagada/ Moreno 2011; Iecovich/Doron 2012; Gil/Orozco 2011). As noted in the cases of Elsa and Sara, female employers perceive this step as a form of emancipation that distinguishes them not only from previous generations of women but notably also from their migrant employees, who do not experience the same flexibility of deciding how to use their time and how to distribute the care work within their own families.12 The emancipation of female employers, however, remains incomplete, given that the latter still hold the main responsibility for organizing and managing care and housework in their own families. Among the employers interviewed, there is also a significant proportion of housewives (17%) who delegate the work of elderly care in order to save time for other types of unpaid care work, which is required mainly in their roles as wives and mothers (Appendix, Table 13). This work is also described as exhausting. Talking about her responsibility of care management and her additional family work, Alessia, employer of several migrant workers, points out: “I am the badante of the badanti. Because it’s also quite some work to supervise all of them. [...] And I have difficulties, a lot of difficulties to do so. [...] I can do it because I say I don’t work. [...] I wake up at six o’clock in the morning, I go to bed at midnight. But I don’t work in the sense that I don’t clock in and out. I have three brothers, three sisters-in-law, but the other three have their jobs. So they have the excuse that because of their jobs they cannot do anything. And so it all depends on me. Anyways, I am a bit the idiot of the group. Because then I dedicate myself to children at the hospital, to my grandchildren, I have quite a demanding husband. My husband is an economist, a university professor. We often also have a life of public relations, guests at home. I dedicate myself to the cooking, the arts of cooking, I have my interests, I have a very intense life, but I dedicate it very much to the family, very much. And I dislike that because sometimes I also feel that it’s a bit suffocating.” (Alessia, 62 years, employer)

Shown by this statement, the distribution of care and domestic tasks within employer families remains highly unequal, as care continues to be constructed as a women’s responsibility. In other words, delegating the work of elderly care to a migrant worker allows women to maintain and prioritize their roles as caregivers of husbands and children, often mentioned as an explanation of why the care of aging 12 Below, I take a closer look at the migrants’ work schedules and the distribution of their tasks. In Chapter 6, I go further into the organization of caregiving in the migrants’ transnational families.

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parents is delegated to a paid worker. In fact, some female care managers also mention feelings of guilt about their decision to delegate part of this work to a migrant worker. One of them is Cristina, an Italian working woman in her fifties, who has employed a Peruvian woman to take care of her mother. As a daughter, she considers herself responsible for the care of her parents, even though she has a brother who could participate in this task. By delegating this work to a Peruvian caregiver, she avoids struggles over a more equal gendered division of labor, but also feels guilty because of this decision: “I have always felt very much of the weight of feeling as a privileged person. Because she [the Peruvian caregiver; A.S.] took care of my parents and not I. [...] At least to me it happens that I feel a bit guilty.” (Cristina, 56 years, employer)

The data presented here reveals that the hiring of a migrant care worker constitutes a form of “doing gender,” which perpetuates traditional gender identities and avoids conflicts that might emerge if women tried to promote a more equal involvement of husbands and brothers in domestic tasks (2.2.1; 2.2.4; see also Lutz 2007c; 2008b). In other words, women employers do not free themselves from their caregiving roles but prioritize one care practice over another. Hence, gender norms that define care as the responsibility of women are reproduced in the practices of female employers. At the same time, women are not the only ones who delegate the work of elderly care and become managers of the new employment relations. My interviews with male care managers contribute to understanding the importance of gender as an organizing principle of migrant employer relations in the care sector. First, it is striking that men tend to assume the role of care management only when they have no wife or sister to assume this task. Second, for those men who become care managers, the delegation of care to a migrant woman constitutes a continuity rather than break with their traditional gender role. This might be one of the reasons for which they do not mention the inner conflicts or feelings of guilt expressed by some of their female counterparts. Male employers tend to construct the work of elderly care as a women’s responsibility. While some participate in this work, for instance when the migrant worker is not present, they mention that it should not be a man but a woman to assume this task. This is reflected by statements such as: “I don’t have so much to do with this” (Domenico; i.e., with the care of the elderly; A.S.) or “I really love my mother but I am a man and there has to be a woman to wash her” (Daniele). Such ideas confirm the continuity of gender norms, according to which it is held appropriate for women, but not for men, to engage in domestic work and to care for male and female naked bodies (Huang/Yeoh/Toyota 2012b). In addition, gender norms are reproduced by the tendency of male employers to emphasize their own role as that of breadwinners. Most of them are inserted into the labor market and in-

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dicate that they would not have the time necessary to take care of their parents. In other words, the cases of male care managers also reveal continuities in the gendered division of labor. The Elderly As noted above, the hiring of a migrant is often an imposed decision, made in an emergency situation. The elderly tend to be reluctant to accept live-in workers, who may be taken as intruders and visible signs of the elderly’s dependency, as well as their children’s absence, which often causes frustration, disappointment, and feelings of abandonment (see also Rossi 2008; Marchi/Sarti 2010). This is different in cases where elderly care receivers are still relatively independent and caregivers are hired on a live-out basis. Judging from the accounts collected for this study, these reactions or decisions are also gender-specific. Elderly women seem to have particular difficulties in accepting live-in caregivers, because this means ceding the work of household management that had been among their own main responsibilities. This resistance is reflected by the observations of Lucia, whose grandmother is tended by a migrant care worker, and of Luisa, who employed a caregiver for her elderly parents when they became frail and sick: “My grandmother was also used to being someone who commanded, she was the one who commanded at home, she commanded her husband, she commanded everyone. So when she found herself unable to walk and had a person taking care of her, for her it was a tragedy.” (Lucia, 33 years, daughter of employer) “At the beginning it was difficult, because my mother, who was the female figure of the household, did not accept another woman to come and substitute her in her role.” (Luisa, 50 years, employer)

As suggested by these quotes, the presence of a round-the-clock assistant is associated with a major loss of autonomy and of power to manage the household, which is difficult for elderly women to accept. While both women and men struggle with losses of power and independence associated with the process of aging, men seem to be more willing to accept the support of a migrant caretaker. Several employers interviewed for my study, however, note that elderly men tend to prefer a female care worker, whose presence signifies a continuity rather than a complete change from their previous situation. This is particularly true where elderly men are living alone and do not rely on female family members available to do the housework, as revealed by the following statements of two elderly men who have hired migrant women on a live-out basis:

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“I had a wife before, then she died and so... we had to- for some time, I made it by myself with my daughters. Then they had children and now it’s been a couple of years that we have had this one [the Peruvian care worker; A.S.], because my daughters are no longer able to come.” (Matteo, 75, employer) “I’m not married, so I need some help. I’ve never spend time on... yes, once I did spend time on cleaning. But also just cooking a meal, I’m unable to do it; I’ve never done it. And that’s why I need a person to take care of me.” (Davide, 74 years, employer)

Traditionally, these men have been receivers of care and are therefore not used to taking care of themselves alone. In addition, because care is usually provided by women, male care-receivers may reject a male caregiver. In fact, where elderly men are in need of bodily assistance, care managers often decide to hire a male caregiver. Gustavo is one of the Peruvian men who was employed to care for an elderly man. His work consisted not only in caregiving but also in other domestic tasks. Gustavo, however, noted the elder’s difficulty in accepting him in his home. He also mentions the elder’s attempts to prevent him from cleaning, cooking, washing, and ironing, because he held that a man should not do this work, for, as Gustavo cites him, “for these things there are women.” Hence, the presence of a male care worker might challenge established gender norms and be more difficult to accept on the part of the elderly. Employer Preferences: the Ethnicization and Gendering of Elderly Care The findings presented so far have shown that gender and intergenerational norms are of central importance in shaping the employment a migrant care worker. A closer look at the employers’ expectations reveals that gender norms also intersect with ethnic categorizations. Migrant care workers are often considered bearers of a particular “care knowledge” (Rossi 2008: 93; my translation), which is defined in terms of gender and ethnicity. Studies on global domestic workers point to the importance of employer discourses that contribute to naturalizing and justifying the unequal treatment of migrant workers (Anderson 1997; Pratt 2002; Maher/Staab 2005; 2006; Mora 2009; Gutiérrez Rodríguez 2010). These discourses are mediated by preferences for a particular nationality, associated with a particular “type” of personality (Anderson 1997), which also intersect with racial and ethnic stereotypes that operate according to physical appearance, skin color, and characterizations of migrant care workers as “naturally” gifted for this type of work, as opposed to the Italian population (Lyon 2006). In this context, nationality often represents an overarching marker signifying the otherness of migrant domestic workers, while race may become an important principle in justifying the “naturalness” of difference and inequality (Cheng 2004).

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My interviews with Italian employers show that the selection and assessment of Peruvians hired as caregivers for the elderly is mainly guided by a process of ethnicization—the construction of nationality-based ethnic distinctions—which intersect with other difference categories such as gender, age, and social class. Generally speaking, “ethnicization” has been defined as an “attribution of ‘ethnic specifications’ by others” (Rosenthal 2009: 6). The term is useful for understanding the undifferentiated, and often pejorative, treatment of migrants on multiple levels— cognitive, discursive, and practical (Boccagni 2009b). In this process, the migrants’ ethnicity is held to be an all-encompassing variable, which is assumed to account for both their “typical” behaviors and their differential treatment within the receiving society (ibid.). Researchers have used the term “ethnicization” (at times also “ethnification”, see Lamura et al. 2010: 8) to refer to the segmentation of the care and domestic work sectors on the basis of ethnicity/nationality (Catarino/Oso 2000: 168; VV.AA. 2004: 44; Santamaría 2009: 87; Hrženjak 2012: 45; 50); this segmentation is also true of the labor market in a broader sense (Colasanto/Marcaletti 2008). Here, I also use this term to draw attention to the importance of ethnic ascriptions in the views that employers construct of migrant workers, which clearly influence the migrants’ working conditions. While racial categories also seem to play a role in shaping these constructions, they are not explicitly used by employers.13 Most care managers interviewed expect migrant caregivers for the elderly to establish a close relationship to the elderly person, which compensates for the care manager’s own absence. They note that care workers should do this job not “just because of money,” but because they have “some kind of predisposition” toward being “affectionate” and doing this work “wholeheartedly” and “with love.” Italian employers also expect care workers to prove themselves to be “loyal,” “trustworthy,” “respectful,” “available,” and willing “to sacrifice their private lives.” They should also be “cheerful,” “communicative,” “willing to learn,” “clean,” and physically as well as mentally “strong” enough for this job. These expectations reveal the particularities of the Italian example in which both physical and emotional care la13 Here, I understand ethnic categorization as the “positing of an immutable communal difference” (Anthias/Yuval-Davis 1992: 112), which is reflected by the construction of national differences between employers and various groups of migrant workers, outlined in this section. Racial classifications are considered to involve “the ordering of human groups on the basis of putatively natural (inherited or environmental) differences” (Goldberg 1990: 302), which is legitimized through ideological constructions of a “biological,” “physiognomic,” or “natural” difference (Anthias/Yuval-Davis 1992; Stolcke 2000). The construction of Peruvian caregivers for the elderly can best be understood as a process of ethnic, rather than racial, construction, given that it does not so much refer to physical traits as nationality-based cultural differences.

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bor is transferred (wholly or partially) to a migrant worker (Lazzarino/Luciano 2008). In part, these findings differ from empirical observations made in other contexts; for example, in Singapore, employers of migrant caregivers for the eldery expect the caregivers to provide physical rather than emotional care labor (Huang/Yeoh/Toyota 2012b). At the time of each interview, the majority of care managers relied on employment experiences with care workers of different nationalities, including migrants from Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe, and, in very few cases, from Africa. Migrants from Peru or another Latin American countries are often preferred as caregivers for the elderly, not only in Italy but also in other receiving countries such as Spain, because they are thought to fulfill many of the aforementioned expectations, to be particularly “affectionate” and thus “ideally suited to be servants” (Agrela 2012: 53), and to represent “a culture that still venerates the elderly” (Pedone 2007: 261). This is also noted by employers who were satisfied with their Peruvian workers: “A characteristic that South Americans have to a higher extent [...] than people from Asia or Russia is this humanity. They have, I guess by tradition, a respect for elderly people [...] they have this sweetness, they are strong, they are persons who aren’t afraid of working, they keep working and don’t back out. They are capable because they learn Italian easily and so they are in contact with the elderly person, and they are clean and above all they have this kind way of treating them, steadfast but kind and very educated.” (Alessia, 62 years, employer) “Well I think that Peruvians are much better than people from Eastern Europe. [...] Peruvians are persons who adapt themselves very much to the person they will care for and with whom they have to work. [...] They are willing [to work; A.S.] [...] they are able to sacrifice themselves. Substantially the difference [is that; A.S.] they are able to sacrifice themselves and understand that life has to be earned.” (Stefania, 65 years, former employer)

Shown by these quotes, employers tend to portray an essentialized image of Peruvians as particularly caring, attentive, adaptable, submissive, respectful, and selfsacrificing (see also Maher/Staab 2005; 2006; Setién/Acosta 2011). According to Lyon (2006: 223), migrant care workers are often celebrated for their “willingness to labor without complaint and [...] apparent subservience as personal (or national) characteristics.” In Italy, this image is often opposed to that of women from Eastern Europe, who have outnumbered Peruvian migrants in recent years and tend to be characterized as more “individualist and oriented toward the achievement of their own goals and interests” (Santagati 2008b: 305; my translation). These narratives reflect the lacking social valorization of care labor, which was discussed in Chapter 2. In other words, “If caring is a dimension of character, it is naturalized and seen as effortless, or as love or nature and not real work” (Lyon 2006: 223). Frequently,

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these ideas are used to naturalize and justify unequal treatment and low salaries of migrant workers. The construction of national difference is also coupled with another discourse that focuses on the shared ethnic background of Peruvians and Italians understood to be part of a common “Latin” origin or basis. In this discourse, Peruvians are considered “more similar” to Italians, as compared to migrants from Eastern Europe, Asia, or Africa (see also Santagati 2008; Agrela 2012). This “affinity” is related to the observation that Peruvians learn the Italian language more easily and to the characterization of Peruvians as “Catholic”/“religious,” which is considered a basis for understanding (see also Catanzaro/Colombo 2009). A further aspect refers to what one employer called a shared “passion for cooking,” as an important part of caregiving. Accordingly, Peruvian migrants are more disposed to cook Peruvian and Italian dishes rather than preparing instant meals that are often rejected by the elderly. Finally, the “respect for the family” (Alessia) is constructed as a normative ideal that is shared by both Peruvians and Italians. Delegating the care work to a migrant who shares this ideal is also a means of coping with feelings of guilt and goes along with the expectation of continuity and closeness in the relationship between migrants and the elderly, which is similar to the ties constructed within families as affective units. Employer preferences are also mediated by social constructions of experience and bodily traits, which intersect with gender. As noted before, male care workers may be preferred when the elderly person is also a man. This is based on the idea that men are physically stronger and thus better prepared to cope with the care needs of the elderly. These preferences intersect with expectations related to the migrants’ age and care responsibilities as transnational family members. They may disfavor women who have care responsibilities in the same place, such as mothers with children in Italy, but also young women without children, who are observed to be less flexible and to think about their own families or about themselves rather than about the employers’ needs. In these cases, most employers fear that the needs of the elderly will be neglected. In the case of women, young age is also associated with lack of strength and experience, as reflected by statements such as: “It was a young girl but she didn’t know anything at all.” (Eleonora) and “It is a young person, but my father is quite a character. To work as a badante you need professionalism!” (Luisa). This reveals the role of bodyisms that favor or disfavor certain groups of migrants according to their bodily characteristics.14 In addition, the professional experience and class background of the care worker is also important for many employers. Working as a caregiver for the elderly re14 Bodyisms refer to the discrimination of individuals or groups due to their bodily characteristics such as age (“ageism”), attractiveness (“lookism”), and physical condition (“ableism” or “able-bodyism”) (Winker/Degele 2009).

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quires particular knowledge and often also socio-sanitarian and medical qualifications, which differ from those required for a cleaning job or a job as a nanny. Depending on the health condition of the elderly, some employers therefore prefer caretakers who have professional qualifications or experiences as nurses and hope to find someone who acts like a “private nurse.” Others prefer migrant workers with higher educational levels and/or middle to upper class background, because these people are expected or observed to be more educated and caring. Most employers of migrant domestic workers, however, think that the majority of migrants are rural women who are “in-need, dependent, and poorly educated,” as noted by Araujo (2009: 32) in the case of Spain (for Italy see also Geraci 2008). This is suggested by Davide, who talks about his former employee Paulina, a woman who had studied nursery in Peru: “It was not a common person, it was not the usual person who comes from the countryside and wants to work in the city [...] She also came from a different environment, compared to the usual badanti who come here.” (Davide, 74 years, employer)

Taken together, these expectations and classifications contribute to the hierarchization of the elderly care market by gender, nationality, ethnicity, age, and class. They also shape the working conditions and the employers’ strategies of care management. 5.3.2 Characteristics and Organization of Home-based Elderly Care The Organization and Distribution of Tasks The tasks assigned to migrant elderly carers are very diverse and vary considerably according to the employers’ needs, living conditions, and social class. These influence the degree to which caregiving is delegated as well as the mode of employment. A particular characteristic of employment relations in the domestic service sector is that the workers’ tasks and working hours are not always clearly defined. Strictly speaking, domestic elderly care is oriented toward the elderly person in need and all activities of the caretaker are aimed at the elder person’s well-being. In other words, an employer family should not ask the worker to cook, clean, or iron for other family members. In practice, however, this strict separation is often blurred and caregivers may be expected to attend to entire families (Rossi 2008; Gil/Orozco 2011; Bonizzoni 2013). The tasks of the migrant caregiver also vary according to the health condition of the elderly person (Da Roit/Facchini 2010). These tasks include personal and bodily care including eating, bathing, toileting and dressing; practical support such as cooking, shopping, and bill paying; and in some cases

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medical tasks such as giving or injecting medications, dressing wounds after surgery, and checking weight, blood pressure, or blood sugar levels (see also Bookman/Kimbrel 2011). The distribution of tasks also depends on the degree to which caregiving is delegated, which is variable. Especially when elderly care receivers are living alone, care managers tend to delegate the entire range of care and domestic tasks to a single live-in worker. In cases of severe dependency of the elderly, this worker is required to perform a twelve-hour job, which entails a high degree of physical and psychological stress and exhaustion. In other cases, the workload may be alleviated by the presence of conjugal partners of the elderly, other co-residing members of the employer family, or other care workers. Middle to upper class families might be able and willing to afford several care workers who take turns or assume different tasks. In the majority of cases, however, employers prefer a person who offers a “complete” service during a maximum number of hours and days per week (Rossi 2008: 98). This is a way by which care managers save money, while also coping with feelings of guilt outlined before. Hence, the vast majority of 71% declare that they have hired migrants on a live-in basis. The employment mode, however, is flexible. In the case of 26% of employers interviewed, this mode shifted from liveout to live-in employment over time. In addition, employers tend to seek persons who are willing to guarantee the continuity of the care relation. Peruvian migrants are known for their willingness to stay in Italy for longer periods of time and to incorporate themselves into the employer household, without expecting to travel as often to their places of origin as many migrants from Eastern Europe. This facilitates the care arrangement for employers but also involves severe limitations for migrant workers, as I outline below. My study reveals that there are also gender differences reflected by the different type of tasks that are delegated to female and male care workers. The tasks assigned to male caregivers often consist in caring for the elderly in a stricter sense, which means that other tasks, such as cooking and cleaning, are more often taken over by the elder’s wife or by a female care worker. Eduardo, a Peruvian migrant man, notes that in his job as a caregiver for an elderly man, it was not him but the man’s wife who prepared the meals, even though she was suffering from Alzheimer’s, while the work of cleaning was assumed by a female domestic worker. This shows that the gendered division of care labor is largely maintained, even when care work is transferred to paid care workers. Still, some male caregivers for the elderly do assume the work of cleaning and cooking, either because they are expected to do so or they do so on their own initiative, as noted with reference to Gustavo (5.3.1). In any case, the tasks of male care workers are subject to more explicit negotiation and definition. In the case of female workers, in contrast, there is tacit agreement that the job of elderly care also involves other activities that are part of domestic work (see also Catanzaro/Colombo 2009).

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Working Conditions, Salaries, and Contracts Similar to their tasks, the working conditions, salaries, and legal status of homebased caregivers for the elderly are also flexible, even within the live-in mode of employment. The Italian legal framework establishes that live-in domestic workers have the right to at least eight consecutive hours of rest per day and a minimum of two hours of rest in the afternoon, in addition to a weekly rest day (usually Sunday), annual holidays, overtime pay, and a year-end bonus, the equivalent of one-month’s worth of compensation to be paid on Christmas (Salvatore 2006). These rights, however, are often violated, especially in the case of migrant workers with an irregular status of residence and employment. In addition, violations can also be observed with regard to some fundamental needs such as food, living conditions, and sick pay (see also Bonizzoni 2013). At the same time, migrants who get sick easily lose their job, as noted by Elsa, a migrant mother: “Here you must not be sick because if you get sick they fire you. For Italians it’s like that: as long as you serve them, you are healthy and you are with them, they are with you. If not, they fire you.” (Elsa, 48 years, from Huancayo, in Italy since 2009)

Granting these benefits is frequently perceived by employers as a “complication” of the work relation (Pasquinelli/Rusmini 2010: 84) because it produces additional costs and/or because employers have to substitute for the absent migrant worker, either by caring for the elderly themselves or by hiring another person. In the first case, they have to reconcile these substitutions with their paid work and family responsibilities and they experience this extra work as a loss of rest and leisure time. Hiring another worker to substitute absences, in turn, produces not only costs but may also be seen as a complication for the elderly care-receiver, who has to get used to another person. This is considered particularly problematic when migrants are absent for longer periods and may be a reason for which migrants are in most cases not allowed to take holidays: “You cannot wait for a badante. [...] It’s difficult for elderly people to get used to new things. If you change, you change for good, it’s not that you change and then you return, because then you end up in a mess.” (Francesca, 65 years, former employer)

Other care managers, in contrast, substitute migrant workers when they leave for holidays, but ask them to leave during a particular period of time, which coincides with their own availability. Alternatively, migrants themselves look for a person to substitute them during their absences. Still, absences of care workers are often described as critical moments by both migrants and employers, given that they provoke further changes for the elderly. Substitute workers and the elder’s children may not be as familiar with the elder’s habits and needs as the worker who usually

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takes care of them. Particular problems arise due to a lack of confidence or a neglect of medical attention (e.g., medication intake), as noted by Olga, a migrant mother, who found the elderly woman she cared in a worsened health condition after returning from her holidays in Peru: “The old woman said to me, ‘don't go away, don't go away.’ Well, I had to travel also because of my children. When I came back, I didn’t find her in the same condition. She was sick, more sick, more confused mentally. Practically for this reason this job didn’t last so long anymore. I wanted to do everything possible to keep her alive... It was impossible, probably because with the pills, all that, they didn’t attend to her as they should have done.” (Olga, 46 years, from Urubamba, in Italy since 1997)

In other words, the care of the dependent elderly is difficult to organize, as each change may negatively impact the wellbeing of the elderly person. These difficulties are shifted to the migrant workers who struggle with inadequate working conditions, which severely limit their capacity to care for themselves and their own family members, as I argue in Chapters 6 and 7. In addition, these difficulties are also shifted to the elderly care receivers, whose wellbeing depends on the continuity of the care relationship. For instance, when migrants are dismissed or decide to quit a job because their rights are violated, this is also observed to cause a rapid death or worsening of the elder’s health condition. In short, the non-recognition of the migrants’ rights may also affect the elderly in negative ways. With respect to the migrants’ working conditions and remunerations, I already mentioned the frequency of illegal employment and salary differentials of migrant domestic caregivers for the elderly in relation to the existence or absence of a work contract. The majority of employers interviewed for this research signed a work contract, at least over time and for the minimum number of hours required for regularization.15 Among the migrants interviewed, the majority obtained a contract within the course of some years in the country. However, many of them also mentioned the increasing difficulty of finding employers willing to sign a contract after the onset of the economic crisis. While the crisis has not significantly reduced the demand for caregivers for the elderly (Caritas 2011), my data indicates that there are tendencies toward a lowering of wages, increase in irregular employment, and deterioration of working conditions. Employers tend to justify illegal employment by men15 It is common to draw up a work contract for the minimum of 25 hours per week, even if the employee works more hours or lives in. This is of convenience to the employer, who pays the lowest possible amount of taxes; for the worker, it is convenient to have a contract that does not impact too much upon the remuneration (Pasquinelli/Rusmini 2009). This practice was also frequent among the employers and migrants interviewed for this study.

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tioning their inability to cover the costs or they are prepared to make a contract only provided that migrants pay the contributions themselves (see also Shutes/Chiatti 2012), accept a severe reduction of their wages, or renounce certain benefits involved with legal employment, such as payment of a dismissal wage. There also seems to be a correlation between the social class of employers and salaries and working conditions they are willing to negotiate: upper-class employers often pay higher salaries (see also Da Roit/Facchini 2010) and are also more willing to sign a work contract. The absence of a contract, however, affects the workers’ rights to social security, as shown by recent estimations according to which six out of ten hours of work in the domestic work sector are not covered by the social security system (Caritas 2011). Besides, obtaining a work contract is a necessary condition for the migrants’ access to legal residence status as workers in Italy (4.3.3). Given the limited duration of the residence status, which can only be renewed by workers who are regularly employed, a contract is needed also after the process of regularization. When Peruvian migrants are hired without a contract, they may accept salary reductions, exploitation, abuse, and drawbacks on their own health condition that may be caused by inadequate working conditions. In short, migrants are strongly affected by Italian migration policies, which make their employment and migration status dependent on the benevolence of employers. This dependency weakens their negotiating position in terms of wages and conditions (Anderson 1997). While the dependence on employers decreases for those migrants who have obtained a long-term residence permit or Italian citizenship,16 these migrants are similarly affected by the deterioration of working conditions and wages that result from the economic crisis.

16 Several of the Peruvian migrants interviewed for this study are in possession of an EC long-term or Italian citizenship. These documents allow migrants to reside in Italy for an indeterminate period of time, which makes them less dependent on employers and thus constitutes an important advantage over those who have a temporary residence permit (“permesso di soggiorno”). According to recent statistics, 59% of the Peruvian migrants who are residing in Italy on a regular basis have a short-term and 41% a long-term residence permit (Ministero di Lavoro e delle Politiche Sociali 2013). To obtain a long-term residence permit (previously called “Carta di Soggiorno”), Peruvian migrants have to be legally and continuously resident in Italy for five years, a criterion that is increasingly difficult to meet due to high levels of employment instability and its impacts on the temporary stay permit. Obtaining Italian citizenship by naturalization requires at least 10 years of legal residence in Italy and sufficient income. Those who are married to an Italian citizen can acquire Italian citizenship through naturalization after two years of legal residence in Italy. See: http://www.mpimmigration.com/ (22.03.2013).

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5.3.3 Strategies of Care Management Within the broader context of employment relations and conditions examined so far, a closer look at the employers’ strategies of care management may bring further insights into the ways in which inequalities are reproduced between workers and employers. A particular characteristic of these strategies, and of domestic work relations in a broader sense, is the absence of external control over the employment relation (Lutz 2004). Along with frequent doubts about rights and duties on the part of both employers and migrant workers, this contributes to a perception of arbitrariness and favors conditions of exploitation on both sides. Care workers may be exploited when employed without a written contract, in which their tasks are specified, when required to work during their leisure time, and without adequate remuneration, or when faced with arbitrary reductions in wages or sexual abuse or violence (Anderson 1997; Cheng 2004; Lutz 2004; Gutierrez Rodriguez 2010). Care managers, however, may also feel exploited, for instance in cases of violence or neglect in front of the elderly or neglect of the tasks assigned to the migrant (see also Lutz 2007a; Santagati 2008a). Care managers with little or no previous experience of employment of migrant workers often feel overwhelmed with their new role as employers and mention the lack of support or advice by public and private institutions as a problem: “At the beginning of this experience I have always missed a coordinator, someone I could ask and who would show interest and also supervise this worker a little bit.” (Luisa, 50 years, employer)

Over time and especially in cases of conflicts or doubts about the rights and duties of migrant workers, care managers tend to make frequent use of the trade unions as intermediaries of the employment relation. The Italian General Confederation of Labor (Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro; CGIL), a national trade union center in Italy, is one of the most important agents of intermediation. For some, the trade unions also play a role at the moment of concluding the contract with the migrant worker and/or in offering support with salary and wage administration. Apart from the trade unions, however, there is little support by external entities, such as agencies or municipalities. Some employers therefore feel that they are left alone, as noted by Serena: “I think that the family is absolutely abandoned to itself.” Considering this lack of support and control is important for understanding the stress of care management, frequently noted by employers, as well as their strategies of obviating or coping with conflicts linked to the employment relation. The interviews conducted with employers draw attention to different types of strategies of care management. These can be understood as part of what Lan

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(2003b) and others have termed “boundary work.” Defined as “the strategies, principles and practices used to create, maintain and modify cultural categories” (Nippert-Eng 1995: 7, cited in Lan 2003b: 526), boundary work refers to the negotiation of two sets of social boundaries: a) socio-categorical boundaries along the divides of class, ethnicity, and nationality; and b) socio-spatial boundaries that circumscribe domesticity and privacy. These negotiations are part of an interactive practice of constituting self and identity and of reproducing and contesting social inequalities. While dominant social groups such as employers construct these boundaries in a particular, often asymmetrical way to favor their own needs and interests, workers attempt to construct alternative boundaries or to make boundaries more permeable (ibid.). My data suggests that care management strategies shift between what I call familiarization, personalization, hierarchization, and professionalization of the employment relation. These strategies are very close to the ones identified by Lan (2003b) in her analysis of the boundary work of Taiwanese employers of Filipina domestic workers.17 At the same time, they also reflect the particular expectations of Italian employers that were analyzed before and have to be seen as culturally embedded. These practices are fluid and situationally contingent, which means that care managers might change their attitudes in different situations and over time.

‘Family Members’ or ‘Friends’: Familiarization and Personalization Making the migrant worker become part of the family or a friend seems to be a frequent strategy of care management, not only in Italy but also in other countries (Anderson 1997; 2001; Parreñas 2001a; Pratt 2002; Santagati 2008a). As part of this strategy, employers of migrant domestic workers construct their role in a way that highlights their benevolence, correctness, understanding, and willingness to support, anticipate, and protect the migrant worker. These gestures of charity and kindness have also been analyzed as a form of “maternalism,” referring to “a friendly relationship between female employers and domestic workers that works to confirm the employer’s kindness and the worker’s childlike inferiority” (Anderson 2001: 30). Through such gestures, feminine qualities of morality and pity are reasserted in a context of unequal power relations. In interviews conducted for my re17 In this work, Lan distinguishes between maternalism, distant hierarchy, personalism, and business relationship as strategies that differ in terms of the extent to which employers include/exclude domestic workers in the family and highlight/downplay hierarchical difference between them and the workers. Similarly, Gil/Orozco (2012) examine the discourses of employers (and workers) in the domestic work sector along the axes of familism and professionalism on the one hand and of (neo)servilism and egalitarianism on the other.

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search, attitudes and practices of charity are particularly frequent among female care managers, but not absent in the narratives of their male counterparts. They can be interpreted as a way of coping with feelings of guilt, but also as responses to political constructions of migrant workers as vulnerable and dependent subjects, who “need” their employers in order to accede not only to employment but also to protection and legal residence. Based on these constructions, employers see themselves as benefactors in front of the migrant worker: “She [Peruvian elderly carer; A.S.] has had problems with persons who wanted to do harm to her, she has had difficult moments with other Peruvians. [...] But not with us, on the contrary, we have of course always protected her a bit. She has felt protected in our home, especially in the period in which she had no documents, because obviously she was more vulnerable, more fragile.” (Cristina, 56 years, employer)

The vulnerability of the migrant worker mentioned here is a clear result of Italian migration policies, which reinforce the migrants’ dependency on employers and construct the latter as “benefactors who offer the gift of legalization to domestic workers” (Parreñas 2010: 136). In this context, employers often present themselves as protectors and also support migrant workers, for instance by lending or advancing money without asking for monetary recompense, based on the construction of the employment relation as a familiarized space, in which mutual support is most important. Such strategies, however, involve a blurring of the boundaries between employment and private life. They increase the risks of exploitation, given the possibility of extracting further unpaid care labor and the simultaneous weakening of negotiating power on the part of the worker (Stiell/England 1999; Anderson 1997; 2001; Parreñas 2001a). Familiarization therefore produces tensions between the advantages that migrant workers may obtain by integrating themselves into employer families and the possible drawbacks on the workers’ private life and rights to adequate working conditions. This is well reflected by the case of Daniele and the migrant caregiver he employs, an Ecuadorean woman who has been contracted to attend his elderly mother for more than ten years. The woman has an eight year-old child who is co-residing with her in the employer household, while the father is living in a separate household. Daniele, who has no children himself, has become attached to the boy and opened a bank account for his future studies. He is retired but keeps working as a librarian in order to pay the living expenses of all household members: his mother, her caregiver, and the child. After leaving work, he picks the boy up from school and takes care of him, while the migrant woman cares for his mother. Daniele describes this division of labor as a new kind of family relation: “We have more or less created a family. Between their family and my own we help each other.” However, this mutual help also means that the migrant woman has to abstain from her

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right to two hours of rest per day and to full-time holidays. As Daniele puts it: “We have already built a relationship where we don’t watch the clock any longer. Now that she is on holidays, she comes in the morning to wash my mother and at night, when she is in Milan, she helps me to wash her and put her to bed.” Shown by this case, familiarization may also compensate the absence of family ties on the part of care managers as well as the lacking state support, which affects both employers and migrant workers. While employers are affected by the lack of public services for the elderly, migrant mothers struggle with the absence of childcare facilities (6.3.1). The familiarized care arrangements established in employer families might help migrant workers to reconcile their paid work and family care responsibilities, but it also entails an increase in their workload, along with a blurring of their private life and employment. At the same time, the case of Daniele is exceptional due to the high degree of practical and financial support offered to the migrant woman. In most cases, the support provided by employers is much more limited and the migrants’ integration into employer families remains incomplete. In fact, familiarization is often based on the idea that migrant workers renounce their own family life, which means that even regular phone calls to Peru may be perceived as disturbing. The inclusion of migrants into employer households is therefore built on the exclusion of the migrants’ own family ties, which goes along with a frequent lack of knowledge about the worker’s context of origin. In addition, even the building of quasi-familial relationships with migrant workers may be terminated at any moment. In other words, familiarization is based on highly asymmetric power relations, which reproduce inequalities of ethnicity, nationality, and citizenship between migrant workers and employers. Similar to familiarization, the personalization of employment relations by care managers is also driven by a rhetoric of inclusion and intimacy, which seeks to downplay the above mentioned asymmetries through the construction of a friendly relation, as noted by Elsa: “In any case I am not able to behave like an employer. I prefer being a friend.” The boundaries between both strategies are fluid, as care managers may define their relationship to migrant workers in a non-asymmetrical way but still maintain the status hierarchies inherent in the employment of foreign domestics (see also Lan 2003b). Personalization, or “personalism” (Santagati 2008b), is also characterized by the tendency to display a high level of interest in the migrant as a person with a particular biographical and family background: “Let’s say that after so many years he is more like a friend, a person with whom I have made a friendly relationship. [...] He talks about his family, his children and I inform myself, I ask him. Of course, of course, he has already become part of the family.” (Manuela, 68 years, employer)

142 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS Antonella: “There are people who like to be mistresses. I’m the mistress, you’re the badante. No, with me there was no relationship like that, I don’t like that, it’s not my character.” Anna: “Hm, was it more like a friendship?” Antonella: “A friendship, yes. Also because I treated her like my daughter, because I thought she is so far away from home and anyways has to live with other people. I mean, I empathized with her. How sad is it to abandon your family and live together with strange people to earn your living! So I have always been very kind and have always made many gifts to her.” (Antonella, 63, former employer)

Personalization thus involves a certain degree of consciousness of migrants as transnational family members. Some care managers provide many details about the family situation and biography of the migrant worker and a few of them have also gotten to know personally some of the worker’s family members, either in Italy or through visits in Peru. Frequently, however, the knowledge is superficial and also intermingles with gender, class, and ethnic stereotypes. For instance, there is a common tendency to express compassion about migrant mothers who emigrate and who are “poor,” not only because of their constant need for money but also because they leave their children and other family members behind and build care arrangements that challenge common gender and family norms, not only in Peru but also in Italy. “I have always treated them well because poor creatures, they are here to earn a living, to be able to maintain the education of their children.” (Eleonora, 73 years, former employer) “They send at least half of what they earn to Peru, if not more. That’s the thing that they are always in need of money. She is always asking for advance payment. [...] But I understand the needs are always enormous.” (Cristina, 56 years, employer) “One of the things that annoys a bit in general is that these women spend a lot of time on the phone. But it’s the only way of staying in contact with their country of origin, with their family members and friends, so it’s normal anyways. But always on the phone, all of them!” (Elsa, 60 years, former employer)

Shown by these quotes, care managers signal unease but also tolerance and understanding about the migrants’ transnational care practices and thereby reassert their role as protectors and/or friends and the asymmetries upon which this role is constructed.

