Doing the month (Zuo Yuezi):postpartum embodied practices and subjectivity among urban white‑collar Chinese women  

作　　者：Xiangnan Chai Dexin Xu 

机构地区：[1]School of Social and Behavioral Sciences,Nanjing University,He’ren Building 359,Xianlin Street,Qixia District,Jiangsu Province,People’s Republic of China

出　　处：《The Journal of Chinese Sociology》2024年第1期421-442,共22页中国社会学杂志(英文)

基　　金：funded by the National Social Science Fund of China(No.21CSH062),National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences.Dr.Xiangnan Chai is the project holder.

摘　　要：In China, the postnatal bodily experiences of urban white-collar women intricatelyrelate to the tradition of “doing the month” (DTM). The DTM guidelines serve a dualpurpose:they aid women in recuperating from postnatal frailty and act as culturalrestrictions that govern women’s bodies as bearers of fertility for patrilineal families.This research delves into the postnatal embodied practices of white-collar Chinesewomen and their articulations of subjectivity during DTM. The findings enrichthe theory of embodiment with empirical materials in terms of embodied culturalpractice by illustrating how women exhibit embodied subjectivity at the intersectionsof traditional, modern, and gendered discourses. The findings reveal the affirmativebodily practices of women we interviewed:(i) They astutely employ both beneficialDTM regulations and non-DTM knowledge to support their own body’s recovery. Theyalso procure professional services for enhanced recovery. (ii) They express embodiedsubjectivity during postnatal breastfeeding, which serves as a way to adapt to motherhood.(iii) From the viewpoint of social relations, mothers can devise coping mechanismsto assert agency during interactions with primary family members concerningbreastfeeding and infant care. These findings transcend the literature on women’sbody–self relations and extend to the examination of body–self–family relationsfrom a postfeminist standpoint, thereby enriching embodiment theory by suggestingthat cultural values and disciplines shape and inform the expression of subjectivitythrough the body–mind connection during embodied practices.

关 键 词：Embodiment theory Urban white-collar Chinese women Doing the month(Zuo Yuezi) Embodied subjectivity Postfeminism 

分 类 号：K28[历史地理—历史学]