the transnational lives of american–israeli mothers

The Transnational Lives of American–Israeli Mothers

Laura I. Sigad & Rivka A. Eisikovits

# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Abstract An increasing number of migrants around the world maintain strong, simul-taneous connections in their countries of origin as well as their countries of residence.American women in Israel are one migrant group representing this worldwide phe-nomenon. These women’s transnationalism extends to the entire family unit: havingboth the means and the desire, they move with their husbands and children between theUSA and Israel. The decision to live this way has significant implications for the livesand social development of their children. The mothers place great importance on thetransnational lifestyle and on their homeland. While this may pose challenges to theirchildren’s development and adjustment, the mothers often do not see—or acknowl-edge—these difficulties. Our study offers an in-depth view of the impact of transna-tional migration on the family. Implications for practice and policy are suggested in thearticle.

Keywords Transnationalism . Transnational migrants . Transnational mothers .

Transnational childhood . North Americanmigrants in Israel

Globalization and transnationalism are spawning new styles of mothering in migrantcommunities around the world. Migration research once assumed that migrants dis-solve attachments to their countries of origin as they integrate into their countries ofresidence. Today, globalization has transformed our understanding of migration intothat of an ongoing process, back and forth, between two or more social and physicalspaces, challenging traditional views of citizenship (Bloemraad 2000; Levitt and GlickSchiller 2008; Portes 2000; Vera-Larrucea 2012).

This study is an effort to discern how transnationalism affects the experience andperceptions of one group of migrant mothers. We examine a group of North Americantransnational mothers living in a northern Israeli city, who live and travel with their

Int. Migration & IntegrationDOI 10.1007/s12134-014-0350-8

L. I. Sigad (*)School of Criminology, The Center for the Study of Society, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel,Haifa 31905, Israele-mail: [email protected]

R. A. EisikovitsFaculty of Education, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israele-mail: [email protected]

children and husbands. We gain an emic or insider’s perspective on transnationalmothers, who along with their children straddle the American-Israeli divide. Themothers function within several concurrent identity sets that exist in tension andcompetition with one another. In this paper, we highlight the tensions between theseémigrés’ multiple roles in their interactions with their children. Moreover, we aim tounderstand how these mothers view the influence of a transnational lifestyle andcontinual contact with their countries of origin on their children’s development andability to function in both societies.

This study considers the potential influence of core values on women’s experienceof transnational motherhood and on their perceptions of their children’s transnational-ism. We offer both an experiential view of the mothers as participants and a criticalanalysis of how they perceive and approach the contradictions of transnational livingfor themselves and their children.

Transnationalism and the Family

Transnational migrants maintain active and simultaneous connections in both the newcountry and the country of origin, redefining their experience of national identity andcultural belonging, as well as blurring the significance of geographic distance andnational borders (e.g., Appadurai 1996; Veronis 2010). Multiplicity lies at the core oftransnationalism; transmigrants develop and maintain manifold relations—familial,economic, social, organizational, religious, and political—that span borders (GlickSchiller et al. 1992). Openness to mobility and a lack of precise definition in personalcircumstances are said to be facets of migrant life in the age of globalization (Baysok2002) and may characterize transnational life as well (Gold 2001; Vera-Larrucea 2012).

When transnational migrants participate simultaneously in two different and disjunc-tive cultural contexts, they must negotiate vast cultural differences. Core cultural differ-ences stand out in the context of child rearing, childhood experiences, and family life(Bornstein et al. 1998; Gold 2001; Salazar Parrenas 2005; Sigad and Eisikovits 2009).This type of migration poses an inherent challenge to child rearing, as the social realms ofglobalization and transnational life are frequently fractured (Suarez-Orozco 2004).

Transnationalism has fundamentally changed the experience of family (Schans2009; Wei Wei 2003). It effectively transforms the mothers’ native soil from an objectof yearning into a site of continuous experience (Fouron and Glick Schiller 2001) forboth the mothers and their children (Sigad and Eisikovits 2010). As transnationalmothers integrate both their host and homeland societies into their daily lives, theydevise novel forms of parenting (e.g., Pajnik and Bajit 2012).

