Plural Belongings: Mothering Co-resident Children Post-migration in the USA

Immigrant mothers to the USA skillfully negotiate a sense of belonging that is local, global and in-between, as members of multiple spaces for themselves and their children. However, popular conceptions of migrant mothers paint them as traditionalists at best, expected to be grateful for their new ‘here’. This research is based on a small qualitative study of middle-class migrant mothers from multiple parts of the world living in North America. It exposes the differential impact of race and ethnicity on the mothers’ experiences, despite the relative socioeconomic privilege in the backgrounds and life trajectories of the women and their families. The mothers build flexible concepts of home that transcend single countries, raise children who have multiple homes and ideas of identity and strategize to confront prejudices and build ties to their new communities. By focusing on questions enmeshed with women’s mothering acts, we gain insights into notions of identity and belonging. As the mothers in this study negotiate the double transition into motherhood and into a new sociocultural experience, this article explores how they make intentional choices to negotiate, renegotiate and work around migration in ways that are reflective of their senses of self pre- and post-migration. In understanding migrant mothers’ experiences, we also see how policy makers may meet migrant’s needs and by extension, the needs of communities in a world shaped by internationalisms.