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“We Cannot Go There, They Cannot Come Here”: Dispersed Care, Asian Indian Immigrant Families and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Rianka Roy

    (Department of Sociology, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, NC 27109, USA)

  • Bandana Purkayastha

    (Department of Sociology, University of Connecticut, Manchester Hall, Storrs, CT 06269, USA)

  • Elizabeth Chacko

    (Department of Geography, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted families and displaced individuals. For migrant workers, these disruptions and displacements exacerbated the state-imposed constraints on family formation. But how did high-skilled and high-wage immigrants, presumably immune from these challenges, provide care to and receive care from families during the pandemic? Based on 33 in-depth interviews with high-skilled Asian Indian immigrants in the USA during the pandemic, we note disruptions in their care to and from families. These disruptions reveal a persistent pattern of dispersion in immigrant families which leads to what we call “dispersed care.” By “dispersed care” we identify the effects of various state-imposed immigration laws and policies, which force immigrants to divide and allocate care among multiple fragments of their families in home and host countries. Dispersed care affects immigrant workers’ professional output, forcing them to make difficult choices between their career and care commitments. To unsettle the assumed homogeneity of high-skilled “Asian Indians,” we choose participants at diverse intersections of their migration pathways—naturalized US citizens, permanent US residents, and temporary visa holders or nonimmigrants. While naturalized US citizens and permanent residents have better resources to maintain transnational family ties than nonimmigrants, all of them face the intersectional challenges of dispersed care.

Suggested Citation

  • Rianka Roy & Bandana Purkayastha & Elizabeth Chacko, 2024. "“We Cannot Go There, They Cannot Come Here”: Dispersed Care, Asian Indian Immigrant Families and the COVID-19 Pandemic," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-21, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2024:i:5:p:252-:d:1389062
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dwaine Plaza, 2000. "Transnational Grannies: The Changing Family Responsibilities of Elderly African Caribbean-Born Women Resident in Britain," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 75-105, July.
    2. Lyn Craig & Brendan Churchill, 2021. "Dual‐earner parent couples’ work and care during COVID‐19," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(S1), pages 66-79, January.
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