Transnational family migration studies have documented the grave emotional costsof long-term separation as experienced by parents and children, as well as by familymembers left behind in the country of origin (Dreby 2006, 2007; Fog Olwig 1999;Menjivar 2002; Silver 2011; Suarez-Orozco et al. 2002). Coping strategies for devel-oping intimacy between parents and children in the context of transnational separationhave also been investigated (Mahler 2001; Salazar Parrenas 2005; Schmalzbauer 2008).

Transnational motherhood, in particular the experience of mothering from afar, hasgained some academic attention (e.g., Horton 2009; Staiano 2013). These mothersretain their roles in their children’s lives despite substantial physical separation from

L.I. Sigad, R.A. Eisikovits

their children, devising novel communication methods to ensure a sense of family andcontinuity (e.g., Sternberg and Barry 2011; Hondagneu-Sotelo and Avila 1997). Schol-arship on transnational mothers has examined the effect of migration on genderconstructs (e.g., Erel 2012, on European transnational mothers in the UK; Dreby2006, on Mexican mothers in the USA; Hondagneu-Sotelo 2002, on Latina mothersin the USA; Huang and Yeoah 2011, on Chinese transnational mothers in Singapore).

The current study describes a different brand of transnational families, with NorthAmerican mothers living in Israel as its focus. The study participants all remain withintheir marriages as a family unit, and they contend with the transnational challenges, aswell as the benefits, directly related to the unique nature of North American migrants inIsrael. By providing this particular example that focuses on the experiences of non-separated transnational families, the current study adds breadth to ethnographic ac-counts of transnational families worldwide.

Transnational North American Migrants in Israel

Americans in Israel are one migrant group that represents the global phenomenon oftransnationalism. Their lives cross social spheres in that they maintain multiple, dailylinks to the USA even as they live out their lives in Israel (Sigad and Eisikovits 2009,2010). About 120,000 American Jews have immigrated to Israel since the founding ofthe state in 1948. American culture and the English language enjoy high status in Israel(Ben-Rafael 1994), thereby encouraging migrants and their children to be identified astransnationals who maintain daily connections with their cultures of origin. Thus,American-born Jews are often ambivalent about the duration of their residence inIsrael. An estimated 40 to 60 % eventually return to the USA, the highest rate of returnamong migrant groups in Israel. Moving closer to family is frequently cited as themotivation for this return migration (Waxman 1989). Moreover, those migrants whochoose to remain in Israel use various means to connect with their geographicallydivided families (Sigad and Eisikovits 2010).

Method

In the present article, we attempted to capture the ways in which transnationalismaffects the experiences and perceptions of one group of migrant mothers. We analyzedemerging thematic categories so as to gain a better understanding of how transnationalmothers view the influence of this lifestyle and of the continual contact with theircountries of origin on their children’s development and ability to function in bothsocieties. In addition, we examined the ways in which these mothers’ lifestyle choicescreate tension between the competing roles that they enact. The ethnographic method isparticularly suited to such undertakings as it offers a holistic and emic perspective.

Sample

The choice of sample in qualitative research is based on conceptual and theoreticaldecisions guided by research aims (Creswell 2007). Participants in this study wereselected by “snowball sampling” (Schensul et al. 1999). This sampling method was

Transnational Lives of American–Israeli Mothers

particularly effective for the study at hand as our goal was to gain access to a particularpopulation of transnational mothers in order to obtain their “insiders’” perspectives ontheir children’s lives and on the tensions inherent in their own engagement withmultiple identity sets. While there is a risk inherent in this method of recruitment ofinterviewees by their own acquaintances, it did allow us to locate this hard-to-accesspopulation, who maintain social networks within their own communities (Babbie2004). Thus, we found snowball sampling to be the most effective method forapproaching this population.

Whereas in the previous motherhood article, the study population numbered 14mothers, the present study group consists of 17 American-born mothers in mixedAmerican–Israeli families who are currently residing in Israel and are leading atransnational lifestyle. The motivations for the informants’ migrations were personal,combined with some religious and Zionist sentiments. All are professional womenworking as writers, researchers, lawyers, physicians, as well as in the high-techindustry. Their ages at the time of the study ranged from 35 to 47, while their children’sages ranged from 5 to 21. The participants’ husbands were born and raised in Israel.While it would have been interesting to explore the husbands’ perceptions in order toobtain a holistic picture of the experiences of these families, women are the centralsubjects of this study, with the particular experience of transnational motherhood as itsfocus. The families’ religious affiliations ranged from secular to Reform or Conserva-tive Judaism.

