Mothering the state: Ecuadorian migrant mothers in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Women, as immigrant mothers, embody the creation of new identities that drink from distant roots but must survive in the present land. This article investigates the experience of Ecuadorian women who have become mothers in the United Kingdom, seeking to understand how they conceptualize their identity as Ecuadorians and whether and how they are relaying and nurturing this identity in their children. The article’s analysis is based upon semi-structured, extended interviews with several Ecuadorian women in southern England, with a focus upon the individual experiences of these women as migrants; how they experienced their changing identity as they entered motherhood; how they straddled two cultures as their children grew in Europe; how they understand themselves and their children as Ecuadorian; and how they see Ecuador from the perspective of immigrant mothers. Delving into discussions of the gendered creation of national identities, this article also explores how immigrant mothersbirththe state through narratives and memories and seeks to understand how these narratives have been affected by migration and acculturation.