Forced Migration and Mothering Kiwisitos: Young Colombian Women Navigating Motherhood in New Zealand.

This thesis investigated the factors that supported young Colombian women to navigate the resettlement process when they came to New Zealand as pregnant refugees. Several theoretical frameworks, including Putnam’s (2000) social capital theory (bonding, bridging, and linking), Berry’s (1990) acculturation approaches (assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalisation) and Ager and Strang’s (2008) domains of integration were used to frame the study and undertake initial analysis. The purpose of the study was to learn from the young Colombian mothers in order to inform and improve the resettlement experiences of future young mothers from refugee backgrounds. Included in the thesis is a reflexive analysis that situates my Colombian identity and the fact that I was also pregnant during my own settlement journey and the course of this thesis. Using a case study methodology and a social constructivist approach, I conducted semi-structured interviews with eight young Colombian women who resettled in Hamilton as part of New Zealand’s refugee resettlement quota programme. Through thematic content analysis, I found two emergent themes. The first theme draws on a Colombian cultural concept of ‘crossing the pond’ (facing challenges) and highlights how the young mothers navigate two cultural worlds in order to raise their Kiwisitos (little Kiwis). The second theme introduces three tasks that they undertake as they navigate their resettlement journey. The three tasks are encountering, surveying-orienting and navigating. These themes highlighted an awareness of how the participants managed social interactions within their community, the wider society, and various institutions. These three tasks provide a nuanced appreciation of how social capital relates to broader understandings of integration through the interstitial, relational and contextual spaces they navigate as they and their children transition into new settlement contexts. Following the initial analysis, I chose to further examine underlying discourses that impacted on the young mother’s experiences. An analysis of the influence of the “good mother’ discourse and the “good migrant discourse, then led me to propose my own original typology of four of motherhood representations that encapsulated the young women’s experiences. This framework distinguishes four forms of experiencing motherhood: motherhood as protection; motherhood as cultural rupture; motherhood as cultural transmission; and motherhood as personal development. I argue that these four typologies provide an understanding of how the young mothers move through different acculturation strategies which influence their experience of integration providing a more dynamic and relational appreciation beyond normative integration and acculturation models. Overall, this study offers a valuable opportunity to advance insights that can help organisations, policymakers and practitioners, among others, to work more effectively with young mothers from refugee backgrounds and understand the various acculturation strategies that they may embrace. In doing so, this research seeks to illuminate the stories, support factors and integration experiences of this unique population and its associated policy and practice implications.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Grantor dc:publisher

ResearchSpace@Auckland

Year dc:date.issued

2023

Author dc:creator

• Castro Conrado, Carolina Stefany

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Mutch, Carol
• Marlowe, Jay

Statement dc:rights

• Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2292/63722

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/63722