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Lucille Ngan
Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
June 2007
School of Social Sciences and International Studies University of New South Wales ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS
Identity and Life Course: A Long-term Perspective on the Lives of Australian-born Chinese
By
Lucille Ngan
This thesis examines the construction of ‘Chineseness’ by Australian-born Chinese through their interactions with mainstream ‘white’ society and Chinese diasporic communities in Australia. It represents an interdisciplinary study based on qualitative research and critical analysis of forty-three in-depth interviews with Australian-born Chinese whose families have resided in Australia for three generations or more. Diasporic narratives, fraught with contentions over belonging and difference, often lead to ambiguous ramifications of identity formation. While the notion of hybridity problematises the unsettling boundaries of identities, there is still a continuing perception that ethnic identification decreases over successive generations, resulting in assimilation. However, contrary to this assumption, this study shows that subsequent generations also encounter complicated experiences involving both feelings of cultural ambivalence and enrichment. While the rewriting of identity takes place against the varying circumstances of resettlement, the experiences and transitions across the respondents’ life course concurrently inscribes Chineseness onto their lives in diverse ways. Furthermore, Chineseness is continually (re)constructed through decentered connections with an imaginary homeland. Consequently, despite generational longevity, strong affinities with Australian society and longstanding national identities grounded in Australian culture, Chineseness is still a significant part of their identity, whether they willingly choose to associate with it or not. The focus on revaluating the concept of Chineseness and elucidating the sense of identity of sequential generations has important ramifications for the development of a more informed theoretical model for understanding the long-term effects of migration, especially on the process of identity formation and feelings of home and belonging. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My deepest gratitude to my supervisors Dr Andrew P. Davidson and Associate Professor Grant McCall for their guidance and wisdom from the very beginning to the end of this research. Many thanks to the interviewees who offered their precious time to share their stories and experiences with me, making this research possible. I would also like to acknowledge the many individuals and scholars who have talked to me and the Chinese community organisations who have assisted most generously. This thesis can only select a small amount from the wealth of information gathered and cannot include or represent the view of all long-established Australian-born Chinese in Australia. The selections, errors and interpretations are entirely mine. Last but not least I am grateful for the tireless encouragement and support of my family and friends. LIST OF PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
Parts of this thesis were presented at international conferences and have been accepted for refereed publications.
Book Chapter 2007 (in press) L. Ngan “Generational Identities through Time: Memories and Homelands of the ABCs” in A. Davidson and K. E. Kuah-Pearce (eds) At Home in the Chinese Diaspora: Memories, Identity and Belonging, Hampshire, Palgrave.
Journal Article 2007 (in press) L. Ngan “Negotiating the Chinese Identity: Chineseness across the Life Course of Long-established ABC” for the issue on ‘Identity Politics and Cultural Negotiations in the Asia-Pacific’, The Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, Vol. 6.
Conference Papers
2007 L. Ngan “Understanding Chineseness through Life Course Trajectories of Long Established ABC” presented at the British Association for Chinese Studies Annual Conference held at the University of Manchester, Manchester, 6-7 Sept 2007.
2006 L. Ngan “Chinese Australian Lives” presented at the British Australian Studies Association Biennial Conference held at the University of Exeter, Cornwall, 2-10 Sept 2006.
2005 L. Ngan “Chineseness: An Enquiry on the Identity of Long- established Australian-born Chinese”, presented at the Chinese Studies Postgraduate Forum held by the Chinese Studies Research Group at the University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 29- 30 June 2005. TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS...... 2 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION...... 3
OBJECTIVES AND RESEARCH SUBJECT...... 3 Guiding Assumption...... 4 Profile of Long-established ABC...... 5 BACKGROUND OF THIS STUDY...... 6 TERMINOLOGY ...... 11 LIFE COURSE ...... 16
CONTRIBUTION AND LIMITATIONS OF STUDY...... 17 THEMES AND ORGANISATION OF THESIS ...... 19 CHAPTER 2...... 23 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH...... 23
LOGIC OF INQUIRY...... 23 Local Community Level ...... 24 Individual Level...... 24 RESEARCHER BIAS ...... 26 Qualitative Research ...... 26 The Complexities of Being Positioned as a ‘Young Chinese Female Researcher’...... 29 FIELDWORK DATA COLLECTION...... 33 Local Community Level ...... 34 Individual Level...... 35 Diversity of Sample ...... 38 CONCEPTUAL COMPLICATIONS OF GENERATIONAL GROUPINGS ...... 42 CONCLUSION ...... 45 CHAPTER 3 IDENTITY FORMATION AND CHINESENESS ...... 47
PART 1THE FORMATION OF IDENTITY:ACONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK...... 51 Security in Essentialism...... 52 Ambivalence in Postmodernism...... 53 Accepting Diversity, Accepting Solidarity ...... 59 PART 2CONCEPTUALISING ‘RACE’ AND ‘ETHNICITY’ ...... 62 PART 3THE CONTRADICTION AND AMBIVALENCE OF CHINESE AS IDENTITY...... 68 Theoretical Problems of Cultural China...... 68 Authenticity and Recognition ...... 72 CONCLUSION ...... 86 CHAPTER 4 LIFE COURSE AND HYBRIDITY ...... 90
PART 1VARIATIONS IN THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY ACROSS THE LIFE COURSE...... 92 The Problem of Chinese Family Cycle...... 93 Life Cycle as Repetitive Patterns...... 97 Life Course as a Theoretical Orientation...... 100 A Theoretical Orientation towards Life Course through Life Stages...... 113 PART 2LIFE TRAJECTORIES AND HYBRIDITY ...... 116 Challenging the Melting Pot...... 117 Challenging Theoretical Perspectives of ‘Hybridity’...... 119 Enriching Aspects of Hybridity...... 123 PART 3LINKS TO HOMELAND...... 128 Transnational Linkages ...... 129 Imagination, Memory and Nostalgia as ...... 133 Decentered Connections ...... 133 CONCLUSION ...... 136 CHAPTER 5 AUTHENTICITY AND RECOGNITION: CHINESENESS THROUGH CULTURAL AND RACIAL DISCOURSES ...... 141 PART 1RACIAL ATTRIBUTE:AUTHENTICATING CHINESENESS THROUGH PHENOTYPIC FEATURES...... 143 You can’t be one of us because you look different!...... 144 DIFFERING ASSOCIATIONS WITH ‘LOOKING’CHINESE ...... 152 PART 2CULTURAL ATTRIBUTE:AUTHENTICATING CHINESENESS THROUGH LANGUAGE...... 158 Functional and Contextual Dimensions of Language Development...... 160 PART 3HIERARCHICAL STRATIFICATION OF CHINESENESS ...... 170 CONCLUSION...... 178 CHAPTER 6 CHINESENESS THROUGH LIFE COURSE TRAJECTORIES...... 182
REMEMBERING CHILDHOOD ...... 184 ADOLESCENCE TO ADULTHOOD...... 188 MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE ...... 191 Interracial Marriages through the Family’s Gaze ...... 194 Interracial Relationships through Gendered Gaze...... 198 PARENTHOOD...... 201 LATER YEARS ...... 202 Gendered Duty for the Aged...... 204 Being Gay and Duty for the Aged ...... 206 CONCLUSION...... 208 CHAPTER 7 HYBRIDITY: THE STATE OF NATURAL JOY ...... 212
PART 1HYBRID IDENTITIES OF SUBSEQUENT GENERATIONS ...... 214 Not Quite Australian ...... 215 Not Quite Chinese...... 216 PART 2CHALLENGING THEORETICAL CONCEPTIONS OF HYBRIDITY ...... 219 Double Consciousness...... 220 Third Space and In-betweeness...... 223 PART 3ACCEPTING COMPLEXITY ...... 227 Ambivalence of Hybrid Identities...... 228 I love being a Hybrid!...... 230 PART 4DECENTERED CONNECTIONS WITH HOME...... 232 The Missing Dimension...... 233 Intergenerational Influence ...... 236 CONCLUSION...... 242 CHAPTER 8 CONCLUSION ...... 245
AUTHENTICITY AND RECOGNITION ...... 248 LIFE COURSE...... 250 HYBRIDITY...... 252 FUTURE PROJECTIONS:IDENTITY AS A FUSION OF COMPLEXITIES ...... 254 APPENDIX 1: AUSTRALIA’S POPULATION BY SELF-REPORTED ANCESTRY ...... 260 APPENDIX 2: ANCESTRY OF AUSTRALIA'S POPULATION ...... 261 APPENDIX 3: COUNTRIES OF BIRTH OF AUSTRALIA’S POPULATION ...... 262 APPENDIX 4: ANCESTRY AND LANGUAGE OF AUSTRALIA'S POPULATION...... 263 APPENDIX 5: PERCENT OF PARTNERED MEN AND WOMEN WITH SPOUSE OF A DIFFERENT ANCESTRY, BY ANCESTRY AND GENERATION...... 264 APPENDIX 6: PERCENT OF PARTNERED MEN AND WOMEN OF THE SECOND OR THIRD GENERATION OF NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING ANCESTRIES WITH SPOUSE OF AUSTRALIAN OR ANGLO-CELTIC ANCESTRIES265 APPENDIX 7: TIME SCHEDULE...... 266 APPENDIX 8: FLYER ...... 268 APPENDIX 10: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE ...... 272 APPENDIX 11: INFORMANT’S PERSONAL DETAILS ...... 276 APPENDIX 12: PATTERNS OF MARRIAGE...... 278 REFERENCES...... 280
1 DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS
ABC Australian-born Chinese
ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics
ACCA Australian Chinese Community Association of Australia
CAHS Chinese Australian Historical Society
CHAA Chinese Heritage Association of Australia.
