Gender and Transnationalism in Asian Context: Transnational Family of Taishang

Globalization, facilitated by the powerful and instantaneous worldwide communication and transportation, not only produced rapid flow of capital, goods, services, and people but also reshaped the spatial organization of social relations at every level. The concept of transnational social space was proposed to capture the reconstitution of the new spatial organizations across national territory; and “transnational family” was viewed as a site wherein transnationalism was sustained and practiced and to delineate how women were affected by and affect globalization. This paper addresses the question of how globalization as manifested in the movement of capital and people cross borders affects the configuration of family as a unit of production and reproduction, the meaning of home as a fixed place of belonging, and the boundaries of family as spacious organization of social relations. Data came from in-depth interview with a group of the boss wives of Taiwanese businesses (Taishans) in two coastal cities in China collected in 2006-2007. Analyses show that: women are the incorporated members of the transmigration process. Transnational relocation of family business has also impacted the gender relations within the transnational family by reinforcing the reproductive responsibilities of “homemaking”, including transnational mothering. Three types of transnational family or global household reconfigurations were identified as a result of the transnational relocation of Taiwanese family firms to China: the split-reassembled transnational family, the relocated transnational family, and the split-spread global family. Finally, the spatially diffusion of family accompanied with transmigration further leads to the re-interpretation of the meaning of home.