Unpacking the Balikbayan Box. Long-distance Care Through Feeding and Food Consumption in the Philippines

• Authors: Helena Patzer

Title variants

PL

Rozpakowując balikbayan box. Troska na odległość poprzez karmienie oraz konsumpcja jedzenia na Filipinach

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This article explores caring through feeding as an important aspect of transnational family life, and analyzes the practices connected to sending food products home, supervising what the family eats, and changing consumption patterns. It focuses on Filipino migrants to the United States who maintain transnational ties with their families. With a history of colonial encounter, the United States has been a popular migration destination, and has also strongly influenced food consumption. The study shows the ways in which packages from abroad (balikbayan boxes) express love and care, and how they allow migrants to control food consumption of the family in the country of origin. By looking at the goods the immigrants put in the packages, and the way these are received, it is possible to uncover the dynamics of love, care, and intimacy in transnational families, which often translate into power, tensions, and control among family-members. The article analyses how food products sent in the packages work, bringing with them new ideas and practices, creating imaginaries of migration, and building the social prestige of the immigrant. Using the concept of “social remittances”, the article also shows the changing patterns of food consumption in the Philippines.

PL

Artykuł opisuje troskę na odległość poprzez karmienie jako ważny aspekt transnarodowego życia rodzinnego, a także analizuje praktykę wysyłania jedzenia do kraju pochodzenia, nadzór nad tym, co je rodzina, i jak zmieniają się wzorce konsumpcji. Bohaterami artykułu są migranci z Filipin do Stanów Zjednoczonych, którzy utrzymują silne związki transnarodowe ze swoimi rodzinami. Stany Zjednoczone, niedawny kolonizator, są jednym z najpopularniejszych krajów migracji i bardzo silnie wpływają na wzorce jedzenia na Filipinach. Poniższe studium przypadku pokazuje, jak paczki z zagranicy (balikbayan boxes) stają się wyrazem miłości i troski oraz w jaki sposób pozwalają one migrantom kontrolować konsumpcję jedzenia w rodzinie. Bliższe przyjrzenie się produktom przesyłanym z zagranicy i temu, jak są one przyjmowane, pozwala odkryć dynamikę miłości, troski i bliskości w transnarodowych rodzinach, w tym także to, jak przekładają się one na relacje władzy, napięcia i kontrolę pomiędzy członkami rodziny. Artykuł analizuje, co powoduje przesyłanie produktów z zagranicy – jakie nowe praktyki i idee produkty te ze sobą niosą, jak wytwarzają wyobrażenia o kraju migracji oraz jak budują prestiż migranta. Posługując się koncepcją „przekazów społecznych”, artykuł ten analizuje również zmieniające się wzory konsumpcji jedzenia na Filipinach.

Keywords

EN

migration; food parcels; care; consumption patterns; Philippines

PL

migracja; paczki jedzeniowe; troska; wzory konsumpcji; Filipiny

• Publisher: Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Studia Socjologiczne
• Year: 2018
• Issue: 4(231)
• Pages: 131-148

Contributors

author

Helena Patzer

• Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences

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