China People’s Republic of China (excluding special administrative regions and Taiwan)
HK Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
Long-established ABC Australian-born Chinese whose families have resided in Australia for three generation or more (or resided outside of China for over three generations)
NSW New South Wales
PNG Papua New Guinea
SMH Sydney Morning Herald
UNSW University of New South Wales
2 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
Objectives and Research Subject
The major aim of this research is to examine the multi-dimensional nature of identity formation in diasporic lives and its subsequent impact on everyday experiences in social and cultural spaces. In order to unravel the complexities of identity, I explore the notion of ‘Chineseness’ through the experiences of long-established Australian-born Chinese1 in Australia. In doing so, the intention is to contribute to the development of a more informed theoretical model for understanding the long-term effects of migration, especially on the process of identity formation. In order to achieve the major aim, the study pursues the following nine key objectives which are divided into two main focus areas:
To deconstruct and re-evaluate the concept of ‘Chineseness’: 1. Clarify the ambiguities of ‘Chineseness’ by examining what it takes to be recognised as ‘belonging’. 2. Examine the impact of how ‘disciplinary norms’ of Chinese culture shape strategies of subject making. 3. Explore the significance of ‘Chineseness’ as a means to untangle the complicated hybrid identities of diasporic Chinese. 4. Examine the role in which diasporic Chinese play in establishing their hierarchy of identities.
To elucidate the sense of identity of long-established ABC: 5. Examine the social significance of ‘being Chinese’ for long-established ABC.
1 For the sake of brevity ‘Australian-born Chinese’ will be referred to as ‘ABC’ and will be used in the course of this thesis. 3 6. Explore the practices and the manners in which long-established ABC forge and sustain multi-stranded social relations across cultural ‘boundaries’. 7. Examine the developing path of identity in relation to the changing social experiences through the life course. 8. Investigate their attachments to China by examining their construction of their conception of homeland. 9. Explore long-established ABC’s understanding of Chinese community groupings within the Australian context and how they situate themselves within these social categories.
Guiding Assumption The theoretical stance of this thesis is that identity, in particular Chinese identity, is an ‘imagined’ social construct and is inherently political as it is conditioned through a process of relational positioning. Identity as such is contextually activated and is often a strategic expression of the individual. Because identities are concerned with perceptions which are in essence relational, the process by which individuals engage in identity construction, maintenance and transformation are selective and strategic by nature.
In this respect, this thesis proposes that while the identity of long-established ABC are continually undergoing transformations in ways that are relevant and meaningful to different contexts and situations, the experiences they encounter throughout their life course – within the family, Australian society and Chinese diasporic spaces2 – concurrently carve Chineseness into their lives in a diversity of ways. Consequently, despite generational longevity and strong national and cultural identities grounded in Australia, Chineseness is still a significant part of their identity whether they willingly choose to identify it or not. Although ‘Chinese’ commonly functions as an essentialist construct, the sites and processes by which Chineseness is evoked is contingent to its significance in different contexts and situations; therefore it is inherently political. The focus on the process of identity formation has important ramifications for understanding the arbitrariness of Chinese cultural discourse as well as the social experiences of the long-established ABC community in Australia.
2 The word “diaspora” in its strictest sense refers to Jews living outside of Israel. However, this thesis takes the term to describe the experiences of overseas ‘Chinese’. 4 Profile of Long-established ABC There is difficulty in studying the specific profile of sequential generations due to a lack of information collected in the census and other official data; only a limited amount of quantitative data is available.
Population of Australia with Chinese Ancestry In the 2001 Census, there were 556,000 Australians with Chinese ancestry, which made up 3% of the total Australian population. Their population was the largest among those of Asian descent. This rose from 1.3% in 1986.3 Of those with Chinese ancestry, 5.2% were third-plus generation, i.e. they were Australian-born and born to Australian-born parents, making them a population of 27,930. The second generation made up 20.7% and overseas-born made up 74.1%.4 While the population of third-plus generation seems to be relatively small, this category is likely to increase substantially in the future with more second generations reaching marital age and increasing numbers of Chinese migrants permanently settling in Australia.
In 2005, those overseas-born in China and HK made up approximately 1.3% of Australia’s total population (20,328,600). Although this may seem like a small percentage, the total population of those born in China and HK is 267,400, which is a large number of people.5
Language6 In the 2001 Census, there were 79.6% of Australians with Chinese ancestry who spoke a language other than English at home, making a population of 443,100. They were the second largest group after Vietnamese who had 95.9% speaking a language other than English.
Marriage Pattern In 2004, approximately 85% of third-plus generation ABC were partnered with spouse of a different ancestry and this pattern of marriage increased substantially from the first
3 See Appendix 1. 4 See Appendix 2. 5 See Appendix 3. 6 See Appendix 4. 5 generation to the third generation. A higher percentage of females married a spouse of a different racial ancestry; however, the differences gradually diminish through the generations. Americans who are third-plus generation ABC had the highest percentage of 100% marrying a spouse with a different racial ancestry (Khoo 2004).7
Approximately 68% of third-plus generation ABC were partnered with a spouse of Australian or Anglo-Celtic ancestry. This was approximately a two-fold increase from second generation ABC, where approximately 31% were partnered with a spouse of Australian or Anglo-Celtic ancestry (ibid).8
Educational Background and Social Class According to a 1968 Melbourne study which surveyed 285 ‘Australian-born full- Chinese’ and 152 ‘part-Chinese’, most of the adult ABC are descendants of the well- established Chinese migrants of the earlier period who were entitled to have their wives with them from China. The scarcity of Chinese women due to the restrictive immigration act of the early 1900s resulted in slow growth of the ABC (Choi 1975: 91). This information indicates that ABC came mainly from families of high social status. This is imperative in examining their present social position in both the Chinese community and Australian society. The fact that many ABC came from families which were financially capable of supporting their higher education suggests that many of them had the opportunity to receive tertiary education and move to professional occupations. The educational qualification of those interviewed for this study supports this; thirty-three out of forty-three have completed higher education.
Background of this Study
The migration of ‘Chinese’ people from their homeland has been one of the largest movements of individuals in recent history (Clammer 2002). Throughout history, ‘Chinese’ communities spread all over the world with some twelve million Chinese moving out of China from the 1820s onwards who have managed to adapt themselves to different social environments (Skeldon 1995b). Primarily they moved to the countries of
7 See Appendix 5. 8 See Appendix 6. 6 Southeast Asia, but also to North and South America and to Australasia. Although there are many estimates about the exact number of overseas Chinese, figures are imprecise.9 Prior to the 19th century a number of diasporic Chinese communities were already scattered overseas; however, Chinese immigration overseas was fundamentally one of prohibition in China. The majority of those overseas saw themselves as only living temporarily abroad, reflecting the political and cultural discourse of return. By the end of the 19th century10, the political attitudes towards overseas movement changed and living abroad was no longer considered a treason or crime. Chinese who were successful elsewhere could become an asset to the Chinese empire through the skills and expertise they acquired overseas. In 1893 the lift of the ban on foreign travel was in reality only a removal of a defunct symbol, as there had been illegal movements all through the past. This act gave official recognition to diasporic Chinese for their contributions and it encouraged them to identify not only with their provincial homes, but with China and Chinese civilization. What is important as Wang (1985: 70) highlights, is that the vast majority of those of foreign nationality, and their subsequent generations who have been far distanced from China, still consider themselves to be ethnically Chinese or are considered so by others. Wang (2000: 64) argues that in the second half of the 19th century there was a “sharpening of the sense of Chinese identity, the prelude to the nationalism that was about to burst upon all Chinese”. This was the beginning of a period that marked the celebration of Chineseness, a sense of unification and security for overseas Chinese.
The common perception of ‘being Chinese’ undoubtedly entailed some form of racial collectivism which was specifically traceable to a predefined cultural territory, confined within the boundaries of the political state of China. The cultural space by which social representations of ‘Chinese’ was constructed involved a mythologised idea of a nation belonging to a common biological line traceable to the Yellow Emperor, conventionally related to the ‘yellow race’; identifiable among others by epicanthic eye folds and a relatively small stature. In the Chinese discourse, this was eminently represented by the emerging myth of the unity of Chinese people as a single race connected to the mother
9 Figures of overseas Chinese vary largely due to the different definitions of Chinese people. According to Chinese officials, there are over 20 million Chinese citizens abroad who are eligible for a Chinese passport (Wang 1985: 70). 10 under the Qing Court 7 country of China. ‘Chinese’ was also used as an outsider-label to signify ‘race’ based on physical appearance.
However, notions of ‘race’ based on territorial and biological constructs are also problematic. China as a place has had amorphous boundaries expanding and contracting over the course of history and during the Mongol conquest it could be said that ‘Chinese’ ceased to exist (Wang 2000). It could also be said that China is the country of ‘the Chinese’ but there are officially fifty-six ethnic minority groups within China and this is only a conservative summary. A closer observation of the differences amongst diasporic ‘Chinese’ immediately alerts us to the inadequacy of the generic assertion of a collective Chinese identity. The word ‘Chinese’ could equally be qualified by an Australian, Malaysian, Thai, Philippine or American, but does not necessarily signify any underlying consciousness or unified opinion regarding ethnic or cultural identity. Different political systems and geographical factors may influence people of ‘Chinese’ descent all over the world. Certainly culture is continuously changing, and ethnic Chinese have also developed distinct cultural expressions. Tu (1994: 23b) argues that such a collective term has often been used “generically to designate communities that were culturally and racially similar but were otherwise unrelated.”
