JinJin Xu
Amherst College
Project
A Daughter's Journey: Rewriting the Narrative of Dislocated Motherhood
Thailand, India, Australia, Germany, South Africa
I grew up in Shanghai calling three different women “mother,” only learning later that "mother" is supposedly defined as a singular role. For my Watson year, I will explore how women experience and enact motherhood in unusual situations of dislocation. For refugees experiencing statelessness from forced dislocation, how is the performance of motherhood continued or disrupted when familiar societal signifiers collapse? For working migrant mothers dislocated through economic migrations, how do they navigate the paradox of leaving their children behind in order to fulfill their roles as “good mothers,” while often serving as surrogate mothers to other children?