Families demonstrated a fluid approach to their migration: some had spent periodsresiding in the USA, while others had lived solely in Israel, always as a family unit. Allthe mothers were undecided regarding the duration of their residency in Israel. All thefamilies reside for the greater part of the calendar year in northern Israel, although somemaintain residences in the USA as well.

Data Collection

The data collection process began with in-depth interviews with two of the participants,who served as key informants. These two participants were selected because they werehighly verbal and had well-defined ideas on the topic. Categories based on the keyinformants’ narratives arose from these two pilot interviews and were used to build aninclusive, culturally informed, and semi-structured ethnographic interview guide ap-plied to the other 15 participants. All these participants were interviewed individually intheir homes in Israel. Guidelines for ethnographic interviews were followed (Spradley1979). The interviews lasted approximately 1.5 h, were tape-recorded, and subsequent-ly transcribed verbatim. The first author conducted the fieldwork.1

Data Analysis

Several readings of the transcripts were followed by an inductive analytic process(Spradley 1979). Using this procedure allowed us a relatively unbiased interpretation ofthe transcripts that did not impose a predetermined structure on the data (LeCompte and

1 The first author is a North American transnational mother herself, who meets all the criteria for participationin the study.


Preissle 1994). Initially, we organized the responses into domains emerging from theinterview data (Roulston 2010). Next, we conducted a cross-case analysis, in which wecondensed segments from each interview until core themes emerged (Kvale 2009;LeCompte and Preissle 1994). For example, the theme “children’s transitioning be-tween worlds” was revealed by different expressions in the interview data, such as inthe ways that the mothers experienced their children’s bilingualism and alterations inbehaviors when traversing from one of their transnational realms to the other. Bydefining the different experiences under the same category of “transitioning betweenworlds,” we achieved a categorical theme that encompasses the scope of their percep-tions and lived realities.

To ensure inter-coder reliability, we performed thematic content analysis separatelyregarding the content of the themes and the interpretation of their meanings. Subse-quently, we compared the individual analyses, discussed disagreements, and looked forconformity regarding theme content and interpretation of meaning (Fetterman 2010).We rejected themes considered to make minor contributions to the overall understand-ing of the examined phenomenon of transnationalism and the family, particularlytransnational motherhood.

Trustworthiness of the Study

Ethnographic investigation as a form of qualitative research can be evaluated by thestudy’s trustworthiness (Lincoln and Guba 2005). In the current study, credibility isevidenced through the varied realities drawn from the in-depth interviews with theparticipating transnational mothers. This is accomplished through the combination ofquotation presentation and analysis, which allow the reader to evaluate our constructionof themes (Maxwell 2005). Therefore, the emphasis shifts from validity to validation:from presenting a finished product to validating the inter-subjectivity of the researchers,the readers, and the study (Angen 2000). The focus of qualitative research is on in-depthsubjective analysis of personal experiences rather than on generalizations. With thatsaid, such an analysis provides solid exploratory ground for heuristic model buildingupon which studies aimed at rigorous generalizations can be based (Babbie 2004).

The themes that emerged from our interpretation of interview data (Wolcott 1994)form the backbone of this investigation: (1) the mothers’ view of transnational life, “Iwould go back in a second” and (2) the mothers’ perceptions of their children’stransitioning between worlds, “She is so adaptable in two worlds.”

Presentation and Analysis of Findings

Mother’s View of Transnational Life: “I Would Go Back in a Second.”

The mothers all believe they can create a framework that allows family members tomove back and forth, or to live simultaneously, in two transnational spheres. In ourstudy, the families remain geographically united, while moving back and forth fromone transnational sphere to the other. They mobilize to achieve this goal in practicalterms and thereby minimize the emotional complications of making a life inboth countries.