For, diasporic Chinese who have settled in scattered communities of Chinese far from their ancestral homeland, their formation of identities is subject to varying perceptions of culture, geography of power hierarchies and strategic accommodations at local, national and transnational levels. Increasing transnational movements and continuous transformations through the intensification of flows of resources, people, capital and information have altered local conditions in all aspects of life. Because global flows constrain local production and consumption, they must also modify local cultures and identities (Axford 1995: 164). As a consequence of the de-terrorialisation and creation of transnational communities globally, cultural practices often intersect and blur the boundaries of place. This has led to a situation where the construction of identity for migrants and their descendents often occurs in a state of liminality, thus transforming the collective notion of a shared Chinese identity. Their sense of belonging is maintained through intrinsic social relationships between their country of origin and country of settlement. As Clifford (1997: 255) remarks, it is imparting “a sense of being
8 a people with historical roots and destinies outside the time/space of the host nation”. What is highlighted here is that there are myriad variations of ‘being Chinese’.
In the case of Chinese Australians, there has been a growth in ethnic diversity as a result of the expansion of numbers, in contrast to the large Canton-based origins of early Chinese migrants in the first half of the century. However, it has to be noted that even though the majority of early migrants were from the Canton province, the ethnic make- up of this group was diverse; people came from various districts of Canton such as Chungshan, Toishan, Kaoyau and were often separated from each other because of the different dialects spoken (Choi 1975). Today, Chinese Australians are even more highly diverse in their national and ethnic origins. Taiwanese, HK, Shanghainese, for example, are among the fastest growing segments of the Chinese Australian population. There has also been a general shift away from the largely working class origins of the late 19th-early 20th century Chinese. While there is considerable social and economic diversity within the Chinese Australian population today, it is also the case that many post-1965 Chinese immigrants came from professional, white collar and highly educated backgrounds. As such there is really no single or any one Chinese identity at all, and as Chan (1999: 6) rightly argues, “there is not and never was, a single community we can call the Chinese community in Australia.” There is great diversity within the broad category of ‘Chinese Australians’ through their different life experiences and ethnicity, and this diversity may partly explain why some individuals may see themselves as Chinese, yet others may feel the term is imposed on them.
While Chinese identity varies in different locations and there are myriads of ways of being Chinese, the fact is that the term Chinese is ‘real’, allowing individuals to interpret, construct and reconstruct themselves and the culture of which they are a part (Anderson 1999). Wang (1991b: 2) asserts that Chinese identity “is living and changeable; it is also the product of a shared historical experience whose record has continually influenced its growth.” If we eradicate the collective notion of Chinese based on its fluid and varying nature, we lose an important mode of identification which has always been intertwined with and inseparable from people, land, history and cultures. Yet defining what ‘Chineseness’ means in a static sense fails to illuminate our understanding of relations between identity and social incorporation. What is important is to understand how Chineseness enables diasporic Chinese to make sense of their lives
9 and negotiate their identities between the East and the West.11 In view of this, it is important to raise fundamental questions about conventional assumptions and offer meaningful ways to address the global subject by focusing on the local experience. As such, the major objective of this study is to contribute to the development of a more nuanced conceptualisation of ‘Chineseness’ through examining the nature and impact of identity formation in diasporic lives. In order to achieve this, the study makes the social experience of a sequential generation of Australian-born Chinese as the primary focus.
The relevance of studying diasporic ‘Chinese’, in particular subsequent generations who often are identified as part of a distinctive minority, is that their racial and ethnic identities are frequently in a state of flux, situating them a state of liminality. In many cases, regardless of their time of residence, they are continually viewed through a prism of Otherness (Tan 2004; Ang 2001). It is the very essence of such conflicting experiences that cultivates the analysis of identity constructions. As Moya (2000b: 86) explains:
… because well-being (and sometimes even survival) of the groups of individuals who engage in oppositional struggle depend on their ability to refute or dismantle dominant ideologies and institutions, their vision is usually more critical, their efforts more diligent, and their arguments more comprehensive than those of individuals or groups whose well- being is predicated on the maintenance of the status quo.
As such, minorities who also engage in ‘oppositional struggle’ from the dominant ideologies of the host country can provide a more in-depth viewpoint as a result of their daily encounters. As highlighted, the general focus of migration literature has been on the problematic experiences of first and second generation Chinese migrants. Largely neglected are the experiences of sequential generations or long-established Chinese where their negotiations of Chineseness are invariably different from other local Chinese communities residing within the same locality.12 Not only does the meaning of
11 Mainstream Australian society is included as part of the West for the purposes of this study. 12 Those studies which are there include Tan’s (2004a) PhD thesis on Chinese Inscriptions: Australian- born Chinese Lives; Fitzgerald’s (1996) Red Tape Gold Scissors; and Giese’s (1997) Astronauts, Lost Souls and Dragons. These studies focus largely on oral histories and personal experiences. 10 being Chinese vary, the cultural practices are also uniquely different. Consequently the diasporic experiences of long-established communities provide idiosyncratic perspectives to an understanding of identity politics.
Terminology
The following section provides a brief definition of terms employed for the purposes of this study.
Long-established ABC and Chinese Australian For the purpose of this study, long-established ABC is used to refer to the descendants of early Chinese migrants in Australia who comprise the main subjects of this study. The term categorises people who were born in Australia and whose family has resided in Australia for over three generations (or resided outside of China for three generations or over)13. The adjective ‘long-established’ is purposely employed to highlight their extended period of residency in Australia. In contrast, ‘Chinese Australians’ is used more widely to include all Australians who are ethnically identified as Chinese, regardless of birthplace or length of residency in Australia. The purpose is to distinguish long-established ABC as a unique group from the broader community of Chinese Australians that is comprised of a diversity of diasporic Chinese groups from different historical, political, national, and cultural backgrounds. By making this distinction between these terms through emphasizing their birthplace and more importantly their generational longevity in Australia, this study thus seeks to draw attention to significant differences in sense of Chineseness that define the social positioning of a diversity of Chinese diasporic groups in Australia.
Furthermore, this study acknowledges that both the term ‘ABC’ and ‘Chinese Australian’ may be offensive to some members of Chinese Australian communities, as there are different cultural connotations associated with each term which may be in contrast to an individual’s sense of sense of identity. For some the label ABC represents a greater inclination towards one’s Chinese heritage, while others perceive
13 It has to be highlighted that definitions based on generation and birthplace classifications can never be totally clear-cut as there will always be cases situated in zones of liminality. See the discussion of complications of generational groupings in the methodology chapter.
11 the emphasis is on the Australian way of life. Similarly, this applies to the collective term ‘Chinese Australian’.
Diaspora The concept of ‘diaspora’ has gained credence as a way to understand the complexities of global movements and shifting identities of migrants and their descendants in the dystopia of late modernity. According to Gilroy (2000: 23), diaspora is identified by “a relational network, characteristically produced by forced dispersal and reluctant scattering”. Similarly, Leung (2003: 238) conceives diaspora as “a dynamic patchwork, or a fluid collage made up of multiple and diverse journeys, sometimes diverging while other times overlapping, embarked upon by individual of a dispersed community”. Diaspora has been used in various ways in the literature. Traditionally, the concept of diaspora described groups of people who have been dispersed from a common ancestral homeland and have settled in different places. It also suggested that individuals living across the world identify collectively with each other based on their host societies and the geographical place from which their ancestors originated (Levitt and Waters 2002). Earlier migration research suggested migrants would sever physical linkages with their homeland as they become integrated into the receiving country. As such, ‘diaspora’ was conceived as a geographic concept which focused on ‘place’.
However, such a geographically-bounded conception of diaspora entails forms of racial collectivism which are confined to a predefined cultural territory and boundaries of physical place. Most observers have noted that we are living in a new global condition where movements can be described as “turbulent, a fluid but structured movement with multidirectional and reversible trajectories” (Papastergiadis 2000: 7). As such, contrary to the traditional concept, ‘diaspora’ cannot be a concrete place. Ma (2003:10) explains, “a place is more than simply spatial contained where people live or, in the absence of man, a part of nature. It is a locality of experience, meanings and feelings, constituted historically from social actions.” In light of this new global condition, it has become increasingly significant to ‘revisit’ ways of conceptualising migration and the incorporation of migrants and their descendants into national spaces (Portes et al. 1999; Portes and Rumaut 2001; Vertovec 1999; Kastoryano 2000; Levitt and Waters 2002).
12 Consequently, another aspect of ‘diaspora’ which focuses on such dynamics of spatial relations has gained increasing credence in recent years. This perspective understands ‘diaspora’ as a type of social consciousness that locates individuals in multiple cultural and social spaces. Recent scholars have interpreted this perspective of diaspora as “a social form”, “type of consciousness” and “mode of cultural production” (Ma 2003: 5). In such treatment, diaspora is seen to be free of geographical, territorial and racial boundaries. Within this de-territorialised cultural space, flexible strategies of accumulation of cultural capital create new modes of identity construction (Ong 1999). This perspective of ‘diaspora’ recognises a process of population dispersion in space and a process of emotional attachments (Ma 2003). In other words, diasporas are formed through spatial processes.
Increasingly complex transnational movements have resulted in more volatile realities of ethnicity which are embodied with many variations (ibid: 25). As such, collectivist notions based on racial, territorial and geographical boundaries are simply incapable of capturing the essence of the shifting cultural identities of diasporic Chinese. This study deploys this perspective and uses the term ‘diasporic community’ to describe individuals who are spread throughout the world but linked together based on a collective social consciousness.