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‘Collaborators’ or Distant ‘Others’: Professionalization and Hierarchization Compared to the strategies examined so far, professionalization and hierarchization imply a higher degree of emotional and/or cognitive distance in front of the care worker. Professionalization can be understood as an attempt to construct a rather de-personalized employment relationship, which focuses on the formal and contractual parts of it (Porat/Iecovich 2010), such as the recognition of the migrants’ rights as workers: “For me they are collaborators, for me badanti seems a bit offensive. They are persons who collaborate with us and who are paid very well. [...] They are recognized, they have regular contracts, because otherwise they are unable to have a residence permit, but I think that’s right and proper.” (Alessia, 62 years, employer)

The de-personalization of employment relations is mainly reflected by the use of certain expressions, such as the characterization of migrant elderly carers as “collaborators,” as in this quote, or as “the personnel.” It is also revealed by the ways care managers react when asked about the personal and family background of the migrant workers. Alessia, for instance, observes a personable relationship between her mother and her mother’s two Peruvian caregivers, but personally she prefers keeping a certain distance to the workers and mainly sees herself responsible for managing the working conditions, salaries, and demands of workers in a strict sense. For a long time, Alessia planned to replace the two caregivers with a single live-in caregiver, which shows that for her, the persons who assume this work are more or less exchangeable. Alessia also signals that she has no time and willingness to confront herself with the family “problems” of the workers. Listening to their personal issues is considered a time-consuming activity, part of caregiving and receiving, but not of the management of the care relation: Anna: “Do they [migrant workers; A.S.] tell you something about their families?” Alessia: “Yes, they do, but not so much. When you ask them, yes, but sometimes it’s better not to ask because otherwise you don’t go home anymore.” Anna: “Hm” [laughs] Alessia: “No, because everyone has their problems. But they tell the elderly people.” (Alessia, 62 years, employer)

The migrants’ experiences also contribute to the idea that many care managers consider them primarily as workers and do not always show much concern about their personal affairs. This is also noted by the migrants themselves. Some migrants note that they have a good and trustful relationship to the elders’ family members, which is often maintained after termination of the work relationship, but very few consider

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them to be friends. On the contrary, some call attention to the difficulty of making friends with employers who would always treat them as workers and only approach them because they need their help, as noted by Luis, a Peruvian elderly carer: “In their mentality I am always a worker and they will call me only when they need help.” Where migrants seek to build a more trustful and affectionate relationship not only to the elderly but also to care managers, strategies of professionalization may be perceived as offensive and increase the level of conflict between both parts. In other cases, conflicts emerge because of the hierarchization of the employment relation, which may also become a basis for the violation of the migrants’ rights as workers. Here, I refer to hierarchization as a strategy that maintains a high degree of personal distance to the worker and openly accepts and highlights the existence of social divisions between migrants and employers (see also Lan 2003b; Santagati 2008b). This strategy constitutes a way of reasserting power and demonstrating authority, especially in situations where care managers are unsatisfied about a worker or feel that their decision-making power and status as employers is at stake. Serena is a widow in her mid-sixties and a retired doctor, who employed several live-in caregivers from Peru and other countries to take care of her elderly mother between 1994 and 2006. Throughout the interview, she mentions the frequency of conflicts and her feelings of being exploited by the “misbehavior” of these workers, which seem to be linked to the workers’ and her own character and class background. One of the Peruvian caregivers, for instance, had been working as an advocate in Peru and had hired domestic servants herself. Serena, in contrast, was inexperienced as an employer and constantly felt that the migrant worker was telling her how to behave and taking control of her household by inviting family members or migrants in need of shelter. Serena, who defines herself as a tolerant and goodnatured person, accepted some of these visits, but also felt a constant threat to her authority. One of her reactions was to impose her own expectations onto the worker, for instance, by telling her not to work for other employers on weekends. Talking about her general experience, Serena notes that migrant workers tended to insist too much on their rights, while “forgetting” their duties: “Often the duties were forgotten, rights were never, but duties were.” However, Serena herself did not always respect the workers’ right to rest and leave the household for two hours per day and did not sign a contract for all of them. As noted previously, this practice affects the migrants’ residence status. Similar to Serena, other care managers also mention discontent about workers who display feelings of superiority and describe their relationship to these workers as distanced and conflictive: “The last one I had was a Moldovan woman. I have to say that I was not satisfied at all, she was very arrogant, highly competent in doing her job, but too hm... I wouldn’t say demand-

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ing, too insolent in her attempt to show that maybe she was better than the person who employed her. So, I was a rather difficult relationship, even though I employed her anyway.” (Stefania, 65 years, former employer)

These findings confirm my previous observations: employers expect workers to submit themselves to their demands and to respect their authority as employers. Where this is not the case, employment relations tend to be conflicted and strategies of care management openly attempt to reassert the hierarchies between employers and employees. As reflected by Serena’s case, such strategies may affect the worker’s employment and legal status and thus also reproduce inequalities of citizenship. In other words, the construction of a distant and hierarchical employment relation is frequently used to reaffirm status inequalities and the inequal distribution of resources. At the same time, I already noted that strategies of care management may also change according to the situation and over time. Hierarchization is quite frequent at the beginning of the employment relation. Care managers, however, might also seek to be like mothers or friends and then move to a more open hierarchical construction of the relationship, in response to conflicts over rights and duties and losses of power, as noted in the case of Serena. This contributes to a general lack of confidence on the part of many migrant workers in front of employers, whose attitudes are considered volatile and unpredictable. Overall, strategies of care management contribute to reaffirm the power of those who are decision-takers within the employment relation. My subsequent analysis will show that migrants and elderly care-receivers may influence these decisions to some extent, but also remain in a subordinate position. 5.3.4 Care Strategies of Peruvian Caregivers for the Elderly Anabel, a single woman from Huancayo, has been living in Milan since 1998. During her first years in the country, she worked as a live-in caregiver for several elderly women. When the first of them died, Anabel was shocked as she had never seen a dead person. She was also desperate to find a new job as quickly as possible, as she had no other family members in Italy and was expected to send money to her parents and siblings. Then she started her second job that a Peruvian friend had sold to her for 200 euros, but found out that the elderly woman, who suffered from Parkinson’s, was already dying. Anabel, still traumatized, made all effort to keep the sick woman alive. Following the suggestions of a Peruvian friend, she asked her employers to buy pigeons and started using this meat to prepare soup. Gladly, she realized that the elderly woman ingested the vitalizing dish and recovered her strength until she was able to get up from bed. To cheer her up, Anabel began talk-

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ing and joking with the woman, cooked Peruvian dishes for her, and demonstrated empathy by means of hugs and kisses. Initially, the old woman rejected these gestures, but over time she got attached to Anabel, who observes: “Little by little I was dominating the old woman [...] little by little the old woman already started to stand up well, she was already strong [...] I took her, dressed her and the old woman was nicely dressed, well cleaned. I brushed her hair and she was fine and herself felt that she had more energy, because she saw that she noticed that she looked nice. So I took her out for a walk with her trolley, the old woman got attached to me.” (Anabel, 37 years, from Huancayo, in Italy since 1998)

Anabel thus managed to gain control over the care relationship and also astonished the woman's children, who did not reside in the same household and wondered how she had helped the woman to recover. This situation lasted for two years until the woman’s health conditions worsened again and the workload increased considerably, due to the need for round-the-clock attendance. The woman’s children could not afford to hire a second person and took turns caring for the woman at night. As Anabel noted, however, their impatience and aggressiveness only worsened with the woman’s deteriorating health condition. Due to these conflicts and the intensity of the workload, Anabel got stressed and sick herself and finally decided to quit the job and search for jobs as a nanny. The work of elderly care was not only stressful but also compromised her own health conditions, due to the need to work without rest and any possibility of medical leave. Her affection toward the elderly, while helping her to manage the care relationship, also made her more vulnerable to the violation of her rights as a worker. The experience outlined here is very common among Peruvian caregivers for the elderly. Caring for dependent elderly people is experienced as harder than other types of care work such as childcare. Many care receivers are not only reluctant to accept a migrant carer, as noted before, but are also depressed or traumatized by war experiences or due to mental disease. Therefore, caregivers are often confronted with aggressiveness and strategies of hierarchization (see also Rossi 2008; Santagati 2008b). In addition, while racial categories were not used by employers interviewed, Peruvian migrants do mention experiences of racial and class discrimination. Some, for instance, were considered “primitive,” “ignorant/incapable,” “poor,” and “wild/Amazonian,” and were treated as “slaves” rather than as workers with rights and dignity. Several migrants also report physical violence against them. At times, migrant women who care for elderly men experience sexual harassment or abuse. Where care managers do not reside in the same household, they may be unaware of these problems and, at times, do not take the complaints and demands of workers seriously.

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Faced with these difficulties, Peruvian migrants develop a series of strategies to approach their work as caregivers for the elderly and make it more manageable. As in the case of the strategies adopted by care managers, these can be understood as a form of “boundary work” (Lan 2003b), which shifts along the continuum of familiarization and professionalization on one hand, and according to the extent to which migrants accept or contest employer expectations on the other (Gil/Orozco 2011; Stefoni/Fernández 2011). Also in this context, familiarization refers to the building of intimate and often quasi-familial relationships, in this case to the elderly, which may or may not extend to care managers and other family members. This tendency is well reflected in the case of Anabel and is common for many other migrant women. Professionalizing elderly care, in turn, means that it is interpreted as a work rather than a family relation (Catanzaro/Colombo 2009). These practices are flexible and shift according to the workers’ experience, social status, and transnational care obligations. Winning Affection: the Familiarization of Elderly Care The construction of an affectionate, “familiarized” relationship to the elderly, far from being an “innate” personal or ethnic characteristic of migrant workers, can be understood as a response to the migrants’ difficult living and working conditions. In her study on Peruvian migrants from Huancayo in Milan, Tamagno (2002: 116-17) notes that “winning affection” is a central cultural strategy of adjustment and adaptation to Italian society and serves as an interaction strategy in unknown or difficult life situations. This involves, for instance, being tolerant, hard working, honest, loyal, gentle, kind, and educated as a way of making oneself accepted, appreciated, and “indispensable” (ibid.). My study confirms that such strategies are also a response to the high level of job instability in the elderly care sector. As noted by Gustavo: “When the old man dies, your job terminates. So you understood that as a badante you had to make an effort, to do your best, so that your client, the old man was in a good mood. To feed him well [...] so that he was content, right?” (Gustavo, 37 years, from Lima, in Italy since 2004)

In other words, being a good and affectionate caregiver is in the interest of migrant workers themselves and part of the attempt to make their job as durable as possible. More specifically, the building of affectionate relationships to the elderly may take different forms. Anabel and several other migrants mention the need to give strength to the elderly in order to help them fight against their sufferings and become more cheerful and active. One way to achieve this is by means of verbal communication—talking, joking, and singing, making them talk and listening to their personal history and experiences—as well as non-verbal communication, in-

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cluding body language and physical contact, such as hugging, kissing, and caressing. Another way of activating the elderly is to dress them nicely and encourage them to go out and participate in social activities, when possible. Nourishing and cooking for the old person is another important part of caregiving. This includes preparing Peruvian dishes and local products imported from Peru, such as maca, a root powder known for its vitalizing power. Furthermore, migrants appease the elderly by sharing or transmitting Christian faith to them. Some of these strategies are mentioned in the following quotes: “Sometimes, I have the opportunity that people bring me a vitamin that exists in Peru, which is called maca [...] I bring it and give it to the old woman. This lifts her up.” (Eva, 47 years, from Ayacucho, in Italy since 1992) “I always joke with him, I’m always laughing with him, we talk, I tell him about Peru, or sometimes I cook something for him, a Peruvian dish, I mean I try to make him feel well.” (Marco, 38 years, from Piura, in Italy since 2005) “If you don’t give them a lot of affection, maybe their illness aggravates more rapidly, because these kind of people have to be treated with much affection, much love and always with a smile.” (Marleny, 44 years, from Lamas, in Italy since 2010) “I took her [the old woman; A.S.] to a dance school, so I saw what she was able to do. When she was able to, I made her write and read and draw. Then I compensated her with ice cream and she loved it.” (Lizethe, 35 years, from Chimbote, in Italy since 1997)

The intimate bond established with the elderly is often compared to a kinship relation as suggested by phrases such as "She lent me a hand, practically as if she was my mother." (Susana) and "You develop a certain bond of familiarity, because you get used to that person." (Lisbeth). It is considered more than a one-directional transfer toward a dependent care receiver, which may encourage the elderly to empathize with the migrant and become affectionate themselves, as noted by Adela: “Little by little, they are already carried along, you can caress them, they also hug you, they show their feelings. [...] So it’s no longer the employer and worker but you’re united by a relationship that is a bit more like a family.” (Adela, 51 years, from Trujillo, in Italy since 1998)

In short, by winning the affection of the elderly, migrants are able to transform the hierarchical distance into one of mutual care and intimacy, thereby taking (partial) control over the work relationship. The interviews with elderly care receivers conducted for this research contribute to the idea that migrants and the elderly develop

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a close relationship, which is best described as one of mutual affection and complicity. Compared to the care managers, the elderly talk and know more about the migrants’ personal and family backgrounds. This mutual empathy also arises from the fact that both migrants and the elderly are distanced from their families. This leads to compensatory relationships, in which the elderly take the role of substitute parents or grandparents for the migrant, while the caretaker may be seen as a substitute child and/or member of the family (Santagati 2008a; Marchi/Sarti 2010). Care workers and the elderly thus share their loneliness, pain, memory, and nostalgia about the past, as noted by Estefania, a migrant mother who talks about her conversations with an elderly woman who suffered from Alzheimer’s: “She said to me: ‘don’t cry, because you are very young for crying.’ I said: ‘It’s because I feel lonely, I come from far away, leaving my family to be able to work.’ ‘I am alone too,' she said, 'my children abandoned me.’ ‘So come on, you and I we make a good family, you are the mother and I am the daughter,’ I said to her, ‘and we love and care for each other.’” (Estefania, 41 years, from Chosica, in Italy since 2007)

Familiarization and the Reshaping of Power Relationships Familiarization, as a strategy employed by migrant workers, may both reproduce and challenge power relationships in front of employers. On one hand, in order to win the affection of the elderly, Peruvian migrants submit themselves to the elders’ needs and demands, thereby reproducing intergenerational hierarchies that are practiced within their own families,18 as noted by Leonardo, who talks about his relationship to an elderly woman: “I perceive her as if she was my mother, an old woman. So I try to give the best to her, to please her in everything she wants. So she feels well because I obey her in everything.” (Leonardo, 60 years, from Chimbote, in Italy since 2009)

This practice of subservience can also be understood as a way of “doing ethnicity” (2.2.4; Lutz 2007a), in which Peruvian migrant workers construct their ethnic identities as distinct from those of their Italian employers. Principally, this is done through an underlying way of treating the elderly differently, based on respect and authority. According to the perception of many Peruvian migrants, Italian care managers abandon their elderly parents and enforce their decisions upon them, frequently with disregard and violence:

18 The relationships of Peruvian migrants to their aging parents will be analyzed in Chapter 6.

150 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS “They are old people that their children don’t want to have close, because they’re tired of them, I don’t know, because they don’t go along with them and prefer keeping them at a distance. [...] That’s the frustrating thing about this type of work as a badante, because you witness all that, all this disregard, to put it in a word, this disregard that exists in front of the elderly.” (Gustavo, 37 years, from Lima, in Italy since 2004) “Italian families, the children, are not affectionate, as we are.” (Susana, 28 years, from Urubamba, in Italy since 2006) “They don’t have this patience that we have maybe because in our country we love our grandparents, we know how to treat people.” (Adela, 51 years, from Trujillo, in Italy since 1998)

The migrants interviewed thus construct their own position in front of the elderly in a way that largely reproduces the employers’ characterizations of Peruvians as affective, respectful, and submissive to the elderly. For the migrants interviewed, these characterizations serve as a way of differentiation from Italian care managers and ultimately, as a resource for action that may also lead to partial reversals of power in front of employers. As noted by Ambrosini (2010b), the “familiarization” of relationships between migrants and employers may lead to a redefinition of power asymmetries, based on the development of emotional attachment, mutual learning, and the rise of awareness about difficulties experienced by immigrants as well as rights denied to them. This is revealed by the case of Ester and Leonardo, the two Peruvian migrants who work for Alessia, the care manager cited above. Both migrants are employed on an hourly basis to take care of Alessia’s aged mother, Maria. Alessia is very satisfied with the affectionate way in which her mother is attended to by these workers but also says that paying for two caregivers is very expensive. For several months, she was telling Ester and Leonardo about her plans to hire a live-in caregiver, which meant that both were expecting dismissal and searching for a new job. Some days before the end of their contract, Alessia suddenly changed her mind. Maria, who had become attached to both migrants, had spent sleepless nights, anxious and sad about their planned dismissal, and finally convinced her daughter to keep the contract for both of them. Ester used this opportunity for negotiating better employment conditions. Unlike in the past, she no longer works on weekends but receives the same salary. In becoming indispensable to the old woman, she not only maintained her employment contract but also improved her working conditions. At the same time, emotional attachment to the elderly makes migrant workers more vulnerable to exploitation, stress, depression, and emotional and physical burnout (see also Santagati 2008a; Lazzarino/Luciano 2008; Bonizzoni 2013). Due to their empathy with the old person, it becomes more difficult to deny extra ser-

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vices and to cope with a sudden redundancy. Migrant women in particular tend to get emotionally attached to the elderly and to suffer a new separation once the old person dies or is sent to a residential home. For this reason, several women decide to switch to other types of care work, such as childcare. One of them is Ester’s sister Lizethe, who took care of Gloria’s mother for more than ten years. One year after her dismissal, she still grieves over the elderly woman’s death, which, in her mind, was accelerated by Gloria’s decision to send her mother to a nursing home. While she enjoyed working as an caregiver for the elderly, she was afflicted with her inability to decide on what she considered best for the elder’s wellbeing: “Because I get too attached and it’s difficult for me, emotionally, above all.” Ester has had similar experiences upon the termination of previous jobs: “I feel sad because I get attached and identify [with the elderly; A.S.] as if [he or she] were a family member.” Some migrant men also mention emotional strains, which are often a reason for them to leave this employment sector: “For me it was emotional waste. Because when I started working with the elderly, I identified with them. And I saw them die and the only one who cried was me. And that’s what frustrated me. It was better to dedicate myself to other things.” (Gustavo, 37 years, from Lima, in Italy since 2004)

In other words, the attachment to the elderly may lead to new emotional dependencies, which fall back onto the migrant worker, especially in conflicts with the employment managers. While migrants may feel empowered by their relationship to the elderly, they remain excluded from processes of decision making and may suffer emotional drawbacks because of this condition. Similar observations can also be made with regard to the elderly care receivers. As revealed by the case of Maria, these people may derive satisfaction from their relationship to migrant workers, get attached to them over time, and therefore develop strategies to support their caregivers and encourage the continuity of the care relationship. For some migrants, the elderly play a central role in helping them learn the Italian language and cook Italian dishes. Based on their experience and capacities, the elderly may also support migrants beyond the sphere of employment. Maria, a single migrant woman from Lima, was encouraged to study nursing by the elderly woman she attended, who also helped her pass the entry exam and take up her studies by adapting her work hours to her academic schedule. In the case of migrant women with small children, some elderly may participate in caring for these children in cases wherethey are still able to do so and migrants are allowed to take their child to the workplace. This was mentioned by Nataly, a Peruvian migrant mother who gave birth to a son in Italy. When she told her employer about her pregnancy, her employer reacted with indignation, but finally allowed her to continue in her job. This was also due to the support that Nataly received by the elderly woman she

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cared for, who defended her rights in front of the care manager. Talking about the older woman’s reaction to the birth of her child, she says: “The grandmother was content: ‘Oh my grandson will be born!’ [...] Although she was sick, she told me, ‘do your things, don’t worry about the baby, I’ll take care of him.’ She always tried to make me be well in front of her daughter.” (Nataly, 35 years, from Urbamba, in Italy since 2004)

Where the elderly are still independent, they may also become more active supporters of the migrants’ rights and encourage the regularization of the worker’s residence status as a process that enhances not only the legal security of the migrant but also the emotional security of the elderly who depends on the worker. A telling example is a series of demonstrations that were initiated by the association "Viva gli anziani" ("Long Live the Elderly") in several Italian cities between 2001 and 2002, in which thousands of elderly people, many of them accompanied by their migrant caregivers, demanded the government to enable the regularization of their migrant workers. This reveals that the elderly may be much more than passive care receivers and actively support the improvement of the migrants’ working conditions in their own interest. The headline of a newspaper article which reported on this event pinpoints this idea: “Gli anziani chiedono: ‘Non impedite agli immigrati di aiutarci a vivere.’”19 However, as my study suggests, the dependent elderly are also faced with practices of domination on the part of their children or other care managers who may decide to dismiss the migrant worker or send the elderly to a residential home, as in the case of Gloria’s mother. In addition, where migrants leave the job because of excessive workloads or rights violations, the elderly are also negatively affected. Hence, for both migrants and the elderly, the new relationship often involves new dependencies, which make them vulnerable to a sudden termination of the care relationship. To some extent, migrants may also search for higher levels of emotional distance from the elderly, as I outline in the next section. "It Was a Job, Nothing More:" Strategies of Professionalization Migrants who have no previous experience in the care of elderly people find it particularly hard to adjust to this type of work and to avoid problems that might arise from strategies of familiarization. Introduction into this employment sector is often described as a shocking experience, which requires learning a new job from scratch. In contrast, migrants who studied nursing in Peru, who had previous experience car19 “The elderly demand: ‘Don't impede immigrants from helping us to live’”; see: http:// www.euganeo.it/padova/pd-008.htm. In fact, the regularization process was approved shortly afterward in 2002. See also Sarti 2004.

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ing for elderly family members or patients in hospitals, or who worked as domestic servants, find it easier to adapt to this kind of work. By acquiring new experience as caregivers for the elderly or in-home nurses, migrants also manage their jobs differently and develop care strategies that help them control the work relationship and the extent of emotional involvement. Several Peruvians who entered this sector without previous experience therefore decided to take healthcare worker or nursing training courses ("Operatore Socio Sanitario", O.S.S. or "Ausiliario Socio-Assistenziale", A.S.A.) after some years of residence in Italy. These courses, in addition to facilitating their search for a job in both families and health care institutions, also improve migrants’ work relations and salary prospects. Migrants with professional qualifications often mention the need to contribute to the elder’s wellbeing without making themselves emotionally dependent. “Our mission is to help them, nurse them and help them recover, to regain at least a little bit of autonomy. But we should not confuse our emotions with them [...] and that was my problem. I got attached to the woman and saw her as a reference point.” (Veronica, student O.S.S., 34 years, from Urubamba, in Italy since 2008) “I have always managed to feel well in this kind of job—I have never gotten depressed. At times I do get attached to the person but I always know that they have to die.” (Luis, nurse, 29 years, from Lima, in Italy since 2007)

However, strategies of professionalization may also be used by migrants who have no specific qualifications in this or any other related field. Among some migrants interviewed, there was a tendency to draw a clearer boundary between their own family and intimate relationships and their work as caregivers for the elderly, which increased with the years of work experience as caregivers, but also with the decision to move out of the live-in mode of employment. Indeed, professionalization is easier for migrants who work on a live-out basis and, in particular, for those who care for different elderly persons, for instance by moving between several households and jobs paid on an hourly basis. For those employed as live-in caregivers, in contrast, this is more difficult, as the elderly person often becomes the only person with whom the caregivers co-reside and share their daily activities. At the same time, there are also gender differences in the care strategies of Peruvian migrants. My interviews showed that women are often more involved on a personal level and mobilize not only physical but also psychological energies, whereas male caregivers tend to have a more “professionalized” and less “familiarized” definition of this work (see also Catanzaro and Colombo 2009). Thus, men often maintain a higher degree of emotional distance. Asked about his relationship to the elderly, Gustavo’s brother Diego, for instance, says:

154 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS “It was a job, nothing more. At the beginning I wanted to give it a more emotional facet—he was like my grandfather. But I had to stop it at a certain point because they said to me, ‘you’re one of the family, you’re of the family, what would I do without you?.’” (Diego, 34 years, from Lima, in Italy since 2004)

Talking about their work as caregivers for the elderly, Peruvian men put less emphasis on the emotional components of this work and rather underlined either their professional competence (in the case of nurses) or their physical, technical, and/or moral capabilities that helped them perform the job. Luis, the Peruvian nurse cited before, puts much emphasis on his competence in offering both sanitarian and psychological support, not only to the elderly but also to their relatives. He distances himself from others, especially women, who “cry and get depressed” because of the illness and death of the elderly person. Others, in turn, mention their willingness to learn, patience and adaptability, or they draw connections to previous occupations, which helps them perform well in their jobs as home aides, even when they have not been trained in the field of caregiving. Leonardo, for instance, was working as a pastor in the United States and Peru before he migrated to Italy in 2009. For him, working as a caregiver for the elderly seems to be just another way of following his mission to transmit the Christian belief to his fellow human beings. While building an intimate relationship to the elderly care receivers, he also professionalizes this relationship by drawing parallels to previous experiences he had with children and elderly people while he was working as a pastor. Shown by these examples, strategies of professionalization can be understood as ways in which migrants integrate their work as caregivers for the elderly into their professional careers, thereby enhancing their status as caregivers. However, migrant men, to a higher extent than women, also express dissatisfaction about the lack of social recognition in their work, which contradicts their strategies of professionalization. This is clearly mentioned by Eduardo, a Peruvian man who studied nursing after arrival in Italy, and José, who had no prior experience in this sector: “To be honest, to say that I like caring for other people... certainly I don’t like it. But I do it by vocation, I do it with dedication, and I do it with respect. I think any kind of thing I could do this way. [...] But sometimes you’re tired after so many years, you don’t feel like listening to anyone, you don’t need to understand anyone, and you’re very tired, you feel frustrated, you feel disappointed [...] Because this type of work is very hard, I mean, the fact that you are a person who has to dedicate oneself to another, to their wellbeing, let’s call it this way, but then, on the other hand, there is no human recognition. That’s the worst thing of what is happening here, in most parts, I mean the fact that they say: ‘if you want it's that, otherwise you can leave. Certainly, you are worth nothing to them.’” (Eduardo, 38 years, from Huancayo, in Italy since 1992)

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“Any job you do, even the most humble one, is a job that dignifies you. I am not ashamed, but I did feel bad, I felt useless, I tell you, useless.” (José, 38 years, from Jauja, in Italy since 2008)

Such type of dissatisfaction is reported especially by those men who had never been involved in care or other forms of domestic work before emigration. It can be added that for migrant men, entering the domestic sector and subjecting themselves to a female employer also poses a threat to their sense of masculinity (Sarti/Scrinzi 2010). Strategies of professionalization, in the case of male caregivers, can thus be interpreted as practices of “masculinization” that help Peruvian migrant men to cope with their introduction into a feminized and devalued sector of employment (see also Scrinzi 2010). They are means of reproducing gender identities, which respond to, and reify, the continuous feminization and devaluation of care work as “unskilled” and “unprofessional” (Catanzaro/Colombo 2009; Scrinzi 2010). At the same time, the above-made statements raise the question of under what conditions professionalization may lead to higher levels of recognition and empowerment. Searching Empowerment through Professionalization Professionalization might involve an attitude of submission that accepts the hierarchies established by employers, while avoiding or reducing to the highest possible degree an emotional involvement in such relationships. In other cases, it may go along with the attempt of migrant workers to symbolically upgrade their status and construct a positive working identity in which they appear as self-determinant actors (Lutz 2007a). Often, this is based on a more pronounced awareness and insistence on their rights (as workers and citizens) who are openly defended in front of employers. The experience of working in the care sector thus involves a learning process that allows migrants to appraise their work and to face abusive working conditions by claiming for their rights (see also Santagati 2008a; Arriagada/Moreno 2011; Stefoni/Fernández 2011). This can be a form of empowerment, which is favored by several factors. In addition to an increase in work experience and knowledge about rights, Peruvian migrants in Italy may experience an improvement in their status and working conditions based on support by social networks, trade unions, or migrant organizations, as well as improvements in their residence and socio-economic status. Migrants with professional qualifications in elderly care or nursing may be able to negotiate better conditions and higher salaries, as already noted. However, acquiring this type of qualification in Italy also requires investing time and money into training courses, which cannot be used for other demands, such as those of family dependents left in country of origin or present in Italy. The search for empowerment through professionalization is also reflected by the decision of some migrants to change the type of jobs they are willing to do within the care sector or to change employment sectors (Appendix, Table 12). These work-

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ing trajectories indicate different social positions and possibilities of empowerment. Clearly, live-in jobs in the domestic sector are considered to entail the greatest limitations on independence, privacy, and self-care, and ultimately, on the migrants’ power to decide upon the use of their time beyond employment (see also Setién/Acosta 2011; Gil/Orozco 2011). They also go along with high levels of control and domination by the employer family, as mentioned by Maria, the migrant woman cited above, “When you work live-in for a family, you don’t have a private life. Life is not your own, it belongs to them.” Most Peruvians therefore prefer working as a live-out caregiver or working in another employment sector as soon as they have obtained a regular residence status and a certain degree of socioeconomic stability, allowing them to afford a bed, room, or apartment of their own. As noted before, migrants working under the live-out mode (or in a different sector) are more likely to professionalize their work relationships through a higher degree of independence and separation of their work and private life. Live-out employment in the care sector and hourly jobs in other sectors, however, do not necessarily go along with socioeconomic mobility. On the contrary, these forms of employment, including independent work, may lead to higher poverty levels, due to lower salaries, employment instability, and the need to cover additional costs of food, transport, and housing (Catanzaro/Colombo 2009).20 This is difficult to accept for women who are burdened with transnational care responsibilities and is one of the main reasons for which migrant women often opt against employment outside the care sector. Due to these factors, newly arriving migrants in irregular conditions of residence and/or employment, as well as migrant mothers and other women with intense care obligations, are least able to improve their working conditions by means of professionalization. These migrants are more likely to submit themselves to live-in jobs and the conditions posed by employers, in order to avoid the risk of losing their job and compromising the continuity of income and remittances (see also Dota 2009; Oso Casas 2010). In contrast, migrant men and women without children or parents in need of financial support are more willing to take such risks. This also applies to migrants with other family members in the receiving country who may contribute to the financial support of family members left behind. These migrants tend to be more flexible in their ability to move to live-out employment, other types of jobs in the 20 In Italian cities such as Milan and Rome, housing is limited and costly. More often than Italians, migrants are rejected as tenants or offered tumbledown apartments in sites or at conditions that are unfavorable (Caritas 2010). Most migrants therefore share their places with others. In the city of Milan, average housing costs have increased by 1.8% in 2011 as compared to the previous year. On average, the rent for a one-room flat costs 433 Euro/month, a two-room flat 514 Euro, a three-room 621 Euro and a four-room flat 729 Euro (Caritas 2012: 182).

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care sector such as cleaning or childcare, or other employment sectors. Several of the men interviewed for this study created their own businesses (Table 12), corresponding to their professional knowledge in fields such as informatics, graphic design, or engineering, allowing them to enjoy better working conditions, higher levels of independence, and the continuity of their professional career. Yet their empowerment is still restricted due to income reductions resulting from the more reduced demand in workers outside the care sector, which has further declined as a consequence of the recent economic crisis (Caritas 2010). Also for these migrants, unemployment and illegal work are frequent and may result in a loss of their residence status and social protection, unless they have a long-term residence status or Italian citizenship. In short, the migrants’ possibilities of empowerment are strongly intertwined with both their legal status and transnational care responsibilities.

5.4 C ONCLUSION The findings presented in this chapter reflect the responses of Italian employer families and Peruvian migrant caregivers for the elderly to the structural conditions posed by care, gender, and migration regimes in the Italian receiving context of migration. Simultaneously, they draw attention to a restructuring of the Italian care regime, which relies on families, particularly women, as the central agents of care provision. The recent changes outlined at the beginning of this chapter involve a transnationalization of care, based on the hiring of migrant home-based caregivers for the elderly, including an important proportion of Peruvian migrants. Their employment is actively encouraged by the policies and discourses of the Italian state as well as by social networks and a series of other agents, including job agencies and church organizations that connect migrants and employers in the receiving country. My findings related to the expectations and strategies of employers draw attention to the central importance of gender and intergenerational norms in shaping the employment of migrant care workers, in intersection with other markers of social difference such as nationality/ethnicity, age, and class. They reveal the feminization and devaluation of elderly care as processes that contribute to a reproduction of social inequalities between migrant care workers and Italian employers, but also within employer families. While Italian women are enabled to free themselves from the work of caring for the elderly, at least partly, and to save time for other paid or unpaid activities, they remain the principal agents responsible for care and its management. Italian men, in contrast, tend to assume this responsibility only where no woman is available to do so. Both female and male care managers, however, are in a position superior to that of the aged care receivers, who are mostly dependent and excluded from the processes of decision-making. In addition, the reproduction of

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social inequalities is reflected by the employers’ preferences in terms of nationality/ethnicity, class, gender, and age, and by the various strategies of care management presented in this chapter. These strategies openly or tacitly contribute to the naturalization of social inequalities between migrant care workers and their employers. Shown by my analysis of the organization and distribution of tasks among employers and Peruvian migrant workers, caring for the elderly is hard work, which is difficult to manage and organize, especially where care receivers are severely dependent. The difficulties experienced by many Peruvians in their jobs as homebased caregivers for the elderly are linked not only to the health condition and aggressiveness of the elderly but also to the working conditions, which involve frequent abuse and exploitation. The migrants’ strategies of coping with these difficulties are manifold. They shift between the poles of familiarization or professionalization and of submission or objection to the employers’ expectations, leading to a reproduction of or (partial) reversal of power asymmetries between workers and employers. As revealed in this context, both migrants and the elderly may actively influence the employment relationship, but also find themselves subjected to new dependencies and processes of domination. The migrants’ strategies also reflect differences within the group of migrants based on gender, level of work experience in the country, socio-economic and migration status, and transnational care responsibilities to family members left behind. While both Peruvian migrant women and men are employed as home-based caregivers for the elderly, the analysis offered in this chapter suggests that men tend to adopt different strategies in dealing with this work. Similar to female workers, they may suffer from emotional strains, exploitation, and the frequent lack of recognition by employers. However, in dealing with such difficulties, men’s strategies of professionalization often allow them to enhance their status as workers or keep a certain emotional distance to employers. Alternatively, they may also decide to move to a different employment sector. Both familiarization and professionalization may go along with a certain degree of empowerment. At the same time, the lack or limited duration of a regular residence status and socioeconomic stability, as well as elevated care responsibilities to family dependents left behind, especially in the case of migrant women, are factors that increase the migrants’ dependency on Italian employers and reduce their power to negotiate working conditions, switch jobs, or move out of the sector of homebased elderly care. These inequalities are associated with both the conditions posed by employers and the Italian state and the gendered care expectations raised by transnational family members. In the next chapter, I move to a more detailed analysis of the migrants’ transnational care relationships and of the ways in which these intersect with the migrants’ living conditions and working trajectories in Italy.

6. THE TRANSNATIONAL CARE PRACTICES OF PERUVIAN MIGRANT WOMEN AND MEN “En todas partes del mundo siempre encontrarás un peruano Con ganas de luchar, con deseos de triunfar Ohhhh, ohhhh Peruano tu que estas solo, muy lejos de tu familia Peruano lucha con mas fuerza para encontrar tu camino Tu camino… Tu destino… Sufre peruano, sufre peruano, si tu quieres progresar Sufre peruano, sufre peruano, si tu quieres triunfar”1 TONGO, SUFRE PERUANO SUFRE

6.1 I NTRODUCTION The song “Sufre Peruano Sufre” by Tongo, a recognized interpreter of Peruvian cumbia music, deals with the loneliness and suffering of Peruvians migrants who are far away from their families and homes. It captures two ideas that are central to understanding the ways Peruvian migrants and their family members cope with migration, family separation, and care. The first is related to ideals of progress, improvement, and success that sustain the process of migration. The second is about suffering as a value that is indispensable for achieving progress. In Tongo’s song, 1

In all parts of the world you will always find a Peruvian / Who wants to fight, who desires to succeed / Ohhhh, ohhhh / Peruvian, you who are alone, very far from your family / Peruvian, fight with more strength to find your path / Your path / Your destiny / Suffer Peruvian, suffer Peruvian, if you want to progress / Suffer Peruvian, suffer Peruvian, if you want to succeed (my translation). http://www.justsomelyrics.com/1887780/Tongo--Sufre-Peruano-Sufre-Lyrics.

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the lyrics say, “Sufriré y lucharé pero voy a triunfar” (“I will suffer and fight, but I will succeed”). This tension between moving ahead and suffering in the face of the distance (both physical and emotional) that separates transnational family members is common in the narratives of many migrants and non-migrants gathered for this study. While the previous chapter focused on the role of Peruvian migrants as paid workers, the analysis offered in this and the following chapters take a closer look at the care practices and relationships of Peruvians as transnational family members. At the same time that migrants are introduced into the work of home-based elderly care, they are also engaged in transnational and, at times, local care relations to their own parents, siblings and, in some cases, children. In looking at the transnational care practices of migrants, existing research mainly focuses on renegotiations of motherhood and parenting practices at a distance (e.g., Parreñas 2001a; 2008; Fresnoza-Flot 2008; Herrera 2010). In contrast, not much is known about the ways in which migrants care for their parents at a distance (Baldassar/Baldock/Wilding 2007; Baldassar 2007) or about the role and perspectives of other agents of transnational families, such as those who are care receivers or support transnational and local caregiving in the places of origin (but: Drotbohm 2011; 2013; Åkesson/ Drotbohm/Carling 2012) and by means of migration (for a similar critique, see Fresnoza-Flot 2008; Bonizzoni/Boccagni 2013). In considering both types of care practices, my analysis seeks to show that childcare and elderly care are often intimately intertwined, given that children and aging parents may be both caregivers and receivers in contexts of migration (see also Herrera 2012b). This chapter focuses on the transnational care strategies of Peruvian migrants in Milan, who struggle between multiple care obligations. It draws attention to a series of common elements as well as differences in the care practices of several groups of migrants, including mothers, fathers, and women and men without children. As demonstrated in Chapter 5, these groups are faced with different gender and generational expectations, which intersect with inequalities based on ethnicity/nationality, class, and citizenship and migration status. While the focus lies on the migrants’ practices of transnational care at a distance, I also include an analysis of new local care arrangements that emerge as a consequence of family migration and the formation of new migrant households in the receiving country. In this context, I draw attention to more recent migration flows of family members, such as siblings and aging parents, who support migrant mothers with the local care of children, either newly born or reunified. The central questions that will guide my argument in this chapter are the following: how do Peruvian migrants care for their transnational family members (left behind or in Italy) and how are gender and intergenerational care responsibilities renegotiated through these care practices? How does transnational caregiving affect the migrants’ autonomy and ability to influence the conditions under which care is

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provided and to meet their own care needs? And finally, in what ways are the migrants’ capacities to care for themselves and their family members shaped and challenged by the regulative practices of the state?

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Transnational caregiving involves different types of care, including practical, personal, “hands-on,” emotional, moral, and financial support (Finch/Mason 1993, in Baldassar 2007). Where care is provided at a distance, financial assistance is mostly exchanged through remittances and gifts, whereas practical, moral, emotional, and personal care is provided and/or organized through various forms of communication and interaction, commonly on the basis of regular phone calls, letters and, more recently, email, mobile phone text messages, and Skype calls with family members left behind (Baldassar 2007). Personal care requires the co-presence of caregivers and receivers, and therefore needs to be delegated to another person who remains in the country of origin. At the same time, visits and family migration are an important possibility for the provision of all types of care. However, while migrants with European citizenship status are in good positions to move freely, migrants from nonEuropean countries, such as Peru, are often impeded from visiting their families for many years. The latter, even when they have obtained a regular residence status, may hesitate to travel to Peru, due to the fear of losing their legal status, the impossibility of taking holidays (5.3.2), or because of geographical distance and the high cost of intercontinental travel (see also Ambrosini 2010b; Leifsen/Tymczuk 2012). Spending money on travel costs is difficult to reconcile with the aim of saving, sending, and investing money, which is one of the main driving factors of migration. These are reasons for which Peruvian migrants tend to avoid frequent visits and care for families at a distance, at least during the first years of emigration. As I outlined in Chapter 4, translocal family care, including the sending of remittances and gifts, has been common among internal migrants between the Andean highlands and the cities. Yet it is only with the migrants’ international and interregional cross-border movement that socioeconomic and power asymmetries between states and regions have come to shape decisions and practices related to migration and family care. Hence, the question needs to be asked: in what ways do inequalities based on work and migration status, which affect migrant workers in the new place, influence their transnational care practices and consequently the evolution of transnational family relations and care arrangements over time? And, what kinds of differences can be observed in transnational caregiving practices depending on the migrants’ gender and intergenerational roles within the family and the ways in

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which these are renegotiated upon migration? These are central questions that will be addressed in the following sections. 6.2.1 “No Surrender, no Retreat”: Peruvian Migrant Mothers In caring for distant family members, Peruvian migrant mothers respond to multiple pressures and expectations. To exemply these, I will draw on the case of Carina, introduced in Chapter 4, who emigrated to Milan in 2010, leaving her two children Jacky and Elias behind in the care of her mother Teresa in Chorrillos, Lima. Carina, who started to work as a caregiver for the elderly in Milan, is concerned about paying back her debt of US$11,000, which was needed to finance her illegal migration. Additionally, she remits about 300 euros per month to her mother, allowing her mother to send the children to a private school and to invest in the rebuilding of their apartment in Chorrillos. At times, she also sends money to her sister who has children herself and helps Jacky and Elias with their homework. Occasionally, she sends clothes and toys for the children. In her job as a caregiver, Carina earns 900 euros and keeps a minimal amount, less than 350 euros, for herself. While Carina often talks about her desire to return as soon as possible, Teresa wants her daughter to not only renovate her apartment but also set up her own business upon return and discourages her from coming back as long as she has not paid her debt and saved enough money. “‘Ayy Carina,’ I said, ‘no kidding you're coming back! You're already there, how much money have we spent! [...] If you want to come Carina first of all pay back your debt.’ That’s what I said to her [laughs] but raising my voice like that [...] ‘Then, save some money to finish the room of your son. You still have to complete your kitchen. [...] And then you also have to roof your part [of the house; A.S.]. [...] And after you have done all that, if you want to come, you have to save some money to open a business here. Because if you come with a small amount of money, you come and spend it on one thing, on another, and you spend more money than you earn. And with the minimum salary you draw [in Peru; A.S.] how are you going to make progress Carina? No! Come back but with a capital to open your business. If not, don’t come back.’” (Teresa, 59 years, Lima, daughter in Italy, son in U.S.)