Characteristic of North Americans in Israel (Waxman 1989), the mothers hereunanimously view their families’ stay in Israel as impermanent. The overwhelmingmajority voiced their willingness to relocate with their families to their country oforigin. Half reported that while they currently live together as a family in Israel, thefamily unit has also resided in the USA for periods of at least 2 years. Those who havenot done so are eager to spend time living as a family in the USA. Carol, a mother ofthree, is keen to relocate to her other transnational sphere: “I would go back in a second,and they [her children] would go in a second too; they love it there!” Yet, Carol’sassessment does not seem to account for the implications of such a move for each of herchildren, nor for the family as a whole, and she takes the children’s enthusiasm for a USsojourn for granted. Like all the participating mothers, Carol is a migrant herself andunderstands the challenges of relocation and cross-cultural adaptation. However, theanticipation of returning to the USA, and the fact that this would be a homecoming,appears to blind her to what a move like this could mean for her family. She assumesthat her children share her yearning and that “going back in a second” is as easy asreturning to a beloved vacation spot.

According to the majority of mothers, their Israeli-born husbands share thesepriorities.2 And in most cases, their husbands did move back and forth between theUSA and Israel, both before and after their children were born. Sara, representing thismajority pattern, describes her own family’s transnational lifestyle, including an 8-yearstay in the USA before their most recent return to Israel:

We had this agreement; we would each have turns [in our countries of origin]. Myturn was up. I had finished my studies and was able to get licensed [as apsychologist]. We accomplished a lot in those years, and so I guess the ideawas that we would be back [in Israel] for the same amount of time, give or take,and then we would consider going back [to the United States] again.

The 8-year stay that Sara refers to followed a 5-year period in Israel as a youngcouple. She describes the back-and-forth pattern she and her husband had planned fortheir lives together as a natural and normative choice. One can sense the equality oftheir relationship—each spouse acknowledges the other’s need to be in his/her countryof origin and agrees to work toward this joint goal. Sara takes an achievement-orientedapproach to her time in each country and stresses her career accomplishments duringthis last period in the USA. Sara sees the family’s return to Israel as the next stage intheir transnational lives, rather than as a permanent move. This openness to mobilityand the lack of finality in personal circumstances are facets of migrant life in the age ofglobalization (Baysok 2002) and may characterize transnational life as well (Gold2001). These mothers have decided not to decide where their families will live andgrow and to minimize this situation’s negatives in the face of its benefits.

Interestingly, along with this openness to change is a rather narrow band of optionsfor transnational living. While these mothers are quite flexible regarding linguistic,cultural, and logistical shifts in day-to-day life, they are unbending in their commitmentto their lifestyle. They reject the option of settling permanently in one country and, in sodoing, have simplified their personal narratives. Rather than reflecting on their chosen

2 As we concentrated on the roles of the mothers, we did not interview or include husbands in this study.


form of transnationalism as it compares with other, more settled, immigrant lifestyles,they view it as the only way they could live. In doing so, they minimize the costs thislack of permanence presents to their children.

Significant financial resources bolster transnational activities (Waters 2002). Aboutone third of the families maintain homes in each country and describe themselves asliving simultaneously in two locales. Lisa presents this style of transnationalism:

We are completely connected to America on an everyday basis. My husbandworks and has a business there, and we have a home there. We kept our home andmoved to Israel. I never had to disconnect myself from America. The childrenhave their bedrooms there, their beds, their toys. We didn’t bring everything withus so they have their special things both here and there.

Lisa is aware of the advantages of her brand of transnationalism, and she is content.She believes she and her husband can make two homes for their children. While Lisamay feel that home is not defined by geographic lines and borders (Appadurai 1996),she may oversimplify her situation by reducing it to a collection of material goods. Inassuming that familiar or much-loved objects in a familiar house will make the childrenfeel at home in either country, she discounts just how much their Israeli experience maymake the children feel less than fully American. In this context, she misses the extent towhich the feeling of home is a fundamental assumption, generating a sense of stabilityand belonging and constituting part of the fabric that makes up an individual. Lisaassumes that through the material setting she and her husband have provided, herchildren will adopt her sense of being at home in the USA. She does not appear toconsider that any other outcome is possible. Again, we must reiterate that this state ofaffairs, shared by a number of participants, would be unthinkable without significanteconomic backing.

