Missing Kin and Longing to be Together: Emotions and the Construction of Co-presence in Transnational Relationships

Abstract

In this paper I explore the emotions of “missing” and “longing” as integral (though not essential) features of the kin-work (di Leonardo) and emotional labour (Hochschild) needed to maintain transnational family relationships. I argue that these emotions manifest in at least four key ways: discursively (through words), physically (through the body) as well as through actions (practice) and imagination (ideas). Hence, I consider emotions through both of the dominant perspectives in theories of emotion – constructionism (with its emphasis on discourse) and embodiment (with its emphasis on sensory experience). Drawing on a sample of Italian migrants living in Australia and their ageing parents living in Italy, I argue that the emotions of missing and longing motivate kin to construct four types of shared (co)presence – virtual, proxy, physical and imagined – which reinforce the sense of family closeness that characterises Italian conceptions of health and well-being.

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