Transnational aged care in the digital age: negotiating long distance aged care arrangements between UK based Zimbabwean migrant care workers and their overseas family members

This thesis explores how Zimbabwean migrant care workers and their 'left behind' family members negotiate aged care arrangements and relationships in the context of migration. It also focuses on the role of new technologies in mediating these care arrangements. The thesis engages with research on transnational families and transnational care, which deals with the meaning and continuity of family life and care after migration. I consider this in relation to and through perspectives of Zimbabwean migrant care workers in the UK, their 'left behind’ family members and older people in need of care. The focus on Zimbabwean migrant care workers is shaped by their presence in the UK social care sector. Whilst a lot is known about their experiences working in the adult social care sector, very little is known about how they reconcile paid care work and their familial responsibilities, which sometimes stretches across borders. Equally, less is known about the experiences of those ‘left behind’, particularly their contribution to the care arrangements. The thesis addresses these gaps by investigating the caregiving experiences of both the migrants and the 'left behind'. My study is guided by the transnational, multi-sited and qualitative methodological approach, which enables examining different experiences, representations and asymmetrical negotiations among the actors involved in the care arrangement. Fieldwork was carried out in the UK with ten migrant care workers and in Zimbabwe with the matched family members of three UK participants. In total, eleven family members were interviewed in Zimbabwe.
The findings show that transnational aged care arrangements are dynamic, complex, and involve many intergenerational conflicts. The results also demonstrate the potential and limitations of new technologies in mediating the care arrangements. While there are some positives in how new technologies have enabled these separated families to sustain care relationships across distance, they do not necessarily translate to a greater sense of caring. As a result, proximate care requiring hands-on physical care is the most preferred form of care by the families interviewed. The findings also show the potential of new technologies in producing and reproducing unequal gendered outcomes in caregiving as well as increasing the pressure on migrants to remit, thereby amplifying family conflicts.