%0 Journal Article %T Italian Mothers and Italian-Canadian Daughters: Using Language to Negotiate the Politics of Gender %A Elena Anna Spagnuolo %J - %D 2019 %R https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy3020024 %X Abstract This paper examines how migration redefines family narratives and dynamics. Through a parallel between the mother and the mother tongue, I unravel the emotional, linguistic, social, and ideological connotations of the mother¨Cdaughter relationship, which I define as a ¡®condensed narrative about origin and identity¡¯. This definition refers to the fact that the daughter¡¯s biological, affective, linguistic, and socio-cultural identity grounds in the mother. The mother¨Cdaughter tie also has a gendered dimension, which opens up interesting gateways into the female condition. Taking this assumption as a starting point, I examine how migration, impacting on the mother¨Cdaughter relationship, can redefine gender roles and challenge models of femininity, which are culturally, socially, geographically, and linguistically embedded. I investigate this aspect from a linguistic perspective, through a reading of a corpus of narratives written by four Italian-Canadian writers. The movement from Italy to Canada enacts ¡®the emergence of alternative family romances¡¯ and draws new routes to femininity. This paper seeks to illustrate how, in the narratives I examine, these new routes are explored through linguistic means. The authors in my corpus use code-switching to highlight contrasting views of femininity and reposition themselves with respect to politics of gender. View Full-Tex %K migration %K mother tongue %K femininity %K patriarchy %K identity %U https://www.mdpi.com/2313-5778/3/2/24