ABSTRACT

Schools in migrant-sending contexts often educate many children whose parents live abroad and decide to ‘leave’ or ‘send’ their children to be raised ‘back home’. Yet there has been little attention to how transnational child-raising is enacted by non-kin actors within educational institutions. This paper addresses this absence, exploring Lagos private schools as crucial sites of care for children with parents in the diaspora. Examining educators’ perspectives on schooling children ‘sent back’ to Nigeria from the UK and USA, the paper argues that they undertake intensive and strategic projects of transnational child-raising. They act as defacto guardians and position their educational offerings as highly moral in ways that draw on endogenous notions of ‘training’ good character, but are not driven by reproducing tradition. Rather, they play intermediary roles in transnational families: they aim to realise parents’ desires for respectful, disciplined children who excel academically, yet are also attuned to young people’s struggles. They are conscious of diaspora realities and understand their schools’ roles as portals facing both ways in the transnational social field, preparing young people for multiple possible futures. The paper demonstrates that exploring education as a site of social reproduction can be richly revealing of the dynamics of transnationalism.

摘要

在移民移民的环境中，学校经常教育父母在国外生活的许多孩子，并决定“离开”或“遣送”他们的孩子“长大”。然而，很少有人关注教育机构内非亲属行为者如何实施跨国性的儿童抚养。本文针对这种缺席情况进行了探讨，将拉各斯的私立学校作为流离失所的父母照顾孩子的重要场所。文章研究了教育者对英国和美国从“回”到尼日利亚的学童的教育观点，认为他们开展了跨国性的儿童养育的密集和战略性项目。他们充当事实上的监护人，并以内在的“训练”良好品格的观念为方式，将其教育产品定位为高度道德的，但不受复制传统的驱使。而是 他们在跨国家庭中扮演着中介的角色：他们旨在实现父母对受人尊敬，训练有素的孩子的渴望，这些孩子在学业上表现出色，但也适合年轻人的挣扎。他们意识到散居海外的现实，并了解他们的学校在跨国社会领域中面对两种途径的门户作用，为年轻人准备了多种可能的未来。本文表明，将教育探索为社会再生产的场所可以丰富地揭示跨国主义的动力。他们意识到散居海外的现实，并了解他们的学校在跨国社会领域中面对两种途径的门户作用，为年轻人准备了多种可能的未来。本文表明，将教育探索为社会再生产的场所可以丰富地揭示跨国主义的动力。他们意识到散居海外的现实，并了解他们的学校在跨国社会领域中面对两种途径的门户作用，为年轻人准备了多种可能的未来。本文表明，将教育探索为社会再生产的场所可以丰富地揭示跨国主义的动力。