Remittances and Their Effects on Kinship Ties in Urban Philippines
Keywords:
economic anthropology, kinship, OFW, remittances, agencyAbstract
In 2015, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) remitted more than USD 28 billion (PSA 2016), impacting millions of families. As important as remittances are to making ends meet, recipients also place semiotic value on the money received from family members abroad. This article attempts to shed light on how remittances affect kinship ties in urban Philippine communities from the point of view of the recipient. This ethnography revealed four observations: they can be interpreted as acts of remembrance; they are mutually beneficial to maintaining kin ties; they are a catalyst for creating agency; and, they strengthen communication between recipient and migrant. Â Â
Â
References
Ang, Alvin P., Guntar Sugiyarto and Shikha Jha (2009), ‘Remittances and Household Behavior in the Philippines’, ADB Economics Working Paper Series No.188
Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Central Bank of the Philippines. http://www.bsp.gov.ph /downloads/ EcoNews/ EN09-08.pdf
Capistrano, Loradel O. and Maria Lourdes C. Sta. Maria (2007), ‘The Impact of International Labor Migration and OFW Remittances on Poverty in the Philippines’, University of the Philippines School of Economics Discussion Papers
Carling, J. (2008), ‘The Determinant of Migrant Remittances’, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 24(3), 582-599.
Carsten, Janet (2003), After Kinship (New Departures in Anthropology) Cambridge University Press
Inquirer (2013), Immigrants Outnumber OFWs. http://globalnation.inquirer.net/69339/ immigrants-outnumber- ofws
Kockelman, Paul (2007), ‘Agency: The Relation between Meaning, Power and Knowledge’, Current Anthropology
(3) 375-401.
Levi-Strauss, Claude (1969). The Elementary Structures of Kinship. Beacon Press.
Lucas, Robert E.B. and Oded Stark (1985) ‘Motivations to Remit: Evidence from Botswana’, Journal of Political Economy, 93 (5) 901-18.
Pernia, Ernesto M. (2008), ‘Migration remittances, poverty and inequality: The Philippines’ Discussion Paper, School of Economics, University of the Philippines, No. 2008, 01.
Philippines Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) 1996, Memorandum Circular No. 55 Series of 1996: Revised Standard Terms and Conditions Governing the Employment of Filipino Seafarers OnBoardOcean-GoingVessels http://www.poea.gov.ph/ memorandumcirculars /sbrel/sbrel.html
PSA (2016) Philippine Statistics Authority. Statistical Tables on Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW):215. https://psa.gov.ph/content/statistical-tables-overseas-filipino-workers-ofw-2015
Roberts, Bruce (2013). Kinship and Family Anthropology 380 Traditional Cultures. http://web.mnstate.edu/robertsb/380/Kinship%20&%20family.pdf
Sahlins, Marshall (2013), What Kinship is – and is not. University of Chicago Press.
Tharmalingam, Sarvendra (2011), ‘Remittance Practices and Transnational Social Spaces of Tamils and Somalis in Norway’, Nordic Journal of Migration Research 1(3) 166-75.
Van Dalen, Hendrick P., Groenwold, George and Fokkema, Tineke (2005): ‘Remittances and their Effect on Emigration Intentions in Egypt, Morocco and Turkey’, Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper, No. 05-030/1.
West, S.A., A.S. Griffin and A. Gardner (2007). ‘Social Semantics: altruism, cooperation, mutualism, strong reciprocity and group selection’, Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 20(2) 415-32.
World Bank (2016), ‘Remittances to Developing Countries Edge Up Slightly in 2015’, April 13
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
- Papers must be submitted on the understanding that they have not been published elsewhere (except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis) and are not currently under consideration by another journal published by any other publisher.
- It is also the authors responsibility to ensure that the articles emanating from a particular source are submitted with the necessary approval.
- The authors warrant that the paper is original and that he/she is the author of the paper, except for material that is clearly identified as to its original source, with permission notices from the copyright owners where required.
- The authors ensure that all the references carefully and they are accurate in the text as well as in the list of references (and vice versa).
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
- The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author.
