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第13巻
奈倉 京子 Kyoko Nagura中国西北部でダウン症のある子を育てる母親の「成熟」
The Maturity of Mothers Raising Children with Down Syndrome in Northwest China.
2021年05月 発行
[ 要旨 ]
本稿は、中国西北部でダウン症のある子を育てる２人の母親のライフストーリーを記述し、「成熟」［プラース1985＝1980］という観点から分析を行なうことを通して、障害の受容の局面だけでは捉えきれない一人の母親としての成長と人格形成のプロセスを考察することを目的とする。
ライフストーリーを分析することにより、年齢の異なるダウン症のある子どもを持ち、階層差のある２人の母親が、障害のある子の母親であることを自身の人生の中でどのように位置づけ、どのような他者と関係しながら自己イメージを形成しているのかということについて考察した。
考察により、２人は障害のある子の母親になることを着地点とするのではなく、むしろ一人の女性としてキャリア追求をすることや、平凡な母親になろうとする生き方が目指されていることが明らかになった。プラースの提唱した「成熟」は、親密な関係にあり、かつ長い時間をかけて付き合う、文化的な他者との相互行為が重要であった。これに対し２人の「成熟」は、「親密な他者」「親密でない／一過性の他者」「ローカルな文化的価値観をもつ他者」と「グローバルな視野・知識をもつ他者」の複層的な他者との相互行為を通して「障害者の母親」から解放されることであるといえる。
[ Abstract ]
This study aimed to narrate the story of two mothers raising children with Down syndrome in the northwestern part of China. The study examines the process of growing and personalizing as a mother, which cannot be captured by focusing only on the acceptance of the disability by analyzing them from the perspective of maturity (Plath 1980).
A was born in a rural area of China in 1975, is now unemployed, and her son (2009?) is an elementary school student. B was born in 1965, has since graduated from a four-year university, and is working as an elementary schoolteacher. Her son (1998?) is an adult. The author studied how these two individuals in different social hierarchies with sons of different ages positioned themselves as mothers of children with disabilities in their own lives and how they formed their self-images in relation to others. A formed her self-image by internalizing the words and values of doctors and supporters. This study revealed that she has grown into being a mother through mutual interactions with her husband, son, son's kindergarten staff, and other mothers of children with disabilities while accepting the reality that she is a mother of a disabled child. In contrast, B formed a self-image that brought to the fore her role as a teacher by detaching herself from her role as the mother of a disabled child and achieving her career with the understanding and cooperation of her husband and mother-in-law.
This study revealed that the two individuals' objectives were not just becoming mothers of children with disabilities; rather, they sought careers as women and aimed for lives as ordinary mothers. The maturity theory that was advocated by Plath shows the importance of interacting culturally with others who are close and spending ample time interacting with them (= "consociates"; "convoys"). In contrast, maturity for the two mothers meant being released from the "mother of a child with a disability" label through interaction with multilayered others: "close others," "unclose/transient others," "others with local cultural values," and "others with global vision and knowledge.