A TASTE OF BELONGING: FOOD, IDENTITY, AND HOMING AMONG CHAM AND MADURESE MIGRANT WOMEN

Abstract

This study explores the nuanced homing strategies employed by Cham and Madurese migrant women. Despite the distinct circumstances of their migrations, transnational forced displacement for Cham women and internal regional movement for Madurese women, and their varied relationships with their homelands and perceived identities, this study highlights in the similar strategy in their approaches to cultivating a sense of home. Drawing upon Boccagni’s framework, which emphasizes the active creation of familiarity, security, and hope to foster belonging, this research demonstrates how these women strategically leverage their culinary skills and food traditions to achieve these ends. Moreover, this study argues that the unique historical and social contexts of each group profoundly shape their homing approach. For Cham migrant women, the systemic identity erasure they faced both in Southeast Asia and subsequently in the United States, drives a homing strategy focused on making the invisible visible, through public culinary assertion. Food cultivate familiarity with their heritage, assert their right to belong, and build a sense of hope in the diaspora. Conversely, for Madurese migrant women, persistent historical marginalization and a "hypervisible" identity shape a homing approach centered on contesting ingrained stereotypes and transforming stigma into strength, through their culinary performance. They utilize food not just to create familiarity and belonging within their community, but strategically as a tool to gain security by creating economic opportunities and to foster belonging by reframing public perceptions of their identity. Ultimately, this research unveils how seemingly routine and undervalued domestic activities, specifically within the home, kitchen, and through food preparation, are transformed into political arenas for asserting women's aspirations and agency, challenging conventional narratives that often portray these spheres as sites of oppression.