| In this study, I discuss the concept "flexible acculturation" and apply it to the case of Taiwanese transmigration processes to China. "Flexibility" is an important notion in studies of globalization that describes how different social actors respond to opportunities provided in transnational social fields. I identify main characteristics of "flexible acculturation": it is broad enough to describe not only different groups of migrants but also governments, publics, etc.; it is not only about differences but interactions; it is about both processes and the results; it might be liberated as well as restricted. I also discuss how "flexible acculturation" is different from many other concepts that have been proposed, e.g. flexible citizenship, flexible ethnicity, instrumental identity, and multiculturalism.;In my case study, I focus on the flexible cultural strategies of the Taiwanese government, the businesspeople, and the women. Three strategies of the Taiwanese government are identified: governance in spatial movements, graduated sovereignty, and reinvention of ethnic identities. My discussion about the businesspeople focuses on the interplay between identity politics, family life, and children's education. I argue that different economic positions shape the migration patterns and the acculturation strategies. I then discuss how the transmigration processes influence Taiwanese women's social images, careers, ties to the children, spatial relocations, household division of labor, and self-perception. I argue that among the issues associated with women, gender, and family, the problem of the extramarital affairs between Taiwanese men and Chinese women is singled out in the Taiwanese acculturation processes because this problem involves both Taiwanese (us) and Chinese people (them).;The data used in the dissertation includes in-depth interviews, governmental documents, and media reports. In 2003 and 2005, I conducted fifty-one interviews of businesspeople and their family members in Taiwan and in China. Since 2002, I have also collected documents of many social institutions, including governments, political parties, media, social movement organizations, and online forums for the public. The date of these documents ranged from the early 1980s to 2007. |
