Gilmartin, Mary and Migge, Bettina
(2016)
Migrant mothers and the geographies of belonging.
Gender, Place and Culture, 23 (2).
pp. 147-161.
ISSN 0966-369X
Abstract
Much academic research on migrant mothers focuses on mothers who are separated
from their children, often through their integration into global care chains, or on
mothers within the context of family migration. This paper argues that co-resident
migrant mothers’ experiences provide an important window on the complexities of the
migration experience. Using a specific case study of Ireland, and drawing from a
broader longitudinal research project that focuses on recent migrants, the paper
explores migrant mothers’ understandings and experiences of belonging and not-
belonging. We argue that structural obstacles and cultural understanding of care
actively conspire to undermine migrant mothers’ potential to develop place-
belongingness. Interviewees’ discussions of their status as full-time mothers were
often framed through images of ideal motherhood, but equally highlighted how the
absence of affordable childcare and family members isolates them and prevents them
from creating a sense of belonging outside of the process of mothering and the home.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
migration; mothers; belonging; not-belonging; care; Ireland; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography |
| Item ID: |
8858 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2014.991700 |
| Depositing User: |
Dr. Mary Gilmartin
|
| Date Deposited: |
29 Sep 2017 11:42 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Gender, Place and Culture |
| Publisher: |
Taylor & Francis (Routledge) |
| 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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