Abstract:

In the context of migration and participation in a market economy, migrant workers live in the restructured social realm between “family” and “society”. In the memory of “family”, “hometown” and “career”, interpersonal relationships and material entanglements play an important role of media. Meanwhile, the material media also introduce new possibility of “memory” and “forgetting”. Memory in such communication becomes uncertain and even inexpressible. This inexpressible uncertainty opens up a space for the memory and acknowledgement of interpersonal relationships, worry about the “forgetting” of interpersonal relationships and moral critique of unfamiliar “society”. Memory is not constructed in the social context at present but introduces uncertainty into our understanding of the “present” and the “society”.

Key words: family, society, memory, material, migrant labors