Event

The Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) hosts the Ph.D. Upgrade Seminar of Ms. Mala Jokhan, M.Phil. Graduate Student in Social Policy, on Friday 25th February, 2011, at 10 am, at the SALISES Conference Centre. Ms. Jokhan will deliver her presentation on the topic, “Through the eyes of children left behind in Trinidad: Exploring behavioural implications to lived experiences of parental migration.” 

Abstract          

This qualitative study explores experiences of migratory separation for persons left behind as children on the migration of their parents. Specifically, it continues from where others have left off by acknowledging that while experiencing parental migration may have behavioural effects on children left behind, it is now necessary to explore such implications through understanding these experiences. In so doing, the oral recollections of sixteen persons in Trinidad - now young adults - have been recorded, and are currently being analyzed. Preliminary findings suggest the need to revisit the care-giving capabilities of Caribbean transnational families and the notion of resilience as it epitomizes such families, understand reunification as it takes place in the sending country, and rethink the persistence of Caribbean parental migration. Therefore, this study has major theoretical and policy implications, as it informs conceptualization of the Caribbean transnational family and how to treat with children left behind.   

Keywords: Qualitative, parental migration, children left behind, Trinidad