14.035 - Marginalized Women and Their Quests for Better Lives: Themes of Disequilibrium, Learning, and Adaptation

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

For women whose lives are characterized by economic and social deprivation, only by taking dramatic actions can they achieve the lives they desire. However, such dramatic actions can have both foreseen and unforeseen consequences for women of limited resources. In this symposium, three women scholars—originally from three different continents—will present and explore empirically derived themes of disequilibrium, learning, and adaptation. The three interview-based studies give voice to three distinct groups of adult women who have taken steps to change their lives: (a) mothers in American developmental studies program in the American South (b) Philippine marriage-immigrants in South Korea, and (c) Soviet marriage-immigrants in the United States. The session will include methodological and transnational feminist discussants.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender in Education

Chair

• Tom Valentine, University of Georgia

Papers

• The Positive and Negative Influence of Children on Their Mothers' Experiences in Developmental Education - Jamie L Caudill, Georgia Gwinnett College

• Learning to Be a "Good" Wife: The Challenging Lives of Marriage-Immigrant Filipinas in South Korea - Jihyun Kim, University of Georgia

• The Up-and-Down Lives of Soviet Marriage-Immigrants in America: Overcoming Obstacles Through Resilience and Personal Transformation - Tatyana Pavluscenco, Georgia Highlands College

Discussants

• Juanita Johnson-Bailey, University of Georgia

• Kathleen P. deMarrais, University of Georgia