“Kites” and “anchors”: the (im)mobility strategies of transnational Latin American families against the crisis in Spain

Abstract

The impact of the recent global financial and economic crisis on migration to Spain has generated literature focusing mainly on demographic and labour impacts. Internationally, economic crises have also been linked to the increased vulnerability of migrants and return migration. However, this article reveals a more complex picture of how the crisis is producing new (im)mobilities between Latin America and Europe. It adopts a transnational family approach based on qualitative fieldwork with Colombian, Ecuadorean, and Brazilian migrants. The article offers an analysis of their (im)mobility strategies framed by the socio-economic impact of the crisis in Spain. Strategies include various configurations of return and remigration as well as permanence in the host country, involving the whole family or some members. They are the consequence mainly of the economic situation but are also shaped by other “crises” related to migrant status and migratory projects as well as gender, intergenerational, and emotional factors.