| ISSN: | 1640-1808 |
Representations of transnational childhoods and childhoods abroad in Lithuanian media discourse
1
Institute of Sociology and Social Work, Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University, Lithuania
Submission date: 2023-06-02
Final revision date: 2023-09-30
Acceptance date: 2023-10-05
Online publication date: 2023-11-16
Publication date: 2023-11-16
Corresponding author
Irma Budginaite-Mackine
Institute of Sociology and Social Work, Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University, Universiteto str. 9, 01513, Vilnius, Lithuania
Institute of Sociology and Social Work, Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University, Universiteto str. 9, 01513, Vilnius, Lithuania
Problemy Polityki Społecznej 2023;62(3):1-23
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
The Lithuanian population has been highly mobile since joining the EU. Consequently life across borders has become a common experience for many children and young people from/in Lithuania. This article first examines the extent to which Lithuanian media (2006-2021) captures the experiences of Lithuanian children living abroad and of those who remain in Lithuania when their parents emigrate. It then focuses on a subsample of news items which portray mobile and transnational childhoods as “vulnerable” and in need of protection, building on the concepts of “family troubles” and “troubling families” (Ribbens McCarthy et al., 2013). The findings reveal that the constructions of childhoods in the migration context are grounded in two powerful imaginaries – one linked with migration and the other tied to the notion of family. The increasing diversity of family forms challenges the strong imaginary of the national-bound single household family unit as the norm and reveals the media’s power in defining “good families” and “appropriate” childhoods.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
It would like to thank the editors of this special issue, participants of panel on mobile and migrant childhoods organized by Charlotte Melander, Oksana Shmulyar
Gréen and Kerstin von Brömssen in 2022 at Nordic Migration Conference, colleague
Anna Wojtynska and anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on the earlier versions of this paper that helped me to significantly improve the manuscript.
In addition, I would like to thank Irena Juozeliūnienė (Vilnius University) for continuous collaboration, as idea for this article emerged from our earlier research on transnational mothering and transnational families.
FUNDING
This publication was prepared while implementing the postdoctoral research project no. 09.3.3‐LMT‐K‐712‐23‐0155, which has received funding from the European Social Fund under a grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT)
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| ISSN: | 1640-1808 |
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