Negotiating Tricky Territories: Filial obligation, caregiving experiences and processes of acculturation among recently-landed South Asian immigrant women
Date
2014-08-27
Authors
Khan, Mushira Mohsin
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Abstract
In recent years, Canada has seen a significant increase in the South Asian immigrant population as well as a concomitant rise in multigenerational South Asian households largely due to the sponsorship of older parents. These two socio-demographic trends have increased the likelihood that South Asian immigrants who provide care to older relatives will encounter unique challenges as they try to reconcile two cultures – a traditional one in the family home, espoused within a culture-specific discourse on filial obligation, dharma (duty) and karma (fate), and an acculturated one outside the home. Based on the findings from qualitative interviews with eight South Asian immigrant women, and employing an integrated life course and intersectionality theoretical framework, this study explores the feminization of care work in immigrant families, and the complexities inherent in intergenerational relationships within the diasporic South Asian community. It provides insights into the ways in which structural barriers and the multiple intersections among various axes of inequality are represented in the subjective lived experiences and everyday interactions of these immigrant women who provide care to their older relatives at home. Finally, it discusses how they: (1) perceive their social world as immigrants and caregivers; and (2) negotiate and re-negotiate notions of the self and personhood over time.
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South Asian, Informal caregiving, Intergenerational relationships, Filial obligation, Immigrants, Transnationalism, Life course, Intersectionality