The Chinese diasporic community Chinese communities all over the world have managed to adapt themselves to different social environments and communities. Members of Chinese diasporic communities are differentiated and heterogeneous where boundaries of belongingness and otherness are contested, even though they are implicated by the construction of a common Chinese identity (Wang 1985, 2000; Ma and Cartier 2003; Kuah-Pearce 2004; Kuah-Pearce and Davidson 2007). As such, this study defines the Chinese diasporic community as people who live across the world who share a common form of Chinese cultural background and collectively identify with each other based on a type of social consciousness that locates them in multiple cultural and social spaces. Within the context of this thesis, long-established ABC are identified as within the ‘Chinese diasporic community’.
13 Chineseness and Asianness Although the major objective is to examine the construction of ‘Chineseness’ and its impact on long-established ABC, the frequent alternation between ‘Chinese’ and ‘Asian’ within Australian discourse through factors such as language and perceptions needs to be highlighted. These categories are frequently homogenised as the same collective label, inscribed upon an enormous diversity of different ethnic individuals whose phenotypic attributes are recognised as stereotypically Asian. Despite an individual’s birthplace, generational longevity, cultural inclination or sense of belongingness that may be grounded in Australia, they are often classified as ‘Asian’ based on their appearance. Most scholars in the field of Asian-Australian studies openly recognise the inadequacy of homogenising this widely divergent community (Ang 2001; Gilbert et al. 2000; Khoo 2003). While the heterogeneous nature of Asian- Australian communities is acknowledged, in practice academics choose to utilise ‘being of Asian descent’ as a common denominator which enables them to carry out their investigations. Consequently they overlook points of divergence between Asian diasporic groups in Australia which are also of critical importance in understanding the particular issues facing specific diasporic groups.
This study acknowledges that within the context of Australian society, ‘Chinese’ is often seen as an inclusion of ‘Asian’, and that ‘Asianness’ rather than specifically ‘Chineseness’ become socially inscribed into the lives of subsequent generations and also the wider Chinese Australian communities. Due to this process whereby they are subsumed into the category of Asian in daily life, it is at times necessary to use these terms accordingly within this thesis. Thus, it is important to incorporate the contextual significance of such perspectives in examining the process of identity construction for long-established ABC.
Typology of ‘Chineseness’ being studied One of the issues raised during the Chinese Studies Postgraduate Forum conference held at the University of Melbourne, where I presented the paper ‘Chineseness: An Enquiry on the Identity of Long-established Australian-born Chinese’, was the type of ‘Chineseness’ that I am examining in my research. The question was whether the ‘Chineseness’ that the study is exploring is confined to a specific region within China
14 particularly Southern China, as most of the early migrants to Australia originated from the province of Guangdong.
However, it is important to emphasize here that this study does not seek to define the meaning of ‘Chineseness’ nor measure the elements that make up a purported Chinese identity. Rather, it focuses on the processes of identity formation in different sites of negotiations. Pertinent to this study is to understand what it takes to be recognised as ‘belonging’ and the social significance of ‘being Chinese’ in different contexts and situations. Thus, for the purpose of this study, ‘Chineseness’ is defined as a socially constructed notion based on a collective consciousness of belonging to an ‘imagined community’ that can be transformed into notions of solidarity. Although it reflects shared essentials of race, ethnicity and culture which make binding connections possible, more importantly it represents a multi-layered and contested discourse which is continuously being formed and reformed in different sites of negotiation (Chow 1998).
Hybridity The postmodern literature maintains ‘hybridity’ as a notion of crossroads and borderlands which implies a blurring of boundaries as a result of unsettling of identities. Hybridity challenges the ideal of homogeneity embedded in early assimilation models and is a means to understand the diversity of experiences in diasporic lives. Various perspectives of hybridity such as ‘double consciousness’ (Gilroy 1994; Nagata 1979) and ‘third space’ (Bhabha 1991, 1994; Hall 1996) have received much credit in understanding the multiple and liminal identities characteristic of members of diasporic communities. While these concepts have been developed with attempts to abandon homogeneous identity categories, the privileging of multiple ‘groups’ of identity is nevertheless constructed within the boundaries of a unified paradigm. The fact is that identification of where one fits in society is still highly correlated to identity categories.
Furthermore, the notion of hybridity has largely been formulated as a means to problematise the complex process of identity formation of recent migrant communities (Ang 2001; Davidson 1991, 2004; Charney et al. 2003; Kuah-Pearce and Davidson 2007; Ma 2003). Largely neglected are the identities of later generations who are subsumed to the traditional models of assimilation that assume ethnic identification
15 decreases over successive generations. As such, I take the experiences of subsequent generations to illustrate that, contrary to the common assimilationist assumption, they also encounter complicated experiences of identity.
Moreover, hybrid identities are often presented single-sidedly as negative struggles with detrimental impact on social mobility. Quite certainly such negative experiences are undeniable for some; however, missing from the debates on hybridity is an interest in those who have accepted hybridity in their lives. Taking account of these gaps and misconceptions, this study revisits the notion of hybridity through the daily experiences of long-established ABC.
Life course While the study of identity development and age transition through the life cycle has been well developed, it is only recently that an effort to examine these processes from a contextual perspective has begun to mature. Earlier research explained the ‘life course’ in terms of transitions through a series of rites of passage which allowed individuals to enter into clearly differentiated roles (Hertz 1960; Van-Gennep 1960; Erikson 1950). The static stages of life have provided one of the traditional bases for studies of the life course. However, a number of contemporary scholars have highlighted that the collectivised constructs of life stages are problematic as both aging and identity formation are social processes which are continually undergoing transformation through time and space (Elder et al. 2003; Hareven 1996; Alwin and McCammon 2003; Hockey and James 2003). Furthermore, while previous Chinese diasporic studies focused on the social experiences of individuals at particular stages of life, the complex social processes and hybrid experiences involved in ‘being Chinese’ in relation to the life course have remained largely uncharted and certainly under-theorised, despite age being one of the key bases for the production of identity. The few studies that have examined the relationship between life course and ethnicity include Rivas and Torres-Gil (1992), Levitt (2002) and Smith (2002).
In acknowledgement of these issues, I take the theoretical orientation of ‘life course’ which challenges such fixed and repetitive sequences of ages and stages of the life cycle, as a tool to understand variations of experiences which impact on the negotiation of Chineseness. This approach dwells on the diversity of life experiences which are
16 themselves made up of transitions which involve changes in identity, both personally and socially, thus opening up opportunities for behavioral changes leading to varying life trajectories.
With all their imperfections, these terms will be applied in the following chapters of this thesis to analyse the process of identity formation and the experience of long- established ABC in Australia.
Contribution and Limitations of Study
Due to the qualitative nature14 and the sample size of this study, I do not attempt to claim it to be representative of the experiences of all long-established ABC residing in Australia. While this major focus of the study draws from a wide range experience of long-established ABC through personal narratives as well as my social interactions with the community, the experiences of long-established ABC are uniquely shaped by a diversity of situations and contexts that have differing impacts on individual lives. In this respect, rather than making general conclusions about the social experience of the community, I highlight a wide range of experiences that may reflect larger trends and more importantly, bring to light some of the uncharted realities of diasporic life. I provide vital novel perspectives and insights on ‘race’, ‘belongingness’ and ‘identity’ with respect to generational longevity which have been neglected in the migration literature. By revealing micro-sociological views of multi-generational ABC, it contributes to a deeper understanding of the diasporic experience that extends beyond the provision of demographic figures or quantitative statistics.
Migration and settlement, after all, are complex and difficult processes, therefore it is vital to understand the intricate social relationships that members of diasporic communities engage in. This study provides evidence for the relational character of identity by highlighting the way in which a diversity of factors such as contextual conditions, race and ethnicity, gender, age and transnational processes shape its
14 A more in-depth account of the methodological limitations of qualitative research is addressed in the section on ‘Researcher Bias’ in Chapter 2 of this thesis.
17 formation. Identity is therefore more fruitfully understood as multiple and fluid rather than singular in nature.
A major contribution of this study then, is to demystify the concept of ‘Chineseness’ and provide a basis for discussing the long-term effects of migration on the experience of identity and belongingness. For a variety of reasons the growth and adaptation of subsequent generations have not been the subject of great concern for researchers in this field during the recent past. Reasons include the difficulties of studying it on the basis of census and other official data. Scholarly attention in this field has remained focused on adult immigrants, who are more visible and whose progress through the labour market and through the immigration bureaucracy can be easily traced. The findings of this study will contribute to a greater understanding of the experiences of long- established migrant groups.
Although the focus of the study is on long-established Chinese, social processes and practices which they engage across their life course will greatly enhance our understanding of the experience of the wider Chinese diasporic community. By better comprehending the ways in which Chineseness is negotiated in their lives and their personal sense of identity, we can better accommodate not only the present population but also the future descendents of Chinese migrants in their incorporation into Australia. In endeavouring to examine these larger questions of social consequences associated with ethnicity, the research provides a foundation for discussing migrants’ sense of belonging and attitudes towards Australian society.
Furthermore, identifying inappropriate stereotypes of ethnic Chinese subjects, which have the potential to produce social conflict between Chinese Australians and mainstream Anglo-Australians in Australia, will strengthen the nation’s capacity to embrace cultural diversity. This has important ramifications for the maintenance of social cohesion and harmony which will enhance the safeguarding of Australia’s social environment.
Moreover, it is no exaggeration to say that while the narratives collected through the interviews in this study are unique, the numerous issues interwoven in them are not just those common to members of the Chinese diaspora but are to be found in the
18 experiences of diasporic people of other ethnicities as well. The present study thus provides an invaluable bridge linking cultural gaps, which promotes a more harmonious society. This will also lay a clearer path to comprehending the cultural diversities and differences in our dynamic and complex society. Knowledge, combined with an understanding of the social relations of identities within transnational space, will hopefully reduce disenchantment in a world of continual transformations.
