Return to Sender: Remittances, Communication and Family Conflict

Abstract

This chapter marks a shift in orientation from the French context of the hostel residents’ lives to the context of the place of origin, looking firstly at relationships with ‘left behind’ family members relations before proceeding in Chap. 6 to the questions of reintegration and hometown development. Section 5.1 underlines how fundamental family ties are for respondents, as manifested in their remittance sending practices: it was the dream of family prosperity and financial security which spurred their emigration in the first place. The French government’s migrant worker hostel policy itself was designed to facilitate such transfers: by keeping rents low, the men were able to send as much money as possible back home, thereby discouraging family reunification. Unexpectedly, as documented in Sect. 5.2, the families of some hostel residents remain dependent on remittances even following the emigrant’s retirement, leading to prolonged stays in France in order to claim certain social security benefits which are subject to a minimum period of residence being observed. However, the long period of exile can lead to loss of influence within the family, leading to family conflicts and sometimes changes in patriarchal gender norms. Remittance dependency and family conflicts are amplified by advances in telecommunications technology: low-cost fixed and mobile telephony has resulted in greater “pressure of communicability”, as detailed in Sect. 5.4.