Childhood, Youth and Migration: Connecting Global and Local Perspectives – Introduction

Abstract

For quite a long time children and youth as a group have remained outside the main analytical focus of transnational migration studies. Children may be part of migration because they are migrating together with one or both of their parents or with other family members. However, they also migrate independently or autonomously. Yet, children are also affected by migration when they stay behind because one or both parents migrate for work and leave their children in the care of relatives or acquaintances. Although the latter case does not involve children’s actual travel during migration, it does show the need for a broader perspective on migration, childhood and youth: ‘Secondary’ impacts of migration processes–e.g. in the educational systems of the destination countries–are significant for children and youth as actors and as–constructed–social groups. The contributions to this book show the different ways in which migration matters in the context of global and local childhood and youth.