These women’s perceptions of revolving-door transnationalism are colored by theirdevotion to the lifestyle. The mothers’ narratives of easy migration beg the question ofwhether this experience is an adult version of an imagined life that the children present(Sigad and Eisikovits 2010). For the children, fantasizing an alternate childhood in theother realm is an important part of managing their own identities as transnationals.They sustain extensive narratives for themselves about their past or potential futureexperiences regarding school, friends, and home in North America (Sigad andEisikovits 2010). It appears that the intense commitment of their mothers enables, oreven requires, them to create such narratives, which are acceptable to the entire family.The next section examines in more detail these mothers’ assessments of their children’stransitions.

Mothers’ Perceptions of Their Children’s Transitioning Between Worlds: “She Is soAdaptable in Two Worlds.”

The brand of transnationalism studied here is characterized by the regular movement ofthe core family between one transnational realm and another. These transitions rangefrom the summer spent in the USA, followed by a return to Israel, to longer periodsaway, during which the children may attend American schools for one or more yearsbefore returning to Israel.


Such a transition is described by Linda, who speaks of her 11-year-old daughter’sshift between Israel and Canada: “She is so adaptable in two worlds. She knows how tomake the switch; she just does it!” Linda sees that the transition is taking place andelects not to engage with the emotional or identity processes that underlie her daugh-ter’s transnational adjustment; she takes her daughter’s successful transition as evidencethat the child is untroubled by the process. Mothers take pride in their children’sflexibility, adaptability, and resilience. These characteristics are important in the settingof international commerce and communications (Suarez-Orozco and Qin-Hillard2004), and the mothers are pleased that the transnational lifestyle seems to have taughtthe children these essential skills.

The mothers’ conception of their children’s “seamless adaptations” (author’s termi-nology) from one cultural realm to another bolsters their confidence and reassures themthat the lifestyle is beneficial for their children. Yet, the majority of children report thatthey make deliberate choices to alter their personalities to fit the setting, even when theyare uncomfortable with local peer group norms. Whereas others report that they haverefused such adaptations. Instead, they describe themselves as having continued to actaccording to an internal compass in a way they find acceptable and enjoyable. Thechildren’s unifying narrative is one of conscious decision-making about their ownconduct; the process they depict is far from automatic and, by their own accounts,requires careful reflection (Sigad and Eisikovits 2010). In contrast, the mothers per-ceive their children’s transitions as robot-like and do not credit them with the ability tobe reflective.

The revolving-door lifestyle presents inherent problems for children. Yet, only aminority of the mothers offer some awareness that transnational switching can be achallenging process, one for which the children do not have much support. Among themothers, there is no discussion of altering or modifying the lifestyle. Perhaps morestrikingly, even those mothers who are aware of their children’s difficulties withtransnationalism do not assume an active role in alleviating the burdens of cross-border transition. Karen described her older daughter’s return to Israel at age nine,after a 2-year stay in the USA:

It was really difficult for her. She had a hard time watching the behavior of thechildren in class, the way they spoke to each other, the different culture of theschool. She had a hard time making the switch, because she wanted to hold on toher American identity and not return to her Israeli one. She had a period whereshe didn’t want to fit in and said, “I want to be American, I want to stayAmerican!”

Karen’s daughter differentiates between American and Israeli culture and the waychildren are expected to behave in the two locales. These children’s cross-culturalexperiences fine-tune their social awareness and push them toward a precocious abilityto detect and adapt to local behavioral norms (Sigad and Eisikovits 2010). While all themothers in this study are aware of the differences between children in their two realms,Karen is one of the few who recognizes the hardship these differences present for herdaughter and discusses them openly. Karen sees her daughter’s unwillingness to“switch” to a different behavioral code as a conscious decision and an expression of“American identity.” However, Karen’s daughter may simply be parroting her mother’s


words. Karen’s account of her daughter’s struggles with the transition is marked byemotional distance. Karen points to time as key to her daughter’s adaptation (Anderson1991) to revolving-door life. Yet in her narrative, Karen does not refer to the relation-ship between her daughter’s need to adjust and her chosen lifestyle. Although shestands out in her recognition of how little support there is for children livingtransnationally, Karen does not mention any effort to help her child develop newstrategies for managing the cultural shift. Rather, her dependence on time as a healerindicates passivity in the face of the challenges her lifestyle poses for her kin.

