Lan-Hung Nora Chiang

‘Astronaut families’: transnational lives of middle-class Taiwanese married women in Canada

Despite increasing interest in the study of Taiwanese migrants, the underlying concept and methodology remain gender-blind. Invisible from the Census are the women who emigrated with their husbands, leaving behind their adopted country to make a living elsewhere. Most of the ‘astronaut wives’ studied in this research are middle-class women who had careers in Taiwan prior to emigration, but became full-time home-makers upon arrival in Canada, the host country. The major questions raised for this research are: (1) What are the circumstances of migration for Taiwanese families? (2) How do Taiwanese ‘dan qi ma ma’/‘astronaut wives’ cope with the challenges of the new environment? (3) How do they relate to their husbands, children, and the Taiwanese community during the process of adaptation? Thirty women from ‘astronaut’ families were interviewed in Toronto and Vancouver in 2005 and 2006, using a semi-structured questionnaire, ethnographic interviews, and participant observation methods. It was found that migration has not liberated them from the traditional familial roles in Taiwan, but has however enabled them to build new social networks that play an important role in their new lives.Despite increasing interest in the study of Taiwanese migrants, the underlying concept and methodology remain gender-blind. Invisible from the Census are the women who emigrated with their husbands, leaving behind their adopted country to make a living elsewhere. Most of the ‘astronaut wives’ studied in this research are middle-class women who had careers in Taiwan prior to emigration, but became full-time home-makers upon arrival in Canada, the host country. The major questions raised for this research are: (1) What are the circumstances of migration for Taiwanese families? (2) How do Taiwanese ‘dan qi ma ma’/‘astronaut wives’ cope with the challenges of the new environment? (3) How do they relate to their husbands, children, and the Taiwanese community during the process of adaptation? Thirty women from ‘astronaut’ families were interviewed in Toronto and Vancouver in 2005 and 2006, using a semi-structured questionnaire, ethnographic interviews, and participant observation methods. It was found that mig...

Middle-class Taiwanese Immigrant Women Adapt to Life in Australasia: Case Studies from Transnational Households

Abstract Most women have joined the stream of immigrants from Taiwan to Australasia as associational movers and supporters rather than as autonomous migrants, as part of the Business and Skills Migration Programs. Previous research on Taiwanese immigrants to Australasia has not included a gender-sensitive dimension and this study seeks to understand the immigrant experience and types of problems faced by women in particular. The term “tan chi ma ma” was coined for lone mothers who stay in Australasia with their children during their education, while the men moved back to Taiwan or to other countries to make a living. In spite of their middle-class background and work experiences, the former were excluded from the labor market, and often became full-time homemakers. In this preliminary investigation, four case studies from Australia and New Zealand are presented to illustrate the types of adaptations made by women as “tan chi ma ma.” In spite of struggling to balance the needs of husbands and children and suffering a number of disadvantages in their new environment, they frequently enjoyed an autonomy and freedom from responsibilities they had to fulfill toward their extended families in Taiwan, under the control of their in-laws. Apart from the mutual support and bonds amongst other migrant women, these women benefited considerably from Taiwanese associations of various kinds, which provided practical care upon arrival, friendship, and Chinese educational resources for their children. They were also able to contribute as volunteers in the host society and gain in terms of personal growth and self-esteem, despite facing several difficulties in adapting to the new environment. In this paper, the voices of Taiwanese women are represented through a qualitative study to gain an empathetic understanding of their situation.

Learning to be Australian: Adaptation and Identity Formation of Young Taiwanese-Chinese Immigrants in Melbourne, Australia

Most immigrant parents cannot or will not send their children back home. They rely instead on the strength of their community or of their family to help preserve some connection with the old country and, through these, some semblance of parental authority. They take their children to church or temple, surround them with relatives, pepper them with proverbs in the home language, and sing karaoke with them in an effort to stem dissonant acculturation.1

Support Networks for Community-Based Tourism in Rural Costa Rica#

Tourism has been promoted as a rural development strategy in many countries. In Costa Rica, this has been done through a network of private and public organizations that support community-based tourism in rural areas. The ob- jective of this research is to analyze how embedding grassroots organizations (GROs) in support networks may overcome some of the limitations encountered in the practice of rural tourism. Network theory is used to explain the rationale behind the development and implementation of these networks. Through a case study of two tourism-specific grassroots support organizations, it was found that support networks directly tackle some of the common problems faced by rural inhabitants in the practice of tourism, which are lack of essential skills, high development costs, and the dominance of mass tourism operators. Although the supported GROs are receiving tourists and revenues, support networks have not solved the prob- lems of low employment and income.

Feminist geography in Taiwan and Hong Kong

Feminist geography research in East Asia is weak, although Womens and Gender Studies as an interdisciplinary field in this region is strong. This is true of Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. In this article, we examine how studies on women started in Taiwan and Hong Kong and have become institutionalized in the last two and a half decades. In this period, courses and research proliferated in several disciplines as a result of gender equity policies stipulated by governments, as well as the increasing number of female staff in the faculties of humanities and social sciences. Several reasons account for slow progress in the development of feminist geography: the male-dominated structure of geography departments in both countries; an emphasis on the scientific as opposed to social scientific nature of geography; and a general lack of feminist consciousness among geographers who tend to study issues at a macro level. In addition, the small proportion of women teaching at the university level has also led to setbacks in the development of feminist geography. While there are a few courses that incorporate gender perspectives and lectures on feminist geography have been given as part of other geography modules, gender blindness continues to prevail in teaching and research in human geography. This article, however, sees two recent factors that may help to advance feminist geography in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Firstly, the number of female faculty members and graduate students has increased, thus providing momentum in the appreciation of gender geography. Secondly, Chinese-speaking countries in East Asia have played active roles in internationalizing the discipline, thus connecting themselves with feminist scholars abroad, and increasing opportunities to engage in collaborative work. The IGU Commission on Gender and Geography, which encompasses a diversity of world views, is one avenue for facilitating this trend in the near future.