Purpose: To critically analyze the power relations underpinning New Zealand maternity, through analysis of discourses used by Korean migrant mothers. Design: Data from a focus group with Korean new mothers was subjected to a secondary analysis using a discourse analysis drawing on postcolonial feminist and Foucauldian theoretical ideas. Results: Korean mothers in the study framed the maternal body as an at-risk body, which meant that they struggled to fit into the local discursive landscape of maternity as empowering. They described feeling silenced, unrecognized, and uncared for. Discussion and Conclusions: The Korean mothers’ culturally different beliefs and practices were not incorporated into their care. They were interpellated into understanding themselves as problematic and othered, evidenced in their take up of marginalized discourses. Implications for Practice: Providing culturally safe services in maternity requires considering their affects on culturally different women and expanding the discourses that are available. © 2014, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.

Maternal Focus group interview Cultural safety Postcolonial Korean women Foucault

information processing South Korea birth Republic of Korea human health service ethnology health personnel attitude Attitude of Health Personnel Surveys and Questionnaires Humans psychology female Behavior questionnaire Mothers Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice standards mother migration New Zealand Culturally Competent Care transcultural care Transients and Migrants Parturition Nurse-Patient Relations Maternal Health Services nurse patient relationship Power (Psychology) attitude to health Focus Groups