Reshaping co-existence of tradition and modernity: polymedia in gender identity negotiation of Dagongmei

Abstract

ABSTRACT Against the rise of polymedia as a global phenomenon, this study bridges the theory of polymedia with one strand of migration research that focuses on gender identity negotiation of marginalised migrant women. Especially, this study aims to capture how traditionally defined gender constraints and nascent desires for modernity may possibly encounter and act upon each other when migrant women navigate the complicated environment of polymedia. This examination is situated in the transitioning post-Mao China, with an emphasis on digital media and technology usage of Dagongmei – the group of young, single female rural-urban migrant workers. Confined physical and social mobility between rural and urban China tends to contribute to their specifically exacerbated gender struggles with the collisions between tradition and modernity, which are reflected in their media practices. Ethnographic fieldwork in a medium-size factory in Northeast China enables this study to unfold the dynamic experiences of these migrant women with the alternate separation, convergence, and clashes between tradition and modernity in polymedia.