Referring to the song by Tongo, cited in the opening paragraph of this chapter, Teresa says that she keeps telling her daughter that in order to make progress she has to be tough, move ahead in life and endure the difficulties and pain she faces when moving forward. Suffering is necessary and cannot be avoided in this process. “Carina, no surrender, no retreat! Stay there!” she keeps telling her daughter. Carina’s case highlights the strong pressures to which Peruvian migrants, and in particular migrant mothers, must respond upon migration. Based on notions of in-

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ter- and intra-generational reciprocity, they are expected to contribute to the wellbeing and development not only of their children but also of parents and, at times, siblings left behind (see also Tamagno 2003; Bruine et al. 2013). Thus, migration raises their workload due to the pressure to manage multiple caregiving roles at the same time. Responding to these expectations itself is often considered a prerequisite for migrants to visit their families in Peru. In other words, coming back is difficult unless migrants have earned enough money to pay not only their travel costs, but also the gifts and investments they are expected to make upon return. Teresa’s statement “if not, don’t come back,” and her long list of expectations show these pressures quite plainly. While confronted with these expectations, transnational migrant mothers face particular challenges in meeting the simultaneous demands of local and transnational caregiving. This is due to gender obligations, discussed in my analysis of emigration and the social organization of care work in Peru (4.3.2), which lead to the expectation that migrant women, and mothers in particular, should be involved in transnational caregiving to a higher extent than men. As noted in this context, women’s participation in the labor force has increased in recent decades, but this development has not reduced their workload as the principal providers of practical, personal, emotional, and moral care, which is expected to continue on a transnational level. Hence, Peruvian migrant mothers in Italy maintain frequent, often daily, communication via phone and Internet, especially to their children, but also to caregivers and other family members. Often, they also supervise their children’s daily activities at a distance and stay informed about their children’s school performance. This reveals the importance of reduced costs of phone calls2 and new information technologies, which, as argued by Lutz/Palenga-Möllenbeck (2012), have enabled the emergence of a new form of “Skype mothering.” In fact, with Peruvian migration to Italy, transnational motherhood practices have changed substantially over time. Peruvian migrants who emigrated in the 1990s note that in the past, the possibilities of communicating with distant children, parents, and other family members were much more restricted than nowadays. Due to the high costs of phone calls and lacking access to the Internet, migrant mothers limited themselves to calling once or twice per week at best, while other migrants called even less frequently. Today, in

2

In recent years, the proliferation of international calling cards has led to a substantial fall in the costs of phone calls from Italy to Peru. For instance, the calling card Más América, offered by the Italian company Wind, is frequently used by Peruvian migrants. For a cost of 5 euros, users talk 120 minutes when calling numbers in Lima and 100 minutes when calling to other places in Peru, either from Wind cell phones or landlines (http://www. schedeinternazionali.it).

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contrast, migrant mothers are able to talk at length, and as often as needed, about issues related to everyday life. In part, these new possibilities of communication alleviate the emotional costs of migration and may reduce the informational gap associated with prolonged periods of separation (Parella/Cavalcanti 2010). At the same time, they may increase the care expectations of family members left behind in front of those who have migrated as well as the migrants’ pressure to respond to such expectations by guaranteeing a continuing flow of economic and social remittances. New technologies thus imply an intensified simultaneity of caring tasks to be performed in the contexts of origin and destination. This is particularly true for migrant mothers who, in addition to responding to the financial expectations of their family members left in Peru, also maintain emotional bonds by means of cross-border communication and supervision. To examine these expectations, I will draw on the observations made in Chapter 4 with regard to the motivations for mothers’ migration. As noted in this context, Peruvian mothers interviewed for this research often migrate because of conditions of poverty associated with single motherhood as well as marital or partner-related problems in Peru. Peruvian law obliges both parents to maintain their children, even when they are not married, and mothers have the right to sue fathers who refuse to meet this obligation (Flora Tristán 2008).3 This right, however, encounters many obstacles in its application. Hence, mothers are often responsible for both the practical and financial care of their children. One of them is Elsa, who migrated from Huancayo to Milan in 2009. Prior to migration, she had already spent six years fighting for her ex-husband to contribute to the financial care of their daughter, Maya. From the time she was divorced, she had always cared for her daughter alone and never received his support. Elsa brought him to trial, but was not successful. Initially, she was in a good economic situation but then she got sick and had increasing difficulties in caring for her daughter. Wishing the best for her child, she had sent her to a private school, which cost her 270 Soles (around 74 euros) per month, a relatively high fee for people living in Huancayo. While her illness got worse, she kept working to provide for her daughter’s food and education. Migrating to Italy seemed to be the only solution to earn a higher income by working as a caregiver for the elderly. Her sisters Anabel (5.3.4) and Gabriela were already living in Milan and facilitated her migration. In addition, married migrant mothers of lower class backgrounds often note that their partners participate to a limited extent in the care of their children. Carina, for 3

On the basis of recent modifications of the Peruvian Civil Code, the public prosecutor’s office has clarified that the right to maintenance also includes extra-marital children, independently of whether they are legally recognized by their parents (in this case, however, it is limited to alimentation until the age of 18); see DePeru.com, 15 August 2011.

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instance, says that she cannot expect any substantial support from her husband who, in her words, “has always been egotistical” and does not care about the children’s education and wellbeing. While he pays their food and living costs, he keeps relying on Teresa to cook for them and wash their clothes during the week and sends them to his own mother on weekends. Talking about the desire for change, Carina mentions her expectation to improve the welfare of her family and children. She sees the possibilities of such a change in her own effort abroad, rather than in her partner, a perspective common among most of the migrant mothers interviewed. Despite her sadness about their separation, migration has allowed her to be a better financial provider to her children, able to meet not only their basic needs but also to improve their socioeconomic status. This seems to be an important confirmation of her role as a mother. Another case is Marleny (4.3.5), a single mother who migrated to Milan in 2010, leaving her 13-year old son behind in the home of her brother in Lamas, San Martín. Before migrating, she was divorced from her spouse and decided to move ahead alone. Her ex-partner had promised to contribute to the financial care of their son, but nothing happened: “So far, he hasn’t paid a Sol [Peruvian currency; A.S.] and in order not to get into trouble I don’t insist.” In Milan, Marleny immediately started working as a caregiver for the elderly. While she is sad about the separation from her son, she derives satisfaction from her ability to buy him anything he needs and wishes to be happy. “At the moment, my concern is my son and now the satisfaction to be able to buy him this and that, his clothes [...] and this is my satisfaction because it is my effort to be able to do this favor to my son, to buy these things. In contrast, before it was not like that, it was the help of my brothers and sisters.” (Marleny, 44 years, from Lamas, in Italy since 2010)

Similar to other migrant mothers, Marleny stresses her ability to “salir adelante” (move ahead) and “luchar” (fight) for the wellbeing of her child without the support of her partner. In the narratives of migrant mothers, such expressions are often used to underline a sense of responsibility, strength, pride, and autonomy, which contributes to the construction of women’s identity as mothers. This leads to a strong emphasis on paid work and breadwinning as the central reasons for women’s stay abroad. Feliciana (58 years old), a single mother from Huancayo, in Milan since 2001, signals that everything she does in Italy is justified by the need for earning and saving money, which also means renouncing anything that does not contribute to this aim: “We have to sacrifice ourselves in everything,” she says, and “if we have come here, we have come to work, we cannot waste any time.” In short, being a “good” mother in the context of transnational migration means being a good economic provider to one’s children—a perception that is even more accentuated in unions that are unstable or where fathers are absent as providers (see

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also Herrera 2012a for the case of Ecuadorean migrant mothers). This draws attention to the reproduction of gender inequalities, which is also reflected by expressions such as “por orgullo” (“because of pride”) or “para no meterme en problemas” (“in order to not to get into trouble”), used by some mothers to explain why they do not insist on men’s participation in transnational caregiving. At the same time, these practices contribute to the reproduction of inequalities based on social class and citizenship/migration status. As noted in Chapter 5, the transnational responsibility of many Peruvian mothers contributes to their stress in finding a stable job, saving money, and ensuring the continuity of remittances, and often makes them more dependent on Italian employers. Migrant mothers who rely on the financial and practical support of their partners in childcare represent only a minority within the group of migrant mothers interviewed. Nora, a woman of middle-class background from Lima, left a seven yearold daughter behind when she migrated to Milan in 2005. While she got divorced from her daughter’s father, the latter began contributing to the financial care of the child. This differentiates her situation from that of many other Peruvian migrant mothers interviewed in Milan. Overall, the majority of migrant mothers interviewed consider migration as a means of achieving higher levels of autonomy from their partners, independently of whether or not they are married. Being the main breadwinners for their children becomes a source of self-esteem, through which migrant mothers practice a newly acquired autonomy, by sending money and gifts to their children as well as other family members. The observations made so far point to the expansion of migrant mothers’ own definitions of care, showing that in addition to mothers’ attempts at maintaining relations of intimacy to children left behind, the new conceptualization of their caring role attaches particular importance to financial support and breadwinning, as suggested by other studies (Hondagneu-Sotelo 1997; Parreñas 2001a; 2005b; Isaksen/Devi/Hochschild 2008). This is due to the fact that geographical separation obliges mothers to “materialize” love through money and material gifts instead of physical presence (Isaksen/Devi/Hochschild 2008). Parreñas (2001a; 2005b) uses the term “commodified motherhood” to highlight the idea that the tie between mothers and children is in most cases expressed through material goods and financial aid. Here, I would like to add that while the transnational care practices of Peruvian migrant mothers are clearly focused on the care of children, these mothers are often also expected and feel obliged to care for their parents and, at times, grandparents, siblings, and other family members left behind, as in the case of Carina. These practices are also “commodified,” i.e., shaped by the flow of remittances and gifts rather than by physical closeness. In the context of long-distance motherhood, the sending of remittances and gifts also responds to gender ideologies and in particular to what Dreby (2006) has termed the “sacralization” of women’s maternal roles. Accordingly, motherhood

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ideals in Peru, as in other parts of Latin America, are closely connected to the cult of feminine superiority and the image of the self-sacrificing mother (Ødegaard 2010), which associate the role of women as mothers and wives in a maledominated society with the image of suffering and moral superiority.4 In this context, women’s identities have been closely tied to the roles they perform in the domestic sphere. Hence, in Peru (Naranjo 2009) and other Latin American countries, caring for children at a distance contradicts the idea of the physically present mother and therefore often means coping with stigma, guilt, and criticism of having left children in conditions of “abandonment” (Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001; Meñaca 2005; Wagner 2008; Herrera/Carrillo 2009; Menjívar 2012). These ideals are reproduced by the narratives and practices of Peruvian migrant mothers in Italy. During interviews, mothers cried frequently and expressed pain, guilt, and the desire to return soon or attempt reunification, similar to what Parreñas (2001a) observed when studying the narratives of Filipina migrant mothers. The repression of emotional strains and rationalization of distance, observed by this author, is another frequent strategy of Peruvian migrant mothers, who keep emphasizing their willingness to “luchar” (fight) and “seguir adelante” (move ahead) by working as hard as possible. This is noted by Veronica, who has left a thirteen yearold daughter in Urubamba: “You try to be strong, to fight and not to give much space to this sadness. [...] To avoid remembering, to keep this nostalgia from coming up I always have to be working and working to give no space to the idea that your family is far away or that your loved ones are far away and you are here, but you have an aim. And this aim motivates you to move ahead.” (Veronica, 34 years, from Urubamba, in Italy since 2008)

At the same time, transnational motherhood may be an accepted social practice, at least in the Andean context, as long as migrant mothers compensate their absence by means of regular communication, material care, occasional visits, and the adequate support of co-caregivers left behind (see also Tamagno 2008; Herrera/Carrillo 2009). However, the capacity of migrant mothers to maintain intimate care relationships with their children is largely dependent on structural factors, tied to migration and labor regimes. In the sector of elderly care, the absence of a legal and employ4

This reflects the ideals of machismo (male dominance) and its association with marianismo, referring to the submissive and sacrificial position of women in society (Stevens 1979; Melhuus 1996). They are shaped by gender norms put forward in Catholic doctrine, where patriarchy is based on the image of God as the authoritative father and the Virgin Mary as the self-sacrificing mother. According to Stevens (1979: 97) marianismo is “the cult of feminine superiority, which teaches that women are semi-divine, morally superior to and spiritually stronger than men.”

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ment status, employment instability, and extended periods of unemployment, as analyzed in Chapter 5, may put the health conditions and continuity of transnational caregiving at risk and lead to reductions or interruptions in the flow of remittances. In addition, transnational communication may become difficult, as employers get annoyed with migrants who talk on the phone too often. Besides, while visits may allow for a reaffirmation and continued recognition of the migrants’ presence in front of their distant family members, the frequency of visits is also shaped by migration status (Leifsen/Tymczuk 2012). Hence, prolonged periods of separation may increase the sense of personal alienation and visits become painful moments during which migrant mothers realize declining levels of intimacy and authority in front of children and other family members left behind. Nataly (5.3.4), in Italy since 2004, has one son in Italy and two children whom she left with her mother Hilda in Urubamba, Peru. Five and a half years after emigration, she obtained a stay permit and was finally able to visit the children, her parents, and siblings in Peru. Commenting on her first and only visit, she describes her difficulty in accepting her new status as a visiting outsider rather than member of the family she had left and supported from afar. She speaks haltingly and softly, leaving no doubt about her sadness about this experience of estrangement from her children and family members. Anna: “How did you feel after seeing your family again after such a long period of time?” Nataly: “Hmm... it was quite a shock... I felt like I was appearing as a visitor at home because, for instance, they already have their secrets, their little things. [...] [very softly] Sometimes they talked among themselves and I said, I looked at them surprised, what’s happening here? My children have already grown up too [sighs]... It was no longer the same as before when I gave them a bath, this confidence, they already had their privacy. [...] I was searching, searching for what I left behind and did not find it. You don’t find it.” (Nataly, 35 years, from Urubamba, in Italy since 2004)

As shown by Nataly’s statement, mothers preserve a nostalgic image of their loved ones that they expect to find again upon return. Visits are not conceptualized as such but as a return to “normality” (see also Lagomarsino 2010; Boccagni 2012). However, the structural conditions under which employment and migration take place make it difficult for migrants to comply with these expectations. The consequences include declining levels of intimacy between migrant mothers and children, as well as between mothers and parents, co-caregivers, and other family members who remain behind. Given that most migrant mothers care for both children and parents, I will add some remarks about the different meanings of these intergenerational practices. While interviews included a specific question on the migrants’ relationship and care practices toward their parents, it is striking that most migrant mothers did not go in-

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to detail on this aspect. As noted in Chapter 5, the relationships between Italian women and their aging parents are often ambiguous and conflicted. Similar observations can be made with regard to the transnational relations between Peruvian adult migrant children in Italy and their parents left behind (see also Tamagno 2003). In the case of migrant mothers, the care of children is clearly prioritized over the care of parents, siblings, and partners. First, covering the care needs of children by means of remittances is the priority, although mothers also send money for other purposes, including, for instance, the resources needed for their parents’ access to medicine and health care services or for improved housing conditions, which may be a benefit to both children and parents, given that the two often co-reside. Second, mothers maintain frequent communication with their children but not necessarily with their parents. This is particularly true of those mothers who had grown up separated from their parents or who are in conflict with them. In these cases, communication is less frequent and financial care or sporadic visits are mainly based on principles of intergenerational reciprocity. In contrast, migrant mothers who have a very close relationship to their mothers and fathers often delegate the main responsibility of childcare to them and maintain continuous communication. This also applies to Carina, who often talks to her mother on the phone, for reasons that include finding out how her children are doing. In other words, the care practices of migrant mothers toward aging parents are diverse, depending on their relationships prior to migration. However, independently from the quality of these relationships, the moral obligation to care for both children and parents is reproduced in the practices of most migrant mothers. A final question that needs to be addressed here is how the simultaneity of multiple transnational care obligations affects the ability of migrant mothers to care for themselves. Transnational caregiving and the conditions under which it is provided often require that migrant mothers ignore or repress their own care needs. While interviews did not include a specific question about the migrants’ state of health, about one third of the migrant mothers interviewed for this research mentioned that they were struggling with persisting physical and/or psychological health problems. In part, these are associated with their work as caregivers for the elderly and, in part, with the simultaneous experience of transnational caregiving, which often results in high levels of stress, pressure, and self-neglect (see also Bonizzoni 2013). This is reflected by the experience of Nora, the migrant mother who was cited before. Asked about how she feels being far away from her family, Nora mentions that she suffered a severe crisis and depression, which she totally ignored during the initial period of separation. She maintained constant communication with her daughter in Peru, but also realized that she was unable to take part in her daughter’s upbringing in the same way as before migration. Over time, Nora noticed increasing symptoms of exhaustion and illness, which caused her to get check-ups in several

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clinics. The only thing doctors could attribute her illness to was stress. Nora couldn’t believe it: “Stress? I’m not stressed,” but started seeking psychological support and confronting herself with her feelings of pain and nostalgia. An extreme case is that of Martha, a widowed mother of eight children, who migrated from Ayacucho to Italy and died at approximately age fifty, after fewer than ten years of employment as a caregiver for the elderly. Her aim was to gradually reunify all her children left in Peru, a project that was costly and therefore required hard work. In addition, she had started constructing a house for herself and her children. She was enthusiastic as the family had always lived in conditions of poverty and had never enjoyed living together in a house of their own. However, Martha neglected her health and nutrition while she was working as a caregiver for the elderly. I talked to her daughter Beatriz in Lima, and she commented on her mother’s death: “She neglected her health too much, she didn’t have enough to eat, she neglected herself. So my mother got sick. She died in Italy. [...] She suffered, cried a lot. I don’t know how she managed, but with the little she earned she kept calling the entire family, including me... she called us almost every day.” (Beatriz, 30 years, Lima, 7 brothers and sisters in Italy)

Similar to Martha, migrant mothers often continue to work despite severe health problems, or even in cases of advanced pregnancy, because they seek to respond to their children’s and families’ expectations but also struggle with limited rights as workers and residents in Italy (5.3.2). Nataly, for instance, got pregnant during the second year of her stay in Milan (5.3.4). In her case, the pressure to send money to her children in Peru caused her to keep working as a caregiver for the elderly until her eighth month of pregnancy. Drawing on this and other experiences, I would like to point to the entangled inequalities of gender, class, ethnicity/nationality, and migration status that shape the care practices of Peruvian transnational mothers and the ways these can be sustained over time. In this context, the condition of breadwinning is not only a source of self-esteem but may also involve drawbacks for the self care of migrant mothers, which are aggravated by unequal gender relationships and their intersections with exclusive migration and labor regimes. These are reflected by reductions in the quality of their life standard and wellbeing and their ability to accumulate the resources necessary for their own plans and undertakings, to finance activities of personal education and training and to save for illness and old age (see also Orozco/Paiewonsky/García 2008). Over time, however, migrant mothers may also renegotiate their care strategies in front of non-migrant family members. Some mothers use phone calls and, where possible, visits and reunifications to make children, parents, and other family members aware of their living and working conditions in Italy. Others reduce the fre-

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quency of communication and number of remittances over time to seek higher levels of independence and protect themselves against the pressure exerted by family members, as revealed by the statement of a migrant mother of four children from Lima: “To be honest, in the past I communicated continuously, but actually my job also stresses me and I don’t call anymore, because sometimes you call to your country and they always come with problems, I mean, they tell you about problems or ask you for money, you see what I mean? So it’s better not to call so that you’re left in peace (laughs). You see, it’s just enough.” (Ines, 44 years, from Lima, in Italy since 1999)

Dalila (40 years old), in Italy since 2001, kept sending money to her daughter, parents, and sisters in Peru and renounced many things, because she gave priority to her family obligations. Unlike her two migrant sisters, who emigrated afterward and have invested in the construction of several houses in Peru, Dalila has constructed just one building. The reason is that for many years, she limited herself to sending money to Peru without saving anything for herself. However, as she never received anything in return, “They have never given anything to me, not even a call,” she stopped sending money and has been more concerned about her own projects and wellbeing. Overall, Peruvian migrant mothers constantly renegotiate their care obligations and may also achieve higher levels of autonomy over time. As I argue in the last part of this chapter, family formation and reunification are further strategies by which migrant mothers react to long periods of family separation and care at a distance, which involve new forms of agency but also new constraints. While migrant fathers are also influenced by the structural constraints of migration and labor regimes, they tend to be less constrained by gender and intergenerational norms, as the next section will show. 6.2.2 “The One Who Calls More Often Is My Wife”: Peruvian Migrant Fathers In Peruvian migration to Italy, fathers do not tend to be the protagonists of migration and care at a distance. My research includes interviews with five migrant fathers. These men either followed their wives who had emigrated first or migrated as single men and became fathers in Italy. Out of these, two were still working as caregivers for the elderly, one was working as a cleaner, and two had formed their own businesses in Italy. To complement these cases, my following remarks also draw on statements of migrant and non-migrant family members and friends regard-

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ing the care practices of migrant fathers and compare these with the findings of other empirical studies. Researchers of transnational households in other Latin American countries have shown that the emigration of a father does not tend to involve a significant change in the organization of care practices and that fathers, and men in general, are less likely than women to be socially sanctioned for their physical absence from children, parents, and partners left behind (Dreby 2006; Herrera/Carrillo 2009). Given that the sexual division of labor places men outside the domestic sphere, their absence is usually not perceived as problematic for children who stay behind. Hence, fathers feel less pressured to “sacrifice” themselves for the sake of their families’ wellbeing. Parreñas (2008) notes that while fathering practices are not static, the Filipino transnational fathers in her study made far fewer adjustments to suit the needs of their children than Filipino mothers in similar situations and tended to perform a “heightened version of conventional fathering,” which corresponds to norms of breadwinning and male authoritarianism. Likewise, in comparing transnational parenting practices of Mexican fathers and mothers in the United States, Dreby (2006) observes that fathers’ relationships to children left behind are more directly aimed at fulfilling their role as economic providers and do not depend as much on their ability to demonstrate intimacy at a distance, as in the case of migrant mothers. The data on Peruvian migrant fathers obtained for my research contributes to these observations. These fathers show a high degree of concern about the financial care of their children, but little consistency in terms of transnational communication and the financial care of their broader family network. Marco, a thirty-eight yearold migrant father from Piura, left three children from three different unions in Peru when he emigrated to Italy. After migration, he fathered to two more children. Trained as a nurse, he earned up to 1,500 euros per month in his jobs as a homebased caregiver for the elderly, far more than most of the other migrants interviewed. Thus, he earned well enough to provide for all of his children. At the same time, Marco broke all ties with his own mother and siblings residing in Lima. Talking to his mother Felicitas, I noted sadness and disappointment about her son’s neglect. In the first months after his departure, she cared for one of the daughters he had left in Peru when he followed that daughter’s mother to Italy. During these months, his mother did receive a small amount of money, but it was far from sufficient to cover the costs of food and education. Afterward, one of her son’s partners who remained in Peru assumed responsibility for his daughter’s wellbeing. After that, Felicitas lost contact with her son. Talking about his children left behind, Marco highlighted the compliance with his financial duties as a father but also downplayed the emotional consequences of family separation. Anna: “Can you tell me how you feel being far from them [children; A.S.]?”

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Marco: “At the beginning it was a bit sad but over the years eh.. well I got over all that. Just as my family over there [lowering his voice; A.S.] in the same way. And I try to make them understand that... I mean that I am making an effort to work, especially in order to make them study, enter the university.” (Marco, 38 years, from Piura, in Italy since 2005)

Marco and the other migrant fathers interviewed for this research tended to focus on the financial care of their children (left behind or reunified/born in Italy), but did not maintain levels of transnational communication similar to migrant mothers interviewed. Furthermore, they did not mention any feelings of guilt about their physical separation from children and other family members and practiced a communicational style that was more concise and pragmatic (see also Dreby 2006; Abbatecola 2010). This reflects the continuity of the sexual division of labor, in which mothers are the ones who assume the practical, emotional, and moral dimensions of caregiving, on both local and transnational levels. At the same time, it also reflects the methodological challenges that I faced when interviewing migrant men, as outlined in Chapter 3 (3.5.2). In other words, migrant men did not feel comfortable talking about these issues in front of a woman and/or gave answers that corresponded to common norms of masculinity. While it would be too simplistic to assume that migrant fathers do not suffer with the distance from their children, their narratives tended to focus on the suffering and transnational care of mothers rather than their own. This is also shown in the case of Leonardo, the migrant caregiver for the elderly cited in the previous chapter. He is a father of four children left in Chimbote, and he followed his wife to Italy in 2009: Anna: “How do you feel being far from your family members in Peru?” Leonardo: “Yeah, you always miss them... I have my children over there in Peru. [...] So there are relationships, conversation, the one who calls more often is my wife... I’m-... I call sporadically. But the one who communicates more, who is more informed, is my wife. Almost the whole week she is talking, conversing with them.” (Leonardo, 60 years, from Chimbote, in Italy since 2009)

Shown by this case, the sexual division of care labor is maintained in contexts of transnational migration, as the provision of emotional support, at least by means of communication, continues to be seen as a responsibility of mothers. Compared to women, migrant men also tend to send smaller amounts as remittances, as revealed by several studies of transnational migrant parents from Latin America (Abrego 2009; ASPEM 2012, Bonizzoni 2012). This is, again, explained by gender norms, which expect mothers to sacrifice themselves for their families, while relieving fathers from the burden of such expectations (Abrego 2009). The case of Marco, for instance, shows that while he sends monthly remittances to one of his non-migrant partners and his children, he does not financially support his

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parents and siblings. Overall, the emotional but also material care provided by migrant fathers through phone calls, remittances, and gifts, seems to be reduced compared to the intense care strategies that are common for transnational mothers. Still, there are also signs that indicate the existence of new practices of transnational co-parenting, in which migrant fathers play a more active part as caregivers. Under certain conditions, fathers who are present in the place of destination may participate in the care of children in Italy and contribute to remittances sent to children left behind, even if these children are not their own. One of them is Nataly’s new partner Antonio, a 40 year-old migrant from Callao, who was still single when he arrived in Milan in 1995. Today, Antonio is married to Nataly and a father of two children, who were both born in Italy. While his elder son was born from a previous union with another Peruvian migrant woman, he feels responsible to provide for the material wellbeing and future of both of them. Additionally, Antonio also contributes to the financial care of Nataly’s two children in Urubamba. Thus, he compensates for the lack of care from their biological father in Peru, who neither supports them financially nor reacts when meeting them in the streets. Antonio, in contrast, has visited them twice while traveling to Peru and is taking bureaucratic steps in favor of their reunification. Besides, Antonio also participates in the practical care of his two sons in Italy. Antonio’s elder son is ten years old and was raised by Nataly and himself until the age of six; now he stays with them on weekends. The care of their younger, five year-old son is also shared by the couple. Antonio’s work as a cleaner and Nataly’s hourly job as a domestic worker are flexible enough to manage the care of their child without much support by others. When Nataly leaves for work early in the morning, Antonio takes care of the boy until he goes to kindergarten. In the afternoon, Nataly takes him to her workplace or leaves him with Antonio, who says, “We almost never leave the child alone, as parents, not even to unknown people.” In short, transnational fathering practices may involve changes in “traditional” gender roles and divisions of labor, as revealed by Antonio’s participation in the practical and financial care of his and his wife’s children. Such practices of “coparenting” (Pribilsky 2004) reveal that there is not just one way in which Peruvian migrant fathers practice the care of children at a distance and in contexts of reunification. Still, my ethnographic data suggests that in cases where fathers collaborate in the care of children, mothers (or other women) are still the ones who assume the main responsibility for both practical and emotional caregiving. Here, the following question arises: to what extent are fathering practices shaped by the structural conditions posed by labor and migration regimes, which affect not only mothers but fathers who migrate to Italy? As mentioned before, migrant fathers, similar to mothers, highlight their ability to be “good” economic providers to their children. Not all migrant fathers, however, are actually able to live up to this ideal. As mentioned in the previous chapters, the Italian labor market and

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migration regime tends to privilege the immigration, employment, and regularization of women, leading to higher rates of unemployment and irregularity among men (see also Lagomarsino 2006). As a consequence, migrant men might also become dependent on their wives and experience a loss in social status. Danilo (29 years old), from Lima, migrated to Milan in 2005, where he married an Ecuadorean woman. While the couple has no children so far, Danilo mentions his desire to be a “good” husband and father to his future children and to also send money to his parents and sister left in Peru. During his stay in Milan, however, he often struggled with financial problems and unemployment, which led to what he experienced as a failure of his role as a financial provider. Talking about a one-year period of unemployment, Danilo describes his reactions of depression and selfneglect: “We were married just two months when I lost my job. And I think this brought upon a very, very severe depression. Practically, I didn’t even take care of myself, I mean, I abandoned myself a bit, I ate anything, didn’t take care of myself personally, I let my hair grow. I practically didn’t care about anything, I started to gain weight, I ended up with a 105 kilos, I remember, because of so much stress.[...] Fortunately, Francisca [wife; A.S.] was working, but I felt bad, as a man I felt very bad, because I’m supposed to be the one who has to provide for the wellbeing of the family. I mean, being a married man, I had to take care of her and of myself.” (Danilo, 29 years, from Lima, in Italy since 2005)

Unlike Danilo, the Peruvian migrant fathers interviewed for this study were all employed with paid work, at least at the moment of interviewing, but they also mentioned concern about the uncertainty of employment in recent conditions of economic crisis. As in Danilo’s case, it can be assumed that joblessness is difficult to accept for migrant men who are married and/or have children, as it limits their ability to be “good” husbands or fathers when abroad. In addition, where migrant men have children in the place of residence, under conditions of joblessness, they may also be required to participate to a higher extent in childcare and domestic tasks. In the previous chapter, I showed that migrant men may experience their insertion into paid elderly care as a threat to their sense of masculinity, but also devise strategies of professionalization, which integrate this work into their professional careers and work against the feared loss in social status (5.3.4). Coping with caregiving tasks seems more difficult where men are required to be an unpaid caregivers rather than financial providers. One afternoon, while taking the underground in Milan, I found myself sitting next to a group of Ecuadorean migrant fathers with baby carriages, talking about problems of childcare and unemployment. In the voices of these men, I noted unease and dissatisfaction. Apparently, their participation in childcare was a response to reversed gender roles, in which fathers replaced their wives who had been intro-

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duced into paid labor. These conditions may involve a shift in partner relations and divisions of labor among migrant couples (Lagomarsino 2006; Bonizzoni 2009), but seem to indicate a temporal response to difficult economic conditions rather than a real transformation of gender norms. In fact, the experiences reported by migrant mothers interviewed suggest that such divisions of care labor are unlikely to be maintained when couples separate or fathers either return to Peru or re-enter the labor market. In addition to mentioning their fear of joblessness, Peruvian migrant fathers also noted frequent problems linked to the recent economic crisis. John and his wife Olga (54 and 46 years old) migrated to Milan in the late 1990s. Four years after emigration, they worked to reunify their four children left behind in Urubamba. John, who had worked as a merchant in Peru, started working in the sector of elderly care, but found that his salaries were insufficient in order to “surgir” (improve). Hence, he decided to set up his own family business, a pizzeria, in a small village outside the city of Milan, which is maintained in collaboration with his wife and children. John, however, is unsatisfied and keeps thinking about returning to Peru. Due to frequent joblessness during the first years of his stay in Italy and high investments in his business activities, he keeps struggling to pay back his debt. Initially, the business went well, but under the conditions of the economic crisis, the family’s income and living standard has deteriorated. This has also restricted John’s ability to financially care for his aging parents and other siblings who remain in Peru. As shown by this case, migrant fathers struggle not only with the inability to meet their role as financial providers, but also with the obstacles they face in the attempt to improve their family’s socioeconomic status and thereby comply with the expectation of “progress” and social mobility. All in all, my data suggests that transnational (and local) fathering practices continue to be centered on, and legitimated by, men’s role as financial providers. Transnational fathering practices are also shaped by labor and migration regimes, which may restrict the ability of fathers to meet their financial care obligations. Finally, I have shown that fathers are not free from pressures, stress, and emotional strains tied to their gender and intergenerational roles as well as the expectation of socioeconomic mobility that sustains the migration process. Childless migrant women and men, while less pressured to perform well as financial providers, also respond to gender and generational norms as well as socioeconomic expectations linked to their stay in Italy.

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6.2.3 Between Duties and Search for Autonomy: Peruvian Women Without Children Compared to Peruvian migrant parents, how do migrant women and men without children care for distant family members and in what ways do they renegotiate gender and intergenerational roles? Existing research, with its focus on transnational mothering and parenting, has not paid sufficient attention to the experiences of those migrants who have no partners and children, but still leave parents and siblings behind at the moment of emigration. As argued by Yeates (2009), broadening the scope of global care chains research means paying attention to different gender roles attributed to men and women and their implications in structuring the form and meanings of male and female caregiving throughout migration. Taking into account that care practices and responsibilities vary across the life course and generations, it is necessary to include the care practices of childless women and men into the analysis. As a number of studies have shown, these groups also project their lives as migrants in response to their roles as transnational family members On one hand, with regard to the case of Ecuadoran migration, Herrera (2005a) notes that there are generational differences and that young people of both sexes may also consider migration as a possibility of extending their personal horizons and not only as a mechanism of social and economic reproduction of their families. On the other hand, the few studies that address the experiences of childless women suggest that these are also burdened with expectations imposed on daughters by their families of origin (Pratt 2002; Aranda 2003; Lan 2003a). Consequently, these women may feel that their migration enters into direct conflict with home society values and ideologies of caregiving (e.g., being present to care for aging parents or having children as the accomplishment of gender for women). At the same time, Baldisserri’s (2005) research on Peruvian migrants in Florence shows that for single and childless migrant women, personal fulfillment often becomes as important, if not more so, as the responsibilities toward their families left behind. Erel (2009), in her work on Turkish migrant women in Britain and Germany, shows that single women may consider migration as an opportunity for trying out a different gendered lifestyle, which moves away from heterosexual marriage and maternal care as an ideal of femininity. In other words, while their decision to emigrate is still influenced by their family context, migration is often considered a step toward more autonomy and self-determination. Here, the following questions arise: under what conditions do single women distance themselves from family obligations and achieve higher levels of autonomy? Are single men completely free from such obligations? In the following, I explore the transnational care practices of several childless migrant women. In the subsequent section, I will turn to explore the practices of childless migrant men.

