This dissertation is an ethnographic exploration of how Southeast Asian immigrant women in Taiwan are defined, positioned and represented in contradictory ways within policy, social movements, "multicultural" events, and schools. This dissertation argues that, as the women move across various social domains, they are constructed as multiple types of subjects associated with different normative expectations regarding their roles and responsibilities in the host society: In policy, they are constructed as "inferior others" who, through the state's care and education, are expected to become appropriate mothers and wives of the nation. In social movements, they are represented as "empowered subjects" who have transformed themselves from subordinate and submissive women to independent and active citizens to demand equality and full participation in public domains. In "multicultural" events, they are "exotic Taiwanese" who are requested to bear the roles of preservers and transmitters of the mainstream culture, but also expected to perform a reified, fragmented portion of ethnic culture to celebrate a particular version of multiculturalism. In literacy programs, they are "model students" if they learn the dominant language and culture, and become capable, independent, and responsible mothers and wives who overcome challenges in their lives and take care of themselves and their families.

By examining how different forms of representation work across these domains, my analysis demonstrates that, despite the rhetoric change from "foreign brides" to "new immigrants" or "new residents," Southeast Asian women in Taiwan are still largely defined and represented in gendered and racialized terms that legitimize the existing control of them, and serve to depoliticize, in effect, their continued marginalization and exclusion from full and equal participation in society. This study also illustrates that a simplified version of multiculturalism reinforces and perpetuates the "otherness" of immigrants, and contributes little to subverting the existing racialized, gendered, and classed hierarchy in society.