Poster #97 - A Reflection on Adapted Ethnographic Methodologies: Taiwanese-Vietnamese Transnational Marriage Families

• In Event: 2-002 - Special Poster Session 05 with Continental Breakfast Reception
  In Poster Session: PS 05 - Interdisciplinary Section

Integrative Statement

Since the 1990s in Asia, there has been a significant increase in transnational marriages, wherein predominantly Southeast Asian women leave their native countries and move to establish families in their spouses’ countries. This new immigration phenomenon has drawn the attention of many scholars, as it has not only created feminized immigration, involving women crossing borders, but has also created a new type of family structure, consisting of culturally dissimilar spouses establishing families together. While most research has centered on investigating this phenomenon from sociological and economic aspects, we know very little about how these immigrants have re-socialized themselves into a new culture and society from psychological and anthropological standpoints.

Two guiding premises of ethnography were that the experiences of participants can only be understood from the perspectives of the participants themselves and that it has to be understood within the multiple, shifting contexts of the participants’ lives (Göncü, 1999; Shweder et al. 2006). The realization of these premises was mostly done using the tools of interviewing and participant-observation (Briggs, 1986; Miller, et al., 2003). In line with these premises, this project was ethnographic and longitudinal in design, focused on understanding the lived experiences of Vietnamese women who have immigrated to Taiwan by marrying Taiwanese men. It involved 17 months of participant-observation in two towns with a high incidence of transnational marriage families, yielding 197 hours of video-recordings and 60 audio-recorded interviews. The analyses reported here were based on interviews with Vietnamese immigrant women/mothers of children (3-8 years old), whereas field notes from participant-observation were used to provide background and contextual information.

Two research questions were investigated: firstly, what were the most culturally-valid methodologies in getting to know these immigrant women/mothers? Secondly, how did the researcher’s role and identity affect these women/mothers’ representation of themselves during the course of interviews.

Analyses revealed that many interviewees were unaccustomed to either the terms or the format of a so-called interview, while others were unfamiliar to the idea of scheduling a time to meet. Both of these obstacles underscored the necessity for maximum flexibility in adapting recruitment strategies and interview techniques to a more contextually and culturally appropriate way of gathering information. The researcher’s initial strategy of recruitment was unsuccessful as many of Vietnamese women/mothers were protective of themselves from outsiders like the researcher, owing to the long-standing stereotypes of these women in Taiwanese society. After many failed attempts at recruiting and gathering information, the researcher realization that she needed to modify the standard practice of recruiting and interviewing to accommodate the concerns of this population.

Additionally, like in any ethnographic work, the researcher’s identity played a role. Participants’ perceptions of the researcher influenced how they represented themselves and what they revealed to the researcher. In this poster, the researcher will report how her identity as an educated, unmarried Taiwanese female had strengthened and limited our understanding of these women’s lived experience. The analyses will also reveal the significance and richness of ethnography.

Author

• Eva C.-H. Chen, Benedictine College
  Presenting Author