Immigrant mothers may be ill-equipped to act as cultural instructors for theirchildren in this setting. Perhaps the real meaning of being “born into” one of theseAmerican–Israeli families is that the children and youth must pioneer the meaning of atransnational life for themselves (Sigad and Eisikovits 2010). In fostering transnation-alism, mothers provide structural tools to their children: English language instruction,US citizenship, and access to a home in the USA. These mothers, however, represent afundamentally different type of transnationalism from their children. They were born,raised, and educated in one country before immigrating to another, and they may lackthe intellectual and emotional know-how to help their bicultural children negotiate themost difficult parts of the cross-cultural adjustment.

These data have revealed the mothers’ views on their transnational children’s en-trance and reentrance to their North American and Israeli locales. The mothers present aspectrum of views on whether and to what extent their transnational lifestyles challengetheir children.Most mothers emphasized their children’s positive skills and viewed theseprocesses as smooth and risk free, while a minority considered the negative effects theseevents may have on their children. Yet, even the minority group did not dwell on thepotential costs of this lifestyle to their children or consider how they, as parents, mightalleviate problems presented by the lifestyle. It is important to note that the mothersacross the board relate to cultural difference and deemphasize or do not consider the roleof developmental age in these processes. In both cases presented, the mothers seem toview these processes as normative parts of life and development, not requiring theirinvolvement. But as we bring our attention to daily interactions, the contradictions in themothers’ approaches to child rearing become evident.

Conclusions

Themothers’ experiences represent great inner contradiction and self-compartmentalization.On the one hand, they present themselves as firmly committed to a transnationallifestyle, which they see as key to their self-actualization and to the future of theirchildren. On the other hand, while these mothers physically live in two worlds, theyemotionally inhabit just one, their idealized homeland. In trying to make their owncountries of origin real for their children, they appear to miss their children’s funda-mental concerns and needs in their country of residence. In effect, the mothers areblinded to the difficulties transnationalism poses for their children.

Although the USA and Israel share many cultural attributes—high economic andtechnical achievement, similar family and social structures, and an extensive overlap inpopular and high culture—these similarities are largely superficial (Bloch 1998; Gold2001). These two nations are separated by very real differences in culture and accepted


behavior. In this context, the mothers’ devotion to the transnational lifestyle is actuallyone-sided, stressing English-language study, American popular culture, and use of thelatest communications technology. The area of manners clearly illustrates this rift.While the mothers do not want to consciously raise children whose behavior is outof sync with the society in which they live, they place great value on correct Americanmanners.

This incongruity brings the mothers face-to-face with the conflict and how they havecompartmentalized their two transnational spheres. It also reveals the intensity of thesewomen’s discord: how they question transnationalism while appearing to embrace it.

This inherent tension provides an additional dimension to the relationship betweenmothers’ and children’s narratives about their transnational lives. As the mothersproject their own fantasies of seamless transition and adjustment onto a reality that isnot always so compliant, their emphasis on American ways of behaving may fostertheir children’s attachment to the idea of a life in the USA. This raises the question ofwhether this duality—insistence on the normalcy of their way of being, coupled withinsistence on living as Americans in Israel—represents an actual inability or merely arefusal to cope with the challenges of transnational living.

Throughout our investigation, we have seen the mothers voice allegiance to the idealof transnational life. Yet, their narratives clearly tell a different story: while they live inIsrael, life is always greener on the other side. This may stem from their ownambiguities, proposed as a facet of transnational life (Baysok 2002). In any case, thechildren are left to solitarily face the fact that while they live in Israel, their mothersplace greater value on another locale. Further, little or no dialogue addresses issuespertinent to the challenges of their transnational lives.

These mothers assume the air of distant observers and take a passive approach tothese issues in Israel. The focus is on external markers of transnationalism: physicalpossessions, language, technology, and popular culture.

