Comment 2: Transnational Care: Family Life and Complexities of Circulation and Citizenship

Abstract

This symposium offers a critical discussion of the logics and dynamics behind the new ‘care circulation’ perspective offered by Loretta Baldassar and Laura Merla in their edited volume entitled “Transnational Families, Migration and the Circulation of Care”. This contribution praises the accuracy of this new perspective in family studies, but also reminds us of the continued relevance of the ‘care chains approach’, in particular as it locates the mobilities of care within debates around global justice. The contribution reflects on some of the blind spots that stem from the ‘circulation’ metaphor, and highlights in particular the need for the care circulation perspective to place transnational families not only in an institutional, but also a global political context.