Connected Through “Luck”: Samarnon Migrants in Metro Manila and the Home Village

This article explores the relationship between the notion of 'luck' and migration based on a study of villagers from Samar Island who migrated to Manila. Migrant narratives and interactions with people in their home villages reveal that luck is not just a matter of monetary gain but also of the ways in which migrants maintain social relationships. Migrants move out in search of luck, and on their return redistribute resources to relatives and friends for them to be received as fellow kin or villager who are blessed with luck. The notion of luck is utilized dynamically in both material and moral senses, and narrated and enacted repeatedly in the community.