The Transplanted Woman - by Gabriell Varro (Hardcover)

About the Book

This unique and fascinating study centers on the experiences of expatriate American women married to French men, residing in France, and struggling to maintain American language and culture in their French-American children. More than a narrow study, The Transplanted Woman aims at illustrating the general dynamics of family groups. Three main, overlapping fields of sociological inquiry are included: the family, bilingualism, and women's studies. This is a rare exploration into an international situation where the two languages and cultures considered are on an equal footing rather than in a dominant/dominated relation to one another. New emphasis is placed on the critical role of the father in supporting or undermining the authority of the mother in the transmission of the mother's language and culture. The bicultural family laboratory facilitates the understanding the choices which orient children's identities--in doing so revealing the distribution of power between the parental couple and demonstrating how parents compete for control of their children's allegiance and identities.

Book Synopsis

This unique and fascinating study centers on the experiences of expatriate American women married to French men, residing in France, and struggling to maintain American language and culture in their French-American children. More than a narrow study, The Transplanted Woman aims at illustrating the general dynamics of family groups. Three main, overlapping fields of sociological inquiry are included: the family, bilingualism, and women's studies. This is a rare exploration into an international situation where the two languages and cultures considered are on an equal footing rather than in a dominant/dominated relation to one another. New emphasis is placed on the critical role of the father in supporting or undermining the authority of the mother in the transmission of the mother's language and culture. The bicultural family laboratory facilitates the understanding the choices which orient children's identities--in doing so revealing the distribution of power between the parental couple and demonstrating how parents compete for control of their children's allegiance and identities.

About the Author

GABRIELLE VARRO is a research engineer in anthropology and sociology at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France.