Bringing Children to the Center of Migration Theory

IF 2.3 1区社会学 Q1 DEMOGRAPHY

International Migration Review Pub Date : 2024-09-19 DOI:10.1177/01979183241268129

Chiara Galli, Filiz Garip

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Migration theory is adult-centric, failing to account for the experiences of children despite their increasingly important participation in migration flows. Using a life-course perspective and findings from research at the intersection of childhood studies and migration, this paper considers whether different migration theories apply to child migration as compared to adult migration. We examine this question using the Mexican Migration Project data to track the cross-border moves of 109,096 individuals relative to their family members. We find that theories from economics best explain migration among young adults, with some participation from older adolescents, while children of all ages are sensitive to educational opportunities and the behavior of their peers and role models. Insights from the cultural turn and feminist theorizing in migration studies explain migration for both groups. We find that adult and child migration is strongly conditioned on migrant networks and family dynamics, including ties to family members in destination and family structure and caretaking arrangements in origin. We argue that child-centered analyses advance migration theory by highlighting the role of age, the life-course, and intergenerational family dynamics as determinants of international migration.

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让儿童成为移民理论的中心

移徙理论以成人为中心，未能考虑到儿童的经历，尽管他们在移徙流动中的参与日益重要。本文从生命历程的角度出发，利用儿童研究与移民交叉领域的研究成果，探讨儿童移民与成人移民是否适用不同的移民理论。我们利用墨西哥移民项目的数据研究了这一问题，这些数据追踪了 109,096 人相对于其家庭成员的跨境迁移情况。我们发现，经济学理论最能解释青壮年的移民问题，年龄较大的青少年也会参与其中，而各年龄段的儿童对教育机会以及同龄人和榜样的行为都很敏感。移民研究中的文化转向和女权主义理论对这两个群体的移民都有解释作用。我们发现，成人和儿童的迁移在很大程度上取决于移民网络和家庭动态，包括与目的地家庭成员的联系以及原籍国的家庭结构和照料安排。我们认为，以儿童为中心的分析通过强调年龄、生命历程和代际家庭动态作为国际移徙决定因素的作用，推进了移徙理论的发展。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

International Migration Review DEMOGRAPHY-

CiteScore

7.00

自引率

7.90%

发文量

期刊介绍： International Migration Review is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal created to encourage and facilitate the study of all aspects of sociodemographic, historical, economic, political, legislative and international migration. It is internationally regarded as the principal journal in the field facilitating study of international migration, ethnic group relations, and refugee movements. Through an interdisciplinary approach and from an international perspective, IMR provides the single most comprehensive forum devoted exclusively to the analysis and review of international population movements.