As migrants themselves, the mothers’ face their own cross-cultural adaptationprocesses, not least of which is the challenge of mothering in a foreign setting (Sigadand Eisikovits 2009). Thus, the mothers’ personal struggle with migration may leavethem without adequate resources to attend to their children’s difficulties with transna-tionalism. Indeed, the mothers are not only absorbed in their own transnationalexperience but are architects of their children’s experiences as well. They may beunable to distance themselves sufficiently from their own struggles to shepherd theirchildren effectively through their challenges. Actively committed to a fulfilling trans-national lifestyle for themselves, the mothers’ attention is absorbed by the demands oftheir own day-to-day lives, including the need to maintain ties in their country of origin.

The Homeland as a Distant Lover

The homeland has become like an extramarital lover. America is an object of longingfor them, a place they idealize and dream about. This attachment, coupled with theirlong-term residence in Israel, causes an internal rift for these women and consumestheir intellectual and emotional energy, leaving them with fewer resources available formothering. This may lead them to underestimate or ignore their children’s struggles orto face living with an acute sense of guilt. We are left to wonder if building a life oftransationalism will ever quench their eternal thirst to reunite with their homeland/lover.


The mothers are committed to one site, the USA, and are unable or unwilling tocoach their children to behave culture appropriately in the other site, Israel. This isbecause they themselves actually choose to remain outsiders to Israeli culture. In effect,they are just “doing time” there. They wish the “sentence” to be over and to be back intheir genuine settings. These mothers can be regarded as transnationals only in thesense that they have crossed borders. Their emotional attachment to their Israeli localeis strikingly absent. Considering their level of detachment, the mothers can hardly beclassified as transnationals at all but would be better categorized as expatriates ordiaspora migrants.

Elucidating the Complexities of Transnationalism

Transnationalism is a reality for migrants and an increasingly significant facet ofglobalization. Its impact on the family is only beginning to be understood. This studyreveals an in-depth picture of the ways in which transnationalism has simultaneouspositive and negative impacts on migrant families.

For children and youth, transnationalism leads to the development of skills neces-sary for effective global participation (Eisikovits 2008) and nurtures the ability to liveand interact in different spheres (Sigad and Eisikovits 2010). Transnationalism, how-ever, may also lead to a superficial existence, without a sense of belonging. Themothers here are straddling borders, living out their everyday lives in Israel whileremaining emotionally loyal to their US fantasy lives. Their children, however, aregenuine transnationals, in both an actual and an emotional sense.

While both mothers and children may lead a fraught, compartmentalized existence,they also benefit from their situation. As immigration patterns are marching in thedirection of transnationalism, these children are at the forefront of a trend of genuinelyglobal citizenship (Eisikovits 2008). Such individuals have the capacity for sympathiesoutside the narrow borders of a single state.

Implications for Policy

Looking closely at a range of experiences, this paper sheds light on the ever-changingand complex meanings of a transnational lifestyle. This increasingly widespreadlifestyle is part of a trend that promotes global cooperation and understanding. Trans-nationalism deserves continued study, as it is increasingly widespread and takes variedforms across the globe.

On the theoretical level, we examine, through parents and children, how differentforms of transnationalism exist within the same core family. Transnationalism shouldbe considered as a practical step toward increased global cooperation and understand-ing. Nevertheless, the mothers’ emotional detachment from their adopted country,Israel, and the effect of this disconnection on their transnational children should notbe overlooked. The lessons learned here can be employed to help other such families incoping with their transnational lives.

To facilitate such support, representatives of receiving societies of transnationalfamilies should be made aware of the complexities of the lifestyle and of the challengesfaced by children and youth. Furthermore, there is a need to strengthen transnationalmothers to enable better functioning which would, in turn, allow them to open up and


perceive their children’s overlooked problems. In parallel, support systems should bebuilt for children and youth in transnational families. Concurrently, formal and informaleducational networks should be enlisted in this endeavor. Educational counselors andteachers themselves can offer venues for social integration and can serve as models, aswell as offer transformative spaces to promote intercultural skills by allowing transna-tional children to exercise different identities. Such initiatives offer the potential toameliorate the difficulties faced by transnational families.

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the transnational lives of american–israeli mothers

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