位置性與多元文化—從性別/族群/階級的交織性再探性別平等內涵

Abstract

位置性與多元文化 —從性別/族群/階級的交織性再探性別平等內涵近二十年來，臺灣跨國婚姻數量不斷成長，來自東南亞的新移民女性尤其成為臺灣人口結構中重要的一環。影響她們在台的社會處境，除了性別，更要同時思考族群與階級要素，圖像方能較為清楚。台灣的性別研究近年來慢慢觸及族群及階級面向，但相關的基礎研究尚為匱乏，本計劃因此從性別研究出發，企圖加入階級與族群的要素，從「位置性」(positionality)與多元文化的角度，並置放於全球性國際資本發展的概念架構中，依據理論與實際上的田野研究，再探「性別平等」內容與意涵可能的轉變。位置性使得看見的風景不同，因此如何解構「習慣」、「理所當然」或主流的位置及其所認為的風景，成為思考性別/族群/階級交織後「性別平等」的起始點。本研究企圖以三年的時間，先從學理上瞭解性別/族群/階級之交織關係，同時開始與田野進行接觸與建立關係，接著從田野實證上，使研究者深入新移民女性的母國社會文化中，在不斷進出之間，穿梭於不同的位置，俾使能從多元文化的角度且兼顧文化所在之政治、經濟與社會發展進程，重新思考性別平等的內涵。由於目前學理上的討論仍以西方世界為主，因此不斷讓學理與田野交錯辯詰與對話，成為本研究非常重要的過程要素。本計劃的研究目的可歸納為以下三點：一、在理論層次，先從「位置性」與多元文化的角度，輔以政治經濟分析的觀照，試圖瞭解學理上性別/族群/階級的交織關係、交織關係呈現出的樣態，以及對「性別平等」內涵可能的挑戰與轉變；二、於實證研究上，透過移出國與移入國兩個田野場域的交詰與對話，深入臺灣新移民女性的母國社會文化與經濟脈絡中，讓研究者處在移出國作為少數族群「客」的位置，從多元文化的角度重新思考性別平等的內涵。三、讓學理與田野的交錯辯詰與對話，重新思考由台灣社會特殊性所生成的性別平等教育指標之可能性，並助於發展多元文化素養指標，並進一步利於性別教育政策與社會政策的制定與目標的達成。

Positionality and Multiculturalism: Re(exploring) Gender Equality from the Intersection of Gender, Ethnicity and Class The number of newly arrived immigrants to Taiwan has risen so rapidly in recent years that the ‘new immigrant women’from South-East Asia have accounted for a significant part in Taiwanese population structure. Gender, class, and ethnicity are central components of society. Our experiences are shaped by our race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexual orientation and these statuses intersect to create an array or matrix of different standpoints. Regarding this, the ‘full picture’of the new immigrant women’s social situations could be clearer if we explore how class and race-ethnicity intersect with gender to shape various types of systematic exploitations and responses. Since ‘positionality’allows us to look at the world from different perspectives, thus de-constructing the mainstream, the habit, and the taken-for-granted, it becomes a significant starting point for (re)exploring the implication of ‘gender equality’. This research project, therefore, departs from understanding theoretically how a variety of social power relations, comprising gender, ethnicity and social class are interwoven, and within which social positions of these marginalized groups are confirmed and reinforced. In the meantime, the researcher will get into the field acting as the ethnic minority within the women of new immigrants’culture and society. The change of the ‘positionality’ will offer an opportunity for the researcher to rethink the essence of gender equality from multicultural perspectives. More importantly, the project will let western-dominated theories converse with the field data from South-East Asia all the time in order to clarify the changing configurations of ‘gender equality’in the Taiwanese context. In a nutshell, this project aims to: 1. theoretically understand the interwoven relations of gender, ethnicity and class from positionality and multiculturalism ; 2. empirically experience and understand the social position as an object minority within the culture and society of the emigrant countries in order to look into the challenges to the implication of ‘gender equality’; and finally, 3. develop the framework of gender equality and the index of multicultural literacy from conversations between theories and grounded data.