ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes the mining town where many of the interviewees were born, or where they trace their origins, the neighbourhood on the outskirts of Cochabamba as background to the gendered mobilities. It shows how ‘the transnational community’ was created through multiple crises and how migration was a direct response to the economic and political crises in Bolivia, Argentina, and Spain. The book suggests how mobility, including border crossings, are gendered and covers social networks and the different ways in which men and women access and use social networks through their migration journeys. It focuses on the world of care and how migrants negotiate social reproduction through the migration process. The book suggests that migrants’ intimate relations are profoundly shaken by the experience of migration.
