Transnational Childhoods

The term transnational childhoods refers to childhoods that are shaped by relationships that cross international borders. Most obviously, children who migrate between nation-states have transnational childhoods. A broader definition of transnational childhoods also includes children who may not have moved abroad themselves, but whose family relationships stretch across borders, such as children whose parents have migrated. In an even more expansive use of the term can be engaged to discuss the ways in which many children grow up in settings where cross-border flows lie behind the significant social forces in their lives. For example, children may grow up as part of a diaspora where linguistic, religious, and cultural influences from a community homeland strongly shape their upbringings, even if none of their family have lived ...