ABSTRACT
This chapter presents findings of semi-structural interviews of 59 Southeast Asian women. It centralizes motherhood commonality in the dual transition unfolding along with the change of their life course. A study of the mothering of Kurdish women in London questions the narratives of good citizenship as ethno-national. The chapter discusses the impact of citizenship on the interactions between immigrant women and their family, and the host society before and after naturalization. It has been suggested that understanding women's exercising of citizenship in the vein of their motherly nurturing role requires an examination of the critical relationship between their provision of care and the state. The chapter presents such an examination from the lived experiences of female migrant spouses in their daily encounters with their families, state and society. The intersection of citizenship and motherhood can be found in what immigrant women actually do with their citizenship when it is referred to as legal status, group of rights, and integration institution.
