Stories of transnational mothering: International postgraduate students

Stories of transnational mothering: International postgraduate students.

Women who migrate for the purpose of international study and live apart from their children often have to negotiate the complex roles of being a transnational mother and an international student. Despite recognition that gender is a central organising principle of migration and transnational life, existing research with international students rarely offers a gendered exploration. Consequently, the mothering stories of international students remain largely absent from existing literature. The aim of this research is to bring the stories of transnational mothers, engaged in postgraduate international education, to the centre of discussion to enable feminist theorising about motherhood and mothering to evolve. The research was predicated on feminist narrative principles of bringing the stories of often marginalised groups to the centre of discussion. The project involved participants’ perspectives to inform the development of the research design and in-depth narrative interviews with transnational mothers in the context of postgraduate international study. 

Conducted by: Dr. Kate Smith (Research Fellow, University of Huddersfield), Dr. Kelly Lockwood (Lecturer in Criminology, University of Salford) and Dr Tatyana Karpenko-Seccombe (Lecturer in English for Academic Purposes at Research and Enterprise, University of Huddersfield).

Contact: Kate.Smith@hud.ac.uk