TY - JOUR
T1 - Researching Motherhood in the Age of Short Videos
T2 - Stay-at-Home Mothers in China Performing Labor on Douyin
AU - He, Guanqin
AU - Leurs, Koen
AU - Li, Yongjian
N1 - Funding Information:
We are indebted to Katja Kaufmann, Monika Palmberger, and the three anonymous reviewers of Media and Communication for the comments and constructive sug‐ gestions that helped us improve this article signifi‐ cantly. We are grateful to Sandra Ponzanesi and Saskia Witteborn for their supervision and support. We appre‐ ciate the China Scholarship Council for the support of Guanqin and Yongjian’s research. Many thanks to Yadi for her assistance and inspiration.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 by the author(s).
PY - 2022/9/28
Y1 - 2022/9/28
N2 - Addressing the particular context of China, this article has two aims. First, it offers reflections on the possibilities and limitations of using user-generated short videos (vlogs) as research data both methodologically and ethically. We specifically explore the potential of centering vlogs as a new format for examining motherhood behavior across online and offline spaces. Secondly, it adds to the thematic literature on the (re)production and representations of motherhood. We critically examine the rising phenomenon in China of the stay-at-home mother, by exploring how these mothers use short video platforms. Inductively learning from the thematic analysis of short videos of stay-at-home mothers published on Douyin, the patterns in the data indicate three distinct forms of labor are performed through digital motherhood practices: domestic labor, affective labor, and entrepreneurial labor. Drawing on these patterns, we update the original framework of “motherhood 2.0,” which was coined in the 2010s to address mothering practices in industrialized western societies. We extend this framework and conceptualize “motherhood 3.0” by analyzing a type of Chinese community-based intersectional performance of motherhood, gender, and labor that we see emerging in digital cultural production centered on short videos. Mediated labor within online and offline motherhood practices is informed by social, cultural, and technological factors. Digital technologies and mobile media communication provide new means for stay-at-home mothers to navigate between their roles as devoted mothers and their pursuit of self-actualization.
AB - Addressing the particular context of China, this article has two aims. First, it offers reflections on the possibilities and limitations of using user-generated short videos (vlogs) as research data both methodologically and ethically. We specifically explore the potential of centering vlogs as a new format for examining motherhood behavior across online and offline spaces. Secondly, it adds to the thematic literature on the (re)production and representations of motherhood. We critically examine the rising phenomenon in China of the stay-at-home mother, by exploring how these mothers use short video platforms. Inductively learning from the thematic analysis of short videos of stay-at-home mothers published on Douyin, the patterns in the data indicate three distinct forms of labor are performed through digital motherhood practices: domestic labor, affective labor, and entrepreneurial labor. Drawing on these patterns, we update the original framework of “motherhood 2.0,” which was coined in the 2010s to address mothering practices in industrialized western societies. We extend this framework and conceptualize “motherhood 3.0” by analyzing a type of Chinese community-based intersectional performance of motherhood, gender, and labor that we see emerging in digital cultural production centered on short videos. Mediated labor within online and offline motherhood practices is informed by social, cultural, and technological factors. Digital technologies and mobile media communication provide new means for stay-at-home mothers to navigate between their roles as devoted mothers and their pursuit of self-actualization.
KW - Douyin
KW - digital motherhood practices
KW - labor
KW - stay‐at‐home mothers
KW - vlog
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85139402269&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.17645/mac.v10i3.5510
DO - 10.17645/mac.v10i3.5510
M3 - Article
SN - 2050-1579
VL - 10
SP - 273
EP - 289
JO - Media and Communication
JF - Media and Communication
IS - 3
ER -