Living with and leaving oppressive conditions: the role of imagination in migrant women’s life stories
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Women in many cultures experience serious restrictions of their autonomy related to strict and unequal gender norms. It is by now well established that oppressive conditions can constrain autonomy and, to a lesser extent, that there can be autonomy in oppressive contexts. Much of the literature on autonomy under oppressive conditions is theoretical and tends to be abstracted from women’s lived realities. Drawing on life story interviews with 39 women with non-western migration backgrounds in the Netherlands who have experienced serious restrictions of their freedom, this article explores how women live with such harmful restrictions and, in some cases, how they leave these circumstances. We found that imagination is key to understanding autonomy in oppressive conditions. While some in relational autonomy have already pointed out the role of imaginative capacities, the ‘how’ is largely missing. We connect relational autonomy theory to Butler’s work on subjectivity, and show that when the women we interviewed resign themselves to oppressive conditions they experience as harmful, it is because their entire being is shaped in and through their families’ definitions of their subjectivity. However, when cracks appear in the normative frameworks through which they have come into being, this helps them to rearticulate new ways of being for themselves. Yet, this comes at a cost: they have to lose who they are to get there. Not only do these insights enrich our understanding of autonomy and oppression, but they are also relevant for developing adequate support measures for the women in question.
Source: Social Identities
Authors: Sawitri Saharso, Saartje Tack, Laurine Blonk
Institution: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7133634263