(Re)tracing pre-pandemic connections: immaterial materialities of parcel-sending and visits home in Moldovan transnational families

Caracentev, Sanda (2024) (Re)tracing pre-pandemic connections: immaterial materialities of parcel-sending and visits home in Moldovan transnational families. Journal of Material Culture. ISSN 1359-1835

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Abstract

This article discusses the elusive materiality of staying connected across borders. Objects brought in suitcases during visits home, images of objects sent via private parcel vans, and objects talked about but never sent all embody this connection. Using the concepts of trace and propinquity to presence the departed migrant and the objects used in family practices, I discuss relational proximity in degrees of nearness, considering seemingly immaterial traces of people and objects in material terms. Drawing on ethnographic examples of Moldovan private parcel van service users, I show how progressively immaterial transnational connections forged before the COVID-19 pandemic continued to create relations even in the absence of visits home during lockdowns.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2024 The Author(s)
Divisions:	Anthropology
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman H Social Sciences
Date Deposited:	24 Oct 2024 11:09
Last Modified:	28 Nov 2024 16:24
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/125871

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