Silence, Empowerment, and Speaking Up: A Transcultural Analysis of Southeast Asian Female Marriage Immigrants’ Nonfiction Writing in Taiwan

ABSTRACT This study aims to present a sociocultural analysis of the linguistic experience of South Asian women who immigrate to Taiwan to marry Taiwanese men. In Taiwan, foreign wives and their husbands and children have gradually become a new multicultural, multi-ethnic social group. We argue that because of the power gap between the narrators (who write in Chinese) and the narrative subjects (who are unable to ‘write back' in Chinese), language has powerfully impacted the patterns of prejudice and the construction of subjects’ identities. Marriage immigrants are often subjected to the negative stereotypes created and exaggerated by language standardisation within a dominant ideology. Learning Chinese empowers them to gradually engage in social participation outside of their families in the public space. Written in Chinese, their nonfiction works represent a narrative turn in Taiwan. In this manner, a range of voices are actively resisting discriminatory acts. The foreign wives ask not only for basic rights such as legal residency and work permits but also for the right to enjoy equal and shared cultural interaction in Taiwan. This study shows that language acquisition and writing is an effective means of promoting equal exchange and dialogue between cultures within the broader transformations of globalisation.