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Lizethe (34 years old) and Ester (45 years old), two Peruvian sisters from Chimbote, have worked as caregivers for the elderly for many years (5.3.4). In Milan, the two sisters share a comfortable and spacious apartment, which leaves no doubt that they are doing well, at least economically. On Lizethe’s desktop, there are several frames with photographs—one of her parents and one of Elisabetta, the elderly woman to whom she was attending for more than ten years and with whom she had developed a close relationship. Lizethe’s relationship to her own mother, in contrast, was much more ambiguous. Prior to migration, they were in conflict because her mother pressured her to start a university career, while Lizethe sought her financial independence. After emigration, their relationship improved because Ester insisted on staying in contact and invited their parents to Italy. Six years after emigration, her mother died and her father passed away few years afterward. Similar to Ester, Lizethe traveled to Peru because she knew about her mother’s illness, but found that her mother had already died. She was left with feelings of pain and guilt: “It was very hard for me to cope with my mother’s death, it took me more than a year.” At first glance, it seems as though Lizethe has compensated for much of this pain with her relationship to Elisabetta; however, she suffered a new separation when Elisabetta passed away, too. Unlike many other Peruvian migrants, Lizethe and her sister Ester were not expected to support their parents while they were still alive financially, because their father had his own income based on his pension and housing rental. Their three other siblings are all are living in Italy and have their own jobs and income. Consequently, the two sisters have always been able to take time to travel, meet with friends, and save money to invest in training courses for caregivers for the elderly, which have facilitated their job search and working conditions. Their emigration has involved not only a geographical movement from one place to another but also an upward social mobility. In the case of Lizethe, this goes along with a strong attachment to the new place, which is also reflected in her way of talking and living. Lizethe speaks Italian rather than Spanish, even to her own compatriots, and prefers not to meet her Peruvian friends too often. What she dislikes about most of her compatriots is not their Peruvian origin but the fact that most of them talk about nothing more than “trabajo” (work), mostly because they have to financially support their families in Italy or Peru. Lizethe, in contrast, is independent enough to think about her own interests and leisure time. Compared to the majority of Peruvian migrant women, Lizethe and Ester are in a privileged position. At the same time, their practices also respond to gender obligations, which define the practical and emotional care of aging parents as women’s responsibility. As daughters, they feel guilty when they are unavailable to accompany their parents during old age and they feel guilty because of their absence in critical moments such as illness and death of a parent. Thus, while not necessarily expected to financially care for their parents, they still felt obligated to care for

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them by means of transnational communication, inviting their parents to Italy, and visits to Peru. Unlike these sisters, the majority of other women (and men) without children do feel the need to provide financial support to their parents. Often, in fact, migration responds to the desire of adult children to improve their parents’ access to healthcare and a better living standard, or to help them out in moments of crisis (4.3.1; 4.3.2). This also applies to Anabel (37 years old) from Huancayo. She was the first of five siblings who emigrated to Italy in 1998, mainly to support her mother, who has always lived in poverty. Before emigrating, Anabel resided in her parents’ home. While sad about their separation, Anabel hopes to improve her parents’ socioeconomic status by means of migration. For this reason, she endured high levels of exploitation in her work as a caregiver for the elderly (5.3.4). Like many Peruvians who are reaching old age, her parents have no health insurance and do not receive a retirement pension. Initially, Anabel was the only emigrant member of the family. Over time, she facilitated the emigration of her siblings, who now contribute to supporting their parents financially. Anabel is glad about their support but also feels guilty about having initiated not only her own but also her siblings’ migration, which has left her mother with feelings of loneliness and abandonment. Talking about frequent talks with her mother, she says: “Sometimes she cries and says, ‘why have all gone away from me?’ Many times I feel bad, because I was the one who practically encouraged all of us to leave. So I sometimes even feel a bit guilty. Damn! I say to myself, I have sent for all my brothers and sisters and I’ve left my mother alone.” (Anabel, 37 years, from Huancayo, in Italy since 1998)

Anabel and their siblings call and visit their parents as often as possible, each of them in a different timeframe, so that their mother feels that they are still close to her and their father. Making their mother feel comfortable is a priority, at least for this migrant woman, who has always postponed her own plans for the sake of her mother’s wellbeing. For several years, she has been living together with her partner, a Peruvian migrant himself, with whom she plans to form a family. So far, however, she has been hesitant, because having a child is associated with economic and practical responsibilities and new challenges, as I outline subsequently, which would reduce her ability to financially care for her parents. In addition, she thinks about returning to Peru to assist her parents as they get old and frail. From the money earned in Italy, she constructed a building in Huancayo, which is rented out by her parents, providing them with additional income. Not all of Anabel’s siblings, however, are similarly attached and concerned about their distant parents. Her 38 year-old sister, Gabriela, had already left her parents’ home many years before she followed Anabel to Milan in 2006. While she sends money to her parents and visits them from time to time, she considers the per-

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sonal care of her parents as hard work, which she does not miss when she returns to Italy: “Last year, when I went there [to Peru; A.S.], I could not wait to come back here. I was already tired. [...] When I go there, I don’t let my mother do anything. I do everything for her, and so it’s harder.” (Gabriela, 38 years, from Huancayo, in Italy since 2006)

As revealed by these cases, the transnational care of parents varies to a higher extent than the transnational care of children, depending on the relationships migrants had to their parents prior to migration, the stage of the migration process, the extent to which the care of parents is shared with other siblings, and the class background of the parents left behind. While Anabel and Gabriela both care for their parents financially, they evaluate their separation from their parents in different ways. Anabel has been physically and emotionally closer to her parents and was also the one who initiated the process of migration. Probably for both reasons, she displays higher levels of sadness and guilt about having left her parents’ home, compared to Gabriela, who was already living on her own and followed Anabel’s invitation to Italy. In addition, the importance of class becomes clear when we compare the practices of Anabel and Gabriela with those of Ester and Lizethe. In the first case, financial provision is a central part of transnational caregiving. In Anabel’s case, migration is strongly influenced by the need to care for her parents in Peru, her mother in particular. These care practices, similar to those of migrant mothers, combine the maintenance of emotional ties based on frequent communication with an extension of financial and material provision, which could also be considered as a new form of “commodified” care provided primarily by transnational daughters. Hence, it becomes evident that the sense of reciprocity toward parents is dependent on the class background of the migrants’ parents (see also Tamagno 2003; Bruine et al. 2013) and also responds to the inadequacy of social services, by which families of lower class background are most affected (4.3.1; 4.3.2). This is also a motivation for Peruvian men to support their parents at a distance, as the next section will show. Finally, caregiving practices toward parents are also dependent on the extent to which migrant daughters (and sons) are supported by other siblings abroad. As in Anabel’s case, sending for siblings may also be a strategy by which daughters share the workload of financial provision, thereby reducing the financial pressures tied to their higher socioeconomic status as migrants who work abroad. Daughters of lower class backgrounds who are unable to rely on the financial contributions of other siblings, in turn, struggle with higher levels of pressure and stress, which are comparable to those faced by single mothers. This is well reflected by the case of Vanesa (35 years old) from Huancayo (4.3.1). Vanesa’s primary motivation for leaving the country was to help her father, who had developed a severe illness but had no access to medical care. Another reason was her desire to invest in the construction of

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a house for her parents. Driven by these aims, Vanesa took up numerous jobs in the sector of elderly care, but also suffered exploitation and health problems herself, which led to several periods of unemployment and complicated her goal of saving money for family investments. As a consequence, Vanesa struggles with discontent about the inability to meet what she considers her obligation as a daughter: “I supported them economically, because of my father’s health condition, and also my brother and sister, but not as much as I should have done. I’m not too satisfied in this regard because I think they have contributed more from their part to move ahead.” (Vanesa, 35 years, from Huancayo, in Italy since 2000)

As in the case of transnational mothers, caregiving practices may become unsustainable and have to be renegotiated over time, especially where they affect the migrants’ health conditions. Vanesa, for instance, says that she has become aware of the limits of transnational caregiving and the need to take care of herself and her health, which she had neglected for a long time: “I worked thinking only about my family. So, this has changed. Let’s say, now I think more about myself.” Childless migrant women, similar to migrant mothers, live in a state of tension between selfcare and the care of others, which often shifts during the course of the migration process as women seek higher levels of autonomy. Still, transnational daughters like Vanesa or Anabel continue to restrict their own projects, including the desire to form a family and have children, in order to financially support their parents left behind. Besides, similar to what Pratt (2002) observes for the case of Filipina migrant domestic workers, the responsibility of being a dutiful daughter (or mother) often increases the pressure to earn wages and send remittances to their families. While these practices may be a source of self-esteem and empowerment, they may also inhibit young women from raising their own educational and social status in the receiving country. Other single women, in contrast, consider migration as a means toward becoming more independent from their parents and the intergenerational hierarchies and pressures to which daughters are subjected. In some cases, they may improve their socioeconomic status, as in the case of Lizethe, who also emigrated in order to be independent from her parents. Here, it should be added that Lizethe emigrated in the late 1990s, when the possibilities of finding a well-paid job and obtaining a residence permit were better than in recent years. Young women who emigrated more recently, in contrast, have struggled with increasingly precarious working and legal conditions. This is well reflected by the case of Carmen, introduced in Chapter 4 (4.3.5). When Carmen followed her migrant sister to Milan in 2007, she hoped to leave an exhausting and monotonous life in Lima, Chorrillos, which was dominated by her parents’ pressure and control. While her parents expected her to follow a university

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career, they were unable to pay her university fees, which would have prevented Carmen from abandoning her studies after some years. At the same time, Carmen was also expected to work in her parents’ grocery store, which meant cleaning, cooking, and attending to clients on an unpaid basis. In Italy, Carmen is still without a legal stay permit and has not been able to improve her socioeconomic conditions. Still, she cannot imagine going back to Peru until she has saved enough money to be independent from her parents. In her words: “I have seen other women who miss their parents. I tell you the truth, God forgive me, but I do not miss my parents. I don’t miss them. And sometimes they tell me: ‘oh you're inhuman, why don’t you miss your parents? They gave life to you.’ It must be because I worked so much in my shop. I was stressed out every day, I had to work and work, but it’s a job for which you aren’t paid anything.” (Carmen, 29 years, from Lima, in Italy since 2007)

When I talked to Carmen’s parents in Peru, they were concerned about both Carmen and her brother Gustavo, who did not correspond to the ideals that persist in the heads of many parents I have interviewed in Peru: children, especially when they migrate, should move forward and improve in professional and socioeconomic terms, but also on a family level. Single migrants, both women and men, are expected to marry, form their own family, and have children sooner or later. Carmen knows that she does not live up to any of these ideals. While her second brother Diego and her sister Maribel have each legalized their residence status, formed a family, and moved forward in socioeconomic terms, Carmen struggles to move ahead between unemployment, occasional jobs, and legal instability. For these reasons, she has stopped calling her parents and does not financially support them, either. Hence, as Herrera (2007) notes in her research on Ecuadorean women who are domestic workers in Madrid, migration involves ambiguous processes of empowerment and domination. Due to their introduction into paid work, migrant daughters may experience a “process of individuation” (Herrera 2007: 287), which makes them feel more independent from their parents and more autonomous in making decisions regarding their economic, social, and also sexual life. This new autonomy, however, is also constrained by a decrease in social status and self-esteem, faced by these women in their jobs as caregivers for the elderly. As shown in Carmen’s case, illegality and unemployment also constrain the possibilities of women’s empowerment and the extent to which daughters maintain or break emotional bonds and financial ties with their distant parents. Here, the question of what ways migrant sons are involved in the care of parents and other family members left behind should be asked.

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6.2.4 “If I Wish, I Send... but if Not, I Don’t”: Peruvian Men Without Children Research into practices of transnational caregiving and global care chains has tended to exclude the perspectives not only of single migrant women but also of single men without children. Indeed, many studies of transnational families have focused on women’s experiences of forging family ties and caring for distant family members (for a similar critique see also Pribilsky 2004). In considering the transnational practices of Peruvian fathers, I already noted that migrant men are not generally absent as caregivers to their families, but tend to focus on financial provision as a particular aspect of caregiving, which reflects the continuity of gender and generational roles. In what ways is this different in the cases of transnational sons without children? First of all, the Peruvian migrant men without children interviewed for this study consider their migration to Italy primarily as a personal motivation, allowing them to develop themselves on a personal and professional level. In some cases, their migration was also triggered by immediate family needs, including those of aging parents who need financial support. Most of them, however, do not consider material care and communication at a distance as an obligation that poses limitations to their autonomy and personal plans to move ahead in Italy. Thus, when talking about their experiences as migrants, they tend to focus on their work and life in the new place rather than on transnational family ties, which most mention only when explicitly asked to talk about their transnational practices. Luis (29 years old) from Lima, San Juan de Lurigancho, was already used to living separately from his parents and siblings when he migrated to Italy in 2007. In Peru, Luis was working as a nurse in different parts of the country. Migration to Italy has allowed him to gain new work experience as a nurse and caregiver for the elderly, while also following his dream to live in Italy, the country of origin of his grandfather. Luis clearly differentiates his situation as a childless migrant from that of migrant parents, who are expected to send monthly remittances and therefore have to find a job urgently: “I was not worried when I came here [...] I don’t have anything in Peru that obliges me to— then, I am single. Others come here leaving children in Peru and they have to find a job more urgently. They are worried, because if they are jobless, they don’t have anything to send to their family. In contrast, I am not. If I wish, I send money to my brothers and sisters and my mother. But if not, I don’t.” (Luis, 29 years, from Lima, in Italy since 2007)

Unlike the majority of migrant parents, Luis considers transnational caregiving to be optional. Usually, he calls his parents and siblings two to three times per month,

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sends monthly remittances and from time to time a parcel with some gifts, but he also highlights the fact that nothing obliges him to do so. As in his job as a caregiver for the elderly (5.3.4), Luis has learned to control his emotions and also expects his family to act in this way. Talking to them on the phone, he does not like his mother or sister to be sentimental and transmits serenity to them, for instance by means of photos and video camera: “There are moments in which I do miss them. But emotionally I am stable. I don’t get depressed, I don’t cry because they are far away, for I know how things are. I always evaluate the situation. My mother called me crying during the first days: ‘How are you? Everything fine?’ ‘Yes, I’m fine, don’t worry and don’t cry because otherwise you make me feel concerned.’” (Luis, 29 years, from Lima, in Italy since 2007)

Similarly, Carmen’s brother Gustavo also differentiates his care obligations from those of Peruvian migrants who leave children behind. In addition, he stresses his personal projects linked to migration: Anna: “How do you feel being far away from your family in Peru?” Gustavo: “Look, if I had a wife and children maybe I could give you a better answer, because I would be worried thinking about them, I guess. But in my case it hasn’t been like that. I don’t have a wife who is waiting for me, I don’t have children that I’d miss. I do have my parents, my brothers and sisters who are still there. I think about them and, when I can, I send money to them so that they are able to support each other. [...] I do think about my family, I think about them. But it would be a lie to say that I miss them, that I want to go back to Peru, that I’m desperate to take the next return flight. [...] Rather, I’m still thinking about my goal to make my career here.” (Gustavo, 37 years, from Lima, in Italy since 2004)

In short, migrant men consider their transnational involvement as optional and thus not comparable to that of most migrant parents. In addition, unlike migrant mothers and daughters, migrant men are not expected to miss or feel guilty about their separation from family members left behind, as already observed with respect to migrant fathers. Similar to migrant women, these men are also confronted with family expectations and emotional strains that may result from separation, but seem to develop different ways of coping with such expectations. In my methodological reflections presented in Chapter 3, I already mentioned the “nondisclosure of emotions” (Schwalbe and Wolkomir 2001: 95) that I often encountered when interviewing Peruvian migrant men (3.5.2). In fact, not only in interviews but also in front of distant family members, keeping emotional distance through low levels of communication or a control of emotions seems to be a frequent way in which migrant men negotiate their stay abroad and protect themselves from family expectations and

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possible emotional strains. This was reflected in Luis’ statement and reveals parallels in the care strategies adopted by Peruvian men as caregivers for the elderly and as transnational family members. In both cases, men tend to avoid too much emotional involvement and may also repress negative feelings. Here, the case of Eduardo (38 years old) may serve as another example. After his emigration to Milan in 1992, ten years passed before he visited his parents and sister left behind in Huancayo. After migration, he always sent money to his parents, who do not receive a retirement pension. He also invested money in the construction of a house in Huancayo, allowing his parents to live on rental income. Talking about his current relationship to his parents and sister, Eduardo mentions first and foremost their personal alienation. He calls them very seldom and finds it hard to cope with expectations that go beyond the provision of material support. “Whether you like it or not, they always live projecting themselves onto what I do or not, I think from there they always expect something from me. They expect something, maybe a word, I mean, if they have to make decisions, they don’t ask me for permission, but they want to talk about it with me. My sister [...] is all the more loving, more affectionate with me, she tells me lots of things, I don’t know, ‘even when we don’t talk, remember us, we remember you’ and things like that. And these are things I can’t stand [...] I think that you’ve gone through so many things that you’re terribly afraid to have feelings again that could do harm to you.” (Eduardo, 38 years, from Huancayo, in Italy since 1992)

As suggested here, men, as brothers or sons, are also expected to maintain affectionate ties to siblings and parents left in Peru, but may prefer to ignore such expectations as a way of protecting themselves from emotional strains. This may be a reason for which they avoid frequent communication with their parents and siblings. At the same time, while childless migrant men do not feel obliged to call their families or to send remittances on a monthly basis, many of them embrace the ideal of being economic providers. As in the case of single women, this is also linked to the class background of their families and the question of whether parents in Peru have access to paid work and welfare entitlements. For some men, this motivation may be strong enough to postpone personal projects, including the wish to study or to form a family of their own. Ernesto (39 years old), who migrated to Italy in 1992, has always sent money to his mother and sister left behind in the Peruvian capital and invested in the construction of a house to improve their living conditions. As the only emigrant son, he treated them as if they were daughters whom he had to maintain financially, although this meant renouncing many other things. Similar to migrant women, Ernesto speaks of a “sacrifice” that he was making for the sake of his mother and sister, who were living in conditions of poverty. Being an economic provider has helped

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Ernesto to be hard working and disciplined and to justify his stay abroad, although for him this meant renouncing a family life: “We didn’t have anything. Because of the sacrifice of depriving myself of a family, now, we can say that we’ve got something. Through this sacrifice, even though it’s hard, we could achieve this aim.” (Ernesto, 39 years, from Lima and Cerro de Pasco, in Italy since 1992)

To conclude this section, I argue that the transnational care practices of Peruvian migrant men without children reflect the continuity of gender and intergenerational norms, based on men’s role as providers of financial rather than “hands-on” and emotional care. Their transnational involvement in financial care seems closely tied to the social class backgrounds of their parents, as in the case of migrant women, but also tends to be seen as optional. As a consequence, childless men are more autonomous than many women, and they get to decide how to care from a distance or whether to care at all.

6.3 R ENEGOTIATING C ARE IN THE L IGHT OF F AMILY M IGRATION AND N EW B ONDS OF I NTIMACY So far, my analysis has focused on the migrants’ transnational care practices at a distance. In this last part of the chapter, I examine the formation of migrant households in Milan and its implications for the organzation of transnational care. As mentioned in previous parts of this study, family migration and the formation of new intimate ties in the receiving country are common practices among Peruvian migrants in Italy. For the group of Peruvian migrants who arrived in Italy without children, I already mentioned the frequent tendency to postpone the formation of a family. These migrants mention several reasons for which they have not formed a family of their own, including their introduction into the elderly care sector, their transnational duties toward parents and siblings left behind, and difficulty in finding a reliable partner (e.g., cases of Anabel, Ernesto, Ester, Gabriela, and Vanesa). In addition, single men also point to the transitory character of their stay in Italy and their intention to go back to Peru as an impeding factor (cases of Ernesto and Eduardo). At the same time, this research found numerous cases of migrant mothers with newly born or reunified children in Italy and identified various types of family migration, linked to the formation of migrant households in the receiving country. These processes respond and contribute to a continuous renegotiation of child and aged care arrangements and reflect the fluid character of transnational family relations, because they change according to the stage of migration and the life cycle (see also Ryan 2011;

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Kofman 2012) and according to the policy frameworks posed by receiving states, which restrict the migrants’ possibilities of reconciling paid work and family life (Gorfinkiel 2008), but also encourage certain forms of family migration (Herrera 2008a; 2008b). To understand these dynamics, I draw on the experiences and practices of Peruvian migrant mothers with children in Italy and of migrating family members who support these women in their place of residence. 6.3.1 Becoming a Mother in Italy: New Households and Care Demands In 2006, Susana (28 years old) migrated to Milan, leaving her five year-old son Roberto, parents, and siblings behind in Urubamba. Her principal aim, at the moment of migration, was to financially support her mother who had fallen critically ill, but her mother died soon after her arrival in Italy. Susana suffered and felt guilty about her absence at the moment of her mother’s death as well as her separation from Roberto, but was unable to go back to Peru because of both her illegal status and socioeconomic problems in Italy. Several years afterward, Susana legalized her residence status and now hopes to reunify with Roberto in Italy. To initiate the process of reunification, however, she needs a stable job, income, and work contract. Since the birth of her daughter Anita in Italy, her job search and economic conditions have become more complicated: “If you have a child here, you cannot work as normal,” Susana says. From time to time, she finds employers who allow her to bring Anita to the workplace or help her out in emergency cases. Having a child in Italy requires her to take up illegal work, with the risk of losing her residence status. At the same time, she pays a monthly rent of 600 euros and another 400 euros per month for her daughter’s access to kindergarten. Occasionally, Susana has also worked as a paid babysitter, helping other migrant mothers reconcile their need for a paid job with their local care responsibilities. As a migrant mother in Italy, Susana faces similar problems as many Italian working mothers who struggle to reconcile paid work and childcare in the absence of state-funded childcare facilities. Unlike many Italian women, however, she has not only local but also transnational care responsibilities, has experienced a loss of solidarity networks after migration, has reduced possibilities for obtaining a stable job and income, and depends on a work contract to maintain her residence status. The available data shows that most Peruvian women above the age of fourteen residing in Italy have at least one child (63.5%). Among these, 48% have all of their children in Italy, while 38% have left all, and 15% some, of their children in Peru or another country (Blangiardo 2009). As noted in Chapter 3, my research data indicates very similar proportions with regard to the geographical distribution of the children of the migrant mothers interviewed. Migration and labor regimes play a

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central role in contributing to the formation of new families among Peruvian migrants in Italy. A frequent impression of Peruvian migrants and their family members is that the migrants’ work as home-based caregivers, in addition to separating them from their own home and family, contributes to feelings of solitude and isolation, which make them more vulnerable and disposed toward building new relationships of intimacy in the receiving country. Due to frequent conditions of illegality and high obstacles to family reunification, visiting children and other family members in Peru or taking them to Italy is often impossible during the first years of migrants’ stay in the new country. In this context, new intimate ties may contribute to a sense of emotional security and wellbeing that compensates, at least partly, for the co-presence and support of family members left behind. At the same time, new partnerships may reproduce conditions of vulnerability where they involve the (often unplanned) birth of new children in the receiving context, occurring under precarious living and working conditions, as in the case of Susana. Whether children are reunified or born in the new country, the care of these children also involves a series of new challenges for migrant Peruvian working mothers in Italy. As argued before, mothers continue to bear the main responsibility for childcare, not only in contexts of long-distance care but also under conditions of physical proximity. At the same time, most of them keep working in the sector of elderly care, which involves highly precarious employment conditions and high levels of instability, given that work relations may end with the sudden death of elderly care receivers or decisions by employers to send the elderly to retirement homes. This instability may also have the consequence that migrant mothers lose their residence status and re-enter a state of illegality. To facilitate the care of children in the new place, migrant mothers often opt for live-out arrangements. This, however, means that they have to accept earning lower salaries, which limit their capabilities to purchase care services on the market and financially care for dependents left behind. In fact, Italian employers are often reluctant to hire migrants with children because they fear that these migrants do not have the same availability and commitment as migrants without children (5.3.1). Still, under certain conditions, Italian employers may host the children and even partners of migrant caregivers for the elderly and provide types of support that equal the reciprocal care of family members (5.3.3). In addition, employers may actively promote the reunification process, for instance by supporting migrants in bureaucratic procedures and helping migrants to meet the legal requirements for reunification, or by housing children and eventually husbands or parents. However, taking children to employer households may also cause tensions and drawbacks, as the needs of migrants and employers may enter into conflict and competition (see also Bonizzoni 2009). Therefore, migrant mothers tend to prefer different arrangements and, in some cases, conceal their local care responsibilities in front of employers.

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Hence, migrant care workers often experience serious difficulties in reconciling paid work and care responsibilities, especially when they have formed new households and have children with them in the new place (Orozco/Paiewonsky/ García 2008; Gorfinkiel 2008). This is also due to the reduced availability of social services that respond to the care needs of transnational families in the receiving localities of migration (see also Piperno/Boccagni 2010). Most studies examine the implications of these difficulties by focusing on the experiences of migrant mothers and children in reunified families (e.g., Hernández-Albujar 2004; Lagomarsino 2006; Araujo 2009; Erminio 2010; Bonizzoni 2012; Bonizzoni/Leonini forthcoming). Here, I will not go into the perspectives of reunified children, which have received a great deal of attention in empirical research5 and, in part, will be discussed in my analysis of transnational households in Peru in Chapter 7. Rather, I focus on the experiences of migrant co-caregivers, who support mothers in the new place. These experiences have been marginalized in existing studies. Susana’s case reveals the difficulties of caregiving faced by a local and transnational mother who has no family members in Italy (apart from family members of her second ex-partner) and still finds herself in highly precarious economic conditions. Other migrant mothers who still rely on the support of their own mothers in Peru may also send children born in Italy to their parents’ home in Peru and reunify them once they have obtained more stable living and working conditions. Migrant mothers who have achieved a higher degree of stability, in contrast, may decide to cope with multiple care demands by bringing their mothers, additional children, sisters, and further family members left in Peru to the receiving country. Here, some further remarks need to be made with regard to the requirements for family reunification. In the Italian context, family reunification is tied to requirements of income and housing comfort and subjected to long bureaucratic proce5

In Italy, particular attention has been given to the formation of groups of Latino adolescents such as the “Latin Kings” in Genoa and Milan and other cities, which are known for spontaneous aggregations in public places, involving the consumption of drugs, fights between rival groups, and criminal forms of behavior (Palmas/Ambrosini 2007; Palmas 2010). These groups are also interpreted as responses to family reunification in a context of instability, which involves the uprooting of adolescent children as they are suddenly distanced from their social networks that surrounded them in the places of origin as well as relationship problems between mothers and children, which emerged during long periods of separation and the inability of working mothers to guarantee the continuity of childcare in the receiving country (e.g., Palmas/Torre 2004; Lagomarsino 2006; Bugli/Conte 2010). The reunified children interviewed for my study also mentioned problems related to their integration into the new households of migrant parent(s), living conditions in Italy, and the pressure exerted by such gangs. A detailed analysis of these difficulties, however, goes beyond the scope of my study.

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dures. As a result, access to the right of family reunification is highly uneven as it is granted only to those migrants who have already achieved a certain degree of welfare in the country (Bonizzoni/Kraler 2010). This is based on the utilitarian argument that the most profitable migrant for the receiving society is the one who is alone, healthy, and active on the labor market, who does not require social costs for education, health, and housing (Ambrosini 2010a). Besides, family reunification is restricted according to the age, family status, and care needs of the family member (Bonizzoni/Cibea 2009).6 Due to these restrictions, irregular reunification or common-law/de facto reunifications, i.e., those that occur outside the normative procedures, have become increasingly common and are very frequent in the case of Peruvian migrants (Tognetti Bordogna 2004; Erminio 2010). Transnational families are often unaware of the negative consequences of reunification practices that occur outside the norms, which involve serious difficulties for reunified family members to obtain access to services and citizenship rights. In the following, I look at two forms of (regular/de facto) reunifications: the migration of aging parents and of other (female) family members who get involved in the care of children in the new place. I start with an analysis of the migration of aging parents. 6.3.2 Migration of Aging Parents as a Care Strategy Clara, an aging woman in her late sixties, has eight children in Italy. Her first daughter emigrated in 1990 to take up work in the care sector and facilitated the subsequent migration of her other brothers and sisters. Upon her children’s initiative, Clara travelled to Italy from her home town, Cerro de Pasco in the Andean highlands, to visit her migrant children and grandchildren who are spread between Milan and Como. Several of her daughters are single mothers and need help with the care of their children. For this reason, they have limited time and financial resources to visit Clara very often. In addition, it is difficult for all brothers and sisters to make their visits coincide. As Isabel, one of her migrant daughters, said, “Instead of me paying 5,000 euros to go there, I would rather spend 2,000 euros for you to

6

Following the Law 125/2008, third-country nationals can reunify a spouse, but not an informal partner who is older than 18 and not legally separated; children under 18, even if they are the spouse’s children or born out of wedlock, unmarried or separated parents’ children, provided that the other parent, if existing, gives his/her consent; dependent children over 18, in case they cannot provide for their keep due to serious health conditions resulting in permanent inability to earn their living; dependent parents who have not adequate family support in the country of origin or provenance, i.e., parents who do not have other children in their country of origin or, if they are older than 65, whom the other children cannot support due to serious health reasons (Bonizzoni/Cibea 2009).

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come here and you see all of us.” Talking about her motivations for inviting her mother to Italy, Isabel told me that she also wanted her mother to see how her children are living and working. This is linked to the idea that aging parents and other family members left behind are often unable to measure the care provided from a distance, as they do not know under what conditions their children earn the money. “Sometimes they think that you are there, you have money, and it is easy to make money,” Isabel says, expressing a wide-spread perception of Peruvians in Italy. Clara, for her part, thought of migration as a way of being close to her children. Visiting them after many years of separation allowed her to alleviate worries and feelings of loneliness that had accompanied her since the departure of her children. In Peru, Clara lives alone, in separation from her husband. To cope with loneliness, she adopted Cintia, a child who accompanied her in the absence of her biological children. She developed a new intimate relationship with the now six-year old girl, which was disrupted by her migration. While Clara cared for her grandchildren in Italy, she always missed her adopted child as well as her home and her work as a peasant woman who was used to living in a huge house in the countryside. She did not speak Italian and was reluctant to spend most of her time in one of her children’s apartments, where she was left alone when her children were at work and her grandchildren left for school or kindergarten. As a result, Clara returned to Peru after a couple of months in Italy. Responding to the care needs of his daughters as single mothers, Clara’s ex-husband Enrique travelled to Italy, too, with the aim of staying for two years. However, he did not last for more than three months, either. Like Clara, he missed his life as a farmer and did not get used to being “locked in.” Isabel saw that he was suffering and decided to send him home. Back in Peru, however, Clara and Enrique are still torn between multiple places. While they wish to be part of new care arrangements for distant children, they show resistance against mobility, which they experience as a form of rupturing and uprooting. In this case, the mobility of aging parents indicates an advanced stage of family migration, which is linked to the presence of several children and often grandchildren in the new place. In the initial stage, migrant mothers give priority to reunifying their own children left in Peru, but often lack additional resources necessary for the reunification of other family members. The presence of several brothers and sisters in the new place increases the possibilities of meeting the formal requirements of their parents’ reunification and the motivation of their parents to opt for migration. Besides, the temporary or long-term migration of aging parents, especially mothers, is often tied to their role as transnational caregivers who adapt to the care needs of migrant households in the receiving country. As shown by recent research that considers the migration of old people, “flying grandmothers” (Reynolds/ Zontini 2006), “migrating grannies” (King/Vullnetari 2006: 803), or “abuelas golondrinas” (“migrating grandmothers”, Anderson 2012) play a central role in

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providing practical childcare assistance and emotional support, as in the case of Clara and Enrique (see also Escrivá/Skinner 2008; Gorfinkiel/Escrivá 2012; Deneva 2012). The provision of care by aging parents is also gendered: grandmothers are preferred and more likely to become caregivers for grandchildren, not only in the place of origin but also in the new place (Escrivá/Skinner 2008). As in the case of Enrique, grandfathers may also participate in caring for grandchildren, although this research finds only few cases of this kind. It is probably the absence of available caregivers, social networks, and services in Italy that explain the participation of grandfathers in local childcare arrangements. In addition, the migration of aging parents enables these parents to be receivers of “hands-on” practical, emotional, and health care within migrant households through access to the welfare system. Unlike in Peru, where many aging parents are not covered by an adequate health and pension scheme, migration to countries like Italy or Spain may allow aging parents to get access to a number of welfare entitlements (see also Gorfinkiel/Escrivá 2012). In Italy, migrants with a valid permit of stay and all family members under their care who are living in the country legally have the same rights as Italian citizens to medical assistance assured by the National Health Service (Servizio Sanitario Nazionale).7 This is another incentive for migrants to facilitate the migration of parents who are in need of medical treatment. Furthermore, aging parents, after some years in Italy, may also get access to the Italian pension scheme.8 For this reason, Clara’s children seek to convince their mother to migrate again and stay with them in Italy for a longer period of time. In other words, the Italian welfare system not only puts constrains on local caregiving, it offers new benefits to migrants who may save the money they send for their parents’ access to medicines and healthcare in Peru and instead bring them to Italy. 7

Once enrolled with the National Health Service, they obtain a Medical Card (Tessera Sanitaria) allowing free visits to family doctors and access to free of charge surgeries and hospitalization. http://www.stranieriinitalia.it/guida_alla_salute_in_otto_lingue- (16.09. 2012).

8

According to Law no. 133/08, art. 20, Italian citizens who have reached the age of at least 65, who effectively reside in Italy and whose income is below the minimum wage have the right to receive a minimum pension (assegno sociale). The amount is reestablished every year and constitutes about 500 euros per month. Beneficiaries of this type of pension may also be immigrants from outside the European Union who are in possession of a long-term EC residence permit and their reunified family members (INPS; http://www. inps.it). In practice, this law has been an incentive for these migrants to reunify elderly parents or family members of this age group, providing them access to a minimum pension (L'Espresso, “Pensioni gratis agli stranieri, è boom”, 21.05.2008). Therefore, since the beginning of 2009, it has been stipulated that this pension is granted only to those who have resided in Italy for at least ten years.

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This alleviates the financial constraints migrants face in the new country, particularly those that are due to high costs of housing that increase with the presence of children. At the same time, the experience of Clara and Enrique shows that the migration of aging parents is highly ambiguous. This is linked to the ruptures and new dependencies aging parents experience and to the care responsibilities they may have to leave behind upon migration. Clara’s experience draws attention to the strength of new intimate bonds that may be established not only by migrants but also by family members left behind, who seek the company and emotional and practical support of children left behind or newly adopted.9 Migrating to Italy, however, requires aging parents to leave such care relationships behind. From the perspective of states, migrants cannot determine for themselves the persons who constitute their family (Kofman 2004; Bonizzoni/Kraler 2010). This contradicts the desired permeability of care and family practices, as they are subjected to new constraints posed by migration regimes (Drotbohm 2013). For instance, if Clara migrated for a longer period of time, she would have to leave Cintia in Peru, given that the reunification of adoptive children is not facilitated by policies of reunification. This means that she is torn between different care relations and responsibilities—toward Cintia in Peru and her children in Italy. Reconciling them under the present migration regime is hardly possible. Similar tensions might emerge for those who have children and grandchildren in both countries, or in multiple locations, as shown by Deneva’s (2012) study of transnational aging caregivers from Bulgaria in Spain. Their migration may leave new care gaps in their places of origin and reproduce the problems that may emerge with emigration and the delegation of care work to others. This causes conflict because aging caregivers have to decide whom to give priority. Under these conditions, some parents move back and forth continually. The presence of grandchildren in Italy and the access to personal and medical care are not the only reasons for this constant circular movement. Another reason is that parents left behind often suffer from being alone and feel the need to bridge physical distance through temporary visits to Italy. Seeing how children live and work and being close to them has a tranquilizing effect, especially on mothers left in Peru. Maria, a single migrant woman from Lima, Independencia (5.3.4), invited her mother Sonia several times to join her siblings and her in Italy. Six of Sonia’s eight children were spread between Milan and Bologna, where they had formed families and had children. After many years of separation, Sonia felt relieved to see with her 9

The adoption of a new child by Clara can be understood as a continuity of child circulation as an important kinship practice in the Andes, outlined in the following chapter (Leinaweaver 2008a, 2010b). In Chapter 7, the care strategies of mothers left behind will be further examined.

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own eyes how her children were living. She made use of her stay by going to the doctor. Proudly, she told me how she got used to taking trains and buses on her own. Still, Sonia had not gotten used to living in Italy. Her children worked during the entire week and her grandchildren in Italy, she said, were somewhat cold and distant compared to those she used to take care of in Peru. She did not speak Italian and spent most of her time in one of her children’s cramped apartments. In Peru, Sonia had participated in church and social activities with friends and neighbors. Sooner or later, she missed her home and familiar surroundings. For her, Italy was nice to visit but not a place to settle down. Upon her return to Lima, however, Sonia kept asking herself why she could not get used to living in Italy. “At times I say to myself why don’t I get used to it? ... If my daughters are there, I must get used to living and staying where they are. But... it might be my age, all that, but I know that they are doing well.” (Sonia, 67 years, Lima, 6 children in Italy)

Similar to Sonia, other elderly migrant parents suffer between the pain of being far away from their migrant children (and grandchildren) and the inability to migrate or get accustomed to life in a new place. Compared to the younger generations, aged people are less open toward permanent changes of their life conditions. They are reluctant to leave their familiar surroundings and stay away from their homes for extended periods of time. Parents from rural areas in particular often mention the need to take care of their land and animals as a reason not to travel to distant places. Migration obliges them to renounce to their familiar surroundings and relationships built in their places of origin (see also Lunt 2009; Gorfinkiel/Escrivá 2012). In addition, mobility often requires aged people to abdicate from paid work into which they are engaged before migration. Many Peruvians work as long as their physical strength allows them to be active. While migrant children prefer their parents to rest, their parents often keep working as farmers, merchants, or street vendors in spite of their advanced age and low salaries, even when they could easily survive on the remittances sent by their children. This allows them to feel independent and to cope with their children’s absence. Independent work is central for their wellbeing and it serves as a resistance against the process of aging. Working outside the home, however, is not possible for most parents who migrate to Italy, although there are also situations where the elderly Italians are attended by elderly migrants. As shown in research on Peruvian migration to Spain, aging parents may also contribute to the family’s income through their introduction into domestic work (Escrivá/Skinner 2008). However, this seems to be less frequent in Italy, where aging parents struggle with the difficulty of learning a new language and building new social relationships outside the family context. Aging parents who have never limited themselves to working in the home experience this change as a form of uprooting and dependence. In this context, better material conditions and

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healthcare facilities are not always sufficient reasons for them to adapt to permanent life abroad. Hence, elderly parents often suffer between the pain and loneliness of being far away from their migrant children and grandchildren and the inability to migrate or get accustomed to the migrant condition. In negotiating visits and periods of stay in the new place, aging parents attempt to adjust to the needs of the younger generations. Their work as caregivers for children left behind and/or reunified, while allowing children to move forward in the new country, also reproduces relationships of dependency (see also Deneva 2012). This is reflected in the ruptures and uprooting faced by aging parents due to migration. These experiences reflect a new state of flux and instability for transnational aging caregivers who face tensions in their attempt to care for children, grandchildren, and other dependents spread across national borders. 6.3.3 New Labor Migrants Between Unpaid Childcare and Search for Employment Given the reluctance of aging parents to stay in the receiving country, the most common practice of caring for the aging between Peru and Italy is still based on long-distance care toward elders left behind, even in advanced stages of family migration. This has implications for the new childcare arrangements that were examined before. While grandparents are preferred as caregivers to the migrants’ children in both the origin and destination, the difficulties and tensions that shape the migration of aging parents often turn into obstacles that do not allow migrants to count on them as permanent caregivers in the receiving country. Under these conditions, childcare networks in the destination country require the mobilization of a highly variable and dispersed set of actors, of which grandparents may or may not become part. Research on transnational care arrangements in contexts of family reunification draws attention to the sharing of childcare with mothers, sisters, aunts, or friends as a strategy by which migrant mothers balance family-work commitments (Escrivá/ Skinner 2008; Bonizzoni 2009). Migrant women may support each other voluntarily, on the basis of intragenerational reciprocity. For instance, Isabel and one of her sisters who both have children share the work of childcare by rotating according to their work hours. In this arrangement, one sister cares for the children during the week and the other on weekends, giving rise to a care arrangement that is only possible when work hours don’t overlap. In most cases like these, however, both migrant women want to work during the entire week because their migration is aimed at earning and saving money for the care of family dependents and, at times, also for personal aims. As shown by Escrivá/Skinner (2008), female migrant domestic workers may also employ another women of a lower socioeconomic status, and of-

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ten a different ethnic background, to take over their domestic responsibilities, thus repeating the pattern set by their employers. My research data indicates that migration status, even more than ethnicity and social class, is a central marker of difference shaping local childcare arrangements in the new place. Again, Carmen’s experience may serve as a telling example. Carmen’s migration to Italy was initiated by her elder sister Maribel, who enabled Carmen’s entry through the annual quota system (4.3.5). Since her migration in the early 1990s, Maribel has inserted herself into Italian society and has held a stable job in a transport company. Her marriage to an Italian citizen allowed her to obtain Italian citizenship. Carmen, upon arrival in Italy, was expected to care for Maribel’s children to repay her sister’s help with facilitating migration and providing a place to stay. This unpaid work, however, restricted Carmen’s possibilities for finding a stable job in Milan. After five years in Italy, Carmen moved out of her sister’s place. She lost her legal migration status because she could not find employers willing to provide her with a work contract. Maribel offered to help Carmen obtain a stay permit by applying for family reunification, but expected Carmen to care for her children again. More than half a year passed before Carmen noticed that she was providing free childcare for nothing. In addition to expecting support with childcare, Maribel also asked Carmen to pay all extra expenses incurred as a result of Carmen staying in Maribel’s home. Talking about her discussions with Maribel, Carmen leaves no doubt about her disappointment and feeling of being exploited by her elder sister. “She says, ‘because life is hard, no one receives everything on a silver platter [...] we have all suffered, so you have to suffer, too.’ My sister noted down every single thing, every euro she gave me, everything and said, ‘you have to pay this and this and this.’ That’s materialism! And I saw that she was making her money. [...] Once she told me, ‘You have come here only to be a domestic worker, only a domestic worker.’ [...] My sister was supposed to make the procedure of family reunification for me in January, but then she had the great idea to have me take care of my nephew. She said to me, ‘take care of him and I will help you with the document.’ ‘Okay,’ I said, ‘all right, I’ll help you.’ But several months have passed already and she hasn’t lifted a finger, nothing.” (Carmen, 29 years, from Lima, in Italy since 2007)

Differences based on citizenship and migrant status within the family are tied to the fact that the migration of family members occurs at different moments of time and through different legal procedures (4.3.5). As shown by Carmen’s case, restrictions to legal migration and employment lead to new forms of dependency within transnational families, which are exacerbated by care and gender regimes. Established migrants like Maribel, who have formed new households in the receiving country, may have acquired socioeconomic stability and Italian citizenship but struggle with the same difficulties as many Italian women to reconcile paid work and family care.

