Who Goes Next? The Gendered Expansion of Mexican and Senegalese Migrant Sibling Networks in Space and Time

• Author: Fernando Riosmena,Mao-Mei Liu
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716219856544
• Date: 01 July 2019
• Published date: 01 July 2019

146 ANNALS, AAPSS, 684, July 2019

DOI: 10.1177/0002716219856544

Who Goes

Next? The

Gendered

Expansion of

Mexican and

Senegalese

Migrant Sibling

Networks in

Space and Time

By

FERNANDO RIOSMENA

and

MAO-MEI LIU

856544ANN THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMYWho Goes Next?

research-article2019

The migration literature shows that individuals whose

siblings have migrated abroad are more likely to

migrate, yet we know little about sibling migrant net-

works. We use MMP and MAFE-Senegal survey data

to compare migration patterns in two very disparate

contexts (Mexico and Senegal) in an attempt to assess

the scope, manner, and generalizability of sibling net-

work migration patterns. Our results show that while

Senegalese families are likely to have one international

migrant, Mexican families are likely to send two or

more members abroad. Sibling migrations from Mexico

fall closer together in time than do those from Senegal,

suggesting joint sibling migration. Also, while Mexican

sibling networks did not seem to contribute to the

expansion of Mexican migrant destinations, Senegalese

sibling networks did contribute (slightly) to the expan-

sion of Senegalese migration. Sibling networks in both

settings contributed considerably to the feminization of

migration.

Keywords: migration; family; gender; siblings; geog-

raphy; Mexico; Senegal

One of the most consistent findings of

empirical migration research around the

globe is that people are considerably more

likely to migrate internationally when they are

connected to other individuals who have moved

abroad before: these people include fellow

community members, acquaintances, friends,

or relatives (Boyd 1989; Liu 2013; Massey and

Aysa-Lastra 2011; Massey and Riosmena 2010).

Correspondence: mao-mei_liu@berkeley.edu

Fernando Riosmena is an associate professor at the

Population Program and the Geography Department at

the University of Colorado at Boulder and associate

director of the University of the Colorado Population

Center. His research focuses on the theories, drivers,

and empirical measurement of human migration, with

a particular focus on the social, economic, policy, and

environmental factors affecting migration between

Mexico and the United States.

WHO GOES NEXT? 147

Prior migrants can provide general as well as destination- or labor market-

specific social capital to prospective migrants (Portes 1998) and are likely sources

of potential or actual resources—information, job connections, or other forms of

settlement assistance—that facilitate the migration of new arrivals to settlement

and destination areas (Flores-Yeffal 2013; Menjívar 2000; Sue etal. 2018).

People in sending communities often have access to such social capital since

migrants-to-be and previous migrants are normatively bound to help each other

via reciprocity or mutually enforceable trust rules stemming from their member-

ship and position in more or less durable networks of institutionalized relation-

ships (Portes 1998). Of these, blood connections are exceptionally important,

with sibling ties being perhaps the most valuable. Research shows that brothers

and sisters stand out as being particularly effective in facilitating the subsequent

migrations of their siblings (Palloni et al. 2001; Massey and Espinosa 1997;

Massey and Aysa-Lastra 2011; Liu 2013).

Individuals may be more likely to draw on social capital emanating from sib-

ling ties since strong normative expectations generally require that brothers and

sisters help one another in times of need; this norm continues to exist in most, if

not all, societies, especially in low- and middle-income nations (e.g., Cicirelli

1994). This process is often highly gendered (Curran and Saguy 2001), with

brothers being most likely to receive help from a migrant sibling of either sex,

and brothers being most likely to sponsor one other (Curran and Rivero-Fuentes

2003; Liu, Riosmena, and Creighton 2018). As such, sibling networks are funda-

mental conduits by which broader migrant networks expand over both time and

space.1

The sequential migration of siblings—where siblings subsequently migrate to

the same destination with help from siblings who previously migrated—is clearly

in line with social capital theory (Portes 1998; Massey etal. 1993). However, it may

or may not be consistent with other theoretical models such as the new economics

of labor migration (NELM), in which migration is seen as a strategy used by fami-

lies to diversify their exposure to risk (e.g., that stemming from economic uncer-

tainty, political upheaval, or environmental change) by distributing their labor

resources across geographically distinct markets (Massey etal. 1993; Taylor 1986;

Sana and Massey 2005; Stark and Bloom 1985). Although many different patterns

of temporal spacing and geographic sequencing in the migration of siblings are

consistent with coordinated decision-making on the part of family members, the

diversification of risk requires different siblings to migrate either to different loca-

tions at one point in time or to the same location at different points in time to be

effective (Borjas and Bronars 1991; Palloni etal. 2001), underscoring the impor-

tance of timing and sequencing underlying motivations for migration.2

Mao-Mei Liu is assistant director of Cal-ADAR and a lecturer in sociology at the University of

California, Berkeley. Her work falls at the intersection of migration, social demography, and

the sociology of families and seeks to understand why and how people migrate. Her research

to date has largely focused on contemporary migration between sub-Saharan Africa and

Europe.

NOTE: Authors contributed equally. Author names listed in reverse alphabetical order.