Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Families “Here” and “There”: Women, Migration and the Management of Emotions

Abstract Based on interviews with 25 Irish nurses living and working in Britain, the primary aim of this paper is to explore migration as an ongoing emotional journey. Drawing on the work of Hochschild, the paper explores how migrants discuss, describe and manage their emotions. In particular, the paper will explore the role of "emotion culture" in shaping the appropriate management and display of feelings. I discuss the women's early experiences of migration and how they managed their emotions of loneliness and homesickness. I examine how the women navigate the emotional terrain of transnational families and expectations of support and obligation. The paper focuses on how the stresses and strains of marriage and motherhood were negotiated and what happens when "emotion culture" and "display rules" are broken. Emotions are not just a topic of research; they also impact on the research process. One way of trying to uncover the emotions underpinning these interviews is by adopting a reflexive approach to the research process. Hence, as a second aim, the paper employs a reflexive approach to chart my own personal navigation of this emotional terrain both as an interviewer but also as a migrant and mother. Keywords: Emotion ManagementIrish NursesMigrantsTransnational Families Notes 1. I recruited the participants through advertisements in Irish newspapers in Britain, the Irish Post and Irish World, through Irish organisations such as the Federation of Irish Societies and snowballing. 2. With the exception of one woman in Birmingham and one in Coventry, all the others were based in the south-east of England, 15 in London. 3. In my own research I have found reflexivity to be a very useful, cathartic tool and in previous papers I have discussed the emotional encounter between the participants and myself in studies about migration (Ryan "Passing Time"; Ryan and Golden). 4. I would like to point out that these negative reactions are not from my immediate family but rather from a wider range of people. Additional informationNotes on contributorsLouise Ryan Louise Ryan is deputy head of the Social Policy Research Centre at Middlesex University. She has published widely on Irish migration in journals such as Sociology, Sociological Review, Ethnic and Racial Studies and Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. In 2003 Louise was co-applicant on an ESRC grant to research Depression in Irish Migrants to Britain and in 2006 she was the Principal Investigator in an ESRC study into recent Polish migrants to London. She is a member of the associate editorial board of Sociology