The Pain In Happiness:Becoming A Chinese Mother In France

Motherhood does not only come with happiness,especially when it comes to migrant women.Chinese migrant women in France are rarely represented as mothers,and their maternal life is still an under-researched topic.How to become a good mother in France is the question for Chinese women in France,and also the starting point of my thesis.Embedded in a culture where motherhood is structured by China’s population policies,traditional Chinese medicine,and Chinese norms of gender,family,and health,Chinese migrant women may experience pain and suffering during their motherhood in France.Thus,this thesis aims to illustrate the heavy but invisible efforts of Chinese women in France.To achieve this,three kinds of work were mobilized: first,to make visible the pain and suffering undergone by Chinese women during the reproductive period;second,to understand their explanations and interpretations of these experiences;and third,to analyze their strategies for action.By exploring a happy but also suffering motherhood,this thesis strives to show that pain,as a physical and medical fact,can be constructed and interpreted by gender,race,and social class.Furthermore,suffering,as an emotional and psychological fact,can be caused by social and cultural explanations of pain.