“Mi Corazón se Partió en Dos”: Transnational Motherhood at the Intersection of Migration and Violence

Laurie Cook Heffron (), Karin Wachter and Esmeralda J. Rubalcava Hernandez
Additional contact information
Laurie Cook Heffron: School of Behavioral and Social Sciences, St. Edward’s University, Austin, TX 78704, USA
Karin Wachter: School of Social Work, Watts College of Public Services and Community Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA
Esmeralda J. Rubalcava Hernandez: School of Social Work, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 20, 1-12

Abstract: In the recent Central American migrations spurred by violence, political instability, and economic insecurity, women grapple with whether and when to bring their children with them in pursuit of safety in another country, and with fulfilling their roles as mothers from afar. Drawing from the transnational motherhood literature and critical feminist theories, this interpretive qualitative study examined transnational motherhood grounded in the lived experiences of Central American women ( n = 19) over the course of their migrations to the US. Informed by the principles of grounded theory, the inductive analysis identified five processes in which migration and violence shaped meanings of motherhood: risking everything, embodying separation, braving reunification, mothering others, and experiencing motherhood due to sexual violence. The findings contribute knowledge of how violence shapes and informs women’s migrations and decision-making, and the consequences women endure in taking action to mitigate threats of violence in their own and their children’s lives. The analysis furthermore highlights the specific and profound effects of family separation on mothers. The voices, perspectives, and experiences of migrating mothers and the ways in which migration and violence shapes notions and lived experiences of motherhood are imperative to research, practice, and advocacy to change oppressive immigration policies.

Keywords: migration; transnational motherhood; violence against women; intimate partner violence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/20/13404/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/20/13404/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:20:p:13404-:d:944709

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().