Kinship, migration, and change between Kenya and the United Kingdom

Project Lead: Leslie Fesenmyer

In her earlier research, Leslie explored the entwinement of physical and social mobility in the context of migration between Kenya and the United Kingdom. Specifically, she looked at how migration (re-)emerged as a potential means of securing the future for individuals and families, centring the kinship dilemmas that underlie transnational migration and the dynamic relationship between those who migrate and those who stay behind.

Her book, Relative Distance, challenges a focus on changing modes of economic production, ‘push-pull’ factors, and globalisation as drivers of familial change. Instead, it shows how quotidian interactions, exchanges, and practices transform kinship on a local and global scale.