Themes and Organisation of Thesis
The chapters of this thesis present a number of interrelated perspectives on the formation of identity and the social experiences of long-established ABC; all concern conceptual themes of space, time, and locality. These three related themes are the basic components that constitute the conditions in which identities are established through cultural practices and negotiations across the life course. This study is comprised of eight chapters including an introduction and conclusion. Chapters 1 to 4 provide a discussion outlining the objectives, methodology and theoretical and conceptual approaches underpinning this study. Chapters 5 to 7 represent the main chapters of this study and they analyse, present and assess data relevant to an exploration of the diverse ways long-established ABC negotiate their identities in their daily life. Chapter 8 is the conclusion which summaries the findings of this study.
In this chapter, I have sought to outline the objectives, suppositions and key terms of this study which act as a foundation for situating my position in exploring Chineseness through the experience of long-established ABC. By focusing on subsequent generations’ sense of identity and belongingness in their daily lives, it enables a deeper analysis on the production and meaning of the essentialised Chinese identity.
Chapter 2 provides a detailed explanation of the methodological framework of the study while also addressing methods used to design, develop and carry out research and analysis for this study. It provides a discussion on not only the rationales supporting the fieldwork data collection approach but also methodological issues delimiting the validity of qualitative data as a basis for critical analysis. The complications of conceptual definitions adopted throughout this thesis are discussed, which is important in the comprehension of the contents of the subsequent chapters.
19 Chapters 3 and 4 examine the present body of literature on diasporic identity issues and position the central arguments of this study. The central theoretical argument of Chapter 3 maintains that although identity is an imagined construct and is contextually activated, essentialist notions still serve as the basis for the establishment of social positions. Specifically I review the limitations pertinent in the two dominant perspectives on cultural identity – the ‘postmodernist perspective’ which is in part seen as a corrective approach to the previous social tendency towards ‘essentialism’. I argue that instead of delegitimising essentialist identities as the postmodernists have urged it is more fruitful to examine how individuals deal with collective constructs of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ which are ‘real’ to everyday life. In order to examine the social significance of racial markers in differing contexts, I explore the collective notion of ‘Chineseness’. I examine what it takes to be recognised as ‘belonging’ by exploring the generic assertion of physicality and language as a source of authentication. While the discourse of Chineseness often reflects stereotyping of ethnic subjects imposed by the mainstream recognition of non-Western representations, I argue that it is also important to understand the role which in-group members play in establishing their own hierarchy of identities.
Having established that the once clear and definite patterns of life have become uncertain in contemporary life, Chapter 4 engages in exploring a theoretical approach for the analysis of the fluid nature of identity. I propose the life course orientation as an analytical framework to examine the hybrid formation of Chineseness. Specifically, I examine the legitimacy of the ‘life course’ and the ‘life cycle’ framework and propose an approach that incorporates aspects of both orientations in analysing the Chineseness of subsequent generations. By drawing upon the discourse of life trajectories, I examine the current theorisation of ‘hybridity’ as a means to understand fluid formation of Chinese identity. Various perceptions of hybridity such as ‘double consciousness’ and ‘third space’ have been developed with attempts to abandon homogeneous identity categories. However I argue that the significance of identity still depends largely on that fact that the organisation of society is highly correlated to collectivised identities. Moreover, the general response maintains hybrid identities as a struggle of marginalisation; however, I highlight that missing from the debate is an interest in those who have accepted hybridity in their lives. Furthermore, I examine the hybrid process of identity through the decentered links to notions of ‘home’ maintained by subsequent
20 generations with the homeland. Precisely I highlight that while the transnational framework has been central in determining cultural affiliations, those with long-term residence do not necessarily engage in transnational practices, their identities are continually reshaped by decentered linkages of memory, nostalgia and imagination within the family.
Chapter 5 centers on fieldwork that brings to the fore construction and operation of identity as Chineseness through the lives of long-established ABC within the social and cultural spaces they inhabit. This chapter draws its attention to the social phenomena that regardless of whether subsequent generations choose to identify or deny themselves as ‘Chinese’, Chineseness represents an inescapable ‘reality’ they have to confront due to discourses of recognition and essentialism. In such circumstances, how does being Chinese take on meaning? How does it operate in different cultural contexts? What are the varying degrees of its complex hegemony? To explore these questions I examine the prevailing racial and cultural discourse of authenticity and the ways in which essentialised boundaries serve to consolidate subdivisions within and across the community. Precisely I take the attributes of physicality and language to explore their significance as a centering device for authentication of Chineseness and their impact on strategies of subject making. Furthermore, I explore the configuration of power through the hierarchical segregation of diasporic Chinese.
In understanding the experience of subsequent generations, I argue that it is important to highlight a diversity of life trajectories, rather than a commonality and continuity of experiences as the narrative of identity formation. As such Chapter 6 addresses this argument by examining how Chineseness is represented and configured across life course trajectories of subsequent generations. Precisely I examine the ways in which individuals make sense of Chineseness through specific age-based social identities from childhood through to old age. Gendered issues are discussed in various stages of the life course where they are particularly relevant to understanding the formation of Chineseness.
Having established that the formation of Chineseness is a fluid process which is contingent upon social and cultural contexts, biographical and historical time and socially constructed age-based identities, Chapter 7 proceeds to explore the hybrid
21 formation of Chineseness through the cultural consciousness of the long-established ABC. I bring to light the fact that subsequent generations can also be situated in a hybrid space which mingles voices, memories and myths within the family. These act as decentered linkages with their imaginary homeland with stark implications of their negotiation of identity in liminal space. I utilise two distinct notions of hybridity, namely ‘double consciousness’ and ‘third space’, as a means to explore the hybrid space in they are situated. In doing so I highlight that while underlying both approaches is an intellectual decentering built upon notions of difference and otherness, and an attempt to abolish the reliance on unitary notions embedded in a previous assimilationist framework, ironically the very logic of these conceptions has led to a reinstatement of sameness and a redrawing of exclusionary lines. Furthermore I highlight that while the general emphasis of ‘hybridity’ has been on the negative experiences, the manipulation and reshaping of identities can also lead to contentment and ideational grounding for subsequent generations.
The final chapter is the conclusion which summarises the main arguments presented within this study. I assess its contribution and suggest important implications that this study has for future diasporic research. Having established the main objectives of this study, the next chapter proceeds to discuss the methodological approach. I detail the information regarding the methodology and methods used to design, develop and carry out research and analysis for this thesis.
22 CHAPTER 2 METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH
This chapter seeks to provide an understanding of the methodological framework of the study by outlining the approach undertaken in its development. Firstly, it begins with a detailed discussion of the logic of inquiry at the national, community and individual level. The second section outlines and addresses the methodological issues delimiting the validity of qualitative data as a basis for critical analysis. This is followed by a detailed description of the fieldwork data collection process which includes an analysis of the sampling framework through which the research pool of informants was selected. Finally it highlights the conceptual complication of definitions adopted throughout the thesis, which is important for comprehending the content of the subsequent chapters.
Logic of Inquiry
The methodological approach of this study involved a multi-level research design which focused on the social experiences of long-established15Australian-born Chinese whose families have resided in Australia for over three generations. For the purposes of this study, the term ‘ABC’ denotes individuals with Chinese ancestry and who were born in Australia. While the definition of generational groupings according to birthplace and ancestry is conceptually neat, the definition becomes problematic in the face of empirical realities which will be highlighted in the later part of this chapter. The research was conducted within a three years and four months timeframe from March 2004 to June 200716. To achieve the objectives of this study, the research design utilised a diversity of data collection strategies at two separate levels: the local and the individual.
15 The adjective “long-established” describes ABC with a family history of over three generations since first settlement in Australia-see ‘Terminology’ in Chapter 1. 16 See Appendix 7. 23 Local Community Level At a local level the study analysed the social networks of the long-established ABC community by examining the networks that were present within and across different groups in Australia. Network analysis allows the researcher to understand the internal process and inherent dynamics of social relations between individuals (Boissevain & Mitchell 1973: viii). The aim of this approach was to examine the relations between identity and social incorporation through understanding patterns of interaction and types of linkages. In order to achieve the major objectives of understanding the construction of ‘Chineseness’ at a community level, the study focused on examining the following questions: What are the major social groupings within the long-established ABC community? How do they position themselves in relation to other Chinese communities? It has to be noted that that this study did not find any significant patterns within different sequential generations. Individuals of different generations shared a common struggle but there was no fixed pattern that could be identified.17 There were more commonalities than differences; as such the analysis in Chapters 5-7 focuses on the experiences of long-established ABC as whole rather than isolated generations.
In achieving the objectives at the community level, the methodological approach involved, firstly, the analysis of demographic and socio-economic characteristic using census information; secondly, the exploration of fieldwork data from interviews with community organisations and participant observation in community events. The mapping of social structure at a local level provided a framework for identifying individuals to include in the detailed exploration of the micro experience of long- established ABC.
Individual Level At the individual level the study concentrated on examining the nature of processes and sites by which Chineseness is (re)constructed, derived directly from the social experience of long-established ABC through in-depth interviews. This level of data collection formed the core of the study as it involved a detailed understanding of the
17 See Chapter 7, Not Quite Chinese, for details about in-group distinctions. 24 social experience of being a long-established Australian of Chinese heritage and its interaction with identity formation in Australia.
