Based on semi-structured interviews with 24 Chinese older parents (9 in Canada, 9 in Australia and 6 in Scandinavia) who live or have lived abroad with their migrated adult children, this chapter explores how migrant older parents (MOP) abroad construct meanings of migration, transnational living and intergenerational relations, and how these meaning constructions are shaped relative to encounters with different cultural norms concerning care and intergenerational relations, and different welfare regimes’ institutional care arrangements. Adopting socio-narratology (Frank, 2010), it analyses how these elderly parents position themselves in a transnational space of care when telling their stories of migration and living abroad. Earlier studies on Chinese migrant older parents in the context of internal migration shows that this migration is a form of “descending familism” (Yan, 2016). It was triggered directly by the care needs within the family and was mainly perceived as an act to help the younger generation with childcare, indicating a shift in norms in intergenerational relations (Zhao & Huang, 2018, 2021). In comparison, migrant older parents abroad deploy multiple narratives that go beyond the discourse on care obligations, shedding light on multiple aspects of ageing and well-being.

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Ageing and Well-Being in the Transnational Space of Care: Exploring the Narratives of Chinese Migrant Older Parents

  • Yan Zhao,
  • Yu Huang

摘要

Based on semi-structured interviews with 24 Chinese older parents (9 in Canada, 9 in Australia and 6 in Scandinavia) who live or have lived abroad with their migrated adult children, this chapter explores how migrant older parents (MOP) abroad construct meanings of migration, transnational living and intergenerational relations, and how these meaning constructions are shaped relative to encounters with different cultural norms concerning care and intergenerational relations, and different welfare regimes’ institutional care arrangements. Adopting socio-narratology (Frank, 2010), it analyses how these elderly parents position themselves in a transnational space of care when telling their stories of migration and living abroad. Earlier studies on Chinese migrant older parents in the context of internal migration shows that this migration is a form of “descending familism” (Yan, 2016). It was triggered directly by the care needs within the family and was mainly perceived as an act to help the younger generation with childcare, indicating a shift in norms in intergenerational relations (Zhao & Huang, 2018, 2021). In comparison, migrant older parents abroad deploy multiple narratives that go beyond the discourse on care obligations, shedding light on multiple aspects of ageing and well-being.