Glocalised Motherhood: Sociality and Affect in Migrant Mothers’ Online Communities

Abstract

This article explores the importance of relationships between migrant mothers in Australia through the lens of Facebook groups created by and for migrant mothers, referred to here as glocalised maternal communities. The combination of migration and motherhood creates a dual rupture in mothers’ social networks, leading to isolation and emotional challenges. Drawing on thematic analysis of interviews conducted with 41 mothers from a range of migrant communities (including Indian, Malaysian, Swedish, German, Brazilian and British), living in Melbourne and Sydney, I investigate why migrant mothers have responded to these challenges by creating and participating in locally-based, social media such as Facebook for mothers with a shared national or cultural identity. These communities provide resources and support for women’s migrant maternal projects, for example relational settlement and cultural transmission, and also meet women’s own needs for intimacy, friendship, and support. From an analysis of sociality, emotion, identity and relationality in these glocalised maternal communities, I develop a framework of multilayered and multimodal migrant maternal sociality, including a re-formulation of Haythornthwaite’s concept of ‘latent ties’ (2005) to highlight the affective benefits of online communities.

Keywords

• migration
• motherhood
• Facebook
• sociality
• social media
• online communities