Parcel-sending as a peri-pandemic and post-crisis strategy of creating mutable connections in Moldovan transnational life

包裹寄送是大流行期间和危机后在摩尔多瓦跨国生活中建立可变联系的战略

• 批准号: ES/X005410/1
• 负责人: Sanda Caracentev
• 金额: $ 14.13万
• 依托单位: London School of Economics and Political Science
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FX005410%2F1
• 关键词: Parcel; sending; peri; pandemic; post

This proposal aims to expand my thesis on parcel-sending by Moldovan transnational families between Moldova and the UK as embodiment of connections across borders to explore the strategies of navigating uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukrainian refugee crisis. The focus of the proposed research is twofold: the adaptability of private parcel van companies as agents of migrant infrastructure (Xiang and Lindquist 2014) and the continuity of transnational practices embodied in parcel-sending as a form of social remittances (Levitt 1998, Levitt and Lamba-Nieves 2013) shared with Ukrainian refugees who are seen as extended family in times of crisis. As my thesis showed, private parcel van companies have been key actors in Moldovan transnational life for thirty years and migrants have been using parcel-sending to keep in touch despite changes in their family histories. Their sending practices also employed time-mapping (Gell 1992) to incorporate major life events as temporal references (Munn 1992), helping transnational families make sense of the migration experience, elicit response to disruptive events, and readjust family strategies. Recent press reports suggest that parcel-sending has been steadily increasing throughout the pandemic and lockdowns, pointing to the continuity of family practices across borders. Moreover, in response to the Ukraine crisis, Moldovan migrant networks have mobilised to provide support by redistributing resources, using parcel van companies' offers to transport refugee emergency aid for free. These circumstances offer an important opportunity to investigate the role of material connections that represent 'mutable circulations' (Khrenova and Burrell 2021) of closeness and a continuation of migration narratives when home visits become disrupted. In the past two years, transnational families have already employed Brexit and the pandemic as major temporal references in their migration histories. The post-Brexit period has seen migrants redefine their social strategies of dealing with changes (Morad, Della Puppa and Sacchetto 2020) and develop new strategies to negotiate hostile environments (Gawlewicz and Sotkasiira 2020), with more embedded migrants navigating risks better (Trabka and Pustulka 2020). Furthermore, Covid-19 challenged migrants' sense of belonging and security, partially rooted in reliance on migrant networks (Gurung, Amburgey and Craig 2021), with suggestions that mobility itself may have become a source of uncertainty (Turaeva and Urinboyev 2021). Still, parcel van companies continue to harness migrant networks, providing the flow of informal exchanges as a mutable, fluid practice implying 'real presence' (Khrenova and Burrell 2021:261). Moreover, evidence points to the emergence of 'pandemic transnationalism' (Galstyan and Galstyan 2021), a category of social remittances aimed to cope with the socio-economic effects of the pandemic and translating into the refugee crisis response in Moldova. The full extent of the pandemic's impact and the implications of the Ukrainian conflict on transnational practices are yet to be understood, particularly as narratives of material exchanges uncover the 'importance of different temporalities' on personal history level and in wider societal contexts (Khrenova and Burrell 2021:261).My thesis pointed to the persistence of parcel-sending practices, mediated by parcel van companies showing that, despite disruptive events, migrants continue to harness the mutual trust of informal networks. Therefore, the proposed research builds on the continuing evidence of the significance of migrant infrastructure, peri-pandemic negotiation of transnationalism and the latest indication that the Ukrainian refugee crisis offers an important context for investigating the role of social practices of staying connected across borders.

本提案旨在扩展我的论文，即摩尔多瓦跨国家庭在摩尔多瓦和英国之间发送包裹，作为跨境联系的体现，以探索应对新冠肺炎疫情和乌克兰难民危机造成的不确定性的策略。拟议研究的重点是两个方面：私人包裹货车公司作为移民基础设施代理商的适应性（Xiang和Lindquist 2014）以及包裹发送作为一种社会汇款形式所体现的跨国做法的连续性（Levitt 1998，Levitt和Lamba-Nieves 2013）与乌克兰难民共享，他们在危机时期被视为大家庭。正如我的论文所显示的，私人包裹货车公司三十年来一直是摩尔多瓦货车跨国生活的关键角色，移民一直使用包裹发送保持联系，尽管他们的家庭历史发生了变化。他们的派遣实践还采用了时间映射（Gell 1992），将主要生活事件作为时间参考（Munn 1992），帮助跨国家庭理解移民经历，引发对破坏性事件的反应，并重新调整家庭策略。最近的新闻报道表明，在大流行和封锁期间，包裹发送一直在稳步增加，这表明跨境家庭做法的连续性。此外，为了应对乌克兰危机，摩尔多瓦货车移民网络动员起来，通过重新分配资源提供支持，利用包裹货车公司的提议免费运送难民紧急援助。这些情况提供了一个重要的机会来研究物质联系的作用，这些物质联系代表了亲密关系的“可变循环”（Khrenova和Burrell，2021年），以及当家访中断时移民叙事的延续。在过去两年，跨国家庭已经将英国脱欧和疫情作为其移民历史的主要时间参考。英国脱欧后，移民重新定义了应对变化的社会策略（Morad，Della Puppa和Sacchetto 2020），并制定了新的策略来应对敌对环境（Gawlewicz和Sotkasiira 2020），更多的嵌入式移民更好地应对风险（Trabka和Pustulka 2020）。此外，新型冠状病毒挑战了移民的归属感和安全感，部分根源在于对移民网络的依赖（Gurung，Amburgey and克雷格2021），并提出流动性本身可能已成为不确定性的来源（Turaeva and Urinboyev 2021）。尽管如此，包裹货车公司继续利用移民网络，提供非正式交流的流动，作为一种可变的、流动的做法，意味着“真实的存在”（Khrenova和Burrell 2021：261）。此外，有证据表明出现了“流行性跨国主义”（Galstyan and Galstyan 2021），这是一种旨在科普流行病的社会经济影响并转化为摩尔多瓦难民危机应对措施的社会汇款。大流行病的影响以及乌克兰冲突对跨国行为的影响的全面程度尚待了解，特别是当物质交换的叙述揭示了个人历史层面和更广泛的社会背景中“不同时间性的重要性”时。（Khrenova和Burrell 2021：261）.我的论文指出，包裹发送做法的持续存在，包裹货车公司的调解表明，尽管发生了破坏性事件，移徙者继续利用非正式网络的相互信任。因此，拟议的研究建立在移民基础设施的重要性，跨国主义的大流行谈判和最新迹象表明，乌克兰难民危机提供了一个重要的背景下，调查的作用，保持连接的社会实践跨越边界的持续证据。