Presenter: Julia Barber
Mentor: Kristin Yarris, International Studies
Oral Presentation
Major: Anthropology
This presentation examines the effects of transnational family separation on the subjective wellbeing of Nicaraguan grandmothers who have taken the role of guardian after their children have migrated for reasons of economic advancement. While the World Health Organization defines health as encompassing overall social and emotional wellbeing, identifying and measuring ‘wellbeing’ has been challenging. In our analysis, wellbeing is associated with family structure, the state, and transnational migration as well as the responsibilities of inter-generational caregiving. We argue that the state of economic and political systems in Nicaragua, the politicization of national borders, and the constant “micro-worries” (Boehnke, 1998:748) felt by the grandmothers in our study are the greatest actors in determining how the grandmothers define ‘being well’. This work speaks to the anthropology of wellbeing, that both accounts for cultural difference while being useful in international, comparative contexts (Izquierdo, 2009:67). Drawing largely on ethnographic interviews conducted with twenty-four women, this presentation examines the effects of shifting global economic migration patterns from a unique perspective–one that is based on the lived experiences of Nicaraguan grandmothers as they age and take on the guardianship of their grandchildren.