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Their jobs may be of higher social recognition than care work but still not retributive enough to make up for costly childcare services. In this context, the unpaid care work of family members with an illegal migration status may become a flexible resource that is adapted to the needs of the migrant who already has an advantage over the other. These practices are deeply gendered. While Maribel has also facilitated the migration of her two brothers Diego and Gustavo, neither of them has provided any type of care work for her in return. Unlike aging parents, however, women of the same generation migrate to seek employment as paid caregivers on the Italian labor market. This aim is compromised by the unpaid care work they provide to other migrant women. Why then do they accept this additional workload? Carmen’s experience shows the central importance of illegality. She expects her sister’s help with legalization and therefore responds to her sister’s demands, at least temporarily. The influence of migration status on these care arrangements also becomes clear through a closer look at the case of Carina. Upon her arrival in Milan in 2010, Carina was hosted in the household of her two female cousins already living in Italy, who had helped her to enter the country. They offered her free housing, which would allow her to save money while searching a job in the new place. What Carina did not know was that they expected her to support them with childcare and domestic work. As a newly arrived migrant in illegal conditions, she could not afford the high housing costs, did not have other contacts in the country, and hoped her cousins would guide her search for a job. She also felt obliged to support them in response to their help with migration. For these reasons, Carina decided to stay at their place. She would get up early to bring her cousin’s children to school, take them home, cook for them, and do the housework. Her cousins, however, kept raising new expectations. Meanwhile, Carina also started working as a caregiver for the elderly. She had to reconcile her new job with the work of childcare, while simultaneously worrying about paying back the debt caused by her illegal migration and sending money to her mother and children left in Peru. Given these multiple demands, Carina did not want to spend extra money on housing, but her situation became increasingly unsustainable. After one year, she moved out of her cousins’ place and now rents her own room. In her words: “I have already helped them a lot and they have wanted to take advantage of me. I’ve seen that they don’t respect me. And why should I help them so much? No, it’s enough! That’s why I decided to leave this place.” (Carina, 33 years, from Lima, in Italy since 2010)

Carina’s cousins, however, know that she is free on evenings and weekends and keep calling to ask for help. To escape their constant demands, Carina hopes to find a job as a live-in caregiver for the elderly. In Chapter 5, I examined the power relations into which migrants become inserted as caregivers for the elderly in Italian

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private homes, especially in live-in situations. Still, newly arrived migrants may prefer this employment condition to the introduction into households of other migrants, where they are expected to provide care work for free, which adds to paid care work and the transnational care of dependents left behind. These simultaneous care responsibilities also affect the migrants’ physical and emotional health and thus, sooner or later, become unsustainable. Both Carmen and Carina note frequent tiredness and health impairment linked to excessive workloads as paid and unpaid care workers. The cases presented in this section show how strategies of reconciliation adopted by employer households are reproduced in the families of the migrant care workers. As in the case of Italian employers, migrant mothers who delegate the care of family dependents save time to enter and stay in the labor market. Migrants like Carina and Carmen, to whom this work is delegated, in contrast, lack the time and income necessary to achieve a certain degree of stability through better-paid work and a legal work contract. Notably, it is mostly younger sisters and cousins who follow elder ones already present in Italy, or aging parents who follow their adult migrant children, who find themselves in these situations. Thus, age differences play an important role in the new division of care labor. My data suggests that these inequalities contribute to growing conflicts between migrant family members, and these conflicts also arise in cases that do not involve the care of children.10 At the same time, it is important to recognize the agency of those migrants who support migrant mothers on an unpaid basis. In the corresponding literature, there is criticism about the tendency to victimize the migrants’ families and in particular those who are in more vulnerable conditions (2.2.1; Zimmerman/Litt/Bose 2006). The cases provided in this section allow me to contribute to this debate by reflecting on the agency of both migrant mothers and co-caregivers. On one hand, the cases show how the advancement of some migrants as paid workers and mothers in local childcare arrangements is built upon the informal work of a more recent generation of migrant workers who flexibly adapt to the needs of the more established migrants, at least temporarily. On the other hand, the newer immigrants have several reasons to adapt to the more established migrants’ needs, but also to break with conditions of subordination where they become unsustainable and interfere with their own care needs. The reasons for which they accept their work as transnational caregivers are not only tied to illegality, difficulties of adaptation, and difficult so10 Peruvian migrants frequently referred to new intrafamilial conflicts, egoism, and rivalry among migrant siblings, as reflected by statements such as, “The family is growing apart/gets lost” (Dalila, Liz) or “Here, there is much envy between siblings.” (Anabel). This seems to be a product of new inequalities examined here, along with the adoption of new customs and ideas in the receiving country, as well as the pressures and restrictions posed by migration regimes, which affect migrants in a different way.

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cioeconomic conditions after arrival, but also to principles of inter- and intragenerational reciprocity, which are maintained and simultaneously renegotiated in a context of transnational migration. In this sense, Carmen and Carina expect to find, within the new households into which they are introduced, a certain degree of intragenerational reciprocity and support, which compensates for the informal care provided. As they realize the absence of such support, they seek other ways to organize their living conditions in the new place. Their agency, however, is restrained by the impact of restrictive migration and employment regimes, which make their residence status dependent on the benevolence of Italian employers or other family members with legal residence or Italian citizenship status. Similar principles shape the migration of aging parents. Clara’s migration was in response to the care expectations of her grandchildren and adult children, corresponding to relations of intergenerational reciprocity. When mobility compromised her own wellbeing, she decided to return to Peru. This situation draws attention to the precarious and unstable character of child and aged care arrangements emerging at both local and transnational levels in the absence of political frameworks that support the needs of migrant care workers and their families, and of (paid or unpaid) care workers in general.

6.4 C ONCLUSION In this chapter, I have focused on the transnational caregiving practices of Peruvian migant women and men in Milan, Italy, and the role of state regulations in shaping the migrants’ autonomy and capacities to care for both themselves and their family members. In my analysis, I have drawn attention to the continuity and simultaneous renegotiation of gender and intergenerational responsibilities as they intersect with new intrafamilial inequalities based on class, citizenship, and migration status, which are reproduced under the influence of migration as well as labor and care regimes. First of all, my data has shown that Peruvian transnational migrant mothers continue to care about children and other family members in both emotional and practical terms and increasingly, also by means of financial provision. In this context, the growing importance attached to financial care reveals an extension of established motherhood practices. As a consequence, transnational mothers are caught between multiple simultaneous care obligations toward children left behind as well as parents, siblings, and, in some cases, children in the receiving country. Men, as fathers and/or sons (in particular those of lower class background), give particular importance to their role as financial providers, which can be interpreted as a heightened version of the male breadwinner model, and continue to be less involved in

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practical and emotional caregiving. Similar to migrant mothers, fathers can hardly ignore their responsibilities toward children. Childless migrants, in contrast, might distance themselves from intergenerational expectations and privilege their personal projects and autonomy. This, however, depends on numerous structural factors, linked to care, migration and labor regimes, including their parents’ access to income, healthcare and pensions in Peru, as well as the migrants’ living and working conditions in the receiving country, which includes the variable of the presence of other siblings in the new place. Overall, women, not only as mothers but also as daughters, experience higher levels of conflicts in meeting their transnational duties. Most of them experience tension between the search for independence and the desire to maintain relationships of reciprocity and affection with their families. Given their higher material and emotional involvement in transnational care, female migrants, and especially mothers, are most restricted in their capacities to care for others and for themselves. Hence, they are most vulnerable to physical and psychological distress that may result from simultaneous care practices. Because of these difficulties, migrant women may also negotiate higher levels of self care and autonomy or change the conditions of transnational caregiving. As shown in the last part of this chapter, migrant mothers might induce the reunification of family members and form households in the receiving country, which involve new forms of autonomy and new challenges. In this sense, the analysis has revealed how the autonomy achieved by some migrant women is also based on the subordination of other migrant members of their families, which has direct material consequences for the latter. Hence, the renegotiation of gender and intergenerational roles also involves a re-stratification of transnational family relations and care responsibilities under the conditions of migration, labor, and care regimes. Within these institutional frameworks, migration regimes are certainly the most essential force that distinguishes the new division of care labor from intrafamilial hierarchies and dependencies that historically exist within national borders. Thus, citizenship and migration status become a central marker of difference not only between migrants and the national population but also within the group of migrants and among members of the same family. Here, I have limited myself to exploring transnational caregiving from the perspectives of those who participate as migrants in these arrangements. Those who stay behind in the sending localities of migration are part of these processes, but are affected by them in very different ways. The following chapter focuses on the ways in which transnational child and aged care strategies are renegotiated with the participation of those who assume caregiving tasks in the sending households of migration and on the implications of these processes for co-caregivers as well as children and parents left behind.

7. CHILD AND AGED CARE IN TRANSNATIONAL HOUSEHOLDS IN PERU “There in Italy they also take care of the elderly, above all. And they say, ‘The patience that I need to have here, I should have it with my own father. In contrast, you are there in Peru and you are taking care of my father and I have to take care of other people who are not even my family members.’” LORENA, 26 YEARS, CUZCO, SISTER AND SEVERAL AUNTS AND UNCLES IN ITALY

7.1 I NTRODUCTION In this quote, Lorena, a Peruvian woman, describes the situation of her two emigrant aunts Cristina and Alejandra (4.3.3) in Milan, Italy, who are working as caregivers for the elderly in Italian families. Lorena and her mother Rocío are caring for her aged grandfather Herbert in the city of Cuzco. Rocío, a 55 year-old woman, has two brothers, three sisters, and her second daughter in Italy. As the eldest sister, she has always cared for her father and siblings, because her mother died when Rocío was fifteen. This responsibility has kept her from emigrating too, even though she was invited by her migrant sisters and would like to follow them to Italy: “Of course I’d like to go! But the problem is my father.” Recently, her 86 year-old father has become more dependent on the care provided by his only daughter left in Cuzco and on the monthy remittances sent by Rocío’s siblings to cover his health and living expenses. The practices, perspectives, and positions of non-migrant members of transnational households, like the ones mentioned here, are the central focus of this chapter. In looking at the migrants’ experiences as transnational and local caregivers, I already mentioned the central role of women who substitute for migrant mothers as caregivers in both the sending and receiving localities. Existing research stresses the

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importance of female support networks in sustaining migration (e.g., Chamberlain 1997; Herrera/Carrillo 2009; Boccagni 2009a; Parella/Cavalcanti 2010; Anderson 2010b; 2012). Yet, the perspectives of co-caregivers and of non-migrants involved in maintaining or renegotiating transnational family ties have received only marginal attention (for a similar critique see Fresnoza-Flot 2008; Ozyegin/HondagneuSotelo 2008; Bonizzoni/Boccagni 2013). In addition, while a series of studies examine the role of children in transnational families (e.g., Parreñas 2005a; Dreby 2007; Drotbohm 2013; Bonizzoni/Leonini forthcoming), the perspectives of (nonmigrant) parents are seldom addressed in detail (see also Isaksen 2012). Hence, more research is needed to understand the agency of non-migrant children and aged people in shaping migration processes and transnational care arrangements. In this chapter, I draw on the data collected for this research in the sending localities of Lima, Huancayo, and Cuzco/Urubamba to examine several sets of questions that were raised in the theoretical framework of this research: how is the care of children and elderly dependents reorganized among the family members left behind by Peruvian migrants in Italy and in what ways do they participate in the renegotiation of care practices on a transnational level? More specifically, what are the perspectives and care strategies of non-migrant caregivers, children, and parents, and how does migration affect their access to resources and decision-making power as well as emotional bonds to those who are abroad? Finally, considering the importance of care, migration, and labor market regimes observed in the previous chapter, how are the wellbeing and living conditions of non-migrants and their emotional bonds to the migrants shaped by these structural conditions? To answer these questions, I start with a brief characterization of transnational households and family members in Peru, followed by a more detailed analysis of the perspectives and strategies of non-migrant caregivers, children, and parents involved.

7.2 C HARACTERISTICS OF H OUSEHOLDS AND F AMILY M EMBERS L EFT B EHIND IN P ERU This chapter draws on the experiences of transnational households located in both urban and rural areas. As mentioned in Chapter 3, the family members interviewed in Lima were spread across various districts of the capital. Family members interviewed in Huancayo and Cuzco, in contrast, were partly located in rural areas. In the area of Huancayo, around 21% of the family members interviewed were residing in one of the surrounding villages, including Huachac, Chongos Bajo, or Chongos Alto. In the area of Cuzco, only 34% of the interviews were conducted with members of urban households in the city of Cuzco, while the remaining 66%

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were held with residents of the smaller town of Urubamba, who were mostly engaged in farming activities. Transnational family members in these areas were introduced into a variety of household arrangements, which reflect the existence of both nuclear and extended family forms. In all localities, but especially in the areas of Lima and Huancayo, I encountered a relatively high proportion of female-headed households, constituted by single, separated, or widowed women and children.1 In Cuzco/Urubamba, I came across a higher number of extended households, in which married couples coresided with their children and grandchildren. The extension of households in all areas is dependent on the stage of the migration process and number of emigrant members. It ranges from multi-generational households with numerous members and just one emigrant member in Italy to single-member households constituted by widow women whose children have all left the country. The latter seem to be particularly common in the rural areas around Huancayo in the Mantaro valley, where emigration has reached an advanced stage.2 While caregiving and care receiving cannot always be neatly separated, it is possible to classify the various family members interviewed in Peru according to the roles assumed by them within their transnational families. First, there is one group of individuals who assume caregiving functions for dependents left behind. The majority of non-migrant caregivers interviewed for this research were in charge of children left behind by migrant mothers (rather than fathers) who represented the majority of my informants in Italy. Another group of caregivers was either responsible for the care of elderly parents or both parents and children. My data confirms the observations made in other Latin American and Caribbean countries in showing that it is mainly the mothers and sisters of emigrants who act as caregivers for small children or aging parents left behind (e.g., Chamberlain 1997; Pedone 2006; Herrera 2008c; Herrera/Carrillo 2009; Parella/Cavalcanti 2010; Anderson 2010b; 2012). 1

This is another reason for which I interviewed only few men left behind, who were a mi-

2

In Huancayo, capital of the department of Junín, emigration has occurred since the 1970s

nority in these households or absent at the moment of interviewing, as noted in Chapter 3. and caused more profound transformations in the patterns of life, consumption, and work than in other areas where my research was conducted. A survey conducted in 2000 in Huachac, one of the villages of the Mantaro valley, showed that 54% of village members had family members abroad. Of these, 30% had migrated to the United States, 52% to Italy, and 18% to other countries such as Spain and Japan (Tamagno 2003: 87). Tamagno (2003: 74) calls Huachac a “transnationalized locality,” in which young people grow up with the expectation to emigrate and work abroad to support the family. At the same time, the high rate of emigration has also involved the growing abandonment of many homes, with the result that often only aged parents and small children are left behind in the village.

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The younger and older generations can be identified as a second group, who are mainly (or also) care-receivers, especially in conditions of dependency. A third group is constituted by those who are neither caregivers nor dependent carereceivers in a strict sense, but rather beneficiaries of the remittances and investments made by emigrant family members and/or observers of the changes that have occurred in the household since emigration. With some exceptions, non-migrant fathers and brothers are beneficiaries but often not active participants in transnational care arrangements (see also Carcedo/ Chaves/ Lexartza 2011; Anderson 2012). As in Italy, men tend to assume care responsibilities only where no female family member is available to do so, and even in those cases, some migrants prefer to hire a woman outside of the family instead of transferring the main responsibility of child or aged care to partners, brothers, or fathers. In other words, the care of children and elderly dependents in transnational families in Peru, as in other parts of Latin America, is mostly assumed by women on a paid or unpaid basis (Herrera 2008c; Carcedo/Chaves/Lexartza 2011; Mijangos/Robert/García 2012). This also applies to cases where children or aging parents are left to fend for themselves. In the case of children, this means that elder daughters usually do the housework and take care of their brothers and younger siblings (see also Herrera/Carrillo 2009; Parella/Cavalcanti 2010). In the case of the elderly, my data indicates that neighbors, village members, or adopted children may assume the task of looking after them. Alternatively, migrants opt for hiring a paid woman on the private market. In short, a central characteristic of this reorganization of care is that it constitutes an eminently female activity, in which the gendered division of labor within the home is changed only on rare occasions (Herrera 2008c). This parallels my observations of care arrangements in households formed by Peruvian migrants in the receiving country and reveals the continuity of the gendered division of labor. At the same time, the feminization of Peruvian migration to Italy also challenges established gender and intergenerational roles and causes profound changes in caregiving practices, not only for the migrants themselves but also for family members left behind. In the following, I examine these processes from the perspectives of the caregivers as well as children and parents left behind.

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Caregivers like Rocío and Lorena play a central role in maintaining transnational care arrangements built upon migration. While existing studies mention “the importance of care substitution and care arrangements in transnational families” (Lutz/Palenga-Möllenbeck 2012: 17-18; for Latin America see also Herrera/Carrillo 2009; Parella/Cavalcanti 2010), the negotiation processes as well as socioeconomic

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and power asymmetries between migrants and these (predominantly female) cocaregivers as well as the experiences of the latter are seldom examined in detail. As signaled by Rocío’s case, caring for family dependents left behind may be continuous with the situation prior to migration. At the same time, it involves adjustments and restrictions that deserve a more in-depth analysis with regard to their implications in creating access to resources but also new dependencies. Hence, the question needs to be asked: How do aging mothers, sisters, and other co-caregivers cope with the responsibility of caring for the migrants’ children or dependent parents? In the previous chapter, I examined the perspectives of aging parents and siblings who assume caregiving roles by means of migration to the receiving country. This analysis revealed that shared caregiving involves a reproduction of intrafamilial inequalities that parallels the hierarchical relationships between migrants and their employers in the sector of elderly care. Similar asymmetries can be observed in the negotiation processes between migrants and caregivers left behind. As noted by Borrego (2010), it is necessary to move away from idyllic conceptualizations of female solidarity to a more in-depth understanding of power relations established between migrant women and caregivers for children or elderly parents left behind. These considerations raise several questions that shall be examined in this section: under what terms is this support provided and to what extent do the nonmigrant caregivers benefit from this exchange? What strategies do they employ in caring for family dependents? And, given that my study has explored both child and elderly care practices, is the care of children and elderly dependents organized in a different manner? The following argument starts with the first questions, looking at the perspectives and care strategies of non-migrant family members and their relationships to the migrants involved in these transnational care arrangements. Next, some specific remarks will be made about the care of elderly dependents left behind. 7.3.1 “I Have to Endure Everything”: Perspectives of Caregivers in Peru Caregivers for children or aged parents may have different reasons for assuming this work in the sending localities of migration. They may do so because of socioeconomic expectations, family obligation, emotional reasons, their desire to support migration goals, or because no one else is available to do this work (see also Anderson 2012). First of all, parents or siblings in Peru may support migration because of the expectation of upward social mobility, as in the case of Teresa, outlined in the previous chapter. Teresa shows a strong interest in the material benefits she expects from Carina’s work abroad. Being in charge of her daughter’s children allows her to re-

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ceive and administrate the remittances and to voice her expectations on the basis of frequent communication. Indeed, co-caregivers are commonly the ones who receive and administrate the remittances sent by migrant family members. Most migrant mothers entrust their own mothers or other female family members not only with the practical care work but also with the administrative tasks of distributing and spending the money sent for their children, as observed in other studies of transnational care practices in the Andean region (Herrera 2005b; Bonizzoni 2008; Anderson 2012). In some cases but not all, caregivers receive extra payment or another type of reimbursement for assuming the care of children or parents. Migrants may help sisters to migrate themselves after some years or to set up their own businesses in Peru. Rocío, for instance, receives a monthly reimbursement of around 150–200 euros from her emigrant siblings in exchange for the care provided. In addition, Rocío’s emigrant sisters have supported her in the creation of a small grocery store, which she opened on the ground floor of her building. This way, Rocío does not have to leave the house to earn her money and is able to reconcile her paid work and unpaid responsibility as a caregiver to her father. In short, caring for children or the aged left in Peru increases the chances of benefiting from the resources generated through migration. At the same time, motivations of family members to care for the migrants’ children may also go beyond these socioeconomic expectations. In fact, the care provided by grandmothers to grandchildren or by adult daughters to parents or these daughters’ younger siblings also constitutes a continuity of intergenerational roles, as in the cases of Teresa and Rocío (see also Herrera/Carrillo 2009; Herrera 2012a). Another example is Carina’s cousin Maritza who left two children behind with her mother Margaret (65 years old) in Lima, Chorrillos. Margaret has always been in charge of caring for her grandchildren and enjoys the continuity of her intergenerational role, which has become more important since her daughter left the country: “I’m very attached to my grandchildren. [tenderly] I love them so much. [...] I feel that they are the same with me—they are affectionate [...]. I always care for the children, for the kids, so that they are not left alone. So this is my task. This makes me happy.” (Margaret, 65 years, Lima, 1 daugher in Italy)

Similar relationships are established between children and siblings of migrant parents, who may participate in the care of children left behind or assume the role of co-mothers. In these cases, caregiving often responds to inter- and intragenerational norms of reciprocity. Josefina (57 years old) took care of four children left behind by her brother John and his wife Olga in Urubamba (6.2.2). Four years after their emigration, the couple decided to take their children with them to Milan. After that, Josefina did the same job for another of her emigrant brothers who left two children

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behind. Josefina enjoyed doing this favor and treated the children “as if they were my own.” Her brothers sent her monthly remittances for the children’s food and education. Personally, she did not receive any financial reimbursement, except a little gratuity or some gifts on special occasions. She would not have demanded anything either: “I couldn’t ask for money because I know they are my brothers,” she says, suggesting that her support was based on principles of intra- and intergenerational reciprocity. Still, she does expect their support in case she needs urgent help or falls ill one day. In her case, the benefits associated with childcare were practical and emotional rather than material. Similar to the majority of residents in Urubamba, Josefina works as a farmer and merchant and the children helped her while she was working in the fields.3 In addition she established a strong emotional bond with the children, which she appreciated because she had no children of her own. All in all, these care arrangements reflect the continuity of the gendered division of labor and of inter- and intragenerational norms of reciprocity and support that are maintained upon migration. At the same time, the emigration of several household members may entail a reduction in people available to assume the care of children left behind, with the consequence that those left behind may feel obliged to take the responsibility for such care in the absence of other family members. Under such conditions, brothers and fathers may also assume the responsibility of caring for children or aging parents left behind, as I noted in the previous section. Independently from the motivations for which caregivers assume this work in the sending localities, it is necessary to ask how caregivers negotiate their roles in the lives of emigrant mothers or siblings and what kind of strategies they develop to deal with the challenges associated with transnational care. During interviews, caregivers in Peru tended to stress the positive aspects of migration, but also signaled negative feelings and problems. Here, I intend to explore how caregivers cope with such problems and how their positions are affected by migration. First of all, most non-migrant caregivers say that the absence of the migrants has allowed them to become more independent and autonomous in carrying out the various tasks associated with caregiving. Margaret, for instance, notes that in the pre-migration period, her emigrant daughter administered the family budget while Margaret herself was responsible for the domestic work. After her daughter’s migration, Margaret had to assume not only the practical care but also the financial responsibility of managing the household. In addition, she observes that her grandchildren now help her with domestic tasks to a higher extent than before their mother’s migration. Another example is Rocío’s daughter Lorena, who assists with the care of her grandfather left behind in Cuzco. Initially, she had difficulties with this task be3

In Peru, children may also contribute to work outside the home and assume increasing responsibilities as they grow older (Bruine et al. 2013).

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cause she first had to learn Herbert’s mother tongue Quechua, in addition to the acquiring practical knowledge necessary to take care of her grandfather. Then, she got used to caregiving as part of her daily activities. In the morning, she attends university classes and in the afternoon she coordinates her schedule with Rocío to make sure that Herbert is not left alone. Talking about a possible return of her aunts to Peru, Lorena says that she would have difficulties ceding her task as Herbert’s caregiver. At the same time, she would also enjoy being more independent and taking a rest from time to time. In short, the emigration of one or more family members may require nonmigrants to develop new skills and levels of autonomy (see also Herrera 2008; Herrera and Carrillo 2009). However, assuming care responsibilities also involves an increase in extra work, which may pose severe limitations to self care and independence. Caregivers are often required to adapt their schedules and reconcile this work with other activities or projects, such as paid work (Josefina) or university studies (Lorena) or to postpone them for an indeterminate time period. In most cases examined, the responsibility of caregiving is also mentioned as a reason for which caregivers decided not to emigrate themselves. While not all of them would have actually opted for migration, the task of caregiving often precluded any type of mobility, including internal migration. Notably, grandmothers may also feel that their care capacities are limited due to sickness and old age and that they have to find ways to balance caregiving tasks with their own care needs, which increase as they grow older. Patricia (67 years old) is in charge of four grandchildren left with her husband and her in Lima, Surco, by her migrant daughter, son, uncle, and daughter-in-law. Because of sickness and old age, she struggles with the responsibility of caring for several children and also feels sad about her children’s absence. In her words, “We grandparents are already ill, so we need our children.” Independently from her own needs, Patricia has to make sure that her grandchildren do not suffer in the absence of their parents, but also notes the risk of spoiling or losing control over them: “At times as grandparents, we are not able to control the grandchildren very well. Or at times we spoil them too much. Then, what happens with the grandchildren? They go down the wrong path in life. [...] We who are left here to care for them, we have to see how to do our best for them, how to treat them, how to give them affection.” (Patricia, 67 years, Lima, 1 daughter and son in Italy)

As in Patricia’s case, grandmothers are often left alone with the care of non-migrant children, especially in households and areas with a longer history of emigration. In addition, they may be confronted with new responsibilities, which arise because of family formation in the receiving country. As mentioned in Chapter 6, migrant mothers in Italy may send newly born children back to their grandmothers in Peru,

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due to difficulties in reconciling paid work and childcare in the receiving country. At the same time, transnational childcare arrangements that rely on the support of grandparents alone are fragile due to the possibility of a sudden worsening of health conditions or death of these caregivers. This is a common problem in different sending countries of the region, as suggested by a summary of nine research studies on global care chains in and across Latin America and Europe, published by Mijangos/Robert/García (2012), who observe: “Often, the excessive workload that is involved in taking care of additional dependents leads to more limited possibilities to satisfy the required care demand. In all countries studied, we also detected numerous cases of grandmothers in charge of grandchildren, who themselves would need to be cared for, who are sick or for whom the care work constitutes an additional burden which they struggle to endure, due to their advanced age.” (Mijangos et al. 2012: 44; my translation)

These and other researchers have noted that over time, the extra workload may also be a source of frustration and burnout and that caregivers may get tired and press for a reunification of children or terminate the care arrangement, especially in cases of prolonged absences of the migrant (Carling/Menjívar/Schmelzbauer 2012; Salazar/Jiménez/Wanderley 2012). My data, however, suggests that most caregivers left in Peru resign themselves and endure their role as caregivers in order to avoid problems and repress upsetting feelings and problems. This is noted by Hilda, in charge of the two children left behind by her migrant daughter Nataly in Urubamba: “I’m responsible for the two, whenever they make me grumble, I have to endure everything, what else can I do?” In assuming caregiving responsibilities for the younger generations, grandmothers left behind are in a particularly vulnerable position, which is linked to their age and physical condition. Often, the margin of action of these caregivers is also restricted due to inadequate social services in Peru and new intrafamilial hierarchies based on class and place of residence. This means that due to their limited or lacking access to income and social provision by the state, caregivers and other family members left behind often depend on those who are abroad to provide the material resources needed for care provision. In addition, most caregivers are not compensated for their work and have little power to decide themselves how to spend the money received from abroad (see also Herrera 2005b; Orozco/Paiewonsky/García 2008). In other words, non-migrant caregivers are in a position of dependency on the distant family member(s), which limits their ability to renegotiate their caregiving roles to adapt them to their own needs. It is important to note, however, that migrants, in case they come back, may also need the support of non-migrant family members in the place of origin (Lutz 2007a). While abroad, they are also dependent on co-caregivers and may be troubled by the sudden unavailability or untrustwor-

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thiness of the co-caregiver, as they may find themselves unable to relocate care arrangements when needed or desired (Bonizzoni 2012). Clearly, these dependency relations are shaped by new inequalities of access to resources that emerge between migrants and non-migrants due to their place of residence in different nation-states. These are also revealed by conflicts over the administration and use of remittances, which are frequent in the negotiation processes between migrants and caregivers in Peru. Silvia is an illiterate, 72 year-old grandmother from the rural highlands of Chongos Alto, near Huancayo, responsible for a seventeen year-old grandson whose parents are both living abroad. Asked who is responsible for receiving the money, she mentions that the migrant parents have stopped sending money and that the money they had sent was not sufficient or worth much anyway. While her husband pays the school fees for their grandson, Silvia downplays the value of the money received from abroad, but also suggests that she spends part of it according to her own needs and wishes: Silvia: “My husband takes it out from the bank [...] for his school fee [of her grandson; A.S.]. [...] He pays all the bills, maintenance, everything. Here the money goes rapidly... doesn’t it?” Anna: “Yeah [laughs] you must have to pay many things, I imagine.” Silvia: “Oh no, just for a while. You’ve got hundred soles and you look, go out, buy whatever you like, rapidly it goes, the money from Italy isn’t worth anything, when you need money it doesn’t last [laughs]. Rapidly it goes like water, really.” (Silvia, 72 years, Huancayo, 3 daughters in Italy, 2 sons in U.S.A.)

Silvia and her husband are dependent on the money sent by their migrant parents. Hence, like many other caregivers in Peru, they cannot do much else other than hope that the migrant parents will not abandon their financial obligations. As noted in the previous chapter, however, migrants might also distance themselves from their duties as mothers, fathers, sons, or daughters from afar. Furthermore, new dependencies are also revealed in the communication practices between migrants and co-caregivers, which are largely dependent on the migrant’s possibilities to call and/or communicate via Internet. This is mainly due to the fact that it is commonly the migrants, rather than their non-migrant family members, who have the financial and technological means to initiate communication. In the cases examined here, this asymmetry is supported by the costs of phone calls, which are much lower for calls from Italy to Peru than vice versa.4 In addi4

While the cost of phone calls from Italy to Peru has fallen substantially in recent years according to migrants and their family members, the cost of phone calls from Peru to Italy are much higher and can amount to about 15 soles (around 4 euros) per minute. Calling cards were introduced just a couple of years before I conducted my study and did not seem to be frequently used by non-migrant family members.

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tion, not all family members left behind have access to or make frequent use of the Internet as a means of communication and therefore depend on migrants calling them from abroad. There is also a generational gap concerning the use of the Internet as a means of communication, which is more frequently used by the younger generations of children and siblings left behind, but almost never used between migrants and their aging parents (see also Anderson 2012). However, as I observed in Chapter 6, the inability of migrants to meet the expectations of family members left behind often causes them to reduce the frequency of communication. The unintended effects are declining levels of intimacy and mutual knowledge, which easily result in conflicts and misunderstandings. Here, I would like to introduce another dimension that shapes the positions of caregivers left behind and that is related to the migrants’ living and working conditions. In the previous chapter, I examined the new stratifications tied to employment and migration regimes that shape the migrants’ capacities to care for their transnational family members, and consequently the evolution of transnational family relations and care arrangements over time. During my fieldwork in Peru, I noticed that caregivers and family dependents left behind are deeply affected by these conditions. In her study of transnational child fostering between Cape Verde and several destinations across Europe and the United States, Drotbohm (2013) shows that in the local sending-country context, similar to what I observed in my case study, shared caregiving is a common practice of mutual support and solidarity between different families or family members. At the same time, her work reveals that transnational care arrangements are subject to unforeseen obstacles and contingencies in the context of restrictive migration regimes, which can complicate the relationship between both caregivers and foster children. In particular, she observes that a mother’s lack of responsibility toward her children or the unexpected prolongation of the separation between a biological mother and her child may be a source of frustration, which also increases the burden for the caregiver left behind. My study reveals that similar types of challenges also shape the transnational care arrangements between Peru and Italy. Considering the perspectives of caregivers left behind, I observed that prolonged periods of separation and declining levels of remittances and communication, which may result from the migrants’ difficult working and living conditions, are a frequent source of conflict, misunderstandings, and personal alienation. In this context, co-caregivers left behind may find themselves in a difficult and uncertain position, as they build intimate relationships with family dependents who stay behind, but also have to respect authority and decisions made by the migrant as well as the temporary nature of such care arrangements. Among co-caregivers in Peru, a common strategy is to counteract negative reactions by encouraging family dependents to maintain good relationships with their migrant parents or children, by defending the migration situation and telling the dependents

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to appreciate the migrants’ efforts and talk to them with affection. At the same time, similar to the migrant care workers who establish new close ties to Italian care receivers, co-caregivers and dependents left behind also develop compensatory relationships that are interrupted when migrants decide to return or reunify a family member. Such decisions to return or reunify may be made unilaterally, without the involvement of the co-caregivers and children or parents left behind, and may go along with emotional strains tied to this repeated experience of separation (see also Bonizzoni/Leonini forthcoming). Here, I will draw on the case of Josefina to illustrate these observations. When Josefina assumed the care of her brother’s four children, she enjoyed the company of these children in her home, but also knew that this care arrangement was probably limited to a few years. Initially, the children missed their parents a great deal but over time, they established a closer relationship to Josefina and her husband and blamed their parents for having abandoned them. Josefina, however, knew that one day her brother would bring his children to Italy, so she defended his decision and made the children aware of the reasons for their parents’ migration and the probability of a future reunification. Still, when the children were reunified after some years, they were reluctant to leave and Josefina had difficulties getting used to the separation, too: “When they sent for them, I was affected too, because I had become attached to them.” However, she rationalized the decision of the children’s mother based on an idea that was common among most of the family members interviewed that children should be close to their biological mothers. Looking back, she also finds that the children have made a great deal of “progreso” (progress) thanks to reunification. Hence, feelings of pain about separation that may also concern the new caregivers in cases of the children’s reunification, are repressed by social impressions of socioeconomic mobility that sustain the process of migration. Still, Josefina admits that she would have liked for at least one of the children to stay with her in Peru. As in the relationship between migrant caregivers for the elderly and their employers, the limited possibility of co-caregivers (and care receivers) to influence decisions related to the care arrangement becomes a vector of inequality, which may result in emotional strains. Another type of conflict emerges during moments of visitation that follow prolonged periods of separation. In such moments, migrants and co-caregivers often enter into tensions and struggles over authority and decisions related to family dependents. As noted in Chapter 6, the migrants’ possibilities to visit their family members are reduced by restrictive migration and labor regimes. Hence, the limited occasions for visits are used not only for the emotional and practical care of family dependents left behind, but also for intensified practices of “commodified” care (Parreñas 2001a). On such occasions, visiting migrants attempt to compensate for their long absence by organizing trips, visits to new places and restaurants that children and/or parents themselves would not be able to afford. These practices, how-

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ever, may also raise ambiguous feelings or disapproval on the part of caregivers and others who expect migrants to comply with their plans to save and invest money. This issue is mentioned by Rafael, a young man interviewed in Huancayo, who talks about the occasional visits of his emigrant sister. His sister had left the country with the aim of saving money for a family business, but ended up forming a new family in Italy and compensating for her absence by means of occasional visits, during which she attempted to please her parents by spending large sums of money: “The first time she came to visit, she spent all her savings. And my parents therefore don’t want her to come, because she is always doing the same thing. [...] It’s not that we don’t like her to be here, but in the end she is not complying with the objective she had at the moment of migration to save money and set up a business.” (Rafael, 30 years, Huancayo, sister in Italy)

Caregivers in Peru also observe conflicts linked to the migrants’ attempts at reasserting power over and intimacy with children or parents left behind. Transnational caregiving is usually constructed as a state of transition, “a necessary step on the way to a return to ‘ordinary’ relationships of co-presence” (Boccagni 2012: 264; see also Lagomarsino 2010). Due to their absence, however, migrants are often unaware of the ways in which their children or parents have developed over time. Cocaregivers have better knowledge of these developments and may feel disturbed where migrants demonstrate power and superiority by telling others how to think or to behave. Thus, migrants and caregivers left in Peru enter into conflicts that are quite similar to those observed between migrant caregivers for the elderly and their employers (5.3.4). In both cases, caregivers co-reside and develop relationships of intimacy to the care receivers, but are also subordinate to others who are not present for most of the time yet still hold the decision-making power and management of the care relationship. Angelo (32 years old), whose sister and mother Feliciana (6.2.1) emigrated to Milan in 2000 and 2001, has been taking care of his sister’s son Alex (17 years old) who was left behind in Huancayo. At the moment of their emigration, Angelo was the only family member left in Huancayo to take care of the five year-old boy. Asked about how he experiences the visits of his mother and sister to Peru, Angelo says that he feels glad to see them again but also finds it hard getting used to their presence back in Huancayo. In particular, he mentions unease about their tendency to “mandar” (command) and behave as if no time has passed since their departure: “Sometimes they think that no time has passed, it’s the same as when they left, and they have to impose their plans and that’s a bit annoying, I mean that they want to command. And that’s something that annoys you. [...] His mother comes and sees her son as if he were still a seven, ten, eleven year-old boy, I mean, she doesn’t see how her son has matured. The same for me,

214 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS my mother thinks that she left me at the age of twenty and that I’m still the same.” (Angelo, 32 years, Huancayo, mother and sister in Italy)

In addition, Angelo and others point to the migrants’ tendency to transmit the habits they have adopted during their stay in Italy and to teach non-migrants about how to improve, for instance, in terms of order, punctuality, cooking and eating habits, and reliability. While some of the family members interviewed in Peru show themselves open to such types of suggestions, others reject them as acts of superiority and signs of the migrants’ growing distance from their “roots” and families of origin. This is based on the impression, mentioned by family members left behind, that migrants “already have another mentality, another way of being,” “have a different way of living/a different life,” are “colder” upon return, are “different” and, at times “very arrogant.” At the same time, as signaled in Chapter 6, migrants also note that they perceive their places of origin and family members in a different way and may see certain things more critically than before migration. In other words, visits are moments in which migrants and non-migrants become aware of declining levels of intimacy and new class inequalities between them, which go beyond the socioeconomic level to include different habits and ways of thinking. This is particularly common after prolonged periods of separation caused by difficult legal and employment conditions or new family formations in the receiving country, as in the case of Rafael’s sister, as well as other cases outlined in Chapter 6. Under these conditions, caregivers in Peru have to constantly adapt to the challenges posed to transnational caregiving and may also realize that their workload increases while the migrants’ material support diminishes over time. Generally, however, the physical, psychological, and mental effort of caring for children or aged dependents left behind is not always explicitly mentioned in interviews. Similar to migrants, non-migrant caregivers tend to downplay, repress, or shut out negative feelings and problems linked to transnational care arrangements (and their temporality), not only in interviews but also in front of the distant family member. These strategies can also be understood as mechanisms by which distant family members protect each other from any upsetting news, thereby reproducing the image of the “ideal” family (see also Boccagni 2012). All in all, the new division of care labor between migrants and co-caregivers observed in my research contributes to a continued denial of unpaid care as real labor or, in other words, to its consideration as something less than work, as suggested by Herrera (2012a; 2012b) in her work on transnational households in Ecuador. While caregivers tend to stress the importance of material care, provided in the form of remittances and gifts, the effort of personal, “hands-on” care is often downplayed and provided for free or for low amounts of informal benefits. As noted in Chapter 6, some migrants, as paid caregivers for the elderly or unpaid care workers

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within migrant households, may improve their legal and socioeconomic status over time and opt out of conflictive or exploitative working conditions. This seems more difficult for caregivers left in Peru, who are more dependent on decisions made and resources provided from abroad, although this assertion does not deny the importance of non-migrant caregivers influencing the care arrangements according to their expectations. In other words, the geographical and socioeconomic mobility of some members of transnational families is largely dependent on other members whose mobility is more restricted. At the same time, migration and labor regimes play a decisive role in contributing to these inequalities by posing new challenges for transnational care arrangements, which need to be further examined in their implications for children and parents left behind. But first, some comparative remarks shall be made about the organization of elderly care. 7.3.2 The Care of Aged Dependents Left Behind In the previous chapters, I looked at the ways in which Peruvian migrants care for the Italian aged as well as their own parents at a distance. Here, an important question remains to be explored with regard to the personal care of dependent parents: compared to the care of children, is elderly care organized differently in the sending-country households? And, who actually cares for the dependent aged left in Peru? Looking at this question seems important for understanding the reproduction of social inequalities that shape the care chains examined in this study. In 2004, Escrivá observes that the elderly, if addressed in any research on transnational migration, have been viewed mainly in their role as caretakers of children left behind, while their own conditions have been left aside or considered as secondary in importance. As signaled before, this observation still seems to be valid. It can be added that even less is known about the caregivers for those elderly parents who are left behind in conditions of dependency. A recent study by Herrera (2012a) shows that the roles of caregiving and receiving cannot always be easily delimitated. While a grandmother may be the “official” caregiver of a granddaughter, there may be a tacit expectation that the granddaughter also takes care of her grandmother. In other words, the roles of caregiving and receiving cannot always be easily delimitated and may be reciprocal or get reversed over time, especially as grandparents get older. In her analysis of these interrelations, Leinaweaver (2010a) introduces the term of the intergenerational “care slot” to examine continuities and changes in the care of both children and the elderly caused by emigration. As argued by this author, the co-residence of young and elderly persons and the delegation of childcare to others (for instance by means of child circulation) is a common characteristic of traditional

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fostering practices in the Andean region.5 These practices continue in a context of transnational migration, allowing adult migrants to meet their care responsibilities toward children and parents without deviating from the social norm (see also Herrera/Carrillo 2009; Salazar/Jiménez/Wanderley 2012). However, what happens in situations where no children are left behind or available to take care of the aged? In Chapter 6, I mentioned the case of Clara, an aged but still independent woman left behind in Cerro de Pasco, who adopted a child to accompany her in the absence of her biological children. During my fieldwork in Peru, however, I also observed several cases of dependent parents, whose care was organized on their children’s initiative, either on an unpaid basis or through the employment of a paid caregiver. These cases revealed that the care of aged parents tends to be more difficult to organize than the care of children, which is similar to what I observed in Italy. This is not only due to intergenerational conflicts, but also to the difficulty of reconciling the care of the dependent elderly with other activities such as paid work. This observation was previously made with regard to the case of Rocío and Lorena, who have to adapt their daily schedules to attend the needs of Rocío’s aged father. Independently from the time that is needed for this type of work, the care of the dependent elderly also tends to be described as more difficult and conflictive, as compared to the care of children, not only by migrants but also by those who stay behind. Talking about her relationship to her aged father, Rocío says, “sometimes he becomes arrogant, sometimes I also shout at him.” Lorena, who observes frequent conflicts and discussions between Rocío and her grandfather, describes her role as that of an intermediary between the generations: “My mother is not so young either, so she already lost the patience that she had before (laughs). And now my grandfather needs a lot of patience because he’s already behaving like a child again. So they don’t get along well, they don’t understand each other. That’s where I come to play the intermediator.” (Lorena, 26 years, Cuzco, sister and several uncles and aunts in Italy)

In looking at the working conditions of Peruvian migrants in Milan, I discussed the considerable psychological as well as physical effort involved in the care of elderly dependents. Similar levels of effort are required by non-migrants like Rocío, who 5

Child circulation refers to a relationship of exchange, in which young people participate in the care of the elderly and home and, in return, may be provided with access to instruction, education, shelter, or affection. Given the marked “fear of loneliness” in Andean kinship relations, elderly people welcome the presence of children in their homes, regardless of whether or not these children are related by blood (Leinaweaver 2010: 77; Leinaweaver 2008a).

