1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«This paper examines how migration, impacting on the mother–daughter relationship, reframes traditional notions of femininity, which are connected to, and preserved by, this specific familial structure.» (p. 1)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
The author uses «a corpus of migrant narratives written by four female Italian-Canadian authors: Gianna Patriarca, Dôre Michelut, Caterina Edwards, and Licia Canton.» Licia Canton moved to Montréal as a child with her family in 1967.

Type de traitement des données :
Réflexion critique

3. Résumé

The analysis «has demonstrated that Italian women’s private and public positioning in the community was defined by discourses of patriarchy, which limited their possibility to express themselves and succeed. The mother–daughter relationship was essential to the reiteration of the patriarchal system. This relation was embedded in the system, which dictated its features and assigned it a specific function. Indeed, the mother–daughter relation was simultaneously the product of patriarchy, and the medium through which the latter was preserved. However, the model of femininity the mother–daughter bond proposes was tied to a specific place, Italy. With the movement to the more tolerant Canadian society, Italian daughters acknowledged the existence of alternative models of femininity, other than those represented by their mothers; models they found more interesting and rewarding; models that suited their subjectivity better.» (p. 16) As well, according to the author «[s]cattering Italian words in the English text is a way to point out a model of femininity which is the product of Italian society, and which is reiterated through the mother–daughter relationship.» (p. 17)