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Intergenerational Transmission and Gender Relations in African Migrant Families


Oxford Institute of Population Ageing
Michaelmas 2011 Seminar Series "The question of gender within an ageing society'
24 November  2011

Intergenerational Transmission and Gender Relations in African Families Post Migration

Dr. Joanne Cook
Senior Lecturer, University of Hull


Lecture Abstract:

The role of parenting and transmission has been extensively explored in family research but there has been much less focus on the impact of migration on parenting and transmission across familial generations. While migration studies has witnessed a growth in research on family migration,  there are few studies that explicitly examine the impact of migration upon parenting and transmission. Furthermore, there is a wealth of research on the gendered nature of migration and on gender relations within families but little of it examines how intergenerational relationships around parenting and transmission are shaped by gendered expectations and practices post-migration.

Drawing on data from a study of African families living in Britain, this paper focuses upon how migration disrupts and reshapes parenting practices and the transmission of culture and values across generations. It examines how parenting is both shaped by gendered expectations and offers the opportunity for parent and child generations to exercise agency in their family relationships post-migration. In negotiating the path between the old country and the new, the parent generation face a number of challenges which in turn force them to re-assess their own heritage and decide upon the aspects they wish to pass onto their children.

Seminar Venue:

The seminar will take place at the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing Seminar Room, 66 Banbury Road (Wolesey Hall – corner with Norham Road) between 12:30 – 2:00 pm.

Further information on Michaelmas 2011 Seminar Series:

http://www.ageing.ox.ac.uk/events/seminars

emanuela.bianchera@ageing.ox.ac.uk