Unsettling/-ed Mother: Maternity and Nomadism in Mongolia by Julia Wong Kcomt

This thesis analyzes the complex representation of motherhood in relation to dislocation in the novel Mongolia (2015) by the Peruvian writer Julia Wong Kcomt (1965-2024). Previous scholarship has analyzed the (self-)othering and (self-)orientalism in her writings, with an emphasis on her perspective as a woman and her cosmopolitism. Building upon this scholarship, my research centers around the mothering practices of the protagonist, Belinda, who kills both her son and an illegally adopted infant. Through contextualization, this thesis reads Belinda as a mother figure who is both unsettling and unsettled, and whose troubling decisions must be analyzed. Inspired by Abigail L. Palko and Andrea O’Reilly’s construction of the monstrous mother trope, I argue that Belinda’s unsettling acts challenge the idealized tropes of a nurturing motherhood and denounce societal expectations that place motherhood at the center of womanhood. Moreover, drawing on Adriana Cavarero’s theory of inclinations, I highlight that Belinda lives in a context of isolation, which is shaped by her experiences of involuntary dislocation or of not settling down. Resembling Euripides’ Medea, Belinda’s mothering practices are thus limited by her lack of familial and societal support, pushing her toward violent and tragic decisions. While Belinda develops a mindset that resembles what Rosi Braidotti proposes as a nomadic subject, her experiences reveal how becoming a nomadic mother requires collective efforts against marginalization in experiences of dislocation.