Book contents
- Relative Distance
- The International African Library
- Relative Distance
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Characters
- Introduction
- 1 Securing the Future: Family, Livelihoods, and Mobility
- 2 Aspirations, Obligations, and Imagination in Family Migration
- 3 The Making of ‘Migrants’
- 4 Kinship Dilemmas: Negotiating Relatedness across Space
- 5 Weddings as Transnational Household Rituals: Marriage and Other Intimate Relationships
- 6 Change and Continuity: The Social Reproduction of Families between Kenya and the United Kingdom
- Conclusion
- References
- Index
- Series page
3 - The Making of ‘Migrants’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 June 2023
- Relative Distance
- The International African Library
- Relative Distance
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of Characters
- Introduction
- 1 Securing the Future: Family, Livelihoods, and Mobility
- 2 Aspirations, Obligations, and Imagination in Family Migration
- 3 The Making of ‘Migrants’
- 4 Kinship Dilemmas: Negotiating Relatedness across Space
- 5 Weddings as Transnational Household Rituals: Marriage and Other Intimate Relationships
- 6 Change and Continuity: The Social Reproduction of Families between Kenya and the United Kingdom
- Conclusion
- References
- Index
- Series page
Summary
Chapter 3 considers the making into ‘migrants’ of those who moved and asks what it meant for their kinship relations. It looks at processes of migrant-making through encounters at three different scales: nationally (with the British state), locally (with their neighbours, strangers, and other Christians), and transnationally (with their kin), arguing that migration compressed these two historical generations into one ‘migrant’ generation. At the same time, I show how migrants participated in these processes, particularly vis-à-vis their kin and, in doing so, fuelled the latter’s expectations of economic and other support. Central to the discussion are the ways in which the imaginings of migrant and non-migrant kin diverged post-migration, creating friction transnationally. Christianity also features prominently in this chapter, as migrants sought to make sense of their dashed expectations, while seeking means to pursue their aspirations and cultivate a sense of belonging.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Relative DistanceKinship, Migration, and Christianity between Kenya and the United Kingdom, pp. 79 - 102Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023