Strawberries in Wintertime. Understanding Moldovan Transnational Family Lives by Unpacking the Senses and Memories of a Persistent Parcel-Sending Practice

Abstract

This article uses the phenomenon of parcel sending as a lens onto Moldovan transnationalism, unravelling how transnationalism is done, experienced and remembered from different subject positions. Through an ethnographic approach that emphasises a long-term and relational perspective on migration, this article explores the role of parcel-related memories and sensory dimensions, such as taste and smell, in understanding how migrants and their now-adult children remember and rationalise their transnational experiences. The research illustrates how memories of parcels are evoked through the senses, opening up migration stories beyond parcels’ immediate content and meanings, highlighting evolving children's experiences of their parents’ emigration on the one side, and revealing the hardship of migration journeys on the other. In conclusion, we suggest that studying sensory memories of parcels offers a productive direction for advancing (sensory) transnational migration research that is reflective of broader societal conditions and transformations.