The too-good wife : alcohol, codependency, and the politics of nurturance in postwar Japan / Amy Borovoy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Borovoy, Amy Beth.

Series:

Ethnographic studies in subjectivity ; 6.

Ethnographic studies in subjectivity ; 6

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Alcoholics--Japan--Tokyo--Family relationships.

Alcoholics.

Alcoholics' spouses--Japan--Tokyo.

Alcoholics' spouses.

Parents of drug addicts--Japan--Tokyo.

Parents of drug addicts.

Codependency--Japan--Tokyo.

Codependency.

Social work with women--Japan--Tokyo.

Social work with women.

Sex role--Japan--Tokyo.

Sex role.

Wives--Japan--Tokyo.

Wives.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (255 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, c2005.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Social drinking is an accepted aspect of working life in Japan, and women are left to manage their drunken husbands when the men return home, restoring them to sobriety for the next day of work. In attempting to cope with their husbands' alcoholism, the women face a profound cultural dilemma: when does the nurturing behavior expected of a good wife and mother become part of a pattern of behavior that is actually destructive? How does the celebration of nurturance and dependency mask the exploitative aspects not just of family life but also of public life in Japan? The Too-Good Wife follows the experiences of a group of middle-class women in Tokyo who participated in a weekly support meeting for families of substance abusers at a public mental-health clinic. Amy Borovoy deftly analyzes the dilemmas of being female in modern Japan and the grace with which women struggle within a system that supports wives and mothers but thwarts their attempts to find fulfillment outside the family. The central concerns of the book reach beyond the problem of alcoholism to examine the women's own processes of self-reflection and criticism and the deeper fissures and asymmetries that undergird Japanese productivity and social order.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: "Dirty Lukewarm Water"

1. Alcoholism and Codependency: New Vocabularies for Unspeakable Problems

2. Motherhood, Nurturance, and "Total Care" in Postwar National Ideology

3. Good Wives: Negotiating Marital Relationships

4. A Success Story

5. The Inescapable Discourse of Motherhood

Conclusion: The Home as a Feminist Dilemma

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

ISBN:

9786612358098

9781423731467

1423731468

9781282358096

128235809X

9780520938687

0520938682

9781598758085

159875808X

OCLC:

475955490