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The Gendered Politics of Remittances in Ghanaian Transnational Families

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  • Madeleine Wong

Abstract

Using interviews with Ghanaian women in Toronto and members of their families in Ghana, this article extends the literature on remittances by drawing on insights from feminist scholarship on migration to investigate the social dynamics of remittances in transnational families. The growing literature on migration and remittances focuses on large-scale quantitative analyses of data on remittances. Less explored is how gender and kinship bonds (particularly, matrilineage affiliation) influence complex decision-making processes underlying remittances. I argue for a conceptualization of remittances as constituting relationships between senders and receivers that are continually being negotiated and contested in and across different places. Specifically, I focus on the cultural and gender-specific ways in which women and their families negotiate remittances, highlighting dilemmas that transnational families experience when they encounter contradictory aspects of remittances. Despite their material realities and struggles in Canada, the women in this study remitted to fulfill gendered obligations in highly contested and negotiated contexts. Their remittances were important, however, for the production and reproduction of families and households that are structured transnationally. While this case exhibits specific features that are particular to Ghanaian migration and transnationalism, it highlights how broader social dynamics underlying remittances operate at multiple scales and intersect with differential social and economic structures and agency in producing meanings of remittances.

Suggested Citation

  • Madeleine Wong, 2006. "The Gendered Politics of Remittances in Ghanaian Transnational Families," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 82(4), pages 355-381, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:recgxx:v:82:y:2006:i:4:p:355-381
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2006.tb00321.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Chengfeng Yang & Huiran Han & Jinping Song, 2014. "Spatial Distribution of Migration and Economic Development: A Case Study of Sichuan Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(10), pages 1-20, September.
    2. Bertranna Muruthi & Kimberly Watkins & Megan McCoy & James R. Muruthi & Felisters J. Kiprono, 2017. ""I Feel Happy that I Can be Useful to Others": Preliminary Study of East African Women and Their Remittance Behavior," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 315-326, September.
    3. Beverley Mullings, 2022. "Racial capitalism, coloniality and the financialization of Caribbean remittances," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(4), pages 744-760, June.
    4. Cheryll Alipio, 2013. "Young Men in the Philippines," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 646(1), pages 214-232, March.
    5. Amoyaw, Jonathan Anim & Abada, Teresa, 2016. "Does helping them benefit me? Examining the emotional cost and benefit of immigrants' pecuniary remittance behaviour in Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 182-192.
    6. Nanneke Winters, 2017. "Embedding Remittances: A Methodological Note on Financial Diaries in Nicaragua," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 108(2), pages 175-189, April.
    7. Kim Caarls & Valentina Mazzucato, 2016. "Transnational relationships and reunification," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 34(21), pages 587-614.
    8. Afulani, Patience A. & Torres, Jacqueline M. & Sudhinaraset, May & Asunka, Joseph, 2016. "Transnational ties and the health of sub-Saharan African migrants: The moderating role of gender and family separation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 63-71.
    9. Jeffrey H. Cohen & Natalia Zotova, 2021. "Rethinking remittance: The socioeconomic dynamics of giving for migrants and nonmigrants," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(2), pages 300-310, June.
    10. Edmond Akwasi Agyeman & Mercedes Fernández Garcia, 2016. "Connecting Return Intentions and Home Investment: the Case of Ghanaian Migrants in Southern Europe," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 745-759, August.

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