When Childcare is Commodified: An Autoethnography of Urban Mothering in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Nuzul Solekhah

doi:10.22146/jh.92621

When Childcare is Commodified: An Autoethnography of Urban Mothering in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

https://doi.org/10.22146/jh.92621

Nuzul Solekhah^(1*)

(1) Department of Anthropology, Universitas Gadjah Mada; Research Center for Social Welfare, Village, and Connectivity, National Research and Innovation Agency of the Republic of Indonesia
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract

The research explores how motherhood constructs parenting spaces in urban contexts and, conversely, how urban spaces construct urban motherhood. This autoethnographic research uses Edward Soja’s concept of third space. The results of this study show that working mothers’ routines position them in terms of categorizing time, namely time for work and time for parenting, with a preference for parenting space outside the home. This practice simultaneously constructs temporal (time of care) and spatial (space of care) understandings for children and parents. Social media accelerates the spread of information about leisure centers, including the segmentation of care spaces. The creation of these new care spaces shows that the commodification of urban mothering is slowly shifting the role of care from the home to the public sphere. On the other hand, this domestication of the caring space can involve men in caring practices and change the stigma that caring is not only a woman’s role. Despite the
articulation of parenting as a lifestyle, the infrastructure of parenting spaces and playgrounds for children is still far from meeting the criteria of public space, as the majority are commodified, especially in the context of this research, Yogyakarta.

Full Text:

PDF

References

Aitken, S. (1998). Reviewed Book of Thirdspace : Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places by Edward W . Soja. Geographical Review, 88(1), 148–151. https://www.jstor.org/stable/215881

Anderson, L. (2006). Analytic autoethnography. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 35(4), 373–395. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241605280449

Anderson, L. (2010). Book Review: HEEWON CHANG, Autoethnography as Method. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2008. 228 pp. ISBN 9781598741223 (hb) $89.00 ISBN 9781598741230 (pbk) $29.95. Qualitative Research, 10(4), 493–494. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794110379331

Arosteguy, K. (2010). The Politics of Race, Class, and Sexuality in Contemporary American Mommy Lit. Women’s Studies, 39(5), 409–429. https://doi.org/10.1080/00497878.2010.484327

Blum-Ross, A., & Livingstone, S. (2017). “Sharenting,” parent blogging, and the boundaries of the digital self. Popular Communication, 15(2), 110–125. https://doi.org/10.1080/15405702.2016.1223300

Borch, C. (2002). Interview with Edward W. Soja: Thirdspace, Postmetropolis, and Social Theory. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 3(1), 113–120. https://doi.org/10.1080/1600910x.2002.9672816

BPS. (2023). Profil Anak Usia Dini 2023. In D. S. K. Rakyat (Ed.), Badan Pusat Statistik Indonesia (Vol. 04). Badan Pusat Statistik Indonesia. https://www.bps.go.id/id/publication/2023/12/12/e9b0a9a0adcffefb137e0d0d/profil-anak-usia-dini-2023.html

Ellis, C., Adams, T. E., & Bochner, A. P. (2011). Autoethnography: An overview. Historical Social Research, 36(4), 273–290. https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-12.1.1589

Ferguson, S. (2017). Children, Childhood and Capitalism: A Social Reproduction Perspective. In T. Bhattacharya (Ed.), Social Reproduction Theory Remapping Class, Recentering Oppression (Issue May 2018, pp. 112–130). Pluto Press.

Fraser, N. (1990). Rethinking the public sphere: A contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy. Social Text, 26(25), 56–80. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315822174-11

Fraser, N. (2022). Cannibal Capitalism : How Our System Is Devouring Democracy, Care, and the Planet-and What We Can Do about It. Verso.

Griffin, N. S., & Griffin, N. (2019). A Millennial Methodology? Autoethnographic Research in Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Punk and Activist Communities. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 20(September), 1–51. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-20.3.3206

Hendriati, A., & Okvitawanli, A. (2019). Challenges of Parenting in an Urban Setting. Psychological Research on Urban Society, 2(1), 36–43. https://doi.org/10.7454/proust.v2i1.43

Holt, N. L. (2003). Representation, Legitimation, and Autoethnography: An Autoethnographic Writing Story. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 2(1), 18–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690300200102

Kinard, T. A. (2015). Playground: A Historical Context. Young Children, 70(4), 92–95. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/ycyoungchildren.70.4.92%0AREFERENCES

Langer, B. (2002). Commodified Enchantment: Children and Consumer Capitalism. Thesis Eleven, 69(1), 67–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0725513602069001005

Lazard, L., Capdevila, R., Dann, C., Locke, A., & Roper, S. (2019). Sharenting: Pride, affect and the day-to-day politics of digital mothering. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 13(4), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12443

Lilius, J. (2016). Domesticfication of urban space? Mothering and fathering while on family leave in the inner city of Helsinki. Gender, Place and Culture, 23(12), 1763–1773. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2016.1262830

Liu, T., Lu, M., & Holmes, K. (2019). Co-parental self-efficacy and young child developmental outcomes among rural–urban migrant families. Early Child Development and Care, 189(11), 1800–1811. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2017.1412958

Meskell-Brocken, S. (2020). First, second and third: Exploring Soja’s Thirdspace theory in relation to everyday arts and culture for young people. In Developing a Sense of Place: The Role of the Arts in Regenerating Communities (pp. 240–254). UCL Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1453kbw.23

Mudzakkir, A. (2021). Feminisme Sebagai Kritik Kapitalisme: Memperkenalkan Teori Kritis Nancy Fraser. Jurnal Ledalero, 20(2), 235–257. http://ejurnal.iftkledalero.ac.id/index.php/JLe/article/view/234

Newberry, J. (2012). Back door Java: negara, rumah tangga, dan kampung di keluarga Jawa. Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia.

Newberry, Jan. (2014). Women against children: Early childhood education and the domestic community in post-suharto Indonesia. TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia, 2(2), 271–291. https://doi.org/10.1017/trn.2014.7

Newberry, Jan. (2018). A Kampung Corner: Infrastructure, Affect, Informality. Indonesia, 105(105), 191–206.

Pitsikali, A., & Parnell, R. (2019). The public playground paradox: ‘child’s joy’ or heterotopia of fear? Children’s Geographies, 17(6), 719–731. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2019.1605046

Radar Jogja. (2018, July 20). Taman Paseban: Sebagai Bagian dari Penataan Kota Bantul. Retrieved from Jawa Pos Online.
https://radarjogja.jawapos.com/bantul/65728794/taman-paseban-sebagai-bagian-dari-penataan-kota-bantul

Ritzer, G. (2014). Prosumption: Evolution, revolution, or eternal return of the same? Journal of Consumer Culture, 14(1), 3–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540513509641

Selstad, L. (2007). The Social Anthropology of the Tourist Experience. Exploring the “Middle Role.” Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 7(1), 19–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/15022250701256771

Soja, E. W. (1998). Thirdspace: Journeys to Los Angeles and Other Real-and-Imagined Places. In Geographical Review (Vol. 88, Issue 1, p. 148). https://doi.org/10.2307/215881

Sutton-Smith, B. (1981). A History of Children’s Play. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Watson, S. (2000). Bodies, gender, cities. City, 4(1), 101–105. https://doi.org/10.1080/713656988

Weaver-Hightower, M. B. (2012). Waltzing Matilda: An Autoethnography of a Father’s Stillbirth. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 41(4), 462–491. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891241611429302

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/jh.92621