RETHINKING GENDER, RETHINKING MIGRATION: ‘They assume dirty kids means happy kids’. Polish female migrants on being a mother in Norway

• Authors: Odden, Gunhild

Abstracts

EN

This article deals with how the Polish in Norway perceive and talk about motherhood ina migratory context. The changes such a context might imply in terms of a parenting style,defined as a set of attitudes that express the parents’ behavior towards the child, are the article’smain focus. The results presented are based on qualitative interviews conducted withtwelve Polish mothers in Norway. The empirical data shows that the mothers interviewedconsider the Polish parenting style as rather demanding and intrusive while the Norwegianparenting style is considered as rather responsive and neglecting. The article shows, however,that there is no absolute connection between rather stereotyped perceptions of the Norwegianand the Polish parenting styles, and the actual attitudes identified in the analysis of themothers’ narratives. Better economic opportunities are among the most important changesfor the mothers, which in turn influences their perceptions and practices of motherhood.Furthermore, the diversity in perceiving, talking about and performing motherhood acrossborders are stressed, highlighting that the changes in terms of parenting styles are to beseen, above all, in terms of structural opportunities and personal experiences.

Keywords

EN

migration; motherhood; Polish migration; Norway; parenting style; welfare; cultural values

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Gdański
• Journal: Miscellanea Anthropologica et Sociologica
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 17(3)
• Pages: 35-49

Contributors

author

Odden, Gunhild