The role of materiality in transnational family relationships of Czech migrants in Sweden

Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to analyze the transnational family relationships of Czech pre-1989 political émigrés and post-1989 love/ economic migrants in Sweden and their homeland-based relatives, by looking at the practices via which these relationships are initiated and maintained and the role of materiality in these practices. The theoretical framework builds on the notion of “transnationalism from below” as a perspective which intersects migration and family studies, and posits the focus on material culture as an effective analytical tool. After setting the research in the context of Czech and Czechoslovak migration in the 20th century, qualitative analysis of life history narratives and ethnographic interviews is used to investigate the topic in question. Considering the influence of historical and individual factors, the study identifies the parallels and divergences in the two migrant groups’ practices of long-distance communication and mutual visits and in their attitudes to the role of materiality in transnational family relationships. The thesis concludes by stating that in contrast to the pre-1989 émigrés, the post-1989 migrants’ transnational connections with the homeland-based kin are more frequent and intensive. While material aspects play a more significant role in the post-1989 migrants’ transnational family relationships, material differences are more pronounced in the pre-1989 émigrés’ relationships. The historical circumstances of migration, the individuals’ perceptions of their own acts of migration as voluntary or forced and the question of whether or not they were given a license to leave by their homeland-based kin are said to have a significant impact on relationship initiation, the practices of relationship maintenance and the inherent role of materiality. The importance of individual-level enquiry of the migration experience is thus emphasized.