Children and Parents in the Migration Context: Dissonant or Consonant Trajectories

The article is drawn on a study of the families of migrants, having school-age children, from Central Asia. The transnational practices of migrants are closely tied to integration processes, and this is reflected in generational differences. In some families, children that, unlike their parents, go or used to go to a Russian school, try to distance themselves from their parents’ generation, refuse to identify with it, and do not want to speak the native language of their parents. In some ways, these trends are a consequence of parentage practices that orient children toward the local social milieu and encourage the use of Russian. Despite the significance of transnational practices in the life of migrant families, the outcome of the study demonstrates the importance of examining the intergenerational dynamics in the incorporation process