Unforgetting Care as Family History: The Intergenerational and Transnational Relational Literacies of a Chinese Transnational Family

• In Event: Unforgetting Multiple Histories and Imagining Multiple Futures of Asian(American) Im/migrant Literacies

Abstract

What does it mean to be a transnational migrant in the 21st century, able to move across borders and sustain ties through digital technologies? This paper challenges the binary framing of immigrants as either belonging to a sending or receiving country (Kwon, 2020) and the dominant assumption that migration is primarily premised on assimilation or integration. Instead, I unpack the intergenerational and transnational relational literacies of a China-U.S. transnational family through the experiences of Meiyi, a high school student, and her grandparents, aunt, and parents. Drawing on Indigenous scholar Shawn Wilson’s (2020) concept of relationality, I examine how this family nurtures their literacy practices rooted in care and kinship across generations and geographies.
This paper is part of a larger three-year critical ethnographic study that explores the translingual, multimodal, transnational, and intergenerational literacy practices of Meiyi and her family. My inquiry is guided by the question: In what ways does one China–U.S. transnational family practice their transnational and intergenerational relational literacies? Using Portraiture (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997) as the methodological approach, I trace how these literacies unfold across geographies (U.S. and China), contexts (home, school, community, and digital spaces), and modalities (e.g., writing, photography, talk, cooking, drawing). Data sources include semi-structured and artifact-elicited interviews, kitchen table talks, observations, photovoice journaling, literacy artifact creation, document analysis, and researcher memos. I analyzed the data guided by Portraiture and kept the data in large chunks to provide context and details for the narrated portraits.
The findings center on how Meiyi and her family engage in what I call transnational care circulation: the reciprocal, intergenerational, and sometimes asymmetrical exchange of care within their transnational family network. These circulations are shaped by the sociohistorical, political, and economic conditions of both China and the U.S., as well as their own family culture (Lutz, 2018). This care circulation process Meiyi and her family engages in is an integral part of their transnational relational literacies, which was embodied through (1) trans-geographic and transnational migration for the purpose of caretaking, (2) the flow of information through messaging via WeChat during the COVID-19 pandemic and social turbulence in China and the United States, (3) handwritten letters expressing gratitude and regret, and (4) the grandmother’s acts of preparing items—like knitted hats and a sewing kit—for Meiyi’s college transition.
By focusing on these everyday acts of literacy and care, this paper challenges dominant narratives of literacy practices among East Asian transnational families. It moves beyond deficit framings that reduce immigrant literacy to English acquisition (e.g., Chao, 2013) or statistical academic success metrics (e.g., Suárez-Orozco et al., 2010). Instead, I show how Meiyi and her elders co-construct transnational relational literacies that are deeply relational, embodied, and culturally situated. These literacies are not merely tools for academic advancement but are an integral part of the sense-making process of their transnational lives and experiences. I call on educational researchers, teacher educators, and practitioners to unforget the histories and family literacies of their students, and (re)imagine how we might legitimize and sustain the vibrant and myriad literacies transnational students and families bring into educational settings.

Author

• Tairan Qiu, Stanford University