Embodying Family Care

Abstract

This chapter discusses the first results of our ethnographic case study on the female cross-border experiences in the Paraná Tri-Border Area (between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay) conducted between 2017 and 2019. Through the life histories of 30 Paraguayan women, it analyzes the impact that a productive and reproductive work overload has on the configuration of the spatial, labor, and life experiences of these women. It synthesizes the profile of our interviewees, characterizing the empirical sample that supports the coming chapters of this volume. Furthermore, it sets out some theoretical concepts that support our analysis: using Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology, it defines the concept of the social field, the capitals that form it, and the notion of trajectory. By delving into the empirical data, the chapter analyzes the accounts given by our interviewees on their families’ rural origins, mobility strategies, and insertion into the labor market. These issues will be correlated with the women’s current work overload, the gender mandates they experience, and the sexual division of labor among families. Finally, we will conclude by showing how the transgenerational obligation of sustaining family care is, contradictorily, a factor that impinges on the women while simultaneously being an element of female agency.