How do Immigrants Cope with Childbearing in the Course of Immigration

• In Event: 115 - Section on Asia and Asian America Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 01. Bumpy-line Assimilation among Asian Americans

Abstract

Previous literature on immigrant fertility lacks a clear understanding of how immigrant women’s fertility intentions and behaviors evolve during the immigration and settlement process. Viewing reproduction and immigration as life events unfolding over time and across space, my inquiry of immigrant fertility intends to answer the question how immigrant women’ experiences of structural and cultural differences between the home society and the host society affect their fertility choices. Drawing on 40 semi-structured interviews, this paper shows how Chinese immigrant mothers think about and practice childbearing through the course of immigration from China to Canada. By comparing across-group differences between immigrants who had childbearing experiences in China and those without such experiences, as well as differences between people who have more children and those who have less, I hope to illuminate the dynamic interaction between immigration and reproduction. Situating fertility in a global context, I argue that immigrants come up with pragmatic strategies in respond to the changing social environments and situational contexts, in the meantime, themselves are changed by the dynamic interaction of immigration and reproduction.

Author

• Jing Zhao, University of British Columbia