The methodology adopted a dialogical approach which took on the appearance of ordinary everyday conversation and depended on the social interaction between the interviewer and the respondent to elicit information. Facilitating the fieldwork was the use of a semi-structured interview schedule18 set around a list of broad topics fundamental to the study, to guide the interviewing process. The content of the interviews focused on issues that were central to the research objectives, involving discussions on personal background, family migration history, transnational linkages, sense of identity and belongingness, social networks and racial experiences. Interview19 sessions were audio-taped and lasted approximately 1.5 hours. In-depth questioning and response provided insights into the ways in which long-established ABC identified themselves and their social experiences within Australia.
Interview Schedule
At a micro level, the study explored the construction of identity through intergenerational cultural ideologies, family values and their sense of identity with respect to the different stages in their life course. Related to life course were intergenerational family linkages. The emphasis on this topic stemmed from Siefen et al.'s (1996) discussion that each generational group is bound to decisions and events in the other's life course such that their lives become linked with some stable aspect of culture and social personality of a national group forming internalised dispositions for the individual.
Another aspect was the effect of place and locality on the construction of identity formation. Information was gathered about their feelings of belongingness and their perception of the meaning of homeland as an Australian with Chinese heritage. Related
18 See Appendix 10. 19 Due to the importance of the data gathered from these interviews for the overall research and the substantial amount of time needed for the transcription process, the study employed the assistance of an external transcriber. I under took one-third of the transcribing and she transcribed the rest. The employing of a transcriber was a strategy to speed up the research process. 25 to this area was the general maintenance and development of transnational ties through emotional, social, cultural, political and economic linkages with their origin.
Furthermore, the interview examined a complexity of social constraints which impacted on individuals’ social incorporation in Australia. This involved an understanding of their social network, institutional links and their relations with the larger society. It also explored the barriers to full societal participation as well as other forms of exclusion. The objective was to better the understanding of how a sense of Chineseness impacted on social participation.
Aside from demographic background questions that gathered basic information about the socio-economic characteristics of the participants and their family migration history, discussion topics shifted according to the flow of the interview. Topics varied between individuals due to different social experiences and background. These topics provided a nuanced account of personal life experiences and how they impacted the formation of attitudes and values.
Researcher Bias
The influence of the researcher may lead to deviation from the “true” response elicited and recorded by the interviewer due to nature of the interview and the relationship between the interviewer and informant (Neuman 2000). Nevertheless, it is often difficult to determine the authenticity of responses as information will inevitably be influenced by the contextual setting and personal perspectives. This section addresses the issues associated with the qualitative interview approach taken by this study. It firstly discusses the limitations and validity of qualitative data as a basis for critical analysis. Secondly, it highlights the relational complexities and interviewer bias.
Qualitative Research Methodological issues involved in using qualitative data in the form of personal narratives gathered from in-depth interviews lie in the subjective nature of memory construction and intention and interpretation of the respondent. The problematic nature
26 of subjectivity and memory in interpretation of past experience is highlighted by Bruner (1995: 161) in his assessment of autobiographical narratives:
… life is created or constructed by the act of autobiography. It is a way of construing experience-and of re-construing it until our breath or our pen fails up. Construal and reconstrual are interpretive like all forms of interpretation, life construal is subjected to our intentions, to the interpretive conventions available to us and to the meanings imposed upon us by the usages of our culture and languages.
Narratives are subjected to memory construction, interpretation of past experiences and intentions of the individual. The ways in which people remember the past largely reflects how the individual interprets past experiences. However, the way in which they remember the past may change due to the progression of life, as Bruner (1995: 163) asserts: “…we often ‘rewrite culture’ as much as we rewrite our lives – in the manner of conventional turning points such as adolescence or retirement.” Moreover, the way in which individuals interpret and construe past experiences are further subjected to cultural, social and political discourses.
Another methodological issue is the influence of the researcher towards the generation of information in an interview setting. McKinney (2005: 233) asserts that:
Data gathered in any settings are, to varying degrees, generated by the researcher. People always speak from some position, and in this sense no empirical data are ever pristine or “natural” once we as researchers ask respondents for them.
The impact of the interviewer cannot totally be denied, and thus deviation from the ‘truth’ is inevitable when responses are elicited and recoded in the context of an interview session. Influences towards responses are often implicated from the interviewer’s behaviour, appearance, tone, attitude, reactions to answers, or comments made outside of the interview schedule (Neuman 2000: 279).
27 Furthermore, the information and perspective revealed by informants may be filtered and constructed purposefully due to awareness of possible repercussions, political or social. The work of Fitzgerald (1997: 160) provides an example of the kind of ‘life construal’ that is often apparent in the presentation of information:
Dozens of witnesses, Chinese and European, appeared before the 1891 Royal Commission into Chinese Gambling. Between them, they answered 17,254 questions. The ‘voices’ are formalized, many being recorded from Chinese through an interpreter, but the general din of people denying allegations, dobbing in their enemies, covering for their friends and associates and carefully choosing when to be expansive and when to be enigmatic is easily heard in the record.
The narratives presented by the ‘voices’ highlight a process of ‘careful’ (re)construction which adheres to the arguments that narratives are largely subject to both intentional and interpretational processes. Due to the nature of this study, the fear of political repercussions did not impact on interviewees’ narrative. Since presentation of personal narratives is a constitutive act of negotiation and a construction of reality about a life in a place and time, narratives are thus problematic in nature. In this way they may jeopardise the reliability of information provided in interviews (Bruner 1995:166).
On these bases, this study recognised the problematic nature of qualitative data gathered from personal narratives; nevertheless, qualitative data are acknowledged as important and unique ways in providing insights and perspectives into subjectivities that cannot be gained solely through quantitative and documentary research. The study focused on creating a platform between an informant’s perception, understanding, ideas, and statements about the social world by focusing on a “candid portrayal of social life that is true to the experiences of people being studied” (Neuman 2000: 171).
In order to address the issue of interviewer’s influence, I negotiated my stance as a researcher towards responses in the interview sessions by consciously monitoring the pace and direction of the social interaction as well as the content of answers and the behaviours of my respondents. I attempted to take a balanced position by assuming the
28 perspective of my informants in the course of data collection and analysis in order to reduce subjective bias and other methodological limitations.
Informants’ concerns about tangible repercussions and privacy issues were overcome by the ethics procedure of informed consent statements. The signing of the consent forms20 provided a sense of security for the informant as it confirmed that all the material obtained in the study would remain confidential, and in any publication information will be provided in such a way that they will remain anonymous by stipulating that a pseudonym be used instead of real names. By upholding a high level of integrity and ethical conduct, it helped to alleviate tensions with regards to responses to sensitive issues.
In order to address the issues of the subjective nature of memory construction, intention and interpretation of the respondents, much emphasis was placed on a detailed analysis of the context in which the information was presented. I focused on capturing an ‘inside’ view as well as providing detailed accounts of how my informants felt and understood events by being sensitive to specific social, cultural, political and historical influences. While analysing the data, I concentrated on understanding the perspectives of the respondents in order to represent their views in the appropriate context.
The discussion above has addressed a range of methodological issues involved in the use of in-depth interviews and personal narratives as a basis for research and analysis. The following section will highlight the complexities involved in the data collection and the interview process.
The Complexities of Being Positioned as a ‘Young Chinese Female Researcher’ The complexities of my position were accentuated through the process of fieldwork data collection. My informants and others that I encountered along the way often inquired about my identity as an Australian of Chinese background. These questions reminded me that although I am conducting research amongst individuals of a similar ethnic
20 See Appendix 9. 29 background, my identity is not unmarked. Being a relatively young Chinese female researcher certainly impacted on how I mediated the questioning of the interview and my interaction with my informants in ways perhaps not totally visible to me at first. Similar to the experience of McKinney (2005), a ‘white female researcher’ who conducted fieldwork among ‘whites’ in America, I too found that my gender and ethnic background had indirectly impacted on the way I negotiated my role as a researcher/interviewer. In my case it included a further element of age.
Moreover, the methodological issue regarding the position of a researcher calls for the need for reflexivity in the interview process. One important aspect is the positioning of the researcher as an ‘insider’ or ‘outsider’ which directly impacts on the relationship with informants and the quality of their response. McKinney (2005: xix) highlights the nuanced position of an ‘insider’ in the data collection process: “an indigenous ‘insider’ perspective can be used to gain different insights into data than would come from an outsider’s perspective”. The advantage of being positioned as ‘outsider’ is that the researcher will find it easier to elicit information that ‘insiders’ sometimes find difficult to uncover precisely because of their closeness to the local community. Yet, on the other hand, there are also obvious disadvantage in being positioned as an ‘outsider’ due to lack of intimate knowledge and understanding of the community as well as speculation of motives by some community members. Thus, it is important that an interviewer/researcher recognises the impact of his/her position as it has direct influence on the depth of information elicited from a respondent. Through exchanges with my informants, it was evident that my position was invariably interchanging between an ‘outsider’ and ‘insider’ in different contexts.
Through the fieldwork data collection phases, I had to negotiate my role as a cultural ‘insider’ as I was studying an identity that I shared with my informants; albeit in a peculiar way. In Nagata’s (1979) study on situational selection of ethnic identity, she discusses the dilemma posed by direct questioning relating to ethnicity. She argues that once a respondent is asked to reflect consciously and rationally on ethnic affiliation, the dynamic aspect is lost. The interviewer should therefore constantly be cautious for indications as to which reference group is being invoked in the given context and to work out the apparent inconsistencies independently. Such issues were apparent in the
30 process of my research as I often became an indirect cultural reference point for my informants.
