Neither Devoted Mothers nor "Tiger Mothers": Interrogating Desires for Success Among Transnational Geese Mothers

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Public Education

Abstract

This collaborative paper explores desires for success among Asian migrant women with a focus on Korean Geese Mothers in the U.S. Despite the visibility and active roles of these women in transnational mobility and experiences, these mothers are portrayed as the dichotomy of success/failure based on their contribution to their children’s educational success. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) concept of desire, our paper examines actual ideas, desires, and experiences in relation to the children’s better education among these women. While illuminating how the desires among these women “work” in understanding these women’s identities, we aim to disrupt the static representations of Asian women’s parenting practices to maintain patriarchal family structures.

Authors

• EunKyoung Chung, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Yiming Jin, Georgia Southern University