Zhang, Nana (2011) Negotiating identities : women in rural-urban migration in contemporary China. In: British Association for Chinese Studies Annual Conference 2010, University of Bristol, 8-9 Sep 2011 (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This paper focuses on the dynamics of identity and belonging negotiation of rural women in their migration to urban areas in contemporary China. Following rural women’s full migration circle, the author gathered data through in-depth interviews with women migrants, their families, friends, colleagues and fellow villagers from both sending and receiving areas. The study highlights rural women’s agency in the identity construction process and shows that rural women actively negotiate their identities in accordance with their migration experiences. They discard their identity as a peasant, identify themselves as different from the peasant women in their home villages, drawing lines between themselves and urbanites while, at the same time, drawing boundaries to exclude/include other rural migrants. Migrant returnees encounter more distress and restrictions in the identity construction process. Although they are home, they no longer feel belonged. However, their geographical departure from the city does not stop them in negotiating imagined identities.

Item Type:	Conference Item (Paper)
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DS Asia H Social Sciences > HM Sociology H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology
Date:	9 September 2011
Status:	Not Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Conference Paper Type:	Paper
Title of Event:	British Association for Chinese Studies Annual Conference 2010
Type of Event:	Conference
Location of Event:	University of Bristol
Date(s) of Event:	8-9 Sep 2011
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/46841

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