Is indigenous single motherhood a stereotype?

I’m reading a fiction book about Taiwan and the story alludes to it being a stereotype that aboriginals are single mothers.

Am I understanding this correct?

Or are they stretching the aboriginal culture that everyone is like a mother and father?

I’m just wondering the background behind this particular content.

Book: Death Doesn’t Forget by Ed Lin

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Han author, for what it’s worth.

Guy

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they probably call alcoholics aboriginals as well :roll_eyes:

It’s a negative for sure. but probably not an outright hateful type of racism.

At least she protested…

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This looks like a Wikipedia article on the author:

Discussion about the author Ed Lin is probably subject of a different thread but…

He apparently has never lived in Taiwan although he seems to have done really good research on Taiwan.

He states in a book acknowledgement that he has never lived in Taiwan for an extended period of time.

And he weaves his research really well into his books.

I highly recommend anyone new or old to Taiwan to read them not for the story as much as for the historical and cultural description he puts into his books and makes them interesting, understandable, applicable.

I heard him on Talking Taiwan podcast and for sure absolutely sounded like he didn’t have much experience in Taiwan and had only picked up his knowledge through research and a few visits, maybe info from family and friends.

He talks really cluelessly about gangsters that he “knows and can’t talk about”, but in the books he understands the gangster culture well.

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From the novel:

Is that what those are called? If I’m not mistaken, I think I heard one of those, or something like it, at my old workplace. But maybe the language of the one I heard wasn’t Chinese.

Or, heck, maybe I’m mistaken.

I’m embarrassed that Mr. Lin’s novel is teaching me “new” stuff that I should already know. :slight_smile:

When I first came to Taiwan I met quite a few single fathers that were raising their own kids. Only ever met a couple of single mothers raising their kids. I was told it was becoming common for new mothers to just up and leave the relationship after the child was born. It was never made out to be Aboriginal. It was often made out that the mothers realized they didn’t want to settle down.

Did you know Zeng Guofan have been quoted saying Hakka women as, “Big foot hillbilly witches.”
If you look into history, the reason mainly, Hakka women rarely practicing footbinding.

The reason probably, unlike in Europe or US, where “winning” a divorce meaning getting custody of kids (with child support and half of everything); here seems “winning” a divorce meaning not getting the kids (and roam freely like a single person).

Not really. Back then custody was usually preferences by gender. Male children went to the father, female children to the mother.

The cases I refer to were more like abandonment. I think some of them are still married. Although I haven’t asked in the last few years. I’m helping to arrange overseas work visas for some of the kids that have now grown up.

It reads like a woke Reddit stream.

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hard to pin point exactly, but it seems the "norm"was more men could win custody easier then. it was a man’s world here. This has changed now and courts are far more likely to give custody to the mother. And with more equal rights in Taiwan, women are more willing to fight for it.

Maybe because most of the men were just dumping the kids onto their parents to look after anyway. I know a current family like that. Father lives in China but got full custody in Taiwan. His mother looks after them. Mother of the kids lives in Taipei and needs permission to see the kids every other weekend.

The why is, unfortunately, not so related to the result of court cases. Unless one talks about sexism and/or racism.

it has gotten better, but has probably passed the equal stage and.more in.favor of women now, at least for local races.