“By whom was I left behind?”
Identity struggles in the narratives of Chinese leftover women (sheng nü)
Applying
Bamberg’s (2012) practice-oriented analytical framework for
narrative identity as produced through specific linguistic behaviours, this research focuses on the context-specific construction
of multiple identities in the accounts of Chinese leftover women (
sheng nü). It also seeks to investigate how
they negotiate selves and handle struggles in both the storyworld and the storytelling-world by examining the trinity of form,
content and context narrated in seven semi-structured interviews. This research reveals that these unmarried Chinese women attempt
to narrate a positive positioning of self. They deconstruct the socially ascribed leftover identity but renegotiate a gendered
self as either invisible or visible women integrated within an agentic ‘excellent’ (
youxiu) self, albeit somehow
disrupted within the diverse embedding of patriarchal cultural accounts.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Literature review
-
Bamberg’s (2012) dimensions and a reflection
- Methodology
- Critical analysis: Narrated identity struggles
- Repudiated leftover self
- Gendered self: Invisible or visible women?
- Narrated ‘manly woman’ (nü-hanzi)
- Deconstructed third-gender
- ‘Excellent’ (youxiu) self: Agency in (dis)continuity
- Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
-
References
References (43)
References
Angouri, J. (2018). Culture, Discourse, and the Workplace. Routledge. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bamberg, M. (2012). Narrative practice and identity navigation. In J. A. Holstein & J. F. Gubrium (Eds.), Varieties of narrative analysis (pp. 99–124). Sage. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bamberg, M., & Wipff, Z. (2021). Re-considering counter narratives. In K. Lueg & M. Wolf Lundholt (Eds.). The Routledge handbook of counter narratives (pp. 71–84). Routledge.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Billett, S. (2008). Learning throughout working life: A relational interdependence between personal and social agency. British Journal of educational studies,
56
(1), 39–58. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bucholtz, M., & Hall, K. (2005). Identity and Interaction: A Sociocultural Linguistic approach. Discourse Studies,
7
(4–5), 585–614. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
De Beauvoir, S. (1956). The second sex. (H. M. Parshley, Trans.). Jonathan cape.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
De Fina, A. (2015). Narrative and identities. In A. De Fina & A. Georgakopoulou (Eds.), The Handbook of Narrative Analysis (pp. 351–368). Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dickerson, Y. (2016). Chinese female graduate students on us campuses: Negotiating classroom silence, the leftover woman and the good woman discourses [Doctoral dissertation, Syracuse University]. [URL]
Feldshuh, H. (2018). Gender, media, and myth-making: constructing China’s leftover women. Asian Journal of Communication,
28
(1), 38–54. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fincher, L. H. (2014). Leftover women: The resurgence of gender inequality in China. Zed Books. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Friedman, A. R. (2014). Shengnü: The Leftover Woman and Changing Perspectives of Femininity in Urban China [Doctoral dissertation, Emory University]. [URL]
Gaetano, A. (2014). “Leftover women”: Postponing marriage and renegotiating womanhood in urban China. Journal of Research in Gender Studies,
4
(2), 124–150.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Georgakopoulou, A. (2006). Small and large identities in narrative (inter)action. In A. De Fina, D. Schiffrin & M. Bamberg (Eds.), Discourse and Identity (pp. 83–102). Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gui, T. (2020). “Leftover Women” or Single by Choice: Gender Role Negotiation of Single Professional Women in Contemporary China. Journal of Family Issues,
41
(11), 1956–1978. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gunn, J. (2009). Agency. In S. W. Littlejohn & K. A. Foss (Eds.), Encyclopedia of communication theory (pp. 28–31). Sage.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ji, Y. (2015). Between tradition and modernity: “Leftover” women in Shanghai. Journal of Marriage and Family,
77
(5), 1057–1073. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lake, R. (2018). Leftover in China: The Women Shaping the World’s Next Superpower. WW Norton & Company.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lewis, P., & Simpson, R. (2012). Kanter Revisited: Gender, Power and (In)Visibility. International Journal of Management Reviews,
14
(2), 141–158. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Li, J. (2016). Gender Malleability and the Discursive Construction of Wo-man and Ladyboy in Media. Texas Linguistics Forum,
59
1, 71–78. [URL]
Liu, F. (2014). From Degendering to (Re)Gendering the Self: Chinese Youth Negotiating Modern Womanhood. Gender and Education,
26
(1), 18–34. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Liu, Q. (2021). Qualified to be deviant: stigma-management strategies among Chinese leftover women. International Journal of Law in Context,
17
(3), 284–300. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Magnusson, E., & Marecek, J. (2015). Doing interview-based qualitative research: A learner’s guide. Cambridge University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Peng, A. Y. (2021). Gender and the privacy paradox in Chinese college students’ locative dating communication. Global Media and China,
6
(2), 225–240. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schiffrin, D. (1996). Narrative as self portrait: sociolinguistic constructions of identity. Language in Society,
25
(2), 167–203. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sznitman, S. (2005). “I Am Not a Drug Abuser, I Am a Drug User”: A Discourse Analysis of 44 Drug Users’ Construction of Identity. Addiction Research and Theory.
13
(4), 333–346. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Taubner, H., Hallén, M., & Wengelin, A. (2020). Still the same? – Self-identity dilemmas when living with post-stroke aphasia in a digitalised society. Aphasiology,
34
(3), 300–318. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
To, S. (2013). Understanding Sheng nu (“leftover women”): The phenomenon of late marriage among Chinese professional women. Symbolic Interaction,
36
(1), 1–20. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
To, S. (2015). China’s leftover women: Late marriage among professional women and its consequences. Routledge. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Van Teijlingen, E., & Hundley, V. (2002). The importance of pilot studies. Nursing standard,
16
(40), 33–36. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wells, K. (2011). Narrative inquiry. Oxford University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yu, Y. (2019). Media representations of ‘leftover women’ in China: a corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis. Gender and Language,
13
(3), 369–395. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yu, Y., & Nartey, M. (2021). Constructing the myth of protest masculinity in Chinese English language news media: a critical discourse analysis of the representation of ‘leftover men’. Gender and Language,
15
(2), 184–206. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zhang, C. (2020). ‘“Leftover? I am a victorious woman!”- the potential for the emergence of a new womanhood’. Asian Journal of Women’s Studies,
26
(1), 36–54. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zheng, J. (2015). Xiangqin: matchmaking for Shengnü (“leftover women”) in China. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Hong Kong] ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Choe, Hanwool
2024.
The presentation of self via everyday vlogging: Analyzing everyday vlogs of Korean expatriates.
Discourse, Context & Media 59
► pp. 100784 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.