| The process of modernization and urbanization in nowadays China has aroused great changes in the life style and social structure of ethnic minority,and inevitably imposed great impacts to their traditions and value system.Meanwhile,with the implementation of the western region development strategy,the breaking down of urban and township dual system as well as the improvement of information and communication network,great population movements out of economic reasons were induced.Being versatile in commerce and trading activities,muslim became the largest ethnic group among the migrant population.The changes in northwest rural society and modernized life create a better environment for the muslim females,especially those born after 1980s,to pursue self actualization and independent development,to ignite their imagination towards city life and greater freedom.Many young muslim females follow their families to live or work in the cities,and some of them settle down in the cities through marriage or receiving tertiary education.However,when they comes to the city to pursue modern life and independent development,the dynamic between the longstanding ethnic traditions,value system,gender culture and modern values certainly drive the females to adjust and make difficult choices.As such,their daily life and family culture will consciously and unconsciously be changed,leading to the review of gender role and gender relation which finally means a reconstruction of self identity and belonging.This research aims to investigate two set of questions.Firstly,when the muslim young ladies come to live in the city with the female habitus acquired from northwest muslim villages,how they will readjust their gender status and rebuild their sense of belonging under the clashes between modern and traditional.Then it will be necessary to identify if such re-adjustment will cause any changes in their concepts about marriage and family as well as social and family roles,which ultimately may alter the whole culture of northwest muslim society such as family culture or gender equality.Secondly,being a subject agency,how the social transformation in northwest region shapes the muslim females' adaptation capabilities and self consciousness so as to identify the relationship between their adaptation behaviour and the social structures.As such,it will finally be found out that whether the social transformation brought by economic development and urbanization during the end of last decade has brought any substantial benefits in promoting the development environment and self-awareness of the muslim females in northwest region.This research adopted the methodology of ethnography,together with the theories of urban anthropology,women anthropology and acculturation,to arrive at a research framework to investigate the relationship between the acculturation of female immigrants and the social structures by taking consideration of both personal and social factors that affect the acculturation of target group.This framework combines the personal and social factors that affects the social adjustment behavior of target group Firstly.through describing the factors that brought out social transformation.such as national development policies,globalization,urbanization and muslim traditional culture,we could better interpret the logic and meaning of the personal choices,strategies,personal drive and self representation arising in the adaptation process of the muslim female immigrants,as such we could better appreciate their efforts paid during the settlement in cities.Secondly,two sets of concept,namely belonging and adaptation,repeatedly appear in the narration of various informants,revealing a kind of tensions between total adjustment towards new modern life and to retreat back to the familiar traditions.Muslim female immigrants will be required to adjust their values,social relationship and behavior patterns according to the norms of city society.The ultimate goal of such adjustment is to build a new kind of belonging which can enable them to establish a balance between modern and traditions,and between city and rural life,as well as to build a harmonized relationship with the city dwellers.This research shows that the practice of social adjustment by muslim female immigrants possesses strong ethnic and regional characteristics.This is because such adaptation practice is not only dictated by the personal capital and ability of the female immigrants,but largely shaped by the social transformation of the northwest region and the city culture.The pursuit of independent life in city by the immigrant female is extremely difficult because of the deprived employment market towards female in northwest cities,discrimination towards ethnic minority women and the deeply embedded gender inequality in muslim society.Quite a lot of muslim females can only treat the city as a temporary station for funny adventures and return home to get marry and become a full time wife according to the tradition.This paper illustrates that social adjustment is a continuous process of agentiality,one have to continuously build up her capability and to exercise her agency so as to establish a new order of life and sense of belonging in the new environment.Among all the adaptation strategies,marriage strategy was the most important one for the muslim female immigrants from northwest region.They come to live in the city through marriage,try to change the traditional marriage strategy to shape her ideal family life and finally to enhance her family and social status.Education resources could not enable them to get a self sufficient job in the northwest cities,but rather increase their personal asset and confidence to settle down in the city.Meanwhile,education can help them to enlarge their social network and obtain the respects from city dwellers.Besides,the diversified and dynamic of ethnic culture exhibited in the northwest city provides much opportunities for the muslim female immigrant to learn their ethnic culture and determine the way of practice.Throughout the adjustment process,muslim female usually adopt obedience,flexibility and negotiation as their main strategies to approach and achieve their aims in a gentle way.They carefully not to jeopardize the good relationship with her family members because of pursuit of her goal as their security and belonging are all built upon this family tie.It is showed that there are successful cases that some women promote her family and social status,however,such cases do not bring any significant changes in the gender habitus and gender inequality for the whole northwest rural muslim society.In fact,muslim women are willing to undertake the mission of culture reproduction in the city by sacrificing some of their freedom or by risking the possibility of being marginalized,so as to gain the recognition of family and muslim society to guarantee their needs for security and belonging.It is also demonstrated that muslim female immigrants contribute a lot to the whole muslim immigrant population.They perform all the care roles to every family member,thus facilitate the settlement of family in the city and alter the culture of muslim immigrant families.These changes include more autonomy and freedom to wife,strengthen the rural traditions in the city and alter their ways to foster children.From the development point of view,decades of government effort to improve the conditions of ethnic minority women in the northwest region are successful.The opportunities of receiving proper education and the quality of women life are promoted,thus muslim women have considerably more freedom to pursue moderm life.However,in view of the subordinate position and the lack of economic autonomy of muslim women,external assistance will be required to change the current social structures to allow more space for their development.Fruitful changes includes the recognition of female contribution to the family by the muslim society in particular their husband and in-laws,gradually decrease the gender inequality.Besides,it is suggested that government should direct and monitor the northwest non-governrmental philanthropy organizations to advocate the empowerment model of women development to enhance the awareness of self development and self determination.Muslim women can be developed to undertake the task of building a better China with women of various ethnic group.Finally,despite that this research adopts theories and research results from Sociology,Women Studies,the design of this study is an ethnographic research of anthropology/ethnology.By persistently engaging in ethnography research throughout the research period,a thorough field survey was conducted,the required data was sufficiently collected and effectively analyzed.Moreover,this paper serves to prove that traditional anthropology research method is effective for urban study.As a matter of fact,the methodology of ethnography not only can provide insightful meaning,it also brings about self reflection on the subject matter.Lastly,the overall living conditions and adaption process depicted in this research can reflect the ethnic characteristics and development needs of muslim female immigrants so as to provide useful reference for the setting up of urban management measures.It is hoped that this research can arouse further discussion and enrich the study about the development of ethnic minority females in our country.to reveal their social values and contribution to the society,and to encourage them to press on with their strong perseverance at the winding road of personal development. |
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