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may get tired or overburdened with the task of elderly care. Therefore, in cases where these people are involved in paid work and unable to share the work of elderly care with others, the personal or physical care of parents is frequently delegated to a paid worker, as observed in Italy. In contrast, I did not come across any cases where an elderly family dependent was sent to a nursing home. In Peruvian transnational families, as in Italian families, there is a widespread reluctance to organize the care of aged family dependents outside the domestic sphere. In order to illustrate these findings, I will return to the case of Josefina. In addition to caring for her nephews and nieces, Josefina has assumed the responsibility of caring for her aging parents who live in a separate house in Urubamba. Recently, her mother Irene became dependent on round-the-clock attendance. Irene has six children, but Josefina is the only one of her siblings left in Urubamba. Two sisters are living in other parts of the country and the rest of her siblings have emigrated to Italy. As a farmer and merchant, Josefina is unable to assist her mother during the entire day and also finds that taking care of her mother alone would be too much work for her. Therefore, Josefina and her siblings agreed to hire a live-in caregiver—a migrant woman from Arequipa—to care for her mother. Her migrant siblings send monthly remittances with which she pays the health and living expenses of her parents, who have neither a pension nor health insurance, as well as the salary of the migrant woman, which amounts to 500 soles (around 136 euros) per month. Still, Josefina keeps visiting her parents every day and does not consider emigration as an option for herself, because with her absence, her parents would be left alone in Urubamba: “Who will stay with my parents here? No one will take care of them if I say I’ll leave, I’ll follow my brothers and sister.” Josefina had difficulties finding a person willing to work on a live-in basis. Even now, the arrangement seems precarious given that the paid woman, a mother of eight children, wants to return to her home town Arequipa. Thus, Josefina still needs to be present to care for her mother and to search for a new caregiver in case the woman actually decides to leave. In my study, I identified several cases like this one, in which the care of aged parents was delegated either partly or wholly to paid women. Ester and Lizethe, the migrant women mentioned in the previous chapters, hired several migrant women to take care of their elderly parents left behind in Chimbote, mainly because all of their brothers and sisters were living in Italy and no one was left to take care of their parents. Another example is the case of Claudio (65 years old), Josefina’s brother-in-law, who was responsible for the care of his aged father in Cuzco until the latter died. In Peru, Claudio has two siblings (the other two emigrated to Italy), but they did not collaborate financially or practically in the care of their father. For Claudio, this meant being the only person in Peru who was in charge of his father. However, he also had a job and could not spend the entire day at home to take care of his father. In addition, he observed that his father preferred a woman to serve

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him his meals: I served him lunch and he didn’t want to eat, didn’t accept; he preferred a woman to serve him the food." For these reasons, Claudio hired two women, one in charge of the physical care (cooking, hygiene, cleaning) and another one who was a psychotherapist able to attend his father’s medical needs. As shown by Claudio’s case, the hiring of caregivers for the elderly may also be sustained by gender norms and, in particular, by gendered expectations of the care receivers, who are used to women as caregivers rather than men. This parallels the observations I made in Chapter 5 with regard to the expectations of Italian employers (5.3.1). Here, it becomes clear that not only Italian care managers but also Peruvian migrants and family members may increase their social status by delegating the most difficult and time-consuming caregiving tasks to a paid worker. Hence, in certain households from which people have migrated, there exists a commodification of elderly care, i.e., the employment of paid caregivers for the elderly, which is supported by remittances received from abroad. While my research does not include the perspectives of these paid caregivers, it is important to note that these employment relationships are part of the care chains built on a transnational level and reflect yet another reproduction of class and ethnic divisions, between households located within the sending country or region (see also Yeates 2005). In Peru, the employment of domestic servants is not a novelty, as I noted in Chapter 2.6 At the same time, it may also involve new social differentiations within sending-country households. As shown in a recent study by Abbots (2012) on Southern Ecuadorean sending-country households, female heads of household may use the remittances sent by their migrant husbands to employ domestic workers from the same mestizo class, not only to reduce their own burden of labor, but also to enhance their social status. In the present case, the outsourcing of elderly care seems to be an expression of the need to reconcile the intense work of elderly care with multiple domestic and nondomestic tasks, which becomes more difficult due to the reduced number of household members left behind. Yet, it is also a sign of social status, given that the hiring of a care worker allows transnational household members to make choices about what tasks to prioritize, similar to what I observed in Italian employer households. In addition, the work of elderly care is not only gendered but also ethnicized, as it is 6

Even today, the institution of domestic service is a central part of the social organization of care work in Peru. It is estimated that between 10% and 20% of Peruvian families employ domestic workers (Anderson 2010b: 32). My research and available statistics show that these workers are often internal migrant women from the Andean highlands. It is calculated that 90% of domestic workers in Lima Metropolitana come from the regions of Ayacucho, Cusco, Huancavelica, Arequipa, Puno, and Áncash, and that a significant number of these are native Quechua speakers, illiterate, or have not progressed beyond the primary school level (Naranjo 2009).

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commonly transferred to internal migrant women of rural origin and lower class and ethnic status. Compared to the care of the elderly, in the Peruvian sending-country households, childcare is less frequently delegated to a paid worker. This seems to be due to several factors. First, children are more mobile and therefore reunited faster with those who are abroad. As noted in Chapter 6, migrant mothers give priority to being close to their children and therefore, children left behind are often the first family members to be reunified, once migrants have improved their living and working conditions. This is different in the case of the older generations, who are reunified at a later stage and often less willing to subject themselves to a permanent change in their life conditions (6.3.2). Second, my data suggests that children of transnational households are more frequently left alone than the dependent elderly. Once they have reached a certain age, they are considered able to care for themselves and for their younger siblings without the continuous presence of an adult person in the household, as in the case of Rocío, who started caring for her younger siblings at the age of fifteen. This is different in the case of the dependent elderly, who are often in need of round-the-clock attendance. In conclusion, it can be observed that the care of aged dependents is more difficult to organize, especially at an advanced stage of family migration, where fewer members are left in Peru to share the workload. At the same time, migration and the access of non-migrants to remittances opens new possibilities for organizing the care of the aged left behind, in allowing the purchase of private health care and access to other types of private help, including the employment of caregivers for the elderly. These transnational care strategies also need to be seen as responses to the absence of adequate and effective social services (Boccagni 2011b; Gorfinkiel/ Escrivá 2012). Ultimately, they reproduce the pattern of Italian employer households, examined in Chapter 5. So far, I have focused on the new division of child and aged care, from the perspectives of those who assume (or delegate) caregiving roles in the sending localities of migration. Now, I turn to further examine the perspectives and agency of children and parents involved in these rearrangements.

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“It was as if they were abandoning him”this is how Lorena describes her grandfather’s reactions to migration. Many years have passed since his first daughter left for Italy. In the meantime, Herbert has gotten used to his children’s absence, but also feels lonely because phone calls are not comparable to the physical presence of and contact with his children. His children call him frequently, but Herbert also

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calls his children abroad “to complain,” as Lorena says, when he feels that he is not well attended. From Italy then, Herbert’s migrant children tell Lorena and Rocío what to do or what drugs to buy to make him feel better. As revealed by this short description, even dependent parents are not passive receivers, but rather active participants in the transnational care relationships examined so far. They may take initiative, call distant children, and influence the care arrangements according to their expectations. This applies all the more to those parents who are still healthy and independent. Similarly, children left behind by their migrant parents are more than just observers, but active participants in care arrangements built on both local and transnational levels. Based on these considerations, several questions will need to be examined in this and the following sections: how are non-migrant children and parents affected by migration? In what ways do they participate in transnational care practices and how does migration affect their access to resources and emotional bonds to those who are abroad? When talking about their own experiences or those of other families, nonmigrant members of transnational households tended to voice a great deal of concern about the situation of children and parents who remain behind. The following statement by Angelo reflects a common perception of transnational family members interviewed in the different localities of origin: “I have seen situations in which children [of emigrant parents; A.S.] don’t get to do anything and get lost. This happens very often. Economically, they might be able to improve a bit their status here. But socially, I see a lot of decay, a lot of forget, a lack of affection, of love, which affects especially children, children grow up in abandonment. [...] In the Mantaro valley [...] entire families have emigrated, especially the children. And their parents remain behind, they are old and their children don’t come back anymore. So, the elderly are abandoned.” (Angelo, 32 years, Huancayo, mother and sister in Italy)

Not only family members but also experts interviewed in the areas of Lima, Huancayo, and Cuzco mentioned concern about a new generation of adolescents who are “abandoned” because of migration. This parallels the findings of other studies conducted in a variety of sending countries of migration that observe that children left without parental guidance are “abandoned” and more vulnerable to risky behavior, drugs, and deviant criminal activity in the case of boys and to early pregnancy and single motherhood in the case of girls (e.g., D’Emilio et al. 2007; Gamburd 2008; Ansión/Gómez/Medina 2009; Zentgraf/Stoltz Chinchilla 2012). These problems, however, are not necessarily a result of migration, nor are they always reflected in the perspectives and experiences of transnational children (Pedone 2006; Wagner 2008; Drotbohm 2013). Similarly, some of the few existing studies that address the consequences of migration for aging parents also point to new care needs and dependencies among the

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elderly that emerge in contexts of migration (King/Vullnetari 2006; 2008; Zechner 2008). As observed by Van der Geest/Mul/Vermeulen (2004: 444): “Migrations of young adults cause multiple problems for the care of older people in many parts of the world. The absence of children and grandchildren is painful for older people even in affluent welfare states, where they may be materially well off but are believed to suffer loneliness and boredom, partly through the lack of involvement with younger relatives. The absence of the young is even more problematic and acute in societies without state-provided ‘social protection’ and institutions for older people and in which the care of frail and sick older people is almost entirely family-based.”

In studying migration impacts in rural Albania, King/Vullnetari (2006; 2008) point to the new phenomenon of “elderly orphans” who live their lives in loneliness and social isolation. These authors conclude that transnational migration may deprive older people from care, leading to “care drains” similar to those observed in the case of children who are left behind. This, however, is also due to the poor standard of living and very poor services for older people in the sending localities and to the illegal migration status of many Albanian migrants, which impedes them from visiting their parents. In other words, the structural conditions of caregiving in both sending and receiving localities of migration play a decisive role in shaping the wellbeing of non-migrant care receivers as well as their perspectives on migration. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the conditions that influence their access to care, including the capacities of caregivers and receivers to address care deficits that might emerge in a context of transnational migration. 7.4.1 “Sometimes I Miss the Advice of My Mother”: Children Left Behind In Peru, the situation of children left behind by emigrant parents is just beginning to receive some attention in academic research. As mentioned in Chapter 4, existing studies of migration in Peru have focused on the economic rather than social effects of migration. Recently, a series of studies was conducted that focus on transnational households in Peru and, in particular, on the emigration of Peruvian parents and its consequences for children (Ansión/Mujica/Villacorta 2008; Anderson 2010b; 2012; Vega Ganoza/Secada 2010; Alvites 2011; ASPEM 2012). My research included a few interviews with non-migrant adolescents or adults who were left behind by emigrant parents at a young age. Some of them had been reunified with their migrant parents and were interviewed in Italy. According to the experiences of these young people and their caregivers and family members, migration affects the lives and prospects of non-migrant children in ambiguous ways.

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First of all, I have mentioned that migration and economic remittances may contribute to new consumption patterns and higher material and educational standards among transnational children and other family members left behind, including their access to private health and education (see also Lutz 2007a; D’Emilio et al. 2007; Schmalzbauer 2008; Herrera/Carrillo 2009). As I observed in Chapter 4, education is often seen as a mechanism for achieving social status and prestige. Hence, similar to what Herrera/Carrillo (2009) observed in Ecuador, the type of school (public or private) to which the migrants’ children are sent as well as their long-term educational paths and school performance are commonly taken as signs that indicate to what extent the migration plan has been successful. In my research, this is also reflected in the children’s perspectives. Larry, a young man interviewed in Huancayo, was seven years old when his parents emigrated from Huancayo to Milan. After their departure, he and his older sister were raised by their grandmother and aunt. Later, Larry was reunified with his parents in Italy at the age of eleven, after his grandmother had encouraged his migrant father to take him to Milan. Looking back, he is satisfied and proud of his parents’ migration. He wants to model himself on his sister, who graduated with a degree in pharmaceuticals and biochemistry, thanks to the remittances sent by their parents. For this reason, he returned to Huancayo with the aim of initiating a university career: “I am content that my parents have left Peru for another country to allow the family to improve economically [...] Because I think my sister would not have been a professional if my parents had not gone abroad. [...] I think I also have this support and I should not miss out on it.” (Larry, 21 years, Huancayo, parents in Italy)

As in this case, children may rationalize and derive satisfaction from their parents’ decision to emigrate and seek to actively respond to their parents’ expectations by doing well at school, for instance. This is most probable where children are able to benefit from the material resources obtained from abroad, maintain a good relationship to migrant parents and co-caregivers as well as the broader family network into which they are introduced, and have the possibility of influencing their decisions to a certain extent, including those related to visits or family reunification (see also Ferrufino/Ferrufino/Bustos 2007; Herrera/Carrillo 2009; Abbatecola 2010). All these elements of caregiving are shaped by structural conditions tied to care, gender, migration, and labor regimes, which may also reinforce existing or create new dependencies. As noted in several parts of this study, the influence of gender regimes is central in shaping transnational caregiving strategies and here, it is also revealed in the children’s perspectives and expectations. Research conducted in different countries has shown that compared to the absence of fathers, the migration of mothers causes

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much more difficulty and resentment on the part of children who stay behind (Parreñas 2005a; D’Emilio et al. 2007; Gamburd 2008; Herrera/Carrillo 2009; Menjívar/Abrego 2009; Dreby 2010; Carling/Menjívar/Schmalzbauer 2012). This is confirmed by the cases considered for my study, which show that children tend to miss and resent migrant mothers to a higher extent than migrant fathers, even when the mother was not the only or most important caregiver in the pre-migration period. At the same time, the absence of migrant mothers does not need to be difficult or traumatic for children (see also Carrillo 2005; Wagner 2008). In the Peruvian sending localities, I observed that children’s views of migration were very different, depending on how childcare had been organized prior to migration and on the structural conditions of transnational care. Given the common practice of shared caregiving in Peruvian families, grandmothers or aunts often play an important role as cocaregivers, both before and after the parents’ emigration. Under such conditions, children do not necessarily experience migration as a rupture of the family, although they are still affected by it. In Italy, I interviewed Martha (26 years old), one of John’s daughters and Josefina’s nieces who were left behind in Urubamba for four years. Prior to migration, her parents worked as merchants and spent very little time with their children. Martha co-resided with her aunt Josefina, who was “como mi mamá” (like my mother). In 1996, John left for Italy. Martha did not miss him very much, but when her mother Olga followed him one year later, leaving her at the age of fourteen, Martha and her siblings suffered in their mother’s absence: “we missed her, of course we felt bad,” Martha says, suggesting that it is perfectly normal for children to miss their mothers. Still, Martha and her siblings were very attached to Josefina and lived “a normal life,” until they were reunified with their parents. At that moment, Martha was eighteen years old and did not want to join her parents, like her other siblings, who found that separating from Josefina and starting a new life in Italy was much harder than living in the absence of their parents. For other children, the separation from parents, in particular from mothers, seems to be more difficult and painful. Patricia’s granddaughter Yesenia, in Lima, Surco, found it hard to cope with her mother’s absence, especially as she grew older. Talking about the moment of her mother’s emigration, she says: “At the beginning, I was still small, I was about eight years old, so it didn’t affect me so much. But then, as I grew older, I missed her more. I already cried, I cried at any moment, when my father took me to his home, or when I saw my friends with their mother. I spent all the time crying, again and again. But then I already assimilated this situation and now, it’s normal, I’m used to it, because she already sometimes comes and goes.” (Yesenia, 16 years, Lima, mother in Italy)

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As in this case, children may get used to their mothers’ absence, but also expect mothers to maintain daily communication, send money, and visit them in Peru. In looking at children’s reactions to migration, existing studies tend to focus on children who have one or both of their biological parents abroad. My research, however, shows that transnational children may also be affected by the departure of other family members who have played a role as co-mothers or reference persons prior to migration. Due to the important role played by elder siblings or aunts as cocaregivers in Peru, the emigration of these caregivers might cause similar reactions of sadness and resentment on the part of children. For Lorena, coping with the sudden absence of two of her emigrant aunts, Cristina and Alejandra, was difficult and felt like a “rupture of the family,” due to their important role as co-mothers in the pre-migration period. Another case is that of Ernesto’s (6.2.5) sister Diana, who reacted with resentment to the absence of her only brother. In other words, young members of transnational families are affected in different ways by migration, depending on the type of family and care network in which they were introduced, as well as their relationship to the migrant in the pre-migration period.7 Upon migration, then, much seems to depend on their relationships with their caregivers and on the type of support they receive from the distant family member(s). The young people interviewed for this research confirmed the importance of co-caregivers as reference persons to whom they tended to become more attached over time. This was revealed by the case of Martha and was also noted by Yesenia and Larry: Anna: “And how is your relationship to your grandparents?” Yesenia: “Perfect, practically they are my parents, they have raised me for all my life, therefore I call my grandparents mom and dad. As a matter of fact, my parents. I’d give my life for them.” (Yesenia, 16 years, Lima, mother in Italy) “I called my grandmother mom [...] I got more used to my aunt, to my grandmother, and when I went to Italy, I considered my parents as my uncle and aunt.” (Larry, 21 years, Huancayo, parents in Italy)

However, co-caregivers may also feel over-burdened with their responsibilities or lose control over the children as they grow older. Under these conditions, the pres7

Researchers have shown that non-migrant children’s reactions and perspectives related to emigration also differ according to their age (Dreby 2007; Coe 2012; Bonizzoni/Boccagni 2013). My research does not go into an analysis of these age differences. Many young people were already grown up at the moment of interviewing and may have changed their perspectives on migration. Considering these changes, however, would go beyond the scope of my study.

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ence of additional caregivers may not be sufficient to ensure the children’s emotional support and upbringing. This is also due to the frequent instability of these arrangements, which might impact children negatively, especially when they rotate between different households and caregivers and have no clear idea who is the person of authority (Herrera/Carrillo 2009). In short, children left behind are deeply affected and vulnerable to their parents’ absences. At the same time, children are not powerless but influence and participate in various ways in the process of migration, as previous studies have shown (Orellana/ Thorne/Chee 2001; Dreby 2007; Bonizzoni 2012; Bonizzoni/Leonini forthcoming). Children’s negative reactions to migration may influence the decisions of migrant parents and family migration trajectories more broadly. In accordance with these perspectives, my study shows that migrant parents as well as other migrants are attentive observers of children’s reactions, seek to influence children in positive ways, and may also decide to return or to speed up family reunification when they feel that children have emotional, behavioral, or educational difficulties because of migration. This is revealed by the case of Maya, the 15 year-old daughter of Elsa (6.2.1). Maya was left with her grandparents in Huancayo at the age of thirteen, when her mother joined her two migrant sisters Anabel and Gabriela in Italy. While she got along well with her grandparents, Maya suffered from her mother’s absence and her grades at school worsened considerably. Anabel and her sisters therefore pressured Maya from afar to be disciplined and make “good” use of the money sent by her mother. In addition, Elsa returned several times very shortly after emigration and stayed with her daughter for several months. This was possible because Elsa had emigrated with a regular visa. Talking to me in Huancayo, Maya proudly told me about her good grades and the effort she was making at school to please her mother. While she talks to her mother every day, Maya keeps missing her: “I live with my grandparents. But sometimes I miss the advice of my mother. It’s not the same.” Still, her mother’s visits, in addition to frequent transnational communication, have helped her cope with emigration. However, there are many cases in which migrant parents are unable to visit or send for their children. Under these conditions, they have to ignore the wishes of children and co-caregivers left behind, who may feel powerless because of these people’s prolonged absence and react with feelings of resentment. This leads me back to the role of migration and employment regimes and the question of how the experiences of children left behind are affected by these regulations. In Chapter 6, I introduced the case of Susana, who migrated from Urubamba to Milan in 2006, leaving her five year-old son Roberto behind in the care of her parents. After Susana’s mother died, her son remained in the home of his grandfather, Aurelio. Susana’s sister Marianela, however, observed that Aurelio neglected the child so she agreed to take on the work of caring for Roberto. She took him to her

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home in Cuzco. Talking about her distant sister, Marianela expressed sadness and resentment. She complained that Susana neglected the financial and emotional care of Aurelio and Roberto. Her sister had left with the aim of caring for her family but ended up having a new partner and child. She promised to take Roberto to Italy, but had not even visited her son since she left the country. Marianela now cares for both Roberto and Aurelio. She says that their parents have raised and cared for them and have supported Susana’s migration by selling a piece of their land. In return, she believes her sister should have been present when her mother got sick and also has the duty to care for her widower father and son. The inability to meet these obligations leads to feelings of guilt on the part of Susana (6.3.1) and of disappointment on the part of her family left behind, who blame her for being a “bad” mother and daughter. During my stay in Peru, I arranged a meeting with Roberto (11 years old) in Urubamba. For his age, he appeared to be very independent and simultaneously quite reserved, especially when talking of his migrant mother. Asked whether he would like to join her in Italy, Roberto says that he would only go for a visit: “I would not get used to living there.” Rather, he expects his mother to come back to Peru. Marianela, during our interview in Cuzco, showed herself concerned about Roberto’s reactions to his mother’s emigration: “Roberto is not calm. [...] His grades are very good, but recently he has worsened again. And that was because Roberto complained that his mother just called to tell him that she had deposited the money, but did not ask how he was doing, nor talk to him with affection, as a mother should talk to a son. And for me that’s shocking at times to see my nephew in this condition. Now what Roberto needs is psychological treatment. That’s what the teacher told us, that he needs a psychologist to make him talk. Because Roberto’s behavior is unstable. There are moments in which he is doing well and there are moments of rebelliousness.” (Marianela, 27 years, Cuzco, sister in Italy)

As suggested here, Roberto’s resentment and rebelliousness is not a response to migration as such, but to the difficulty of maintaining an intimate relationship to his mother, a relationship that has reduced itself to the material dimensions of caregiving. Not only phone calls but also remittances sent by his mother have declined and become irregular and the clothes she sends from Italy do not match Roberto’s actual size. Furthermore, Roberto’s negative reactions are also related to his mother’s prolonged absence, associated with the formation of a new household in Italy, financial difficulties, and the obstacles posed toward family reunification. For transnational children like Roberto, gifts are an important way of relating to their absent parent(s) and are taken as a sign of whether the parents are still concerned about them from a distance (see also Herrera 2008c). Transnational children and caregivers often compare the amount and type of gifts received from abroad, as mentioned by Marianela, when she talks about two other transnational children

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from her neighborhood in Cuzco: “I feel envy when I see those children—look, one of them is already twenty nine and the other twenty six, and their mother sends them high-quality clothes.” When gifts such as clothes do not match the taste or size of these children, as in the case of Roberto, they become a forceful sign of children’s alienation from migrant parents, which occurs due to prolonged periods of separation. Talking to Susana’s father Aurelio, I noted similar reactions of resentment. In his words, Susana “plays the indifferent” and has left him alone. When his daughter emigrated to Italy, her aim was to make money and support her family, not to have another child and family, he complains. Beyond this, Aurelio also criticizes the fact that she has not helped Marianela to join her in Italy in order to support the family. As revealed by this case, co-caregivers as well as children and parents are deeply affected by obstacles posed to transnational caregiving, as examined before. Caregivers and other family members in Peru are seldom aware of the constraints faced by migrants abroad and may think that migrants don’t want to send remittances, visit them, or reunify their children, and that their plans and promises are volatile and unreliable. In this context, the formation of new families in the receiving country causes additional resentment and feelings of abandonment. As outlined in Chapter 6, the formation of new households in Italy may be a response to the migrants’ loneliness and prolonged separation from their families of origin, but also raises new problems that are difficult to reconcile with the migrants’ transnational care responsibilities. The first to suffer from these difficulties are family dependents with intense care needs who stay behind, such as children and parents. Similar problems may emerge due to the inability of Peruvian migrant parents to obtain residence status in Italy, which also inhibits their ability to visit their children in the country of origin. In the case of mothers who migrated legally, by means of a visa for employment or family reunification, or who obtained residence status soon after entering the country, visits in Peru occurred relatively soon, at times one or two years after emigration. These reunions allowed them to maintain higher levels of intimacy with non-migrant children, as compared to those who stayed away for many years. In addition, frequent visists allowed non-migrant children and caregivers to be more informed about the mothers’ living and working conditions abroad. Based on this knowledge, they appreciated their effort and developed a relatively positive perspective on migration, despite the costs it involved. Veronica, who has been living in Milan since 2008, found it difficult to separate herself from her daughter, parents, and siblings in Urubamba (6.2.1). Still, in the four years of her stay in Italy, she has visited her family three times. This was possible because she migrated with a legal work contract. In Italy, she has a new partner—an Italian citizen who joined her during her visits and was well received by her family and daughter in Urubamba. Talking about migration, Veronica’s daughter Grecia (13 years old) is content with her mother’s decision to leave and support

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her family economically. Emigration has also become an issue of discussion at school, where she has presented a positive attitude in front of others: “We were talking a bit at school, because we always have debates. Some are against migration and others are in favor. Some say that they are against because when people leave [...] their family will suffer, all that. And well, I am in favor because there are a lot of needs that people want to fulfill, I mean people need more things to live, better things for their families, so they want to leave to search for a job. [...] So I think yes, my mother has made a good choice.” (Grecia, 13 years, Urubamba, mother in Italy)

Veronica’s elder sister Angelica mentions the importance of her sister’s legal migration status as a tranquilizing factor for all those who are left behind: “This calms us down, her legality over there.” In addition, Veronica’s new relationship with an Italian partner is not a source of concern but rather taken as a positive sign: Veronica is not left alone in Italy. According to her other sister, Angeles, Grecia has suffered a lot from her mother’s absence, but finally accepted and appreciates her mother’s stay abroad, because she can be sure that her mother will visit her every year, in addition to maintaining daily communication. This is different in the case of some of her classmates whose parents have also migrated to Italy. As Grecia told me: Grecia: “There are some who only come after five years, yeah, I mean, they don’t come for holidays like my mom. And it must be... sad, yeah.” Anna: “Mm hmm. And do they tell you about how they are doing, I mean do they tell you a little bit about the situation of their parents?” Grecia: “Yeah, but the parents of my classmates by contrast don’t call them, so it’s not the same.” (Grecia, 13 years, Urubamba, mother in Italy)

My research also found many other cases of mothers who migrated or resided in Italy under illegal conditions for several years. For this reason, as noted by Grecia, many years passed until mothers visited their families for the first time. In such cases, the prolonged inability of parents to reunite with their children becomes a source of frustration on the part of children, parents, and those caring for the children. A telling example is the case of Nataly (6.2.1), who left two children with her mother Hilda in Urubamba. In her case, five and a half years passed after emigration before Nataly obtained her residence status and was finally able to visit the two children. When I met Hilda and Nataly’s children, Daniel (15 years old) and Susy (13 years old), the latter were quite reserved and serious. Asked about their mother’s migration, both children reacted with silence. This may be due to the presence of their grandmother, who was dominating our conversation, but can also be interpreted as a sign of resentment, that was reported by other family members and neighbors. Ve-

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ronica’s sister Angeles, for instance, had heard that Daniel and Susy were a bit “rebellious” and had grown up “with a lack of affection” due to their mother’s inability to visit or send for her children. The reactions observed regarding children like Roberto, Daniel, and Susy strongly reflect the importance of migration regimes in shaping the experiences of transnational children left in Peru. The most frequent signs are feelings of abandonment, frustration, disappointment, and powerlessness on the part of children, as well as increases in the responsibility and workload of non-migrant co-caregivers. In her analysis of the Cape Verdean case, Drotbohm (2013) comes to very similar conclusions. Accordingly, precarious living and working conditions, illegal residence, and new family relations and responsibilities of emigrant mothers are conditions that may lead to an unexpected prolongation of the separation from children left behind, neglect of the mothers’ financial duties, and breaking contact with those who stay behind. The consequences of these situations are that non-migrant children struggle with disappointment, immobility, and the fear of abandonment. Hence, Drotbohm concludes that “strict international migration regimes reproduce the boundaries of the nation state within the realm of the family and act against the desired permeability of social belonging and the agency of the fostered children” (Drotbohm 2013: 196). In a similar vein, available research on transnational family practices between the Andean region and Europe as well as the United States has pointed to the influence of the political action of the sending and receiving countries and, in particular, of migration regimes in shaping transnational family relations, by constantly redefining the rights and living conditions not only of migrants but also of family members left behind (Parella/Cavalcanti 2010; see also Herrera 2008a; 2008b; Araujo 2010). These studies, however, provide little insight into the ways in which political frameworks actually shape the lives and perspectives of those who stay behind. Here, I would like to add that in the Peruvian case, the unpredictability of transnational care arrangements emerges as a result of several intersecting regimes. In other words, the growing importance of migration regimes is accompanied by unequal gender and care regimes, which already pose a series of challenges to local caregiving practices. In addition to showing the persistence of the gendered division of labor, my research reflects the continued privatization of care provision in the sending localities of migration, which has to be considered for understanding not only the motivations behind Peruvian migration but also its implications for children and caregivers as well as parents left behind. As noted by Anderson (2010b) in a study of global care chains in Peruvian migration to Chile and Spain, the challenges posed to transnational caregiving add to the the existing deficiencies in the organization of care work faced by Peruvian families in general (4.3.2), with the frequent consequence that care needs are not met in communities and neighbor-

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hoods with high emigration rates. According to this author, these care deficits (“el no cuidado”) should be addressed by social programs and policies. So far, however, the limited scope and efficiency of migration policies and their separation from social policies leads to the Peruvian state’s continued absence from or distance toward its emigrants and their transnational family members (see also Villanueva 2010). This is a general problem in the Andean region, where the interest in the feminization of migration and its consequences has remained marginal in the discourse of both state and civil society and in public and social policy agendas (4.3.6; see also Anderson 2007b; Herrera 2011). Experts interviewed in Peru also noted that school teachers, church representatives, as well as inhabitants of neighborhoods and villages are seldom aware of the social consequences of migration.8 Thus, discussions of migration at schools, as mentioned by Grecia, seem to be an exception. Members of transnational households themselves often contribute to this lack of awareness by maintaining the strong association of migration and ideas of progress and success in public. Under these circumstances, migrants and their children, parents, and co-caregivers left in Peru have few possibilities to address their needs by means of support services external to the immediate family network (Ansión/Mujica/Villacorta 2008; Alvites 2011). These problems are aggravated by the political and institutional frameworks of receiving countries like Italy, which restrict the migrants’ transnational and local care practices. In many ways, the experiences of parents left in Peru are shaped by similar constraints and uncertainties, as I will show in the following section. 7.4.2 “No One Eats”: Parents Left Behind In empirical studies on migration in Peru and other sending countries, the perspectives of parents left behind have received only marginal attention.9 Shown by my interviews with parents left in Peru, their views of their children’s emigration differ according to previous migration experiences in the family, social class, gender and intergenerational norms, as well as care needs linked to the process of aging.

8

Interviews with Juan Ansión and Ana María Villacorta (PUCP, Lima, 02.03.2012), Miriam Torres (Forum Solidaridad Perú, Lima, 15.03.2012), and Juan Carlos Campos Aquelino (CEIDHU, Huancayo, 28.03.2012). As mentioned in Chapter 3, transnational families are often afraid of criminal assaults, deportation, or gossip about the possible lack of success of migration and therefore tend not to talk about these issues in the public (3.4.1).

9

One of the few studies conducted in Peru in 2007 is the survey “Aging in a Context of International Migration,” which includes data on elderly non-migrant members of transnational families in Junín (Bruine et al. 2013).

