Karen Fog Olwig: Children in West
Indian Family Networks: Four Life
Stories from Nevis
Caribbean people often leave their children
behind with relatives when they migrate. It is
well known that these children play an
important structural role as central linchpins
in networks of social and economic
exchange which take place between the
migrants and their family in the community
of origin. There is, however, little
knowledge of the ways in which children
themselves experience growing up in these
global family networks. This article
investigates the point of view of the children
by examining four life stories related by
young people, from the Leeward Island of
Nevis, whose migrant parents left them, as
small children, in the care of their
grandparents. At a more general level, these
life stories also shed light on the cultural
values associated with ideals of a good
family life among people for whom
population mobility and socio-economic
connectivity, on a global scale, have long
constituted a basic framework of existence
