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Gender and Transnational Gossip

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Abstract

Transnational social networks powerfully shape Mexican migration and enable families to stretch internationally. In an atmosphere of such high dependence on social networks, it would be rare for families not to be affected by the opinions of others. This article analyzes this often-overlooked aspect of social networks, gossip. I analyze gossip stories prevalent for one type of migrant family, those in which parents and children live apart. Drawing on over 150 ethnographic interviews and observation with members of Mexican transnational families and their neighbors in multiple sites, I describe both parents’ and children’s experiences with transnational gossip. I show that in a transnational context, gossip is a highly gendered activity with different consequences for men and women. Although targeting both women and men, transnational gossip reinforces the expectations that mothers be family caregivers and fathers be family providers even when physical separation makes these activities difficult to accomplish.

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Notes

  1. Most men I interviewed had affairs with other Mexican immigrant women. Some, however, had affairs with American women. Although one might suspect that the latter is most upsetting to the family, I found that many people in Mexico explained these affairs away saying it was just for the papers that a marriage to an “American” woman could provide. See also Brennan 2004 for accounts of the ways Dominican women may view affairs with foreigners as instrumental, and facilitating legal migration to Europe.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Kent State University, 329 Merrill Hall, P.O. Box 5190, Kent, OH, 44242-0001, USA

    Joanna Dreby

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  1. Joanna Dreby
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Dreby, J. Gender and Transnational Gossip. Qual Sociol 32, 33–52 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-008-9117-x

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