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First, there seem to be differences according to previous migration experiences and the families’ place of residence. As many of the migrants’ parents interviewed in Lima were themselves internal migrants who had settled in the capital mainly to improve their living conditions, the migration experience was not completely new. Still, the concept of migration was still new for the younger generations in these families who were mostly born in the capital. This was different in the case of most family members interviewed in Huancayo and even more so in Cuzco and Urubamba, who had always resided in the same place. Parents and other transnational family members interviewed in these areas often stressed the importance of family unity, based on the physical co-presence of all family members. In their narratives, material improvement was not always considered important and at times not even mentioned at all. Veronica’s mother Ingrid, a peasant woman and mother of five children interviewed in Urubamba, found it hard to accept the emigration of her daughter to Italy. Asked about how she felt after Veronica’s departure, Ingrid says: “It hurt a lot, I cried a lot, yes, it’s as though you’ve lost a daughter [...] Because none of my daughters have gone far away. In my family almost all of us are here.” (Ingrid, 62 years, Urubamba, 1 daughter in Italy)

In the words of Ingrid’s daughter Angeles, Veronica’s migration has been painful for both of her parents, who are very attached to their children, as most parents in the Peruvian Andes are: “My mother cried, she was worried, and my father too. Of course he did not show his worries, but we knew that inside he was suffering, I mean he was worried [...] as any parent here. We are very attached to our family, parents are very, very protective.” (Angeles, 31 years, Urubamba, sister in Italy)

The strong emphasis on family bonds based on physical proximity, revealed here, is also common in the narratives of other transnational family members interviewed in the Peruvian highlands, including not only parents but also siblings left behind. It can be interpreted as a sign of the strength of kinship bonds in the Andes and of “co-residence, a physical closeness coupled with sharing the daily tasks of the home,” which responds to what Leinaweaver (2008a: 3; 155) calls “the fear of loneliness” as “a foundational and motivational piece of Andean kinship, its raison d’être.” To some extent, these reactions can also be observed among parents interviewed in the capital, although these parents have already lived the consequences of internal migration. Most parents interviewed in Peru therefore talk about their children’s absence with sadness and resignation, but expect emigrant children to come back to accompany them as they are getting old and frail. This was also noted by Augusto and

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Faustina, who were left behind in Huancayo and are the parents of the migrant sisters Anabel, Gabriela, and Elsa. The couple has five children in Italy and one daughter in Argentina who call and visit them from time to time. “What else can we do?”, Augusto says, suggesting that he has resigned himself to their children’s absence. At the same time, he expects his daughters in particular to come back because he and his wife are getting older. They have left to improve their economic situation, but once they achieve this aim, Augusto believes they should return to comply with their role as daughters. Here, I would like to stress that beyond the differences that may exist according to geographical location and any previous experience with family migration, the perspectives of parents are also shaped by class and gender. At first, parents of lower or lower-middle class backgrounds are often in favor of their children’s emigration, which is considered as a means of improving their socioeconomic status (4.3.4). This is well reflected by the case of Teresa, who openly supports and celebrates her daughter’s stay abroad: “It was a godsend that my daughter left because we had no money, we were lacking money.” The construction of migration as a form of upward socioeconomic and ethnic mobility is strongly reproduced by the ways in which non-migrants talk about migration and, in this respect, my findings coincide with those of others who have studied the views of transnational family members left in Peru (Tamagno 2003; Ansión/Mujica/ Villacorta 2008; Romero et al. 2010). Similar to migrant parents and their children, parents left behind often consider emigration as a possibility for their children to become professionals, accede to higher salaries, and thereby improve the educational possibilities and welfare of their children and grandchildren. Thus, parents left behind also often mention satisfaction about material improvement, including better housing conditions, material comfort, and access to medicine and healthcare services. In addition, notions of progress are shaped not only by class and race/ethnicity but also by gender, which has received less attention in empirical studies of migration in Peru. Mothers like Teresa constantly project hopes and expectations onto their daughters to become “better” mothers by moving upward on the social scale. While Teresa has a working class background, middle-class mothers may also construct their daughters’ migration as movements that affirm their own identities and raise their social status as mothers. This is tied to the idea that migration will allow their daughters to accede to professional experience and higher salaries that, in turn, will enable them to provide “better” care to their children. Paula, the mother of Nora (6.2.1), may be cited as an example here. Together with her husband Alberto, Paula migrated from Ayacucho to Lima, where they share a spacious house in the district of Ate Vitarte. In addition to having one of their daughters in Italy, the elderly couple has two daughters in the United States. Talking about their emigration, Paula displays pride and satisfaction:

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“At my age I feel, let’s say, already thankful to God that I’ve accomplished by mission. I do, as a mother, as a mother, right? Why? Because I go back in my life... my mother, let’s say, a rural, illiterate, ignorant woman from the Sierra, a widow with five children... never, as an illiterate woman, never worried to make us all study, she didn’t worry. I was raised in an orphanage, because my mother, as a woman, wanted the best for me. [...] So when I form my family and I have my daughters, we two [she and her husband; A.S.], we are poor and we gave the best to them. [...] The children of her [her daughter in Italy; A.S.] will be others, much better than the grandmother, much better than the mother. Because I know who my daughters are. Because they are professionals, you see.” (Paula, 60 years, Lima, 1 daughter in Italy, 2 daughters in the USA)

Paula considers her own and her daughters’ migration as a way by which her family gradually moves upward on the social status scale. While her own migration marks a first improvement in terms of her class, racial-ethnic, and gender status, her daughters’ international migration is associated with yet another improvement, despite the actual working and living conditions of her daughters abroad. In Paula’s narrative, it seems to be of little importance that Nora works as a caregiver for the elderly and cleaner in Italy rather than in a field related to her professional qualification as a teacher. As mentioned in previous parts of this study, migration also enters into tension with gendered family ideals based on intimate relationships of co-presence, especially between mothers and their children. These gender ideologies are reflected in the perspectives not only of children but also of mothers left behind. Again, they are associated with motherhood ideals, centered on the “sacralization” of women’s maternal, domestic roles (6.2.1; see also Lagarde 2003; Dreby 2006; Menjívar 2012), and their importance in shaping transnational caregiving strategies and perspectives on migration. On one hand, non-migrant mothers are often active promoters of migration. This supportive role also stands in contrast to that of fathers and men more generally, who are less involved in and at times excluded from the negotiation of migration plans. On the other hand, similar to migrant mothers who care for their children from afar, mothers who stay behind tend to display a high degree of sadness, suffering, and guilt about their children’s absence, regardless of whether the absent child is a daughter or son. These reactions are strongly related to their gender and intergenerational roles within the family. Monica, an aging mother of three children who was interviewed in Huancayo, talked for more than an hour about her sadness from being separated from her migrant son Eduardo (6.2.4). Similar to her son, interviewed in Milan, she mentions declining levels of intimacy and personal alienation, which she realized most strongly when Eduardo came back for a visit ten years after his emigration: “It was like embracing a stranger,” she repeats several times. Monica also feels guilty, because, as she told me, Jesús keeps blaming her for signing the document that per-

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mitted their son’s migration, who was still a minor at the age of seventeen when he left the country: “Even today he complains and tells me: ‘You signed the departure of my son! You are responsible, you are to be blamed for his departure!’” While twenty years have passed since Eduardo’s emigration, in Monica’s narrative, the sadness and loneliness caused by her son’s departure was the omnipresent issue throughout the entire interview held during my visit to her home in Huancayo: “Even a chalet or skyscraper would not... would not compensate the distancing of a child, would not compensate being close to them. What should I do in a house? Imagine I were alone. I would prefer them by my side to living alone, in nice walls, on a nice floor, all that, but alone, in solitude. [...] What do parents want? They want them close, to see them. But that’s life, what can we do! It’s sad! That’s how I feel. That’s why I don’t want my daughter to leave. Not at all. I’ve told her already. If you leave, leave the day that I die, but not earlier.” (Monica, 61 years, Huancayo, son in Italy)

Another case is Laura, who has raised five children in her hometown of Urubamba. When her daughter Noehmi decided to emigrate to Milan in 2005 to help her siblings and parents financially, Laura was opposed to the decision but finally resigned herself to her daughter’s migration. In tears, Laura talked about her daughter’s absence: “As a mother I felt empty... Almost two years I suffered her absence [cries]... I’ve repented... having said, ‘yes, okay, just go.’ So far away... without the support of anyone... How could I let my daughter go! I would have had to say, ‘you don’t have anyone, you don’t know anyone!’... At the same time, I’ve felt guilty for allowing her to leave, for telling her, ‘okay, take that money, if you want, just go.’” (Laura, 54 years, Urubamba, daughter in Italy)

Laura’s husband Ramón, for his part, stresses the idea that for a mother like Laura it is “normal” to suffer the absence of a daughter: “Of course, as a mother, she always feels sorrow for her daughter. Every time we come together at the table to receive our meals, she gets filled with despair: ‘how is it possible that my daughter is not here for me to serve her and for us to eat together!’ she says. [...] That’s how she as a mother has to suffer about her as well.” (Ramón, 58 years, Urubamba, daughter in Italy)

While Ramón was sad and worried at the moment his daughter’s departure, he stresses first and foremost his pride and satisfaction about Noehmi’s stay abroad and constructs a positive image of his daughter’s migration: “She [his daughter; A.S.] left well prepared. She is happy and content with her work, she feels like another Italian.” This stands in sharp contrast to the way Laura and her second daugh-

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ter Katherine talk about Noehmi’s stay abroad, which is focused on Noehmi’s experiences of discrimination and mistreatment as a domestic worker in Italy and corresponds to what Noehmi told me about her work experiences when interviewed in Italy. Apparently, Laura and Katherine talk to Noehmi more often, when she calls them from Italy. Shown by these observations, parents’ reactions to migration are deeply gendered. These reactions parallel the blaming and guilt of transnational migrant mothers and are closely related to gendered ideals of motherhood that are challenged by migration (6.2.1; see also Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001; Parreñas 2001b). As in the case of migrant mothers, the emigration of their children enters into conflict with gender ideals, according to which mothers should be close to their children. This is also mentioned by Delia (48 years old, from Ayacucho), mother of Luis (6.2.4), who was left behind in Lima, San Juan de Lurigancho. Talking about her son, she says that no day passes without her crying about her son’s absence, as, in her words, “as a mother you cannot live without your child.” Her relationship to her children differs from that to her husband, who “el esposo nada más” (“is just the husband, nothing more”). Her children, in contrast, will always be her children—“los hijos son los hijos” (“children are children”)—and therefore, it is impossible not to think about them night and day. This explains why non-migrant mothers seek higher levels of communication with their emigrant children than many fathers do, and are better informed about their children’s living and working conditions abroad, as suggested by the case of Laura. These ambiguous positions and reactions of mothers left behind reflect the persistence of a family model in which mothers play a powerful role, not only as caregivers for children and husbands, but also as decision makers in all aspects related to the household and children (Lagarde 2003). While motherhood is one of the aspects of women’s lives that has changed most substantially in Peru since the second half of the 20th century (4.3.2), it has been shown that across social classes and different regions of the country, motherhood continues to be the most effective way for women to acquire status and social prestige as adults and constitutes the sphere that mediates their work decisions and life plans in a broader sense (Fuller 2004). In caring for children and partners, mothers also exert power, control, and authority, which is not easily ceded to others. This construction of motherhood, however, is threatened where children move to distant places and mothers are no longer able to care for their children as they used to do. Therefore, mothers attempt to reassert their roles as mothers in a similar way that migrant mothers in Italy do when they leave their children behind.10

10 These findings resonate with research on Peruvian mothers left behind by emigrant husbands in Lima, who cease their paid jobs to dedicate themselves solely to their

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During my stay in the sending localities of migration, I noticed that the suffering of mothers was not always verbally expressed, but also transmitted more subtly. This may be shown by some reflections on my experience of co-residence with a couple of transnational parents in Urubamba. My hosts, Apolonio and Zenaida, worked as farmers and merchants and were approaching the age of eighty. What distinguished this couple from other farming families in the Sacred Valley was the simple fact that six out of their seven adult children were in Italy. Yuri, their only son left in Peru, still lived with his parents but worked in tourism and was rarely at home. My stay with Apolonio and Zenaida was a valuable experience that helped me understand the frequent silence I encountered when studying migration in Peru. In fact, what I found most interesting in their case was not the visible effects of migration that, by the way, were quite limited, but rather the hidden and often nonverbal signs of their children’s absence, which could only be discovered over time. One observation is sufficient to make this clear: while the elderly couple seldom talked about their distant children, nor did anything special that indicated their transnational presence (apart from receiving calls from time to time), Zenaida’s most central concern was to make me eat. She liked to cook but unlike in the past, she just served two types of dishes: oatmeal in the morning and a vegetable soup and plate of corn at lunch. “Nadie come” (“No one eats”), she repeatedly complained, as hardly anyone was left with whom to share the table. Her husband was the only person to be served every day. She scolded him whenever he did not want a second portion. One day, Zenaida burst into tears. She had cooked an abundant meal and complained that neither her son nor I had stayed for lunch. “No-one eats,” she repeated, with tears in her eyes. I explained that my research also required visits to other families, who expected me to stay for lunch or dinner, too. Actually Zenaida did not give much attention to the reasons for my absence. Cooking for and serving lunch to someone means having someone to care for and talk to while the person sits down to eat. Not having anyone to serve is tantamount to loneliness. In this and many other cases, like that of Laura, daily meals are key moments in which mothers realize that in the absence of their children, they are no longer able to comply with their role as caring mothers who cook for and share daily meals with their children. As one expert interviewed in Lima told me, “food is a demonstration of love, of affection.” This practice of care is disrupted in the context of physical separation. Mothers left behind therefore compensate the absence of one or more children by displacing their attention to those who are still left (or stay with them for some time, as Zenaida did while I was staying in her home) and may also be excessively caring and protective toward children left behind, especially when children and thereby reproduce their motherhood roles through a practice of “intensive mothering” (Bastia/Busse 2011: 31).

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migrant children come to visit in Peru. Martín, one of Zenaida’s emigrant sons, visits his parents every year and notes that his parents control every single one of his activities during the days he stays with them in Urubamba. He also mentions frequent complaints by his brother Yuri who, at the age of nearly forty, is still expected to be present for the meals and to inform his parents when he leaves the home. Overall, caregiving is a central practice through which Peruvian mothers construct their identities and which is reaffirmed in response to migration. For these mothers, it is not so much a “care deficit” or “removal” of care, as often mentioned in research literature (e.g., Hochschild 2003), but the inability to care which becomes a source of pain and suffering. This explains why many of these mothers welcome the possibility to assume caring tasks for grandchildren or other dependents left behind. In addition, while sending parcels via post is expensive, some mothers also make use of any possibility to send parcels with food via friends of their migrant children who travel between the places of origin and destination. When I visited Juana (53 years old) in her home in Huancán, a rural neighborhood close to Huancayo, she was preparing cancha (toasted corn) and fried bowels for her migrant daughter in Italy. One of her daughter’s friends had come to visit her family in Huancayo and would take the food with her back to Milan. Similar practices were reported by other mothers left behind in Peru. Danilo’s mother Angelica in Lima sends Peruvian products to her migrant son whenever a friend or acquaintance travels between both countries. She cooks a cuy (guinea pig, a common and popular part of Peruvian cuisine), freezes it, and sends it frozen to her son in Italy. Sonia, the mother cited in Chapter 6, travels with loads of Peruvian food products when she visits her children in Italy. She carries loaves of bread, artisan cheese, Peruvian fruits and vegetables, and several bottles of Pisco. So far, she has always been lucky that airlines and security controls have allowed her to carry these products and the resulting heavy baggage.11 Food was never missing in my visits to Peruvian families. As revealed here, it is also sent to distant places as a means by which mothers demonstrate their love for emigrant children. Based on these “practices of connectivity” (Tamagno 2003), by which they seek to maintain the emotional bond to distant children, non-migrant mothers reaffirm their gender and intergenerational roles. Overall, the perspectives and practices of these mothers draw attention to their agency as transnational caregivers not only of grandchildren in Peru but also of other family members and their distant migrant children. 11 Visiting migrant children also bring food when they go to Peru such as parmesan cheese, olive oil, wine, and chocolates, and take heaps of Peruvian food with them when they return to Italy. These practices reflect the significance of food as a means of transmitting affection.

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Compared to non-migrant mothers, fathers seem to be less involved in transnational caregiving practices, not only as providers of personal care but also as caregivers at a distance. This reveals parallels to the care practices of migrant mothers and fathers. Both migrant and non-migrant mothers play a more active role as caregivers on both local and transnational levels, as compared to their male partners, although there are still exceptions. Augusto, for instance, says that he is the one who assumes most of the practical care of his granddaughter Maya, mainly because his wife Faustina is old and frail. Again, fathers left behind, similar to brothers, seem to be more actively involved where mothers are unable to care because of old age and illness. In short, the strategies of fathers left behind also reflect a reproduction of the gendered division of care, which is only challenged where women become unavailable as caregivers. This unavailability, however, often produces inner conflicts and struggles, which reflect how the process of aging becomes another important factor in shaping parents’ reactions to migration. In the final part of this section, I therefore examine the ways in which the positions of non-migrant parents are shaped by their age and bodily conditions. While coping with their children’s absence, several elderly people left behind are also struggling with deteriorated health conditions that are tied to the process of aging. Under these conditions, dependent parents left in Peru expect their own children to take care of them during old age and are often reluctant to accept a paid worker. Josefina’s mother Irene, for instance, did not want a live-in caregiver in her home, but finally resigned herself to her children’s decision to hire one. Still, she expects not only Josefina but also her other children to visit and keep her company. Irene enjoys the visits of her migrant children, but also feels sad about her inability to attend to them as usual: “When they come I feel sad because I cannot attend to them as I’d like, I just look at them like a fool.”12 Irene says. Due to migration and old age, Irene feels that she can no longer comply with her role as a caring mother. Overall, the experiences of parents left behind suggest that geographical distance and old age are also associated with decreasing levels of authority and increased dependency upon children, which are not easily accepted. Several parents interviewed for this research were reluctant to make themselves financially dependent on their migrant children. Edith, who has received much support from her son Ernesto (6.2.4), at some point started to refuse the money as well as gifts he offered, because she wanted to remain independent. Ernesto had wanted to buy a washing machine for her, but she feared that would make her become “ociosa” (“idle”). Similar to other aging parents interviewed, Edith continues to work as long as she can to avoid feeling inactive and lonely. Antonio (6.2.2) mentioned that his mother had worked as a street vendor in Callao until a few years before she died. He and his two sisters in Italy sent money and hired a caregiver for her. Their mother, how12 Note: This quote was translated from Quechua with the help of a native speaker.

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ever, only accepted a live-out caregiver and made every effort to maintain her independence. In short, not all parents who stay behind actually want to be helped at a distance (see also Zechner 2008). Thus, what some observers would call “abandonment” might not always be perceived as such by the parents involved. These parents may experience losses of independence and authority and might feel lonely, due to both migration and old age, but continue to be agents who actively shape the transnational care practices that follow emigration, similar to the younger generations. As in the case of children, the reactions of aging parents may also influence and induce changes in the care and long-term migration strategies of some migrants. This is shown by decisions to support the migration of aging parents, although these processes also involve a reproduction of intergenerational dependencies, as argued in Chapter 6 (6.3.2). Alternatively, migrants may opt for visits or return to their countries of origin to attend to the needs of their parents or accompany them during old age or a sudden illness. Liana (66 years old) decided to return to her hometown of Cuzco after more than twenty years in Italy, because all her siblings were living abroad and her widow mother Ana felt lonely in the absence of her children. Ana has traveled to Italy several times but cannot get used to living in another country. In addition, she is getting older, but does not want anyone other than her children to take care of her. For this reason, Liana finally decided to return and accompany her mother in Cuzco. In her words: “We can’t let my mother suffer any longer, we can’t. [...] My mother can’t be left alone, it’s getting quite difficult. At any moment if she gets sick, anything can happen and she did have problems. People wanted to swindle her, she had an accident. She shouldn’t be alone, she needs company. And my mother doesn’t want anyone to come and take care of her. Either their children or no one.” (Liana, 66 years, Cuzco, 4 siblings, in Italy and France)

Other transnational family members mentioned emergency visits from migrants in Peru, which were linked to the sudden disease or death of a parent left behind. Visits to parents, children, and other family members, however, are also constrained by the migrants’ legal and socioeconomic status. In fact, the increasing tendency toward family reunification and the formation of new households in the receiving country have limited the migrants’ ability to financially support parents left in Peru or to finance visits to the home country (6.3.2). As a consequence, parents who are unable or reluctant to migrate themselves may have to wait for many years or even decades until their children visit them in Peru, especially when these migrants do not leave their own children behind in the sending localities of migration. A consequence of these prolonged separations is the personal alienation of adult children and aged parents, as revealed in the case of Aurelio, cited in the previous section. This, again, reveals that in addition to gender, class, and age, living and working

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conditions, which are tied to labor and migration regimes, are also central in shaping the experiences of the migrants’ parents. What can be concluded from the findings presented in this section? First, it becomes evident that parents left behind, particularly mothers, are both care receivers and caregivers, not only to grandchildren but also to their distant migrant children. Through these multiple positions, which are seldom addressed in empirical research, non-migrant parents actively shape the process of migration. At the same time, parents have to renegotiate these roles in light of a decline in and loss of power, which are linked both to old age and the structural constraints involved in transnational migration and caregiving. In this context, the agency and emotional bonds of these parents, similar to those of children and caregivers, are constained by absent social services (in both the sending and receiving contexts) and restrictive regulations of the receiving state(s). In addition, transnational care strategies are based on the continuity of the gendered division of care labor. Consequently, the wellbeing of parents, like that of children, continues to depend on the availability of women both as transnational caregivers and household caregivers in the countries of origin.

7.5 C ONCLUSION In this chapter, I have examined the ambiguous social effects of Peruvian transnational migration to Italy, as revealed in the experiences and perspectives of transnational caregivers, children, and parents left in Peru. The data collected in the sending localities of migration complements and contributes to several findings presented in the previous chapter. It supports the central argument, presented in Chapter 6, according to which migration and transnational care practices between Peru and Italy involve a reproduction of intrafamilial inequalities, supported by the policies and institutional frameworks of both sending and receiving countries. More importantly, the data shows that the positions of non-migrants are deeply affected by these frameworks. First, this is revealed by new dependency relations between Peruvian migrants in Italy and co-caregivers in the sending households of migration. The latter may derive a series of (material/practical/emotional) benefits from assuming the work of caregiving in the absence of the migrant, but their work is largely unpaid or poorly paid and less valued than the transnational care provided by migrants from abroad. Thus, non-migrant caregivers are in a position of dependency on the migrants: while they are central reference persons for children and parents left behind and may influence their wellbeing as well as the migrants’ decisions, they are still ex-

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cluded from the processes of primary decision-making and may provide this work for many years, usually without any compensation beyond small gratuities. Second, migration also produces ambiguous consequences for children and parents left behind. In both cases, migration may facilitate their access to resources such as money, goods, and paid care services, but also involves emotional strains and, at times, experiences of powerlessness, which are aggravated by unequal gender, care, labor, and migration regimes. Non-migrant children and aged parents are most vulnerable to the restrictions faced by Peruvian migrants as workers and residents in Italy as well as to the changes in migration plans that respond to these conditions. This is clearly revealed by negative reactions to a lack of material support, prolonged absences and separations, and declining levels of intimacy between migrants and non-migrants that emerge as a consequence of legal and socioeconomic problems. At the same time, negative reactions to migration also reflect the continuity of gender and intergenerational norms, which are challenged by migration. This is clearly shown by the gendered care practices of mothers left behind. Similar to caregivers, non-migrant children and parents are not passive victims of migration processes, but rather influence the migrants’ decisions from afar. As shown throughout this chapter, however, the privatization of care in both sending and receiving states as well as restrictive migration policies may cause feelings of powerlessness and abandonment on the part of those who are left behind. Overall, this shows how states contribute to a reproduction of socioeconomic and power asymmetries in transnational care chains between Peru and Italy, which divide the members of transnational families along the lines of class and place or status of residence, in addition to gender and generation. This chapter has revealed the social costs as well as new strategies that respond to migration, as reflected by the practices of family members who are left behind.

8. CONCLUSION

The starting point of this study considered the new interdependencies that emerge between households as migrants leave their countries and insert themselves into domestic work. The questions raised by my first encounters with Peruvian migrants in 2007 related to the experiences and daily practices of those who introduced themselves into Italian households as caregivers for the elderly while also caring for their transnational families. In the research process and analysis, I have literally followed the footsteps of these migrants by reconstructing the process of emigration, the employment relationships built in the receiving country, and transnational family relations that extend across both countries. The multi-sited practice of tracing connections between these multiple actors was a first and indispensable step for exploring a central question that has guided my analysis throughout this study: what interdependent inequalities emerge in transnational care chains between Peru and Italy? To address this question, I have proposed the global care chains concept (Hochschild 2000) as a relational unit of analysis for studying entangled inequalities (Costa 2013) between spatially dispersed individuals and households involved in meeting daily needs through a transfer of care work. In this final chapter, I seek to bring my findings together and to discuss the implications of transnational care chains for the reproduction of inequalities. Shared Needs, Aspirations, and Norms of Care What are the most important driving forces of the transnationalization of care that were identified in this study? A first central aspect that emerges from my results are the parallels in the needs and aspirations of families and individuals that are connected through the formation of care chains across borders. Both transnational and employer families in Italy and Peru share similar needs and aspirations for their daily reproduction and care. Both also struggle with the implications of “familiarized” care regimes and gender regimes, which rely on families and women as providers of welfare and care that compensate for the weakness of social and public policies. In Peru, this goes along with intersecting class, racial/ethnic, and gender inequalities,

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which have determined people’s access to social and public services and the socioeconomic resources needed for care provision. These have increased in the context of neo-liberal globalization and political and economic crises contributing to both Peruvian internal and international migration (Chapter 4). In Italy, the insufficiency of public and social services for a growing number of aged people in the context of demographic change has also been a central driving factor behind the hiring of paid migrant workers as caregivers for the elderly. This process is sustained by the Italian care regime and its preference for home-based rather than institutional care, which is maintained with the employment of home-based caregivers for the elderly (Chapter 5). At the same time, parallels are not only revealed in the needs but also in the aspirations of families and individuals in both countries; in this regard, my research reflects the importance of lifestyle and social status as driving factors of both the emigration of migrants and their employment as caretakers in private homes (see also Anderson 2000; 2001; Yeates 2009). On one hand, as I showed in Chapter 4, Peruvian emigration responds to the desire to achieve “progress.” Among the various groups of Peruvian migrants in Italy, this goes along with the desire (rather than need) to enhance the social status of their families, and their own status within the family, through an intensified practice of “commodified” care (Parreñas 2001a). In the case of women, migration also responds to the wish to become independent from oppressive gender and/or intergenerational relations, as revealed in Chapter 6. On the other hand, the employment of a migrant domestic worker may also be aspirational rather than just driven by functional need (see also Abbots 2012). The scholarship on global care chains often explains the hiring of migrant care workers with rising levels of female employment, which limits the time available for family care and domestic chores. From this perspective, the importance of non-labor market related factors such as those mentioned here have received only little attention (for a similar critique see Yeates 2009). In fact, in Italy, many women who employ caregivers stay outside of the labor market but expect to enhance their social status and independence by hiring a paid caregiver for the elderly. In both employer and transnational families, the transnationalization of care is also sustained by what Parreñas (2010: 130) calls the “force of domesticity”— the continued relegation care and housework to women or, in other words, the ideology of women’s domesticity. The latter is maintained and simultaneously challenged in the course of migration and becomes a source of new inequalities between women and, to some extent, between women and men. Before taking a closer look at the inequalities that have been identified in my study, I will point to some of the shared elements that have emerged from the analysis of gender inequalities, or rather the practices of “doing gender” that I have identified in care chains between Peru and Italy. Such practices could be observed among Italian female and male care managers and the elderly, and among Peruvian migrants and their family members.

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Whether as employers or transnational family members, women, to a higher extent than men, continue to struggle with gender norms that sacralize women’s domestic caregiving roles as daughters and/or mothers. Women extend rather than abandon these roles in becoming care managers (in the case of Italian employers and of migrant workers) and financial providers (in the case of migrant women). Empirical research on transnational families and care chains has tended to emphasize the absent or insufficient participation of men especially in unpaid domestic work (for a similar critique see Sarti/Scrinzi 2010). My study has revealed that men, at different ends of the chains, are not absent as paid and unpaid caregivers, but tend to assume different tasks as compared to women or tend to be more autonomous than women to decide as to what extent they get involved in paid or unpaid care. The caregiving tasks assumed by men comprise paid elderly care, where men are often assigned more circumscribed tasks compared to women, and financial provision (rather than practical, “hands-on” care) in the case of male transnational caregivers. While some men do assume the work of care management, or practical caregiving tasks as members of transnational families, they tend to do so only where no woman is available to assume this task. Yet, my results suggest that compared to men who are left behind, migrant men are required to a higher extent to subject themselves to new dependencies. As paid caregivers for the elderly, for instance, they assume tasks that involve not only physical but also emotional and practical dimensions of care work, and may also suffer from new dependencies and emotional strains. In dealing with such difficulties, however, they also develop a series of strategies to enhance their status as workers, reduce the level of emotional involvement in their relationships to employers, or move out of the elderly care sector (Chapter 5). In short, while migrant men are required to renegotiate their positions as they form part of new care relations, their strategies often contribute to a reassertion of gender roles. At the same time, my study has revealed resistance to a change in care norms that define women as being responsible for care provision or its management. These are found not only in absent or reduced male participation or absent social or public services, but also in the interpersonal practices of caregivers and receivers. This was most clearly shown by my analysis of transnational motherhood practices and, more specifically, the struggles of both migrant and non-migrant mothers in accepting the distance to their children, including the loss of authority and power that goes along with such distance (Chapters 6 and 7). The extension of the mothers’ own definitions of care through new forms of motherhood at a distance have revealed the suffering that goes along with the inability to provide care and the strategies by which mothers reassert their roles and power as caregivers. The practices of “care receivers,” i.e., the dependent elderly and children in transnational and employer households, have also drawn attention to the continuity of gender ideals, as revealed by the expectation to be cared for by a woman (Chapters 5 and 7).

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Importantly, the meanings of child and aged care are not the same and furthermore, the work of elderly care is more easily ceded to another person, woman or man, of a lower racial or ethnic status. In both employer and transnational households, the care of the dependent elderly is associated with hard work, intergenerational conflicts, and low social recognition. In this context, the commodification and ethnicization of elderly care, observed in employer households and in some sending-country households, reproduces the continued devaluation of the physical and more labor-intensive and/or psychologically demanding aspects of care work that are transferred to women or men of lower ethnic and national status (see also Jurczyk 2010; Hrženjak 2012). It is this overall context of shared needs, aspirations, and norms in which entangled inequalities are reproduced between regions, households, and individual members. These need to be further discussed in their implications for the various agents considered in this study. Entangled Inequalities in the Transnational Division of Care Work A central issue that I sought to address throughout the analysis of transnational care chains between Peru and Italy was related to the reorganization of care work between and within the households involved and one particular question that arises in this context: how are gender and intergenerational obligations renegotiated on the basis of interdependent inequalities between regions and different axes of stratification? What are the implications of this renegotiation for the transnational distribution of resources and power and emotional bonds built into these chains? To answer these questions, I have considered the practices, perspectives, and positions of both migrants and non-migrants and of caregivers and care receivers alike. My analysis has drawn attention to the renegotiation of care obligations through inequalities based not only on gender and generation but also on ethnicity, nationality, place of residence, class, age, citizenship, and migration status. First of all, the centrality of these inequalities was reflected by the strategies of Italian care managers, which, despite their variability, contribute to a naturalization of social inequalities between migrant workers and employers (Chapter 5). While female employers continue to hold the main responsibility for organizing and supervising care and housework and often remain in charge of the domestic chores and the care of children and husbands, the delegation of elderly care allows them to make choices unavailable to previous generations of women, and can therefore also be seen as a form of emancipation and privilege. This privilege is gained through practices of domination over migrant workers and the elderly, who are both affected by the consequences of long working hours, illegal employment, low salaries, and rights violations. As I have shown in Chapter 5, the migrants’ abilities to renegotiate these conditions are constrained by gender, migration status, level of work experience, and transnational care responsibilities, with the consequence that migrant women with elevated care responsibilities, especially when in illegal conditions, are

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most likely to subject themselves for long periods to precarious, labor-intensive, and often exploitative working conditions in the elderly care sector. New dependency relations were also observed in the migrants’ transnational families. The position of migrants within their own households is comparable to that of the care managers in employer households, as migrants hold the power of decision making over co-caregivers and dependent children or parents (Chapters 6 and 7). To some extent, co-caregivers (and similarly, also children and parents) may experience an increase in independence and benefit from the resources achieved through migration. In most cases, however, their care work tends to be unpaid or poorly compensated. Indeed, the importance attached to material or “commodified” care stands in contrast to the continued invisibility—physical and emotional—of domestic caregiving tasks assumed either for free or for small gratuities mostly by female family members (see also Herrera 2012a; 2012b). The exclusion of cocaregivers and receivers from decision making also becomes a vector of social inequality that may result in emotional strains. A cross-cutting element that needs to be stressed with regard to this new division of care labor is the tension that emerges due to the need to reconcile different types of care, including self care, and other kinds of paid and unpaid labor. Employers of migrant domestic workers are not generally in a better position to reconcile paid work and family life than migrant workers, but they do find themselves in a more privileged position than most female migrant workers. For migrant women, the simultaneity of local and transnational caregiving has important implications for their ability to meet their own care needs, an aspect of care that is explored less in empirical research on transnational migration (for a similar critique see Kofman/ Raghuram 2009). Hence, migrant mothers and some single women, but also migrant and non-migrant co-caregivers are particularly vulnerable to physical and psychological distress, linked to the frequent tendency to neglect their own care needs for the sake of their families’ wellbeing. At the same time, this study has revealed that migrant women, while reproducing gender roles, may also achieve higher levels of autonomy and emancipation. As argued by Benería (2008: 10), the introduction of migrant women into paid care work along with their new role in maintaining the family through remittances, represents an increase in the women’s individual and financial autonomy and may also contribute to a process of “undoing gender.” My research has shown that for both mothers and childless women, the ability to leave conflictive households and oppressive gender and intergenerational relations in the place of origin and to insert themselves into paid work in the new place opens possibilities for new forms of agency, which involve, for instance, increased autonomy to decide which family members to care for and which members to reunify in the new place (see also Anderson 2007b).

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In most cases, however, the positions of migrant women continue to be constrained by the new inequalities to which they are subjected in the receiving country. Under these conditions, some migrant women also reproduce the pattern of their employers by delegating care work to a woman (often a family member) of a lower socioeconomic and legal status (Chapter 6). As these cases have shown, inequalities that emerge between Peruvian migrants and the population of the receiving country in the context of care, gender, migration, and labor regimes are reproduced within the migrants’ transnational families, leading to new intrafamilial inequalities based on citizenship and status or place of residence. An important aspect of my research was to include the positions, practices, and perspectives of the so-called “care receivers” into the analysis and to point to their active role as participants in the new division of care labor. The definition of care as an interdependent social practice and relationship (Orozco 2006) proposed in this research stands in clear opposition to the dichotomous understanding of caregiving and care receiving, which has dominated the global care chains literature and neglects the perspective and agency of the so-called care receivers (for a similar critique, see Kofman 2012; Huang/Thang/Toyota 2012), including children and the aging generations (Escrivá 2004; 2005). My data confirms that the boundary between the caregiver and the care receiver is often blurred and that the elderly, whether in employer households or transnational families, as well as the migrants’ children play an important role in influencing and participating in transnational care arrangements. Based on the findings presented in this research, what can be said about the implications of transnational care chains for the older and younger generations? According to their age and bodily condition, the elderly, similar to small children, often find themselves dependent on others. In both employer and transnational families, they also tend to have more difficulties adjusting new situations compared to younger generations. Yet they also develop strategies to influence the care arrangements according their needs and expectations. The Italian aged, despite initial reluctance, tend to derive satisfaction from their new relationship to the migrant, which often compensates for distant or absent children (Chapter 5). Often, they also develop strategies to support the migrants and influence the decisions of the care managers. However, these practices and emotional bonds to migrant workers remain extremely vulnerable to external decisions and contingencies and may result in emotional drawbacks for both migrants and the elderly. In most cases examined in this study, the elderly are in a condition of subordination, which results from their physical or mental dependency and frequent exclusion from decision making. Under these conditions, not migrant workers and the dependent elderly are negatively affected by the precarious and exploitative working conditions that dominate the sector of elderly care. Hence, while employers of migrant domestic workers are often regarded as the main beneficiaries of the new international division of care la-

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bor (e.g., Hochschild 2003; Orozco 2009c), my data suggests that this might be true for the care managers but not necessarily for the elderly, whose unequal positions have been hardly considered in the research literature. The positions of aging parents and children in transnational families are shaped by similar ambiguities. In this context, the active role played particularly by aging mothers, migrant or left behind, as caregivers to grandchildren or emigrant children involves new forms of agency, but also new forms of dependencies. While transnational aging caregivers might derive satisfaction and a new sense of autonomy from their caregiving roles, they also experience conflicts between their (multiple) care responsibilities and their own care needs (Chapters 6 and 7). In addition, aging parents left behind who become frail and sick face similar difficulties to many Italian care receivers in accepting the support of others and the absence of their children, which often cause feelings of abandonment. Similar to many elderly people, children are in a position of dependency upon their caregivers (both the migrants and the co-caregivers), but also influence and participate in various ways in the process of migration and caregiving (Chapter 7). Both the young and old generations of transnational families are most vulnerable to the structural conditions posed on transnational caregiving in the context of restrictive political frameworks. Their experiences reflect the central role of states in shaping transnational care chains to which I will turn my attention in the following section. The Influence of States on Care, Gender, Migration, and Labor Regimes How do states shape the reproduction of entangled inequalities in transnational care chains? My findings have shown that it is insufficient to understand transnational care chains solely as a response to absent social and public services in the sending and receiving countries; in fact, states actively shape the transnationalization of care through their influence on intersecting care, gender, migration, and labor regimes. First, my analysis supports the idea that care regimes in both Peru and Italy are transnationalized in the course of migration and that states play a central role in supporting this transnationalization, which reflects the power and socioeconomic asymmetries of these nation-states on a global scale. The Peruvian state sustains emigration mainly on a discursive level, but also through remittances and codevelopment programs and policies, which openly support migration and transnational linkages as a benefit for the development and progress of individuals, families, and the nation-state, but largely ignore the social implications of migration (Chapter 4). The Italian receiving state, in turn, has a more powerful influence in shaping Peruvian emigration, the employment of Peruvian caregivers for the elderly, and their transnational care practices by means of specific migration and social policies (Chapter 5).

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Both states support the continued privatization and gendering of care due to the absence of social and public policies that address the needs of employer and transnational families. At the same time, the intersections of the transnationalization of care regimes with restrictive migration and labor regimes, as revealed in the policies of the Italian state, become important in contributing to new inequalities based on citizenship, nationality, status, and place of residence. These inequalities are reflected in the social networks that support emigration, the introduction of migrants into home-based elderly care, and the migrants’ simultaneous employment and transnational care relations. Restrictive migration regimes have become central in producing a hierarchization within the transnational social networks, which sustain migration and transnational caregiving on the basis of legal status and citizenship, as I have shown in Chapter 4. These processes contribute to intrafamilial inequalities, which begin at the moment of emigration, in which new migrants become dependent on others, including family members, who facilitate their immigration. Restrictive migration regimes also increase emotional strains and difficulties in family separation: migrants are unable to control the moment of departure and family members are often left surprised and hurt by sudden absences as well as their own exclusion from decision making. The migration policies and monetary transfers of the Italian state, including subsidies for the dependent elderly, have also sustained the feminization of Peruvian migration to Italy. In addition, they have encouraged the frequent practice of illegal employment, allowing lower class families to also outsource the work of elderly care to migrant workers (Chapter 5). Furthermore, these policies perpetuate the inequalities between care managers and migrant workers, which are not primarily shaped by class, but by citizenship and nationality. Peruvian migrants in Italy, as long as they have no long-term residence permit or Italian citizenship, are only granted “partial citizenship” (Parreñas 2010): their residence is conditional to their membership in a family and, specifically, in a family for whom they provide domestic work. This has also been described as an institutionalization of “maternalism” in law—the treatment of migrant domestic workers as dependents of their employers (see also Anderson 1997). At the same time, a particularity of the Italian migration regime is that, under certain conditions, it does allow Peruvian migrants to accede to a long-term residence permit or Italian citizenship. This favors new social divisions and inequalities within the group of Peruvian migrants and also within transnational families, as argued before. A central contribution of this research was to analyze the transnational implications of such inequalities. As shown throughout the analysis in Chapters 5, 6 and 7, migration and employment regimes contribute to new intrafamilial inequalities in both the employer and transnational families of migrant workers. Migrant workers and above all women, as well as the elderly dependents or children are most vulner-

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able to the contingencies that emerge from such regimes. In employer households, new emotional bonds between migrants and the elderly may be disrupted as the migrants face a violation of their rights as workers or find themselves unable to reconcile excessive workloads with their own or their families’ needs. In transnational households, the implications of migration and labor regimes are most forcefully revealed by declining levels of intimacy between migrants and children or parents left behind as well as declines in material resources that result from illegal residence, difficult and exploitative working conditions, and/or lacking social services in the receiving country. These conditions restrict the possibilities of transnational caregiving as well as reunification or return, especially where migrants have formed new households in the place of residence. In this context, the absence of public and social support services in the sending localities means that the ability to address care needs through the state is also limited. These restrictions increase not only the workloads of co-caregivers in the country of origin but also contribute to powerlessness and fears of abandonment (see also Drotbohm 2013), especially on the part of children and the elderly. At the same time, the individual care strategies identified in my study represent multiple forms of agency when faced with such inequalities. In employer households, for instance, these include varied strategies of “familiarization” and “professionalization” as well as the formation of compensatory bonds of intimacy and complicity between migrant workers and the aged (Chapter 5). My analysis of these strategies has shown that practices of “doing ethnicity” (e.g., being particularly caring in front of the elderly) or doing class (drawing on professional knowledge for negotiating higher salaries and better working conditions) may also be resources for action, and not only resources of discrimination (see also Lutz 2007c), which allow migrants to cope with the difficult tasks and inequalities to which they are subjected. Through these practices, migrants may achieve partial reversals of their subordinate roles, make themselves indispensable, and thereby influence their employers’ decisions. Yet, they remain excluded from the processes of decision making. In transnational households, varied forms of agency can be found in the formation of new intimate ties in both the receiving and sending localities, along with the frequent repression of negative feelings and rationalization of distance (see also Parreñas 2001a). In addition, the migrants’ agency is revealed in the practices of delegating care work to family members of a lower social status in terms of citizenship and status or place of residence, and of reasserting power over these cocaregivers, for instance by telling them how to behave upon visits in Peru or by deciding on the reunification of family dependents (chapters 6 and 7). The “new” cocaregivers, in turn, may also oppose themselves to such practices and again, citizenship status and place of residence play a decisive role: in Chapter 6, I have shown that migrants who assume unpaid care work in the receiving country may exit the households of better established family members, either by improving their social

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status in Italy or by returning to Peru. Compared to these migrants, the non-migrant caregivers (and receivers) presented in Chapter 7 are in a more disadvantaged position based on their place of residence and citizenship status as central markers of inequality, which determine their unequal access to socioeconomic resources and decision-making power. Overall, the forms of agency identified in this research do not eliminate the inequalities that emerge in the context of unequal policy regimes, but rather contribute to reproducing them through a restratification of transnational care and family relations. As noted by Boehm (2008: 781), the actions of states “can impact, construct, define, (re)produce, reunite, and/or divide families.” Based on the findings presented in this study, I argue that the formation of transnational care chains and the unequal distribution of resources and power within these chains cannot be understood independently from the role of the state in migrants’ lives and from migrants’ responses to political action. All in all, these findings reflect a growing fragility and instability of care relations and emotional bonds, which is not only the result of a commodification of care (e.g., Zimmerman/Litt/Bose 2006), but also of migration policies and institutional frameworks of the receiving and sending states. Extending the Global Care Chains Concept through a Perspective on Entangled Inequalities Ongoing debates on global care chains have drawn attention to the unequal distribution of benefits between spatially dispersed individuals and households involved in meeting daily needs of care and social reproduction. The findings presented in this study have revealed the complex and dynamic interdependencies and inequalities in these chains, which need to be understood beyond the idea of a “care drain” (Hochschild 2000). My focus on entangled inequalities allowed exploring the processes, dynamics, and agency by which inequalities are reproduced within the structural context of migration, gender, care, and labor regimes. The concept of the global care chain does not fully capture these dynamics, as it suggests a relatively stable and linear arrangement. In other words, mutual ties between a set of actors tend to be treated as articulations that are somehow fixed in a particular time and place; in fact, the practices, meanings, and principal agents of care are mobile and constantly changing. This is also suggested by the notion of “cycles of care,” a term that captures the dynamics of caring throughout the life cycle1 and by Kofman’s

1

The term “cycles of care” is the title of a recent ethnographic documentary by Lizza May David and Claudia Liebelt, which traces five Filipina women who have returned to their homes after working as caregivers for the elderly in Israel. Following migration, they take care of their elderly mothers or grandchildren of daughters who have replaced them as breadwinners of the extended family. This involvement in paid care abroad and unpaid

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(2012) focus on the articulation of different migration “circuits,” referring to labor and family migration, which I mentioned in Chapter 2. Based on these insights, my research resonates with and contributes to recent anthropological approaches that have stressed the active composition and the processuality of family and kinship relations and care practices (e.g., Carsten 2000; 2004; in Drotbohm 2009). The question of under what structural conditions family members continue to care or dissociate themselves from one another has been central to these approaches. Considering such relationships from a transnational perspective, Drotbohm (2009; 2010) argues that the political frameworks of nationstates play a decisive role in structuring family relations that extend national borders. As my research has shown, states and above all migration regimes shape not only long-distance care relationships but also the new emotional bonds established in employer households or by means of family migration. In this context, the focus on entangled inequalities has allowed exploring the power and resource asymmetries across and within employer and transnational households, which are not captured in accounts that solely focus on a transfer of resources between countries and households (for a similar critique, see Herrera 2012c). Despite the fluidity of the new transnational division of care labor and the reshaping of emotional bonds outlined in this conclusion, the deep-rooted link between care and social inequality is not substantially altered. In other words, care work continues to be socially devalued and passed on to social groups of subordinate social status. Yet, the transnationalization of care also revealed an important novelty. In considering transregional entanglements and interdependent axes of stratification, this study has shown the growing importance of inequalities based on nationality, citizenship, migration status, and place of residence in shaping transnational care relations. These inequalities seem to become more important than class in influencing not only the employment relationships in the domestic work sector (see also Lutz 2002) but also the migrants’ transnational family relations. Due to the continued gendering and privatization of care provision, female members of transnational families are particularly affected by the intersections of gender with nationality, citizenship, and place or status of residence. In this sense, transnational care chains are clearly distinct to care chains that have existed within the boundaries of the nation-state, but also reflect the continuity of unequal gender relations. Based on these findings, my study also supports social policy perspectives to migration that argue in favor of inclusive migration and social policy regimes. In the receiving country context for instance, Hujo/Piper (2010: 226) argue that “social policy should be shaped in such a way that it benefits all people living in a country regardless of whether they are nationals, residents or migrants [...] Hence social polcare at home reflects that they form part of ongoing cycles of care. See: http://ahrcfoot steps.com/trailercycles.html.

