Let Their Voices Be Seen: Exploring Mental Mapping as a Feminist Visual Methodology for the Study of Migrant Women

Abstract

This article explores how mental mapping can be used as a critical methodology for feminist migration studies. In a case study of female marriage migrants who settle in rural areas in South Korea from other Asian countries, I attempt to develop mental mapping to supplement verbal interviews. Mental maps of hometowns and current neighborhoods drawn by my interviewees represent their geographical imaginations and complex identity negotiations that mirror the change in their social locations. In order to understand multilayered meanings embedded in the images and the way in which power relations existent between the researcher and the researched affect the map production, I suggest a critical reading of the maps. The article shows how a reflexive and intertextual reading makes a difference to the interpretation of the maps. It argues that the maps are not mere reflections of the women's cognition, but rather socially constructed texts through which their desires, emotions, feelings and internal contradictions are expressed and negotiated. My research suggests that mental mapping, if ethically performed and critically evaluated, has potential as a means to convey the unheard voices of the marginalized to diverse audiences.

Domestic Violence among Vietnamese Wives in South Korea: A Comparison of Women with and without In-Law Abuse

“…The gender arrangements expected by the Korean families are based on Confucian patriarchy which emphasizes a hierarchical family structure. The Confucian ideology influenced the value system of rural communities where the extended family households have largely continued (Kim, 2012;Jung, 2014). Ironically Korean women's and men's widespread rejection of Confucian patriarchy, coupled with a period when male children were preferred, has created a shortage of Korean women to participate in such marriages, thereby creating a demand for foreign wives.…”

“…Women have traditionally occupied lower status and have less power than men. Women are expected to join the husband's home as a newcomer and serve the husband's parents (Jung, 2014;M. Kim, 1996).…”

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Irregular Transmigrants’ Journeys and Mental Mapping Methodology

“…Its use is extensive: environmental and spatial awareness (Powell, ), representations of the world (Chiodo, ), cities and neighbourhoods (Lynch, ), national territories (Ben‐Ze'ev, ), imaginaries in border regions (Campos‐Delgado, ), participatory mapping for GIS (Boschmann and Cubbon, ). However, its use for the understanding of migrants’ perception and representation of the space is still limited (Gökten and Südas, ; Jung ; Mekdjian, ).…”

Mental mapping and multinational migrations: A geographical imaginations approach

“…Indeed, mental mapping was initially employed in the 1970s in behavioural geography to examine migration decision‐making (Gould & White, 1974). It is currently enjoying a renaissance in migration research more broadly, although generally it is used as a tool to examine understandings between a single migratory destination and home for those who have migrated (see for example Jung, 2014). Here, I demonstrate how contemporary mental mapping has renewed applicability for understanding migration decision‐making.…”