The Transnational Making of Population: Migration, Marriage and Fertility between Morocco and Italy

The aim of this article is to consider how migration and fertility constitute interrelated events among Moroccan women in Italy. Through a qualitative approach, I analyse the evolution of their life courses, exploring how these women, with their partners, manage to have children in migration. This viewpoint is particularly relevant considering the Italian context, which has historically been characterized by low fertility rates. I argue that the interweaving of migration and fertility these women deploy between Morocco and Italy stems from a transnational mobilization of reproductive resources, namely an array of relations, practices and values that make marriage, childbearing and the raising of offspring sustainable and attractive in migration. Through this frame, I reconstruct the ways these women manage their fertility, distinguishing between expected and unexpected children. Finally, I describe the process through which they achieve multichild families (4–6 children).