Gender and Family Practices: Living Apart Together Relationships in China

Description

This book examines how gender and heterosexuality structure the lived experiences of people in living apart together (LAT) relationships in contemporary Chinese society. Using in-depth interview data with Chinese LAT people of different ages, the author explores why they live apart; how they construct and make sense of their everyday family lives and negotiate their gender roles; and how they experience intimacy while being physically apart. This text sheds new insights on non-cohabitating intimate partnerships by bringing together themes of gender, family, intimacy, and relationality. Through looking at people’s lived experiences in LAT relationships, it argues that practices of family and intimacy are closely implicated with doing gender, and consequently, that gendered family lives and heterosexuality are reconstructed, rather than deconstructed, in order to reclaim conventional forms of family and gender norms in Chinese social, historical and cultural contexts. This book will be of interest to scholars across Gender and Sexuality Studies as well as Family Studies, in addition to scholars of contemporary Chinese culture and society. Acknowledgements Contents About the Author List of Tables Chapter 1: Understanding ‘Living Apart Together’ (LAT) Relationships Introduction What Is an LAT Relationship and Why Does It Matter? Who Lives Apart from Their Partner and Why? Is LAT a New Family Form or a Temporary Stage? Researching People in LATs in China Approaching LAT People Reflexivity, Power Dynamics and Positionality Getting Familiar with the Data and Data Analysis Structure of the Book References Chapter 2: Detraditionalisation and Retraditionalisation of Family Lives: Gender, Marriage and Intimacy Introduction The Grand Theories: Modernity, Gender and Transformations of Intimacy in the West Contextualising Social Change in China Gender Relations and Family Life in China Women, Love and Family Changing Marital Practices Conclusion References Chapter 3: Reconsidered Agency: Why Do People Live Apart? Introduction Conceptualising Agency and Relationality Structural Constraints Labour Mobility: Out-Migration of Men and Left-Behind Women External Authoritative Forces Negotiated Agency: Family Values and Hegemonic Ideas About Marriage Relational Bonds with Family Members Friendship Relational Individualism: Reflexivity and Life Stages Conclusion References Chapter 4: Doing Family at a Distance: How Different Are LAT Relationships to ‘Conventional’ Partnerships? Introduction The Stories of Six Study Mothers Continuity in Family Practices Reciprocal Family Practices: ‘I Hope My Children Can Do Things That I Might Not Have the Chance to Do’ Gendered Family Practices: ‘I’d Like to More or Less Make It Up to Him’ Everyday Family Practices and Identity Construction Everyday Practices of Doing Gender: ‘His Three Meals a Day Had Me Trapped’ Negotiating Gender Roles and Identity Construction Conclusion References Chapter 5: Doing Intimacy While Being Apart: Practices of Mobile Intimacy, Emotion and Filial Piety Introduction Doing Intimacy in a Mediated Digital Age Practices of Mobile Intimacy Potential Risks Emotional Intimacy Embodied Practices of Intimacy Practices of Gift-Giving Practices of Filial Piety Parent–Child Intimacy Conclusion References Chapter 6: Conclusion References Appendices Index