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icy concerns should be an integral part of migration policy and vice versa.” Also with regard to the Andean sending country and Italian receiving country contexts, it has been argued that migration policies should be tied to development and social inclusion policies, which means “to migratize social policies rather than depending exclusively on special services for migrants” (Herrera 2008c: 20; emphasis in original) and to promote social (public and/or private) welfare services in the sending contexts, while also innovating social policies in favor of migrants in the receiving contexts (Piperno/Boccagni 2010). Inspired by these approaches and based on the findings presented in this study, I argue that social policies are not only driving factors of transnational care chains, but migration processes also require a redefinition of social policies, as revealed by the shared care needs of employer and transnational families. This rests on the idea that “Insofar as migration affects equity, equality and social justice and implies changing welfare needs, it requires that states find new ways to meet them” (Hujo/Piper 2010: 6). New Approaches to the Study of Migration, Care, and Social Inequalities In this study, I have focused on transnational care chains that emerge with the introduction of Peruvian migrants into home-based elderly care and their transnational implications for the reproduction of entangled inequalities. This approach has revealed the interdependencies between the care practices of families and individuals spread across different nation-states. More research is needed to expand this perspective and ask for the implications of transnational care migration in institutional settings. As Isaksen (2012: 58) argues in the case of Norway, “national health services now become global workplaces” and the migration of nurses also transforms families and communities in both the sending and receiving countries. In fact, the commodification and outsourcing of elderly care to migrant workers observed in the present research seems to be part of a broader scale phenomenon, which encompasses health care institutions in the same way as families (see also Shutes/Chiatti 2012). This seems to apply not only to countries with strong welfarestate traditions, but also to Italy, which represents a country with weak welfare services and a preference for home-based care, but also relies on an increasing number of migrant nurses and caregivers for the elderly in institutional settings (IDOS 2006). As I observed in my study, many Peruvian migrants attend training courses as caregivers for the elderly and leave the domestic work sector over time, but continue to work as caregivers for the elderly in residential homes or hospitals. These transitions and their meanings in the lives of single migrants and their families as well as for the welfare systems of sending and receiving states deserve further analysis in future research. With regard to the strategies of transnational families, I mentioned the still unexplored practice of hiring internal migrant caregivers for the elderly as an expres-

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sion of the transnational care strategies that emerge with migration. The positions and perspectives of these paid caregivers should also be further explored to address the question as to what extent these “new” employment relationships reproduce the deep-rooted inequalities of ethnicity and class that have shaped the institution of domestic service not only in Peru but in other Latin American countries as well (e.g., Blofield 2009). In addition, future research should also address the positions of transnational migrants who return to their countries and households of origin. While the return rate of Peruvian migrants from Italy is still low, several migrants mentioned plans to go back to Peru because of worsening economic conditions. Talking to experts and transnational family members in Peru, I found that particularly migrants in Spain but increasingly those in Italy are returning to their home countries because of the conditions of economic crisis. In doing so, these migrants are facing serious problems of social exclusion within their families and also in the Peruvian labor market and social security system. While my study did not go into these problems, future research should address the growing tendency toward return migration and its implications for the reproduction of inequalities. Not least, it remains a task of future studies to explore how migrants themselves are cared for (within their families and by the state) once they return and/or get older and dependent on care and welfare support (see also Warnes et al. 2004; Lunt 2009). Finally, more research is needed to understand global care chains in different parts of the world and to develop comparative studies that consider the formation of such chains in the context of South-South migration (Yeates 2012). Research on South-South migration and its implications for care regimes in the countries of origin is still in its beginning phases (see also Hujo/Piper 2010). In fact, transnational care chains also emerge in migration within the Latin American region, including Peruvian migration to Chile, as I noted in the introduction to this study. Comparing transnational care chains in inter- and intraregional migration can offer further insights into the question of how states and transregional asymmetries shape the provision of care and its unequal outcomes. Answering this question is a first step toward the recognition of care work and equal citizenship beyond national borders.

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Source: Elaboration by the author on the basis of ISTAT, http://www.istat.it/it/archivio/104317.

Map 1: Fieldwork locations in Italy. Communes in the region of Lombardy.

Appendix Maps of Fieldwork Locations

Source: Elaboration by the author on the basis of Global Administrative Areas, www.godm.org.

Map 2: Fieldwork locations in Peru. Provinces in the Departments of Lima, Junín, and Cuzco.

294 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS

A PPENDIX | 295

Tables Table 1: Profiles of Peruvian migrants interviewed in Milan, Italy Name

Sex, Age

Origin

JM

Marital

1

Occupation (in Italy)

Children

2

Family members interviewed

3

status Adela

Female

Trujillo

1998 Caregiver E

51

(home)

Married Alejandra

Female

4 (2 in

none

Peru, 2 in Italy)

Cuzco

1998 Caregiver E

43

none

(institution)

Rocío (sister, P), Lorena (niece,

Single

P), Cristina (sister, I)

Anabel

Female

Huancayo

1998 Nanny

none

Augusto,

37

Faustina (par-

Single

ents, P), Maya (niece, P), Elsa, Gabriela (sisters, I)

Anastasia

Female

Cajamarca 2004 Domestic

37 Single Anita

none

none

1

Alonso, Fernanda

(in Peru)

(parents, P)

2

Hilda (mother-in-

(in Italy)

law, P), Nataly

worker + nanny

Female

Chongos

38

Bajo

2009 Caregiver E (home)

Single Antonio

Male 40

Huancayo

Married

+ Callao

1995 Cleaner

(wife, I), Ximena (sister, I) Bertha

1

Female

Urubamba

1994 Entrepreneur

none

Eusebio (father,

44

P), Martín (broth-

Single

er, P)

JM: Year of migration.

2

Caregiver E: Caregiver for the elderly.

3

P: in Peru, I: in Italy. The same abbreviations will be used in Tables 3,4, and 5.

296 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS Name

Sex, Age

Origin

JM

1

Marital

Occupation (in Italy)

Children

2

Family members interviewed

3

status Carina

Female

Lima

2010 Caregiver E

33

(home)

2

Teresa (mother,

(in Peru)

P), Jacky, Elias

Married

(children, P), Maritza (cousin, I)

Carmen

Female

Lima

2007 Unemployed

none

Guillermo, Astrid

29

(parents, P),

Single

Gustavo, Diego (brothers,I)

Celina

Female

Tingo

18

María

2010

Unemployed

none

none

Single Cristina

Female

Cuzco

1997 Caregiver E

47

none

(home)

Rocío (sister, P), Lorena (niece,

Single

P), Alejandra (sister, I)

Dalila

Danilo

Female

Cleaner,

1

40

Lima

domestic

(in Italy)

Single

worker

Male 29

Lima and

Married

Huancayo

2001

2005

none

Assistant in a none

Corina (sister, P),

hotel

Angelica (mother, P)

Diego

Male 34

Lima

2004

Married

Computer

1

Guillermo, Astrid

specialist

(in Italy)

(parents, P), Gustavo, Carmen (siblings, I)

Eduardo

Male 38

Huancayo

1992

Single Elsa

Female

Caregiver E

none

(institution) Huancayo

2009

48

Monica, Jesús (parents, P)

Caregiver E

1

Augusto,

(home)

(in Peru)

Faustina (par-

Divorced

ents, P), Maya (daughter, P), Anabel, Gabriela (sisters)

Elvira

Female 52 Married

Ica

1990

Caregiver E

2

Estrella (daugh-

(home)

(in Italy)

ter, I)

A PPENDIX | 297

Name

Sex, Age

Origin

Marital

JM

1

Occupation (in Italy)

Children

2

Family members interviewed

3

status Ernesto

Male 39

Cerro de

Single

Pasco +

1992 Assistant in a none hotel

Edith (mother, P), Diana (sister, P),

Lima

Julia, Isabel, Luz (cousins, I)

Estefania

Female

Chosica

41

2007 Caregiver E (home)

3

none

(in Peru)

Married Ester

Female

Chimbote

45

1989 Caregiver E

none

Lizethe (sister, I)

1 (in Pe-

none

(home)

Single Eva

Female

Ayacucho

47

1992 Caregiver E (home)

ru)

Single Feliciana

Female

Huancayo

58

2001 Cleaner (home)

Single Gabriela

Female

Huancayo

2006 Cleaner

2 (1 in

Angelo (son, P),

Peru, 1

Alex (grandson,

in Italy)

P)

none

Augusto,

38

Faustina (par-

Divorced

ents, P), Maya (niece, P), Anabel, Elsa (sisters, I)

Gustavo

Male 37

Lima

Single

2004 Graphic de-

none

Guillermo, Astrid

signer, pho-

(parents, P),

tographer

Carmen, Diego (siblings, I)

Ines

Female

Lima

44

1999 Caregiver E

none

none

3

Edith (aunt, P),

(in Italy)

Diana (cousin,

(home)

Widow Isabel

Female

Cerro de

43

Pasco +

Single

Lima

1991 Merchant

P), Ernesto (cousin, I), Julia, Liz (sisters, I)

298 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS Name

Sex, Age

Origin

JM

1

Marital

Occupation (in Italy)

Children

2

Family members interviewed

3

status Julia

Female

Cerro de

28

Pasco

2001 Entrepreneur

none

(shop owner)

Edith (aunt, P), Diana (cousin,

Single

P), Ernesto (cousin, I), Liz, Isabel (sisters, I)

John

Male 54

Urubamba

1996 Entrepreneur

Married

(owner of a

4

Irene (mother, P),

(in Italy)

Josefina (sister,

pizzeria)

P), Olga (wife, I), Felipe, Araceli (children, I)

José

Male 38

Jauja

2008

Single Leonardo

Male 60 Female

none

none

Caregiver E

3

none

(home)

(in Peru)

(home) Chimbote

2009

Married Lisbeth

Cleaner

Abancay

1997

Unemployed

none

none

Female

Cerro de

1990 Entrepreneur

2 (in

Edith (aunt, P),

42

Pasco +

(shop owner)

Egypt)

Diana (cousin,

Married

Lima

49 Divorced Liz

P), Ernesto (cousin, I), Isabel, Julia (sisters, I)

Lizethe

Female

Chimbote

1997

Nanny

Lima

2007 Caregiver E

none

Ester (sister, I)

none

Delia (mother, P),

35 Single Luis

Male 29 Single

(home)

Esperanza (sister, P)

Marco

Maria

Male 38

Piura +

Married

Lima

Female 45 Single

Lima

2005

Caregiver E

4 (3 in

Felicitas (mother,

(home)

Peru, 1

P), Juliet (sister,

1989 Caregiver E (institution)

in Italy)

P)

none

Sonia (mother,P), Ruth (sister, P)

A PPENDIX | 299

Name

Sex, Age

Origin

Marital

JM

1

Occupation (in Italy)

Children

2

Family members interviewed

3

status Maritza

Female

Lima

43

2011 Caregiver E (home)

2

Margaret (moth-

(in Peru)

er, P), Romina

Divorced Marleny

Female

(sister,P) Lamas

44

2010 Caregiver E (home)

1

Valentina (sister,

(in Peru)

I), Jenny (niece,I)

3 (2 in

Hilda (mother, P),

Peru, 1

Daniel, Susy

in Italy)

(children, P), An-

none

Laura, Ramón

Divorced Nataly

Female

Urubamba

35

2004 Domestic servant

Married

tonio (husband, I) Noehmi

Female

Urubamba

2005 Nanny

32

(parents, P),

Single

Julio, Katherine (siblings, P)

Nora

Female

Lima

36

2005 Cleaner (home)

Married Olga

Female

Urubamba

1997 Cleaner, supervisor (fac-

Married Female

Paula, Alberto

Italy, 1 in

(parents, P)

Peru)

46 Paulina

3 (2 in

4

Claudio (brother,

(in Italy)

P), John (hus-

tory) Tumbes

1992 Retired

76

band, I) 6

none

(in Italy)

Widow Pilar

Female

Lima

43

1996 Caregiver E (home)

Married

3

none

(in Peru, Brazil + Spain)

Rosmery

Female,

Huancayo

36

2005 Caregiver E (home)

1

none

(in Peru)

Single Susana

Female

Urubamba

28

2006 Caregiver E (home)

1

Aurelio (father,

(in Peru)

P), Roberto (son,

Single

P), Marianela, Lucy (sisters, P)

Valentina

Female 48 Single

Lamas

1994 Caregiver E (institution)

1

Marleny (sister,

(in Italy)

I), Jenny (daughter, I)

300 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS Name

Sex, Age

Origin

JM

1

Marital

Occupation (in Italy)

Children

2

Family members interviewed

3

status Vanesa

Female

Huancayo

2000

36

Caregiver E

none

none

Unemployed,

1

Ingrid (mother,

student

(in Peru)

P), Gladys, An-

(home)

Single Veronica

Female

Urubamba

34

2008

Single

gelica, Angeles (sisters, P), Grecia (daughter, P)

Vicky

Female

Lamas

49

1992 Caregiver E (home)

1

none

(in Peru)

Divorced Virginia

Female

Lima

60

2011 Caregiver E (home)

Widow Ximena

Female

2 (in

none

Hungary, U.S.A.)

Huancayo

1995 Nanny

44

1

Antonio (brother,

(in Italy)

I)

3 (2 in

none

Divorced Yanet

Female

Lima

40

2006 Caregiver E (home)

Married Yudith

Female

Italy, 1 in Peru)

Lima

38

1994 Caregiver E

none

none

5

none

(home)

Single Zaida

Female 43 Married

Lima

1991 Caregiver E (home)

(in Italy)

A PPENDIX | 301

Table 2: Profiles of employers interviewed in Milan, Italy Name

Sex, Age

Occupation

Nationalities of care-

Persons to be

takers employed

assisted

Housewife

Cuban

Her mother

Manager

Peruvian

His father

Housewife

Russian, Moldovan,

Her mother-in-law,

Romanian, Peruvian,

her mother (Maria),

Ecuadorean, Bolivian

her father, her

Marital status Adriana

Female 60 Married

Alessandro Male 75 Married Alessia

Female 62 Married

daughter Alfredo

Male 62

Retired

Married Antonella

Ukrainian, Romanian,

His mother, his

Peruvian

mother-in-law

Retired

Peruvian

Her father

Retired

Peruvian

Self

Female 59

School

Italian, Moroccan

Her mother-in-law,

Married

teacher

Bolivian, Brazilian,

then her aunt

Female 63 Married

Barbara

Female 85 Widow

Chiara

Ecuadorean, Peruvian Cristina Daniele Davide

Female 56

Director of

Single

NGO

Peruvian

Her mother

Male 70 Single

Retired, li-

Italian, Moroccan, Ec-

His father, then his

brarian

uadorean, Peruvian

mother

Male 74

Architect,

Peruvian, Salvadorean

Single

university

His aunt, his mother, self

professor Domenico

Male 69

Retired

Married Eleonora

Female 73

Housewife

Married Elsa

Female 60 Female 81

His mother and mother-in-law

Peruvian Ecuadorean

Her mother

Russian Ukrainian Merchant

Married Emanuela

Ukrainian, Romanian, Polish

Ukrainian, Romanian,

Her mother

Peruvian Housewife

Ukrainian, Polish

Her sister

Female 31

School

Ukrainian, Polish

Her grandmother

Married

teacher

Widow Erika

302 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS Name

Sex, Age

Occupation

Nationalities of care-

Persons to be

takers employed

assisted

Retired

Peruvian

Self

Female 65

School

Ecuadorean, Bolivian,

Her father and her

Married

teacher

Ukrainian

mother

Male 53

Technician

Ecuadorean, Ukrainian

His father

Employee

Peruvian, Filipino

Her father and

Marital status Filomena

Female 65 Married

Francesca Giampiero

Single Giovanna

Female 56 Married

Gisella

Female 75

father-in-law Retired

Peruvian

Self

Female 39

School

Peruvian, Moldovan

Her children and

Married

teacher

Male 62

Retired

Married Giulia Giuseppe

Married

family Italian, Moroccan,

His mother, his

Bolivian, Brazilian,

wife’s aunt

Ecuadorean, Peruvian Gloria

Female 61

Retired

Single

Peruvian, Ecuadorean,

Her father, then her

African (no details),

mother

Ukrainian, Romanian Luca Lucia

Male 41

Director of

Single

sports club

Female 33

No data

Married Luisa Manuela Margherita

Peruvian

Self

Romanian, African (no

Her grandmother

details)

Female 50

Tele-

Married

commuting

Female 68

Retired,

Widow

volunteer

Female 65

Retired

Ecuadorean, Ukrainian

Her parents

Peruvian

Self

Ecuadorean

Her father, her

Married

mother, her motherin-law

Maria

Female 93

Retired

Widow Marinella Matteo

Peruvian,

Self, previously her

Sri Lankan

husband

Peruvian, Filipina

Self

Female 95

Retired,

Widow

volunteer

Male 75

Retired

Peruvian

Self

Retired

Peruvian

Self and her family

Widow Oriana

Female 98 Widow

A PPENDIX | 303

Name

Sex, Age

Occupation

Marital

Nationalities of care-

Persons to be

takers employed

assisted

Peruvian, Romanian,

His father

status Paolo

Male 64

Retired

Married Patrizia

Female 68

Ukrainian, Bolivian Retired

Ukrainian, Romanian,

Her mother, her

Polish

mother-in-law

Retired

Peruvian, Ukrainian

Self, her husband

Housewife

Peruvian, Bolivian

Her mother-in-law,

Married Roberta

Female 81 Married

Rosa

Female 53 Married

Sara

Female 56

her father No data

Romanian, Salvadorean

Her mother

Retired

Peruvian, Romanian,

Her mother

Married Serena

Female 65 Widow

Ecuadorean, Polish, Filipina, Argentinean

Simona

Female 84

Housewife

Peruvian

Her mother

Housewife

Peruvian, Ecuadorean,

Her mother

Widow Stefania

Female 65 Married

Filipina, Ukrainian, Moldovan

Umberto

Male 59

No data

Romanian, Salvadorean

His mother-in-law

Female 57

Language

Peruvian

Self

Married

teacher

Married Valentina

Table 3: Profiles of family members interviewed in Lima, Peru Name

Sex, Age

Place of

Marital

residence

Occupation

Family members inter-

Migration

viewed

status Alberto

Male 64

Ate

Married

Tourist

Paula (wife, P), Nora

In Peru,

guide

(daughter, I)

to U.S.A., Italy

Angelica

Female

Indepen-

50

dencia

Married

Housewife

Corina (daughter, P),

In Peru,

Danilo (son, I)

to U.S.A. (7 years)

304 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS Name

Sex, Age

Place of

Marital

residence

Occupation

Family members inter-

Migration

viewed

status Astrid

Female

Chorrillos

58

Shop own-

Guillermo (husband, P),

er

Carmen, Gustavo, Diego

Married Corina

In Peru

(children, I)

Female

Indepen-

University

Angelica (mother, P),

24

dencia

student

Danilo (brother, I)

Chorrillos

Different

None (she has 7 siblings

part-time

in Italy)

No

Single Beatriz

Female 30 Single

Diana

jobs

Female

Jesús

Different

Edith (mother, P), Ernesto No

28

Maria

part-time

(brother, I), Julia, Isabel,

jobs

Liz (cousins, I)

Merchant

Esperanza (daughter, P),

Single Delia

In Peru

Female

Lurigancho

48

In Peru

Luis (son, I)

Married Edith

Female

Jesús

59

Maria

Merchant

Male 13

In Peru

esto (son, I), Julia, Isabel,

Single Elias

Diana (daughter, P), ErnLiz (nieces, I)

Chorrillos

Single

Student

Teresa, (grandmother, P),

(school)

Jacky (sister, P), Carina

No

(mother, I) Enrique

Male 49

No data

Lawyer

Single Esperanza

Female

Valentina (partner, I),

To Chile

Jenny (daughter, I) Lurigancho School

25

Delia (mother, P), Luis

teacher

(brother, I)

Family

Juliet (daughter, P),

business

Marco (son, I)

Taxi driver

Astrid (wife, P), Carmen,

No

Single Felicitas

Female

Surco

58

In Peru

Single Guillermo

Male 61

Chorrillos

Married

In Peru

Gustavo, Diego (children, I)

Jacky

Female 10 Single

Chorrillos

Student

Teresa (grandmother, P)

(school)

Elias (brother, P), Carina (mother, I)

No

A PPENDIX | 305

Name

Sex, Age

Place of

Marital

residence

Occupation

Family members inter-

Migration

viewed

status Juliet

Female

Surco

27

Family

Felicitas (mother, P),

business

Marco (brother, I)

In Peru

Single Lucy

Female

Lurigancho Housewife

Susana (sister, I)

In Peru

Chorrillos

Romina (daughter, P),

No

27 Married Margaret

Female

Housewife

65

Maritza (daughter, I)

Widow Patricia

Paula

Female

Surco

Housewife

Yesenia, (granddaughter,

67

P) (she has a daughter in

Single

Italy)

Female

Ate

Retired

60

Alberto (husband, P),

In Peru,

Nora (daughter, I)

to U.S.A.

Married Romina

Female

In Peru

+ Italy Chorrillos

Teacher

40

Margaret (mother, P),

No

Maritza (sister, I)

Divorced Ruth

Female

Chorrillos

Housewife

Maria (sister, I)

No

Female

Indepen-

Retired

Maria (daughter, I)

To Italy

67

dencia Family

Jacky, Elias (grandchil-

No

business

dren, P), Carina (daugh-

Professor

None

36 Married Sonia

Widow Teresa

Female

Chorrillos

59 Married Wilder

Male 41

ter, I) No data

Married

To Italy (11 years)

Yesenia

Female 16 Single

Surco

Student

Patricia (grandmother, P)

(school)

(her mother is in Italy)

No

306 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS

Table 4: Profiles of family members interviewed in Huancayo, Peru Name

Sex, Age

Place of

Marital

residence

Occupation

Family members inter-

Migration

viewed

status Alex

Male 17

Huancayo

Student

Single Alonso Angelo

Male 54

Chongos

Married

Bajo

Male 32

Huancayo

Driver

Angelo (uncle, P), Felici-

To Italy

ana (grandmother, I) (his

(several

mother is in Italy)

years)

Fernanda (wife, P) (he

No

has a daughter in Italy) Dentist

Single

Alex (nephew, P), Felici-

To Italy

ana (mother, I)

(several years)

Augusto

Male 73

Huancayo

Married

Shop own-

Faustina (wife, P),

er

Anabel, Gabriela, Elsa

In Peru

(daughters, I) Carolina

Female

Huancayo

Dentist

None

No

No

28 Married Edwin

Male 17

Huancán

Single Faustina

Female

Huancayo

72

University

Juana (mother, P) (he

student

has a sister in Italy)

Shop own-

Augusto (husband, P),

In Peru, to

er

Anabel, Juana, Gabriela

Argentina

Married Fernanda

(daughters, I)

Female

Chongos

Peasant

Alonso (husband, P),

52

Bajo

woman

Anita (daughter, I)

Huancayo

Owner of

None

No

Married Flor

Female 24

mini-bus

To Argentina, to

Single

Italy (deported)

Gina

Female

Huachac

82 Single Jesús

Male 70 Female 53 Single

None (she has 9 children

peasant

in Italy)

No

woman Huancayo

Married Juana

Housewife,

Huancán

Security

Monica (wife, P), Eduardo

guard

(son, I)

Merchant

Edwin (son, P) (she has a daughter in Italy)

In Peru No

A PPENDIX | 307

Name

Sex, Age

Place of

Marital

residence

Occupation

Family members inter-

Migration

viewed

status Khevin

Male 17

Huancayo

Single Larry

Male 21

Huancayo

Single

University

Silvia (grandmother, P)

No

student

(his parents are in Italy)

University

None (his parents are in

To Italy

student

Italy)

(several years)

Marisol

Female

Huancayo

49

Shop own-

Violeta (daughter, P) (she

er

has a daughter in Italy)

Student

Augusto, Faustina

No

Widow Maya

Female

Huancayo

16

(grandparents, P),

Single

Anabel, Gabriela (aunts,

No

I), Juana (mother, I) Monica

Female

Huancayo

62

Peasant

Jesús (husband, P), Ed-

woman

uardo (son, P)

Business

None

No

Married Nayeli

Female

Huancayo

31

owner

To Italy (13 years)

Single Ofelia

Female

Huachac

Peasant

None (she has 8 children

woman

in Italy)

Business

None (she has 2 sisters

owner

in Italy)

Huancayo

University

None (she has a sister in

student

Italy)

Huancán

Peasant

None (she has 3 daugh-

woman

ters in Italy)

Peasant

Khevin, (grandson, P)

woman

(she has a daughter in It-

74

To Italy

Widow Pamela

Female

Huancayo

32

No

Married Rafael

Male 30 Single

Rosario

Female 54

No No

Widow Silvia

Female

Huancayo

72 Married Violeta

Female 30 Single

To U.S.A.

aly) Huancayo

Housewife

Marisol (mother, P) (she

To Italy (2

has a sister in Italy)

years)

308 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS

Table 5: Profiles of family members interviewed in Cuzco/Urubamba, Peru Name

Sex, Age

Place of

Marital

residence

Occupation Family members inter-

Migration

viewed

status Ana

Female

Cuzco

Housewife

Liana (daughter, P) (she

To Italy +

has 2 children in Italy)

France

School

Ingrid (mother, P),

In Peru

teacher

Gladys, Angelica (sisters,

82 Widow Angeles

Male 31

Urubamba

Single

P) Grecia (niece, P), Veronica (sister, I) Angelica

Female

Urubamba

45

School

Ingrid (mother, P),

teacher

Gladys, Angeles (sisters,

Married

No

P) Grecia (niece, P), Veronica (sister, I)

Apolonio

Male 78

Urubamba

Peasant

Married Aurelio

Male 75

Zenaida (wife, P), Yuri

No

(son, P), Martín (son, I) Urubamba

Engineer

Susana (daughter, I)

No

Cuzco

Retired

Olga (sister, I), John

In Peru

Widow Claudio

Male 65 Divorced

Denisse

Female

(brother-in-law, I) Cuzco

Student

20

Nadia (mother, P), (she

No

has a sister in Italy)

Single Elena

Female

Cuzco

Housewife

80

William (son, P) (she has

In Peru

a son in Italy)

Married Eusebio

Male 72

Urubamba

Merchant

Widow Gladys

Female

Martín (son, P), Bertha

No

(daughter, I) Urubamba

21

University

Ingrid (mother, P), Ange-

student

les, Angelica (sisters, P)

Single

No

Grecia (niece, P), Veronica (sister, I)

Grecia

Female

Urubamba

Student

Ingrid (mother, P),

13

Gladys, Angelica, Ange-

Single

les (aunts, P), Veronica

No

(mother, I) Héctor

Male 68 Married

Urubamba

Peasant

None (he has a son in Italy)

No

A PPENDIX | 309

Name

Sex, Age

Place of

Marital

residence

Occupation

Family members inter-

Migration

viewed

status Hilda

Female

Urubamba

Merchant

Nataly (daughter, I)

No

Peasant

Angeles, Angelica,

No

woman

Gladys (daughters, P),

56 Married Ingrid

Female

Urubamba

62 Married

Grecia (granddaughter, P), Veronica (daughter, I)

Irene

Female

Urubamba

80

Peasant

John (son, I), Olga

woman

(daughter-in-law, I)

Merchant

John (brother, I), Olga

No

Married Josefina

Female

Urubamba

57

No

(sister-in-law, I)

Married Julio

Male 28

Urubamba

Artist

Single

Laura, Ramón (parents,

No

P), Katherine (sister, P), Noehmi (sister, I)

Katherine

Female

Urubamba

25

University

Laura, Ramón (par-

student

ents,P), Julio (brother,

Single Laura

Female

P), Noehmi (sister, I) Urubamba

54

Business

Ramón (husband, P),

owner

Julio, Katherine (children,

Married Liana

Female

No

No

P), Noehmi (daughter, I) Cuzco

Artist

66

Ana (mother, P), (she has

To Italy

2 siblings in Italy)

(more

Single

than 12 years)

Lorena

Female

Cuzco

26

University

Rocío (mother, P), Cristi-

student

na, Alejandra (aunts, I)

University

Roberto (nephew, P), Su-

student

sana (sister, I)

Owner of

None (she has a daughter

mini-bus

in Italy)

Engineer

Bertha (sister, I)

No

Single Marianela

Female

Cuzco

27

No

Single Maricruz

Female

Cuzco

58

No

Married Martín

Male 34 Married

Cuzco

To Italy (4 years)

310 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS Name

Sex, Age

Place of

Marital

residence

Occupation Family members inter-

Migration

viewed

status Nadia

Female

Cuzco

No data

40

Italy)

Male 50

Urubamba

Married Ramón

No

(she has a daughter in

Single Nelson

Denisse (daughter, P)

Male 58

Urubamba

Married

Business

None (he has a son in Ita-

owner

ly)

Business

Laura (wife, P), Julio,

owner

Katherine (children, P),

No No

Noehmi (daughter, I) Roberto

Male 11

Cuzco

Student

Single Rocío

Female

Cuzco

Business

Lorena (daughter, P),

owner

Cristina, Alejandra (sis-

No data

Elena (mother, P) (he has

Single

No

ters, I)

Male 60

Cuzco

Single Yuri

No

sana (mother, I)

55 William

Marianela (aunt, P), Su-

No

a brother in Italy)

Male 39

Urubamba

Single

Tourist

Apolonio, Zenaida (par-

guide

ents, P), Martín (brother,

No

I) Zenaida

Female

Urubamba

74

Peasant

Apolonio (husband, P),

woman

Yuri (son, P), Martín (son,

Married

No

I)

Table 6: List of experts interviewed in Italy and Peru Name

Organization

Place

Activities

Caritas, Servizio di

Milan

Support of migrants

Associazione Studio 3R

Milan

Support of migrants

Carlos Torres

Asociación Caminando Juntos

Milan

Support of migrants

Héctor Villanue-

OCCAM and CIRCLA

Milan

Integration of Latin

Pedro di Iorio

Accoglienza (SAI) Roberto Reyes

va

American migrants

Vidal Silva

ONG’D ADTUMI

Milan

Development projects

Maurizio

Università degli Studi di Milano

Milan

Research on transna-

Peru and Italy Ambrosini

tional families

A PPENDIX | 311

Name

Organization

Place

Activities

Paola Bonizzoni

Università degli Studi di Milano

Milan

Research on transnational families

Don Giancarlo

Archdiocese of Milan

Milan

Office of Pastoral Ser-

Cooperativa Crinali

Milan

Support of migrant

Quadri Elena Gavazzi

vices for Migrants women

Francesca

Università di Genova

Milan

Research on transna-

Giuditta Gelati

Ufficio Stranieri, Commune of

Milan

Support of migrants

Álvaro Flores

CONAPI (Italy)

Milan

National coordination

Lagomarsino

tional families San Donato of Peruvian NGOs

Grazia

Piccolo Principe

Milan

Job intermediary

Fondazione ISMU

Milan

Responsible for project

Silvia and Raúl

Sindicato Nazionale dei

Rome

Bolanos

Lavoratori

Manuel Pantoja

Università di Roma La

Macchieraldo Alessandra Barzaghi

"Perú Migrante"

Rome

Sapienza Flavia Piperno

Centro Studi Politica International Organization for

Rome

Universidad Antonio Ruiz de

Carla Tamagno

International Labour

Rome Lima

Research on Peruvian

Lima

Research on Peruvian

migration to Italy

Organization INMIGRA

Research on transnational families/care

Montoya

María del Pilar

Research on care chains and welfare

Migration Franklin Cornejo

Research on Peruvian migration to Italy

Internazionale Rossella Celmi

Support of migrant workers

migration to Italy Lima

Sáenz

Research and projects on migration

Guido Mendoza

Andean Community of Nations

Lima

Responsible for

Lucia Alvites

Parlamento Andino

Lima

Research on transna-

migration policies tional families/care Daniele

ASPEM

Lima

AFAMIPER

Lima

Ingratoci Ana Arrunátegui

Responsible for project "Due Sponde" Projects on migration, political advocacy

312 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS Name

Organization

Place

Activities

María Luisa de

AFAMIPER

Lima

Projects on migration,

la Torre

political advocacy

Miriam Torres

Forum Solidaridad Perú

Lima

Responsible for project

Javier Mujica

CEDAL

Lima

Projects on human

"Perú Migrante" rights, development Soraya

Bidez Bide

Lima

Co-development pro-

MIDIS

Lima

Development and So-

INMIGRA

Huancayo

Ronquillo Alex Távara

jects Peru - Spain

Aranibar Liz Tóvar

cial Inclusion Research and projects on migration

Juan C. Campos Aquelino

CEIDHU

Huancayo

Responsible for project "Perú Migrante"

A PPENDIX | 313

Table 7: Peruvian households with members who live permanently in another country Province/

Total

Department

House-

Households with members in another

holds with-

country

out members in

Total

1-2

3-4

another

5 or more

country Peru

704,746

475,313

142,524

86,909

225,098

63,114

34,925

204,795

57,586

32,250

15,957

5,064

3,250

7,897

2,284

1,414

15,190

5,668

4,037

7,671

2,441

1,560

768

323

267

(10.4%) Lima/Department

2,075,091

1,751,954

323,137 (15.6%)

Lima/Province

1,860,569

1,565,938

294,631 (15.8%)

Junín/Department

303,218

278,947

24,271 (8.0%)

Huancayo/

114,259

102,664

Province Cuzco/

(10.1%) 303,974

279,079

24,895

95,385

83,713

11,672

Department Cuzco/Province

11,595

(8.2%) (12.2%)

Urubamba/

13,623

Province

12,265

1,358 (10.0%)

Source: Elaborated by the author on the basis of INEI National Census 2007, http://www.inei.gob.pe.

314 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS

Table 8: Peruvians present in Lombardy between January 1st, 2001, and July 1st, 2011 Year

Percentage

2001

19,400

2002

21,100

2003

26,000

2004

31,900

2005

34,600

2006

38,900

2007

42,400

2008

42,000

2009

45,600

2010

47,500

2011

53,700

2012

53,700

2013

54,600

Source: Elaborated by the auther on the basis of Regione di Lombardia, Osservatorio Regionale per l’Integrazione e la Multietnicità, ORIM/ISMU (2014): Rapporto 2013. Gli Immigrati in Lombardia. Milano: ISMU, http://www.orimregionelombardia.it.

Table 9: Occupation prior to migration of Peruvian migrants interviewed in Milan, Italy Occupation prior to migration

Percentage

Assistant (shop, sales/customer services)

22

Cleaning/domestic service

14

Teacher

14

Nurse

7

Secretary/office worker

7

Merchant/street vendor

7

Small business

7

Student

5

Housewife

4

Other

13

Source: Elaborated by the author on the basis of interview data.

A PPENDIX | 315

Table 10: Department of origin of Peruvian migrants interviewed in Milan, Italy Department of origin

Percentage

Lima

29

Junín

20

Cusco

16

San Martín

7

Pasco

7

Other

21

Source: Elaborated by the author on the basis of interview data.

Table 11: Levels of education of Peruvian migrants interviewed in Milan, Ittaly Levels of education

Percentage

Secondary school

27

Institute for higher education

20

University

27

University not completed

14

No data

12

Source: Elaborated by the author.

Table 12: Current occupation of Peruvian migrants interviewed in Milan, Italy Occupation of Peruvian migrants Caregivers for the elderly (home-

Percentage Total

Women

Men

53

57

36

based or in private institutions) Cleaning/domestic service

14

18

18

Independent work/business

13

11

28

Childcare (in families)

7

8

0

Unemployed

7

4

0

Assistants in hotels

4

0

18

Retired

2

2

0

Source: Elaborated by the author on the basis of interview data.

316 | E NTANGLED I NEQUALITIES IN T RANSNATIONAL C ARE C HAINS

Table 13: Current occupation of employers (care managers and receivers) interviewed in Milan, Italy Occupation

Percentage

Retired

38

Housewives

17

Teachers/academics

17

Employees

9

Managers

7

Volunteers

5

No data

7

Source: Elaborated by the author on the basis of interview data.

Table 14: Relationship of interviewees in Peru to family member(s) in Italy Type of relationship

Percentage

Mother of emigrant

40

Sister of emigrant

24

Father of emigrant

16

Child of emigrant

11

Brother of emigrant

9

Source: Elaborated by the author on the basis of interview data.

Table 15: Occupation of Peruvian migrant interviewees in Peru Occupation

Percentage

Owner of family/small business

22

Student (school or university)

19

Employee

17

Housewife

15

Farmer

12

Merchant

8

Retired

5

Other

2

Source: Elaborated by the author on the basis of interview data.