Abstract
This study explores the identity construction and daily life practices of Vietnamese brides in cross-border marriages,while focusing on China's borderlands.Cross-border marriages continue to increase in regions such as Pingxiang City and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.This study aims to understand how these women navigate the complexities of cultural integration,social belonging,and gendered power dynamics within a border society.We applied a feminist geographic framework to analyze the intersection of spatial,social,and institutional dimensions in the everyday lives of Vietnamese brides married into Chinese families settled in Pingxiang City.Qualitative methods were employed to gain a nuanced understanding of their lived experiences.In particular,we conducted in-depth interviews and considered the participatory observations of 21 cross-border families in Youyi Town in Pingxiang City,China.The primary objective was to investigate how these women negotiate their identities and daily lives through social practices and spatial interactions within transnational and borderland contexts.Our study contributes to the expanding research on gender,migration,and border societies,while highlighting three main dimensions of identity construction and daily life practices for women in cross-border marriages.First,through embodied social embedding,the Vietnamese brides of these families gradually integrated into local social networks through joint agricultural labor,festival participation,and neighborhood interactions.This social integration allowed them to acquire a symbolic sense of place identity and emotional belonging,thereby challenging the stereotypical notions of"foreign"or"marginalized"women in border societies.Second,through domestic spatial negotiations,these women actively reshaped their domestic spaces by introducing Vietnamese cultural elements,such as decorations,clothing,and furniture.This transformation of the home space represents a hybrid cultural identity and an assertion of gendered agency;the women renegotiated their roles within not just their households,but also the broader social context.Finally,to mitigate the barriers related to legal residence and marriage registration within China's border governance framework,the brides sought assistance through localized institutional accommodations,such as the collective documentation services organized by village authorities.Our study highlights the dynamic interactions between state governance and grassroots agencies,revealing that identity construction among Vietnamese brides is not merely a process of passive assimilation or cultural resistance,rather a dynamic and ongoing negotiation of space and identity.By analyzing the daily practices of these women within domestic,communal,and institutional settings,this study demonstrates how their actions transform the border from a site of division into a lived social space for interaction and redefinition.Notably,our research contributes to the literature on feminist geography by advancing discussions on how women's everyday practices reshape spatial and social relations in borderlands,emphasizing the agency of women in cross-border contexts.Furthermore,our study highlights the role of everyday spatial practices in the reproduction of social relations and the reconfiguration of border governance.Empirically,it offers a rare micro-level perspective on the lives of cross-border brides in China,adding valuable insights into how proximity,cultural affinity,and community ties foster a"low-conflict local integration mechanism,"which is distinct from long-distance migration experiences.Overall,this study enriches the understanding of gendered spatial identities and offers new perspectives on the intersection of space,power,and belonging in borderlands.关键词
跨境婚姻/女性主义/身份建构/越南新娘/广西凭祥Key words
cross-border marriage/feminist geography/identity construction/Vietnamese brides/Pingxiang,Guangxi分类
社会科学
