Affects of unease
Mother-infant separation among professional Indonesian women working in Singapore
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5114769 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Leslie Butt (0000-0003-3601-6795, Department of Anthropology University of Victoria 3800 Finnerty Road Victoria BC Canada V8P 5C2, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 151-167 |
| Publication date | 2018-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Global Networks (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1470-2266 • E-ISSN: 1471-0374 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/glob.12175 |
| OpenAlex | W2766407828 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 33 |
The extent of systemic forms of mother-child separation has received insufficient attention in research on migrant families. In this article, I explore the little-studied phenomenon of mother-infant separation among professional women migrants. I draw from in-depth interviews with Indonesian professional women working in Singapore who have lived apart from their infant children to pursue work and education. Narratives of separation illustrate a complex transnational network of care built around an availability of support offered by spouses or extended kin. Women experience unease about separation, which emerges in how they talk about their absent infants. Mothers articulate ambivalence about the potential cost of their decisions, positing infants as able to pass judgement on them, with potential rejection and disengagement causing them potent concerns. The unease of these mothers moderates claims that transnational separation is readily managed and highlights the ambiguity embedded in an increasingly common form of transnational mother-child separation
Ambiguity · Ambivalence · Developmental psychology · Disengagement theory · Indonesian · Judgement · Narrative · Phenomenon · Political science · Sociology · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Gender Studies · Law · Medicine · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Psychology · Social Psychology
Class Mobil
The Navigation of Feeling
Guilty feelings and the guilt trip
Children, Youth and Development
Millionaire Migrants
Children, Youth and Development
Children of Global Migration
The Intimate Economies of Bangkok
Emotions on the move
Infant embodiment and interembodiment
Unpacking children in migration research
Transnational labour migration and the politics of care in the Southeast Asian family
False papers and family fictions
Left behind' but not left alone
Transnational Families and the Family Nexus
Flexible families? 'Astronaut' households and the experiences of lone mothers in Vancouver, British Columbia
Depth and Space in Sleep
Mobility, Moralities and Motherhood
Children in Between
A World of Babies
The Work of Waiting
Traumatic pasts and the historical imagination
I'm Here, but I'm There
Theorizing the 'subject' of medical and psychiatric anthropology
Changing Places
Medical Technologies and the Dream of the Perfect Newborn
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,75 |
| Citation span | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |