Intimate Borders and Long-Distance Journeys: Migration and the Life of Kinship in the Central Philippines

• In Event: 297. Transnational Borderland Identities in Southeast Asia. Sponsored by AAS SEAC Rising Voices

Abstract

Drawing on 14 months of ethnographic fieldwork on kinship and memories of social mobility in the central Philippines, this paper presents an account of how a history of migration, both internal and transnational, is intertwined with the production, maintenance, and transformation of the borders of kinship. Central to post-World War II journeys of social mobility in the country, migration is both an outcome of and a means for furthering social mobility. At the same time, migratory moves and the broader experiences of social mobility of which they are a part are underpinned by kinship norms and practices, including those pertaining to filiation and siblingship. Yet, the enactment of such journeys may have deleterious consequences for kinship ties, especially in a context where proximity is fundamental to the maintenance of ties: kinship borders (i.e. who does and does not count as kin), their assertion, and their reconfiguration become highly visible and are the subject of struggle. In pursuing this account, I foreground the story of an extended family who, through educational and professional pursuits, has moved from a farming background to a middle class position, and as such, are considered exemplary in their community. I trace how migratory moves across two generations have enabled the reproduction of some borders of kinship, while producing new ones and weakening others. Through this account, I hope to show how the border-crossings of migration are intertwined with the intimate borders of kinship and relatedness.

Author

• Resto S. Cruz, School of Social and Political Science