Kinship capital: young mothers,kinship networks and support in urban South Africa

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I explore kinship and other networks of support for young mothers and their babies after an unintended, ex-nuptial pregnancy in a resource-poor urban setting. I draw on in-depth interviews conducted with 30 young mothers aged 18 to 20 years old and follow up interviews conducted with 9 of them. The interviews focused on three main areas: pregnancy and birth, education and income generation, and support networks. I present three cases that reflect variability in support and kinship network patterns. I use genograms and kinship network maps to identify sources of support and kinship networks within and outside households. Paying attention to the location and distribution of networks, I engage with the role of kinship capital and other forms of support in mitigating some of the negative consequences of early, unplanned motherhood. I show how young mothers draw on support from kinship networks which in turn adapt and reconfigure to provide support, allowing young mothers to exercise agency in relation to aspirations around educational attainment and income generation.     

《红楼梦》和《源氏物语》母性原型探迹

作为生活在亚洲同一文化圈中的中日民族，自古以来就有着文化上的渊源联系。对中日两部文学经典——《红楼梦》与《源氏物语》就母性原型意义进行深层探视，分别从母亲角色、花园意象和神话原型三个层面作出母性意味的阐释比较，以为中日文化固有的因缘联系展示出新的文化景观，探寻出新的文化意义。     

The Association of Couples’ Relationship Status and Quality With Breastfeeding Initiation

Using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Survey (N= 3,567), we examine the links between relationship status, relationship quality, and race and ethnicity in breastfeeding initiation. We consider four relationship types: married, cohabiting, romantically involved but not cohabiting (termed visiting), and nonromantically involved mothers. We find that even after adjusting for a wide range of sociodemographic factors, married mothers were more likely to breastfeed than unmarried mothers and that racial and ethnic differences in breastfeeding do not result from differences in marriage rates. Among unwed mothers, paternal provision of money or other assistance during pregnancy decreases the likelihood of breastfeeding. We conclude that relationship status, above and beyond demographic characteristics, is an important correlate of breastfeeding.     

独联体国家朝鲜族的语言丢失问题

本文以前苏联的人口普查资料为依据,主要对独联体国家朝鲜族的语言丢失过程作了一些简要的描述和分析,并对中亚和萨哈林朝鲜族的语言状况作了一定对比研究。     

论对失独者＂代孕＂行为的法律保护

在风险社会和计划生育的背景下,失独者“代孕”有其必要性和紧迫性。从法理和权利角度看,失独者在生育权、生存照顾权和继承权等方面的特殊法律地位使其有权进行“代孕”。在当前我国对“代孕”争议较多的背景下,应尽快并优先赋予失独者“代孕”权,建立“法律一行政法规和部门规章一地方规范性文件”三级规范体系,同时在司法实践中重新界定代孕合同的法律性质,从而将失独者的“代孕”行为纳入法治轨道,并维护其基本人权。     

中国失去独生子女群体社会保障研究综述

迄今为止,对于失去独生子女群体社会保障问题,学术界已经做了多方面比较深入的研究。已有的研究分别从失独者、失独家庭和失独群体三个角度界定了“失独”概念;分析了失独群体产生的原因,其中,计划生育政策是其最深层的原因,社会和自然风险的日益增加则是其产生的潜在的原因。研究还发现,失独群体在社会中处于弱势地位,失独不仅损害了家庭的经济功能,导致家庭子女赡养功能的缺失,而且部分失独家庭还存在着瓦解的隐患。因此,从社会保障的角度,有必要提出保障失独群体的对策与方案。     

Going back: ‘Stalking’, talking and researcher responsibilities in qualitative longitudinal research

This paper explores the process of going back in qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) to gather later accounts of unfolding personal experiences. The design of interview-based QLR is usually premised on collecting data, over-time, around an unfolding experience or event. This design facilitates the establishment of an on-going research relationship and ‘rapport’ and the accessing of fluid and time-sensitive accounts of individual experiences, leading to more nuanced understandings of temporal subjectivities. However in practice maintaining a sample in QL research, which may span a number of years, can be challenging and the process of going back, complicated. This paper reflects on issues and responsibilities which can arise when researchers try to access and go back to participants, especially where experiences once optimistically narrated and future-oriented have unfolded in unplanned and personally unwelcome ways. Using researcher experiences and the data from later phases of two UK based QLR studies on transition to first-time motherhood and first-time fatherhood, the practical steps of maintaining contact, reconnecting with participants and going back are documented. How does the passage of time and changes in participant’s lives alter research relationships, interpretations of data and researcher responsibilities?     

Facets of Agency in Stories of Transforming From Childless by Choice to Mother

Family scholars have explored in depth how and why some women choose to never have children. However, some childless‐by‐choice (also termed childfree or voluntarily childless) women—who have declared their desire and intention to never have children—ultimately become mothers because of changes in choice or circumstance. Through a qualitative analysis of interviews with mothers who once articulated themselves as permanently childless by choice, this article presents three facets of agency in women's stories about childbearing transformations: accidental conception, ambiguous desire, and purposeful decision. Participant interviews indicated that each facet of agency was enabled and constrained by multiple individual, relational, and cultural considerations, including self‐described biological urges, partners' childbearing desires and intentions, and cultural stigma against abortion. Pathways from childless by choice to mother often encompass multiple facets of agency and include movements in and out of various fertility desires and intentions before conceiving.     

‘I Became a Mom’: Identity Changes in Mothers Receiving Public Assistance

ABSTRACT

This phenomenological study used individual, semistructured, face-to-face interviews to explore motherhood experiences among 15 women receiving public assistance in a large urban area on the West coast. A primary phenomenon observed was that motherhood was described as an experience of identity change, with resulting emotional, behavioral, and sense-of-self changes. Within this broad theme, two categories emerged: the experience and process of change, and consequences of change. It was concluded that motherhood may serve as an important catalyst for change in some women and that the context of poverty is essential for understanding the motherhood experience. These results suggest that interventions aimed at leveraging emerging motherhood identities may be beneficial in setting women on the path out of poverty, drug addiction, and incarceration. Future research should examine the consequences of maternal change within the specific context of the stages of change documented in the recovery process from drug addiction.