From Transcending transnational transaction and material

accumulation to negotiating emotional transnationalism

amongst the Pinyin and Mankon communities in Cape Town

. . . it’s not just about the demands, it’s about the attitude. The more you give, the happier the family is with you, the more responsive they are even of your communication and phone calls. The

less withdrawn you are financially, the more withdrawn they are so

sometimes you don’t even feel like phoning when you’re not giving. You

know... for me it’s not just about phoning and getting these amount of complains and demands, for me it’s

about phoning and speaking to people who really show these emotions of joy and excitement that you have phoned, even over the phone because you can

sense them. The more distance you are financially, the more some people

will be distant even in their communication approaches so it puts

me off and I just do not feel like phoning those people.

It should be reciprocal especially when you have a child out of the country. . . The only thing you can give go them is

when they phone and you speak to them in a manner that they would go

away knowing that I’ve connected with my family. But when they phone and you’re distant in their voice, you give more monosyllable answers to

their questions and there’s no communication, then it puts one off

and it makes you even miserable being that far away.

Emotion culture/emotion as ‘a social construct’

Arlie Hochschild (1979)• every society possesses an

‘emotion culture’ which consist of a complex of ideas about what people are suppose to feel in various types of situation.

• emotion ideologies about appropriate attitudes, feelings and emotional responses in basic spheres of activity

Steven Gordon’s (1990) • emotion as ‘a social construct’ -

emotions influence, and are influenced by, the flow of interaction in social structures regulated by cultural norms, values and beliefs.

• that culture provides accounts of the origins and nature of different emotions, including their likely causes and outcomes, and it identifies how emotions are expressed and managed.

• emotions are culturally embedded and regulated by culture than biologically

Towards a culture of emotional mobility

• Mobiles need “emotional energy” l (Collins 1990).• need and often turn to the various relations for

emotional support to insulate them from stress.• Difficulty in communication prior to advances in

ICTs meant that that emotions were channelled in long hours of studies, work and wealth accumulation, and even longs periods of abstention from calling.

• Migrants looked forward to weekly market days.

• communication was not easy, you need to pass the message through a third party, maybe you’re borrowing somebody’s phone and then you say can you go and deliver this message, or can you go and be by their side so that when I call I can talk to them so that was one of the factors. And then the second factor was the fact that I did not want to increase my worries . . . I call them just to know how they are doing then… and then what? Because I didn’t have any money to send to them, psychologically disturbed first of all, am struggling to pay for my tuition, when I call her what will I say . . . she says yeah we are fine but we are poor and then you’re not able to solve their problems. I postponed, some time I used to stay for 1 year, because when you call them they will present a situation which will not be very pleasing to you and then it will worry you more and more.

• ICTs - virtual umbilical cords that link migrants and family. Shift from communication drought

• convey in part, ‘moral virtue’ and serve as a conduit to conveying emotional energy.

• Density of networks forged

Negotiating emotional

transnationalism/transculturalism

• Communication technology thus annihilate boundaries that separated migrant.

• Long waiting period of letter writing was reduced

• Ability to travel back and forth• Could also lead to “suboptimal exchanges”

(Turner & Stets, 2005)

• Family re-unions and planned visits – Rachael looks forward to “just hugging her mother and cry with her. I have missed her so much and can’t even imagine what she is going through since my father died . . . I also have a lot of things to tell my father when I go, I will have to talk to him on his grave”

• Photos and memorabilia as co-presence• When I was coming to South Africa, I brought

along photos of my wife and children. These photos have been quite helpful especially on days that I miss them very much. I take them out and go through them, after which I call them while looking at the photos. It makes me feel as if they are next to me and after that I can sleep calmly

• Mediated phone calls• Clandestine phone calls -You may spend your whole

day there and leave without reaching home. But when you are lucky to get through, you leave there a happy man and this steam keeps you going for the next months before you reach home again. You see, but when you leave without calling, your whole week and those after is bad as you are in doubts as to how is the family. This was the case with me at times