Migrants’ Reported Use of Communication Behaviors that Enact Family across Distance

Abstract

This study investigates reported migrant family communication. It starts by identifying the four key characteristics that combine to distinguish migrant families from other family types: 1) the condition of distance between family members; 2) the reliance on technology to communicate with family; 3) the reliance on discourse for family interaction; and 4) the important role of remittances in migrant family interaction. Then, drawing on in-depth interviews with migrants living in Seattle, WA (N = 43), the study identifies and elaborates on the specific communicative behaviors migrants reported they employ that manage and navigate family communication given each of these characteristics. Participants report engaging in a unique combination of technological, transactional, and functional behaviors that, this study argues, enact a sense of family across distance. In the end, this study contributes to our understanding of the complexity of family communication behaviors of migrants in the United States.