“To call my own”: migrant women, nature-based leisure and emotional release after divorce in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT

For women who migrated for marriage, life after divorce may be characterised by disappointment, sorrow, and despair. Yet, leisure activities can transform their lives and emotions after separation. Using detailed case studies of five migrant women who experienced divorce in Hong Kong, this article examines how leisure with and within green and blue spaces can release negative emotions generated by this difficult life event while also creating opportunities for new ones, such as pleasure and joy, to emerge. It finds that these women’s chosen forms of nature-based leisure were highly embodied, with sight, smell, taste, and movement key to their emotional and personal transformations. In some cases, these experiences even led to the development of strong, kin-like, affective connections with natural objects. Overall, this article highlights the benefits of considering the role of leisure in and with nature for divorcees and divorced migrant women in particular – a group who are under-researched within the field of leisure studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Divorce
• migrant women
• emotions
• nature-based leisure
• Hong Kong

Acknowledgement

I am incredibly grateful for the following financial support which made possible the doctoral project upon which this paper is based: The University of Hong Kong's Postgraduate Scholarship (2015–2019), The Rotary District 9800 Global Grant Scholarship funded through The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International (2015–2019), Ernst Mach Eurasia-Pacific Uninet Grant (The Republic of Austria) (2018), Universitas 21 (U21) Graduate Collaborative Research Award (2017), and Golden Key Asia Pacific Post Graduate Study Award (2016). I also wish to express my sincere gratitude for the feedback of the anonymous reviewers that helped clarify and improve the manuscript considerably Lastly, to the five women whose stories are included here, thank you for reminding me of the power of nature and inspiring me to reconnect to my own green thumbs.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The author elects to not share data.

Notes

1. Ethical approval for the project from The University of Hong Kong’s Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) was received on the 31^st October, 2016 (reference EA1610030).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Alexandra Ridgway

Alexandra Ridgway is a sociologist interested in family and personal lives, specifically the issues of relationship breakdown and relationship loss. Much of her work has centred around divorce and family violence often in relation to migrants. Alexandra completed her PhD in Sociology at The University of Hong Kong in 2020 where she remains a Fellow at the Centre for Criminology.