Chinese migrant workers, who have moved from rural to urban areas to work, are structurally marginalized in cities and rarely get to speak for themselves in public discourses. In this thesis, I...Show moreChinese migrant workers, who have moved from rural to urban areas to work, are structurally marginalized in cities and rarely get to speak for themselves in public discourses. In this thesis, I explore how migrant worker women’s voices were negotiated in the community theater project The Maternity Chronicles (生育纪事). The relationship between director and participants in community theater is inherently inequal. In this case, migrant worker women themselves played a significant role in most parts of the making of this play, thanks to the community leadership, the attitude of the director, and choices of form. Including the women in the play required not only a space for them to speak, but also active encouragement to take that space. The Maternity Chronicles provided a platform for migrant worker women and others to speak about their experiences with abortion, which is normally considered taboo. The methods of community theater in combination with the tight social fabric and trust within the community facilitated the process of breaking this taboo. This theater project also shows the important emotional function of having voice for those who speak and get to tell their stories. As a community theater project, The Maternity Chronicles aimed to prioritize the voices of participants, and I think it succeeded in creating a space for participants to speak as individuals and as part of the community. We still need to ask to what extent individuals can speak and dissent when they speak as part of a group. Intergenerational differences and claims to the ownership of the experiences portrayed exemplify the diversity that exists within the group of migrant worker women.Show less
