Salvadoran Transnational Families: ICT and Communication Practices in the Network Society

Abstract

This paper focus on how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are a crucial aspect in the configuration of new communication processes and practices among transnational families in the context of international migration. I highlight three dimensions of how ICTs offer new possibilities for communicative practices among immigrants and their relatives at home: as a way to maintain family ties and interactions, strengthen cultural values and forms of expression, and provide affective support to the family. Within the academic literature there are few studies that take into consideration the perspective of how ICTs are used by immigrants′ relatives in their home countries. In this sense, the perspectives of transnationalism and transnational family are useful to understand the communication practices that are taking place across national borders. I evaluate some of these elements through case-studies of Salvadoran families who maintain regular communication with their relatives abroad. I address three main research questions: how Salvadoran families who have relatives living in different countries experience transformations in their communication practices; how Salvadoran families use ICTs as a way to maintain affective support with their relatives; and how the implications of ICT usage among transnational families can influence public policies in the new digital age.

Keywords:

• Salvadoran Migration
• Immigrants and Communication
• Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
• Transnational E-Families

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Pedro J. Oiarzabal for the invitation to contribute to this special issue on ICTs and migration, and my wife, Haydee Diaz, for the love and support she gave me while I was completing this article.