Often after the revelation of my family’s migration history to Australia, I was perceived to be a cultural ‘outsider’ – a sameness in origin but an otherness stemming from my ‘relatively short presence’21 in Australia. Some informants expressed that they would try to avoid using typical Australian idioms during the interview, fearing that I may not be familiar with the colloquial language22. Although I understood their intentions were of generosity and kindness, their conscious awareness demonstrates that I became a cultural reference point of the ‘Other’. In this respect, my identity inevitably impacted on informants’ interaction with me. Thus, expression of personal experiences is closely related to how an informant positions the researcher/interviewer. To overcome this sense of otherness, my mediation with them was adjusted according to the situation and response. I sought to ensure a state of comfort for informants by recognising that they were experts of their own narratives and genuinely focused on their perspectives as much as possible.
Furthermore, some respondents were confused about my research topic and expressed comments such as “we are just Australians with Chinese heritage”. While I tried to explain that I was studying the processes involved in the construction of identity, many assumed that I was a historian or a genealogist and that my main objective was to research about their family history. ‘Chinese’ as a concept is so widely taken-for- granted by many that it did not require explanation. In this sense, I was placed in a position of alienation to my informants.
On the other hand, at times the reaction among other Chinese Australians I encountered through fieldwork highlighted my role as an ‘insider’. When I told them that I was studying Chineseness, they reacted with an agreeing nod, with typical comments that expressed: “Most research on the Chinese in Australia has been done by [Anglo] Australians. Only Chinese can really understand the nuances of our own culture”. Several informants expressed that they knew they would be more at ease in sharing their
21 Even though I have been living in Australia most of my life, sequential generations saw me as a newcomer. 22 Note the comparison if the interviewer was a white Australian. 31 experiences because my familiarity with the Chinese culture would allow me to understand how they came to the views they had about certain issues. Similarly, informant Pete 4(4) who conducted academic research in HK explains the advantage of being an insider: “Being Chinese is a natural connection that helps. The Chinese themselves are quite insular, because if you look Chinese then they are more likely to trust you a bit more.”
Moreover, the peculiar aspect of my position was that I am at most times perceived to be a cultural insider but not entirely a social in-group member due to my length of presence in Australia, age and my role as a researcher. In this respect, being perceived as sharing a common heritage, a sameness which operated from preconceived assumptions yet a sense of otherness, allowed me to be in a better position to develop a more in-depth questioning and genuine engagement with the informant than perhaps a perceived “total outsider”. Nonetheless, through these unquestioned expectations of cultural knowledge – that I, being an overseas-born Chinese must be familiar with the Chinese culture – my identity as a researcher was peculiarly diminished through their framing of my position as cultural insider.
Being identified as a relatively young female researcher also had a profound impact on the data collection process. Initially I was not aware of the influence of gender in the mediation of contact. It soon became visible that through the snowball sampling technique, I was often put in contact with potential female informants, thus I had to explicitly express that I was seeking to interview both genders. The framing of my identity was based upon my visual physique which was related to my ethnic background, gender and age.
Nevertheless my own perceptions of self and the Other also had an impact on the progress of the research. Although as a researcher I aimed at objectivity by balancing the juxtaposition as a cultural insider and outsider, I was at times struggling to renegotiate the social roles I was accustomed to; what Bourdieu (1990) terms as the habitus. Their perception of my identity as an ethnic Chinese and my age in relation to themselves sometimes put me in awkward positions. My knowledge of Chinese cultural mannerisms at times conflicted with my attempts to establish my position as a researcher. For example, through my Chinese upbringing I have been accustomed to
32 address elders as ‘Uncle’ or ‘Aunty’ as a sign of respect, even though they may not be my relatives. However, to establish distance I had to renegotiate my identity with accordance to the social context.
In attempting to deconstruct the essentialist notions of Chineseness, I found myself also inescapably holding onto preconceived stereotypes. Some of my informants had a ‘Western’ physique with untraceable Chinese features and I still recall my bemusement initially upon meeting one particular informant. Trying to hide any hint of surprise in my facial expression, I quietly thought to myself “she looks nothing like the stereotypical Chinese.” I, as a researcher of this study that examines the construction of the Chinese identity, have to admit that I was also unavoidably conditioned by normative social constructs of ‘Chinese’. Such reflections further reaffirmed that social constructs are often deeply set even though one may be consciously questioning the processes involved. Aside from the substantive themes I will discuss in the following chapters, I hope that my research provides an opportunity to understand the complexity of processes involved in the construction of Chineseness. Knowledge combined with an understanding of the social relations of identities will hopefully reduce disenchantment in our present world of continual transformations.
Fieldwork Data Collection
Fieldwork data collection was conducted from January 2005 to March 2006 within the Sydney region, the capital of the Australian State of New South Wales. The sample consisted of forty-three Australian-born Chinese with families who have resided in Australia for over three generations.
The major rationale for conducting the fieldwork in Sydney was based on population distribution and domestic migratory movement in Australia. About 70% of Australia's population growth between 1995 and 2000 occurred in the capital cities and one of the main factors changing the distribution of Australia's population is domestic migration. Of all the capital cities, Sydney and Melbourne had the largest growth in the five years to 2000, with increases of 264,000 and 222,000 people respectively (ABS 2002). Population density at June 2005 was highest in the city centers, particularly in Sydney (ABS 2007).
33 In order to obtain a more diverse sample, fieldwork data collection involved differing systematic sampling strategies at two major levels:
Local Community Level The sampling strategy at the community level aimed at identifying relevant community groups in the Sydney region that had a membership of ABC. The initial approach of identifying prominent organisations involved online research of Chinese Australian community organisations in Sydney. After the initial process of identification, the first point of contact was with the Australian Chinese Community Association of Australia as they are a well established group which provides a wide range of services to meet the needs of the Chinese community in Australia.
Through ACCA I was put in contact with the Chinese Heritage of Australia Association which has an overall aim of promoting a better understanding of the Chinese Australian community with a focus on bridging the gap between early and more recent migrants of Chinese origin. Their membership includes a large number of ABC with a shared interest in the heritage of Chinese Australians. Through participating in their meetings and social networking I was able to map the major community organisations that had a large membership of long-established ABC. Furthermore, with the assistance of CHAA, information about this study was forwarded by email to their members.
Community mapping was further assisted by Mr King Fong O.C.M. J.P. who is a prominent community figure within the Chinese Australian community due to the many positions he has held and his involvement in community voluntary work. He highlighted a number of well-established community organisations which had memberships of ABC.
I focused on various religious, social and cultural groups as points of reference in contacting individuals in order to establish diversity in the sample. The organisations I contacted included the following23:
23 Please note that the above is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of all Chinese Australian community organisations which have a membership of ABC. The purpose of such reference is to highlight the diverse points of contact as an initial strategy for locating individuals to participate in the study. 34 Australian Yiu Ming Hong Fook Tong Society Chinese Australian Historical Society Chinese Women’s Association Chinese Presbyterian Church Chinese Youth League of Australia Goong Yee Tong Incorporated
Involvement with community activities and interviews with community leaders was a major strategy for contacting participants for individual interviews. Community involvement included participation at their social meetings, dinner functions, presentations, seminars, conferences and museum tours. This strategic approach for contacting individuals involved the use of a snowball sampling technique, a method of identifying and sampling individuals in a network. It begins with a few cases and spreads out through the basis of linkages (Neuman 2000). About a quarter of the informants were contacted through social meetings at such community gatherings. However, simply recruiting potential participants from the Chinese-focused community proved problematic, as those that participated in such groups had a common interest in their Chinese heritage which limited the diversity of the sample. Therefore, to avoid this weakness, a different method was put in place.
The second strategy undertaken was through the means of advertisement in general places- which did not have a particular Chinese focus. Contacts were made with various university student groups that had a membership of ABC. Flyers about the study were put up on notice boards in various hospitals and various universities with permission from the relevant parties.24 Advertisements with a short description of the study were placed in the UNSW Postgraduate Research Eye Bulletin in Session 1 and 2, 2005 and in UNSW Blitz and Tharunka student magazines during Session 2, 2005.
Individual Level At an individual level, the use of the ‘snowball sampling’ technique was also adopted in a similar fashion. After the end of interview sessions, informants were asked if they
24 See Appendix 8 for sample of flyer. 35 could provide contacts of other potential participants that fitted within the selection criteria of the study. They acted as intermediaries and provided contact with others who were interested by the following approaches:
1. Interviewees acted as mediators and informed potential participants about the study by providing them with some information about the study and my contact details. Those interested would then email or contact me by phone to find out more about the study and I would validate their background to determine whether they fit within the sampling criteria. After the initial validation an interview appointment would be arranged.
2. Interviewees would provide me with the contact details of potential participants. Prior to the direct contact from me, interviewees acted as mediators and made preparatory arrangements by advising them about the study. I would initially contact the potential participant by email or phone depending on the details given and would then inform them about the objectives of the interview session. After the validation process, an interview appointment would be arranged.
Furthermore, most interviewees that had email accounts were sent a short description of the study. They were asked to forward it to others in their social network who would be interested in participating in the study.
Interview Session
Locations in which interviews were conducted varied from cafes, informant’s residence, my residence, to library meeting rooms. Locations were chosen on the basis of convenience to the participant. An interview session lasted an average of 1.5 hours and was recorded on a digital recorder. All informants were requested to read the project information sheet and sign the consent25 form requesting permission to use, edit and publish data from interviews I conducted for my research, as part of the ethical procedure.
25 See Appendix 9 36 Through my interrogation on the construction of Chineseness, my methodological approach reflects the theoretical positions of this thesis. Through means of a dialogical approach, I sought to gain an understanding of individuals’ cross-cultural and social experiences within the Australian context through semi-structured interviews. Ethnography emphasizes the provision of a very detailed description of a different culture from the native point of view (Neuman 2000: 247). It assumes that social meaning is fragile and fluid where meaning is constantly being created and recreated in an ongoing process which incorporates the analysis of language and the context of speech. Essentially ethnography examines ordinary social interaction in detail to identify the rules for constructing social reality and ‘common sense’, how these rules are used in practice and how new rules are formed (ibid).
