Touching the Sore: Older Caribbean women's memories of migration, kinship and settlement in England

Literature on migration has until recently, marginalised or overlooked Black and migrant women’s experiences. Neglect of these perspectives extends to first generation African Caribbean women. African Caribbean women have grown old in Britain and now face the end of their life course in their adopted country. They are passing away and taking their stories with them.

The study seeks to explore the narratives of a now aged group of African Caribbean women and to explore their experiences of migration, family separation and reunion during the Windrush era. Some African Caribbean mothers were reunited with their children after a short time, whilst for others the reunion took many years later. Some of the women successfully achieved family reunification but for other families this never took place. The process for many women and mothers was traumatic and fragmented. The project draws on semi-structured interviews with 12 participants featuring life histories and stories of mothering, childcare and work during 1950 and 1960s England. The analysis shows the prolonged stresses to which Black women and mothers who migrate are exposed. As visible minorities, this includes negative ‘race’-based experiences, and the thesis explores the women’s responses, strategies and resiliencies.

The findings highlight the intersectional lives and identities of Black women and mothers who migrate for work. The themes of gender, ‘race’ and ethnicity are presented along with the constraints and opportunities migration brings for women. The study explores and re-imagines mothering, family and belonging, in the context of families separated by migration. The study’s conclusion is that the constraining and enabling factors for migrant mothers include navigating both personal racial hostilities and those enacted by the state, compounding their traumatic stress of loss and family separation. It argues that the public sector is part of the system responsible for pulling migrants to Britain and therefore it should act to enhance the support available for women and mothers who migrate.