Browsing by Subject "positio"

In this master's thesis, I have reviewed, how women who have moved to Finland from abroad, position their motherhood under the influence of both Finnish residency experiences and transnational residency experiences. In particular, I have clarified the type of negotiations contained in their narration of motherhood, and how the feelings of belonging and not belonging to the Finnish society and motherhood environment are described as a part thereof. The study's questions are set in the fields of educational and social immigration and motherhood research. In terms of theoretical and methodological choices, it focuses on social constructionism, narrative constructionism and a theoretical framework on positioning. The empirical material of the study is formed of the interview narration by three mothers. We produced one oral interview and a second, either oral or written, interview with each interviewee. In the interview method, I utilised the Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM). The analysis I produced had two phases: in the first phase, I aimed to define narrative themes in the narrations by means of narrative content analysis, where motherhood experiences were given particular emphasis. In the second phase of the analysis, which utilised position analysis, I paid attention to the position the mothers took in their narrations, objected or built on when telling about motherhood, what categorisations could be defined in the narrations, and how and in what relation were the feelings of belonging, or not belonging, told. In their narrations, the mothers brought up several positions that they found significant, of which the position of being a resource, the position of requiring strength and critical thinking skills and the position of lonely and limited motherhood were the most significant. When the motherly ways and values of the mothers I interviewed did not correspond to the equal and uniform requirements encountered in the Finnish society's social or institutional communities, they were said to be made strange, exceptional or limiting. Holding on to the characteristics of one's own motherhood, when the Finnish representation of motherhood is considered uniformly discriminating, is said to e.g. be a place that requires particular strength and questioning skills. The successful experiences, particularly concerning prenatal clinic services and the arrangements of giving birth, seem to have, on the other hand, strengthened the sense of security and the formation of the sense of belonging towards the institutional society and in general, the entire Finnish society.