“Migration and adaptation”: Adoptive strategies of Hakka foreign spouses—a case study of foreign spouses attending literacy class in Toufen Township

• Main Authors: Liu, Hui-Meng, 劉惠萌
• Other Authors: Ko, Chao-Ching
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/66668446076012058538

碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 客家文化學院客家社會與文化碩士在職專班 === 99 === This study aims to discuss marital lives of marriage immigrants from Southeast Asia and their adaptive strategies. Although marrying foreign spouses is not as popular as before, there are around 40,000 foreign spouses living as Taiwanese daughters-in-law, whose number is now close to the aboriginal population. Owing to their large population, the influence of marriage immigrants cannot be ignored. Driven by poverty, many of them choose to enter cross-border marriage out of desire for a better life; however, many of their dreams shatter after they start their marriage on a foreign soil. Language barrier, cultural difference and new food culture are first difficulties that foreign spouses encounter. If their marital families do not support or assist them, adopting Taiwanese lifestyle would be a huge challenge for them. The second issue is related to the low socioeconomic status of their marital families, which often cause foreign spouses to shoulder the economic burden. In addition to this, some of these foreign spouses have to endure the threat of domestic violence. Although these difficulties brought by cross-border marriages might not be envisioned by them, the majority of them still choose to stay in Taiwan. Adopting new lifestyles and maintaining good family relationships are their common survival strategies. Nevertheless, they empowered themselves privately by negotiating their child-bearing choices, fighting for economic independence, constructing social networks, and learning the new language. These strategies help them decrease their economic dependence and increase their agency. Through purposive sampling, the researcher interviewed and observed 13 foreign spouses who attend literacy class, and analyzed their adoptive strategies in cross-border marriage. Foreign spouses’ marital families, teacher of the literacy class, and neighbors were simultaneously interviewed, whose perspectives can be used to contrast with those of foreign spouses’.