Mobility as a support strategy: Linked lives through the life course among Eastern Europeans in Spain

This article examines the role of mobility in the creation of support strategies of Eastern Europeans (EEs) in Spain. It emphasizes the relational linkages of mobility and shows how strategies of linked-lives are constructed and maintained over the life-course. Drawing on 52 in-depth interviews with EEs (Romanians and Bulgarians) who practice mobility to and from Spain, this article makes two contributions. First, it expands the concept of linked-lives across the life-course in mobility. Second, it highlights mobility as a support strategy to show how EE mobile children, through their movement, assist their parents both in their origin countries and in Spain. I argue that mobility articulates and harmonizes multiple practices of support strategies that link people's lives in different ways: (a) mobility as a strategy to support parents in old age; (b) mobility as a family livelihood strategy; and (c) mobility as a strategy of gratitude and family reunification. The conclusions highlight the need to integrate mobility as a support strategy into the study of global mobility.