Reconstructing Fatherhood After International Migration: A Narrative Inquiry into Masculinity, Emotional Expression, Parenting Practices, and Transnational Family Obligations

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to explore how immigrant fathers residing in Canada reconstructed their understandings and practices of fatherhood after international migration, with particular attention to masculinity, emotional expression, parenting involvement, and transnational family obligations.

Methods and Materials: A qualitative narrative inquiry design was employed. Eighteen immigrant fathers residing in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling. Participants had migrated to Canada as adults, had lived in the country for at least two years, and had at least one child. Data were collected through demographic forms, in-depth semi-structured narrative interviews, field notes, and reflexive memos. Interviews lasted 70–110 minutes, were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and, where necessary, translated into English with attention to conceptual equivalence. Data were analyzed using thematic narrative analysis. Each interview was first examined as a complete narrative case, followed by coding of significant episodes, cross-case comparison, identification of turning points, and development of overarching themes and narrative trajectories.

Findings: The analysis generated five interconnected themes: disruption of provider-centered masculine identity, learning emotional presence and vulnerability, renegotiation of paternal authority and everyday caregiving, reconstruction of fatherhood through marital and institutional encounters, and management of divided responsibilities within transnational family life. Three narrative trajectories were identified: transformative relational reconstruction, negotiated hybrid reconstruction, and defensive provider-centered reassertion. Migration weakened the stability of fatherhood models based primarily on income, occupational status, and unquestioned authority, while encouraging many participants to redefine paternal competence through emotional availability, shared caregiving, dialogue, and relational repair. However, adaptation remained uneven and was constrained by employment insecurity, racialization, intergenerational conflict, and continuing obligations toward relatives abroad.

Conclusion: International migration did not produce a simple transition from traditional to Western fatherhood; rather, it generated an ongoing process of negotiation through which fathers attempted to reconcile provision with presence, authority with dialogue, cultural continuity with children’s autonomy, and responsibilities in Canada with enduring transnational family commitments.