On Milk Formula and Diapers: The Entangled Mobilities of People and Objects within Chinese Transnational Spaces

The article addresses multiple mobilities within Chinese transnational spaces by highlighting the circulation of products for children between Chinese migrants and members of their social networks in China. It focuses on the buying, sending and/or selling of milk formula and diapers as a special type of commodity that brings light to the complex relationships of (im)mobile Chinese and draws attention to the role of objects in producing particular types of transnational subjects – migrants as intermedi­a­r­ies between producers outside China and consumers within China. The paper aims to add to the discussion on commodities consumed by children as well as to illustrate what specific objects tell us about diverse experiences of migration. KEY WORDS: milk formula, diapers, Chinese migrants, transnationalism, informal trade

The article addresses the multiple mobilities within Chinese transnational spaces by highlighting the circulation of products for children between Chinese migrants and members of their networks in China. It focuses on the buying, sending and selling of milk formula and diapers as a special type of commodity that brings light to complex relationships among (im)mobile Chinese nationals. In migration research, the commodities flows among dispersed members of migrant communities have received some attention in recent decades, highlighting the practices of sending, receiving and consuming objects as part of processes of identity-making, belonging and care work across borders. But while this kind of research interprets objects as symbols or mediums of particular social processes, I wish to draw attention to the role of the objects themselves in creating specific relations within transnational social fields, including the production of particular types of transnational subjects – migrants as intermediaries between the producers and consumers. Within Chinese transnational spaces these intermediaries have evolved from agents of personalized circulation of objects between migrants and their non-migrant kin to professionals engaging in informal but technologically advanced trade. The material presented in the paper was gathered as part of wider research on Chinese migrants’ family practices in Central Europe and Japan. Despite the ubiquitous presence of these objects and their strong marketing, there is a relative lack of research on material culture related to young children within migration studies and also in the wider area of material culture studies. The article thus aims to add to the discussion on the consumption of specific commodities as well as illustrate what particular objects tell us about diverse experiences of migration.