BØRN I VESTINDISKE FAMILIENETVÆRK: Fire livshistorier fra Nevis

Resumé

Karen Fog Olwig: Children in West

Indian Family Networks: Four Life

Stories from Nevis

Caribbean people often leave their children

behind with relatives when they migrate. It is

well known that these children play an

important structural role as central linchpins

in networks of social and economic

exchange which take place between the

migrants and their family in the community

of origin. There is, however, little

knowledge of the ways in which children

themselves experience growing up in these

global family networks. This article

investigates the point of view of the children

by examining four life stories related by

young people, from the Leeward Island of

Nevis, whose migrant parents left them, as

small children, in the care of their

grandparents. At a more general level, these

life stories also shed light on the cultural

values associated with ideals of a good

family life among people for whom

population mobility and socio-economic

connectivity, on a global scale, have long

constituted a basic framework of existence.