The Other Side of Need. Reverse Economic Flows Ensuring Migrants’ Transnational Social Protection
Résumé
While there has been significant study of remittances sent by migrants to their origin countries, reverse economic flows originating from receiving contexts have so far received little attention. This paper shows that migrants cover diverse transnational needs using financial support from their relatives and their own economic resources in the origin country. Reverse economic flows reflect a diffuse circulation of support mechanism in transnational families, with interdependence among extended family members bonded by mutual responsibilities and engaged in indirect multi-reciprocal provisions. Such protective arrangements operate over large timeframes and distances. The unusual reverse economic transactions are not exempt from emotional discomfort and relational dissonances. This article draws on illustrative cases of 21 transnational families of Ecuadorians, living in both Ecuador and Europe, investigated through a multi-sited ethnography with a partially matched sample in 2015-2016.