ICTS Webinar Series Spring 2022 –
‘Transnational Families during Covid’, Dr Marc Scully (MIC), 2 Mar 2022 @ 1pm (IST)

This paper gives a partial overview of  a recent project on the experiences of transnational families between Ireland and Britain during the period of Covid-related restrictions on international travel. My collaborators on this project were Dr Sara Hannafin (now of the Dept of Geography at UL), and Dr Niamh McNamara (Dept of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University). Previous research has highlighted the extent to which ease of movement is central to the identities and support networks of transnational migrants, which raises the question of the psychological consequences of such mobility no longer being possible. We designed an online qualitative survey, which explored participants’ accounts of the extent to which their mobility has been disrupted by the pandemic, and the effect this has had on their support networks and sense of identity and belonging. Through press releases and social media, we recruited Irish migrants in Britain and British migrants in Ireland as well as their close family members. The survey ran between November 2020 and January 2021 with 496 completed responses. In giving an account of participants’ responses to the survey, my focus on this paper will be on two aspects:

1. The high degree of alienation expressed by transnational migrants, with a previous sense of belonging in both countries, replaced by a sense of belonging in neither.

2. The underacknowledged networks of transnational care between Ireland and Britain, the specifically gendered nature of this care, and how these networks were disrupted by the pandemic.

Dr Marc Scully is a lecturer in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts at Mary Immaculate College. His research interests centre around discursive approaches to identity and authenticity, particularly in the context of migration, diaspora and transnationalism.

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Meeting ID: 751 572 6874 Passcode: x2TZvr7!

The ICTS Spring series of lunchtime webinars focusing on “Digital Spaces and Transnational Femininities” is presented in association with the Institute of Irish Studies, MIC, and the Irish Women’s Writing Network.