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    Mother Tongue as the Language of Mothering and Homing Practice in Betty Quan’s Mother Tongue and Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms.Survival Strategies and Identity Construction of Migrant and Refugee Mothers


    Kackute, Egle (2016) Mother Tongue as the Language of Mothering and Homing Practice in Betty Quan’s Mother Tongue and Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms.Survival Strategies and Identity Construction of Migrant and Refugee Mothers. In: The Migrant Maternal: ‘Birthing’ New Lives Abroad. Demeter Press, pp. 56-74. ISBN 978-1-77258-080-8

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    Abstract

    “I am my language. I speak Chinese. Your voices. Your words. You drown me out” (Quan 14) – says the Mother to her children in Betty Quan’s play Mother Tongue underlining the cru cial aspect of mothering in exile, the language of mothering , as a site in which the cultural/ethnic identity, the sense of self and maternal subjectivity intersect and are negotiated. This chapter explores the language of mothering through two fictional a ccounts of immigrant mothering both of which underscore the tension between mothering practices and linguistic difference. It aims to address this tension by suggesting that in the context of migration, the language of mothering can be conceptualised as a mothering and homing practice, which functions as a structuring, creative force that produces and shapes both migrant mothers’ and their children’s subjectivities. The chapter will consider two fictional texts: the play Mother Tongue (1996) by Chinese - Cana dian playwright Betty Quan and the novel Chorus of Mushrooms (1994) by Japanese - Canadian author Hiromi Goto , both featuring immigrant and refugee mothers who mother primarily in their own mother tongue rather than English, the language of the host country, Canada.

    Item Type: Book Section
    Keywords: Mother Tongue; Language of Mothering; Homing Practice; Betty Quan; Hiromi Goto; Chorus of Mushrooms; Survival Strategies; Identity Construction; Migrants; Refugee Mothers;
    Academic Unit: Faculty of Arts,Celtic Studies and Philosophy > School of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures > French
    Item ID: 10305
    Depositing User: Egle Kackute
    Date Deposited: 11 Dec 2018 10:55
    Publisher: Demeter Press
    Refereed: Yes
    URI:
    Use Licence: This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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