Chieh Hsu - Family Migration and the Path to an Occupation

This book sheds light on the invisible early post-arrival period of female family migrants, traditionally considered to be low skilled or professionally quiescent. With attention to the experiences of Chinese and Taiwanese women married to German men, it examines the ways in which the private spheremarked by intermarriage couple dynamics and nativeforeigner relationsconstitutes the main locus of womens socialization in the host country, as interactions with their intimate partners in the family realm shape both their self-conceptions and their employment intentions. Based on interviews with migrant women and their spouses, the author outlines the subject positions that characterize female migrants attitudes to external constructs and entering the labor market, showing that female family migrants frequently take on family migrant and wife roles that permeate intimate relationships and impede employment intentions, but also often strive to realign with their pre-departure independent selves and thus regain agency. A study of gender dynamics and labor market entry among newly arrived female migrants, this volume will appeal to scholars of sociology with interests in gender, migration, and work.

Chieh Hsu is Researcher at the Global Asia Research Center at National Taiwan University, Taiwan.

Research in Migration and Ethnic Relations Series

Series Editor: Maykel Verkuyten, ERCOMER Utrecht University

The Research in Migration and Ethnic Relations series has been at the forefront of research in the field for ten years. The series has built an international reputation for cutting edge theoretical work, for comparative research especially on Europe and for nationally-based studies with broader relevance to international issues. Published in association with the European Research Centre on Migration and Ethnic Relations (ERCOMER), Utrecht University, it draws contributions from the best international scholars in the field, offering an interdisciplinary perspective on some of the key issues of the contemporary world.

The Construction of European Identity among Ethnic Minorities

Euro-Minorities in Generational Perspective

Intra-State Immigrants as Sub-State Nationalists

Lived Experiences in the Basque Country

Family Migration and the Path to an Occupation

The (Early) Experiences of Skilled Taiwanese and Chinese Wives

For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/sociology/series/ASHSER1136

First published 2020

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

2020 Chieh Hsu

The right of Chieh Hsu to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Names: Hsu, Chieh, 1985- author.

Title: Family migration and the path to an occupation : the (early) experiences of skilled Taiwanese and Chinese 'wives' / Chieh Hsu.

Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020008344 (print) | LCCN 2020008345 (ebook) | ISBN 9780367424312 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367824075 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Women immigrants--Social conditions. | Women immigrants--Germany--Social conditions. | Chinese--Foreign countries--Social conditions. | Taiwanese--Foreign countries--Social conditions. | Chinese--Germany--Social conditions. | Taiwanese--Germany--Social conditions.

Classification: LCC HQ1760.5 .H78 2020 (print) | LCC HQ1760.5 (ebook) | DDC 305.48/412--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020008344

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020008345

ISBN: 978-0-367-42431-2 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-367-82407-5 (ebk)

This book, as an extension of my doctoral thesis, overlapped with a time where uncertainties abound and a stop to improbable circumstances in the offing seems out of reach. I am therefore exceptionally grateful to all those who had provided support, be it practical or moral. I would like to thank Professor Dr. Kathia Serrano-Velarde, who believed in a novice in sociology and offered me a beacon of hope on the path of doctoral research. I appreciate her diligence, dedication, and constructive academic guidance that also allowed much room for exploration. I am indebted to her efforts in securing additional resources for me to facilitate my research on campus and as an independent doctoral student. Professor Dr. Julia Nentwich generously took me under her wing and led me to a wealth of methodological resources in social psychology that have greatly benefited my research. The original dissertation wouldnt have seen the light of day without her scholarly input and warm mentorship.

I thank all the interviewees who agreed to participate in my study and share their stories with me, often of joy, but also of sweat and tears. I am deeply moved and humbled that they each entrusted me with a portion of their lives that collectively made this book possible. I also thank the Heidelberg Graduate School for the Humanities and Social Sciences and Geschwister-Supp-Foundation for financing my research and having good faith in my project.

I dedicate this book first and foremost to my parents, Kan-Tsao and Wen-Fa, who gave me life and love and made me who I am today. To my family and friends who believe in me, and to Ann, who walked me through all those tortuous days and doused me with clarity, optimism, and strength. Most importantly, this is for Eliora, who was there, loving and hugging me at every turn, grew with me and helped me grow, and offered me a chance to know myself once again. I hope she reads this piece of work one day, knowing that she contributed immensely to my enhanced reflexivity and sensitivity, without which this final product wouldnt have its present mellowness. I would also unconventionally thank myself, for pulling through unthinkable crises, staying strong, and persevering. Lastly, this work, though feeble, is to salute all women who not only held up at least half the sky, but cemented pretty much all the ground there is in Taiwan.

There has been surging interest in studying female migrationwomen who move as dependents, spouses, or independent economic migrants or professionals. Scholars have examined how female migrants navigate the migratory process vis--vis host-country institutional constraints and sought to understand their place and lives at the destination. There is also no shortage of research dedicated to benchmarking how female migrants perform in the host society in comparison to native women. What is, however, less visible and visited is the specific cohort of migrant women who move to marry or join their foreign spouses while simultaneously carrying skills resembling those of highly qualified professionals. This book responds to such a lacuna by exploring the early post-arrival period of an ethnically homogeneously group of Taiwanese and Chinese skilled women married to German husbands in Germany. I particularly set out to unveil how the dynamics of their intercultural marriage and dyadic interactions affect these womens acculturation, evolving self-conceptions, and intentions to (re)join the German labor market.