Halma-Shock: The Shadow of Korean Familism and the Sociocultural Construction of Grandmother- Motherhood

Abstract

This article investigates the phenomenon of halma (combination of grandmother and mother, grandma-mom) who undertake intensive mothering of their grandchildren despite not being their mothers. The article shows that those elderly women consider taking care of their grandchildren burdensome yet are unable to escape this task. Analyzing the act of taking care of grandchildren as a form of shadow labor, the article details the elderly womens experiences with their family, their grandchildren, and their peers, both young mothers and other halma, and explores how they adjust their roles in those contexts. The article shows that the elderly women are not merely the victims of familism, but rather independent actors who are, on the one hand, affected by Korean familism but, on the other, are also the ones who reproduce it. Thus, the article critically reviews the process by which grandmothermotherhood is created through the alternation of Korean familism and the practices of elderly women themselves.