The ‘cyber cafes’ as places of transnational practices: The case of distant motherhood

Abstract

The cyber cafes or booths is a type of business that has been expanding strongly in sectors where a large number of migrants gather in cities around the world. These places are appropriated, occupied and signified in different ways by their users. This article is part of a larger investigation on the formation of a migrant enclave in the area of _Plaza de Armas in downtown Santiago (Chile). The focus is on the cafes as places where distance motherhood exercize is unfold, one of the most studied transnational practices in the field of migrations. Using an ethnographic approach, the article analyzes the daily practices that perform the women to communicate with their children and families during weekends. Going to perform telephone conversations and the use of computers are practices that are part of a routine that organizes the lives of immigrant women with children in the cities of origin. This routine is installing a place where transnational motherhood is exercised, and is one of the resignification contexts acquired by cafes, which will be discussed in this article.