TY - JOUR
T1 - Yang Sheng, Care and Changing Family Relations in China
T2 - about a ‘Left Behind’ Mother’s Diet
AU - Lin, Xiaodong
N1 - © Policy Press 2018. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details
PY - 2018/11/2
Y1 - 2018/11/2
N2 - Drawing upon my mother’s yang sheng (life nurturing) practices through food consumption as an autoethnographic ‘vignette’, the paper seeks to tease out different layers of socio-cultural meanings, underpinning a left behind ageing mother's changing diet. It brings to light the underlying gendered embodiment of food practices articulated through changing family relations (i.e. left behind mother - absent son). This is of particular salience within the context in which issues of ageing and care for older family members have become a major public concern in contemporary China. The paper highlights the relational accounts of food practices as care, imbued with shifting personal relations within the family, which are intertwined with social and historical transformations. In particular, it develops some critical insights on food practices that are beyond an individual's reflection on self-responsibility for health. Thus, it illustrates how intergenerational family care and love are facilitated through the negotiation with everyday materiality and its practices in China.
AB - Drawing upon my mother’s yang sheng (life nurturing) practices through food consumption as an autoethnographic ‘vignette’, the paper seeks to tease out different layers of socio-cultural meanings, underpinning a left behind ageing mother's changing diet. It brings to light the underlying gendered embodiment of food practices articulated through changing family relations (i.e. left behind mother - absent son). This is of particular salience within the context in which issues of ageing and care for older family members have become a major public concern in contemporary China. The paper highlights the relational accounts of food practices as care, imbued with shifting personal relations within the family, which are intertwined with social and historical transformations. In particular, it develops some critical insights on food practices that are beyond an individual's reflection on self-responsibility for health. Thus, it illustrates how intergenerational family care and love are facilitated through the negotiation with everyday materiality and its practices in China.
U2 - 10.1332/204674318X15384073468565
DO - 10.1332/204674318X15384073468565
M3 - Article
SN - 2046-7435
JO - Families, Relationships and Societies
JF - Families, Relationships and Societies
ER -