Parcels, Pills, and Pufuleți – Remittances as a Transnational Strategy of Migration between the Republic of Moldova and Germany
Parcels, Pills, and Pufuleți – Remittances as a Transnational Strategy of Migration between the Republic of Moldova and Germany

Summary/Abstract: Seasonal fruit, honey, tea, and even meat arrive from Moldova, while the parcels from Germany contain certain foodstuffs, clothes, medicine, and technical equipment. This exchange constructs reciprocal care relationships between a (grand-)mother in a small Moldovan-Transnistrian village and her daughter and granddaughter in a central German city. One of the ways they shape their relationship is through irregularly sent parcels, transported by minibuses. Using this empirical frame, I will explore the practices of remitting, the often informal movement of goods and the emotions involved, in terms of infrastructures and strategies, practices of reciprocal care, and the making of significance. I will show how remittances belong to a set of transnational strategies that bridge both physical and generational distance, and foster migrants’ maintenance of contact with the country of origin. Ultimately, this example can serve as a starting point for a discussion on the impact of remittances on joint development discourses, enabled by the underlying process logics of participation through care in transnational family contexts.

• Details
• Contents