The study aimed to open a channel by diffusing the barrier between the researcher and the researched through weaving into respondents’ narratives by means of in-depth interview sessions. Semi-structured interviews took on the appearance of ordinary everyday conversation and depended on the social interaction between the respondent and I to elicit information. The format of questioning varied in accordance with the flow of exchange. The interview schedule was an aid for the purposes of focusing the various discussion themes. The postmodern turn problematises previous understandings of identity as singular and unchanging; by employing this method I seek to prevent the binary notion of the researcher as the creator of knowledge and the researched as the source of knowledge.
In some cases, informants provided visual artifacts such as family photographs, family tree, birth certificates, books and historical documents to aid the interview session. With a number of informants, first settlement date back to the late 1800s and family members had acquired prominence through the generations. Often their family histories were recorded in museums and historical literature. With some others, they had been researching about their family history and my interest in their social experience and family migration history seemed to provide a sense of recognition of their efforts. I was astounded by the amount of data collection that had been accomplished. With much generosity, personally researched information was often shared with me through the presentation of artifacts.
37 Having outlined the methodological approaches of the present study, the following section will discuss the methodological issues involved in the interview process and qualitative data as the basis of research analysis.
Diversity of Sample The sampling selection involved identifying long-established ABC who acknowledged their Chinese heritage and was based upon a predefined framework which was structured by age group26, gender and generational group. Both ‘mixed’ and ‘pure’ Chinese were included in the sample as the emphasis was not on ‘race’ or genetics but rather on self-conception as identity in the ongoing sense of how the self conceives of itself, and labels itself . As such, the sampling approach reflected the theoretical stance of the study which maintains that identity is a social construct. The aim was to obtain a diverse sample which would include individuals who held strong feelings about their Chinese heritage but also those that were indifferent to issues of identity. However, due to the nature of systematic selection, the sample was by nature limited and skewed.
Self-acknowledgement as Basis of Sampling Selection
One major factor influencing the diversity of the sample arose from the selection method which focused on selecting those that acknowledged their Chinese heritage. Similar to Tan’s (2004) study on Chinese in Australia, one of the most frequent concerns of potential informants was whether they were entirely suitable subjects of research. In circumstances where I was able to directly contact the individual, I would explain to them about the study and ask them to take part. Due to my stated interest in examining how they experienced Chineseness in everyday life, some respondents had apprehensions that they were ‘not Chinese enough’ or that their experience would ‘distort’ my results. However, after clarifying that whether or not they felt strongly ‘Chinese’ their social experience would still be important and valid to my research, these individuals agreed to participate in the study.
26 Due to ethical requirements, all participants of the study must be above the age of 18 at the time of the interview. 38 Inevitably, in the recruitment process, a few potential respondents27 who were approached by mediators refused to participate in the study. Respondents often acted as mediators by contacting other family members or friends within their own social network whom they knew fitted the sampling criteria, to participate in the study. Some individuals who refused to take part expressed that they were not interested in the research topic. Interestingly, this highlighted the limits of the sampling selection, as individuals who were not willing to be interviewed generally felt that Chinese identity issues were insignificant to them because Chineseness did not play a salient role in their everyday lives. In other words, although the aim was to obtain a diverse sample, it was generally skewed towards a group that was relatively conscious of their Chinese heritage. Martin 4(2), who acted as a mediator, observes the limitations involved in the recruitment of respondents based on self-conception:
I don't know why but my sister isn't that interested in being interviewed anymore. She is so slack, she always changes her mind about things. I suppose you also want to interview those people who are very ABC, and don't care too much about their Chinese heritage. The problem is that those people who aren't interested are unlikely to want to be interviewed because it's not an issue that's important to them, because they see themselves as Australian first. I suppose your sample is a bit skewed towards people like Sean and me who do feel strongly about their heritage.
Furthermore, the nature of such comments alerted me to the fact that individual family members experienced Chineseness in their own unique ways, which highlighted the value of including siblings or parents in my research group wherever possible. The advantage was not only in expanding my research pool but it also enabled in-depth analysis of the impact of family dynamics on the diverse ways informants constructed their identity. Hence, after each interview session I took the opportunity to inquire whether other family members of the respondent might be interested in participating in the study.
27 Potential respondents were those that ‘fit’ within the boundaries of the sampling criteria. 39 Gender, Age and Generation Cohort28
The sampling selection was based upon a predefined sampling framework which was divided by gender, age and generation29 cohort. The purpose of a predefined framework was to ensure a wide cross-section of experiences and perspectives would be offered by informants in different gender, age and generation groups. The selection of respondents reflects the community insofar as possible. The selection consisted of forty-three ABC with family histories of over three generations residing in Australia. A gender break- down of the informants shows that twenty-two are male and twenty-one are female. A break-down of age cohort shows: ten informants aged over 64; twelve aged between 45–61, eleven aged between 30–44 and ten aged between 18–29. A generational break- down indicates: eleven informants are third generation; twenty-two are forth generation and ten are fifth generation or over. Please see below an overview of the participants with respect to gender, generation cohort* and age:
Table 1: Generational Groupings Based on Gender and Age Groups Generational Age Groups Distance Male Female from China 18-29 30-44 45-61 62+ 18-29 30-44 45-61 62+ Marco Rodney Ralph Sarah Mary Vera 3(2) 3(3)* 3(2) 3(3) 3(3) 3(3) 3rd Danny Jerry Jean Tanya 3(3) 3(2) 3(3) 3(3) May 3(3) Dave Leon Pete Andrew Jean Janice Daisy Sandy 4(4) 4(4) 4(4) 4(2) 4(3) 4(4) 4(4) 4(2) Nelson Bruce Sunny George Debra Donna Jessi 4(2) 4(2) 4(4) 4(4) 4(4) 4(4) 4(3) 4th Martin Sean Don Catherine Dianne Lilly 4(2) 4(3) 4(4) 4(4) 4(4) 4(4) Dean 4(4) Bill Andy Rob Mandy Loucia Ada 5(5) 5(4) 5(5) 5(5) 5(4) 5(5)
5th + Gerard Bella Jenny 4(4) 5(5) 6(6) Alan 5(5) *The numbers immediately after the names represent migratory generations. See generational groupings later in this chapter for detailed explanation of the bracketed generational code.
28 See Appendix 10. 29 Generation cohorts refer to the number of generations the informants have been away from China. 40 Although the aim was to recruit participants based on a predefined sampling framework, dealing with the range or variables differentiating the life experience of informants posed some challenges in the recruitment process. During the initial development of the sampling framework it was anticipated that there would be difficulties in locating informants who were fifth generation and were over the age of sixty three. The reason that an estimation based on the earliest Chinese community presence in Australia, average life span and average child bearing years suggest, that such a category most likely would not exist presently. Within my expectation, informants of this category were unsuccessfully located.
Furthermore, the unevenness of distribution ratios between gender, age and generational cohorts reflects the snowball sampling effect through which informants were recruited for the study. Most categories of the predefined sampling framework were located except for a few cases; however, this was not overly problematic as the aspect of social- economic background (e.g. educational qualification, labour market status, marital status and suburb of residency) further diversified the experiences and perspectives of informants.
Socio-economic Diversity
Socio-economic background was another aspect which impacted on the diverse perspective of informants. The suburbs of residency was widely spread across the Sydney region, from the inner west (e.g. Bonnyrig) to eastern suburbs (e.g. Darling Point) and upper north (e.g. Bilgola Plateau) to Sydney south (e.g. Bexley). A marital break-down of informants shows that sixteen are married, six are divorced, two are widowed, seventeen have never married, and two are in a defacto relationship.30 Educational attainment break-down of informants shows that thirty-five received higher education and seven had either completed or reached high school. The diverse socio- economic background drew attention to the differential ways informants experienced Chineseness, which are important aspects in understanding the construction of their identity.31
30 See Appendix 12. 31 See Appendix 11. 41 The sampling of a wide cross-section aimed to magnify the control variability and diversity of identities within the research pool. The diversities in gender, age and generation cohorts were significant in highlighting the dynamics of temporal–spatial dimensions involved in the process of identity construction. Individual socio-economic background also contributed to the wide cross-section of experiences and perspectives.
Conceptual Complications of Generational Groupings
This study examines the social experiences of long-established ABC whose families have resided in Australia for over three generations. It has attempted to use the categories from the 2001 Census data on ancestry to assign respondents to a particular generational group by birthplace and generational distance from China. In the 2001 Census, the question “what is the person’s ancestry?” was asked and it suggested that people should answer the question with the ancestry or ancestries that they most closely identify with, and that they could count their ancestry as far back as their great grandparents. The combination of information on individual and parent’s birthplace makes it possible for people to be identified as first, second or third-plus generation Australian. According to ABS (2001), the groupings are classified as follows:
First generation refers to Australian residents who are born overseas.
Second generation refers to people who are born in Australia but have one or both parents who are overseas-born.
Long-established Australians refers to people who are born in Australia whose parents are also born in Australia.
While the definition of generational groupings according to birthplace is conceptually neat, i.e. mutually exclusive, the definition quickly proves problematic in the face of empirical realities, particularly in the classification of ABC.
42 Firstly, although the definitions are based upon the birthplace of individuals and their parents, they do not acknowledge their ‘ethnic’ background. For the purposes of this study, individuals, whether ‘pure’ or ‘mixed’ Chinese, who acknowledged their Chinese heritage were included in this study. Self-acknowledgment of genealogy and race is deliberate as the study is concerned with the politics of Chineseness within the context of Australian multiculturalism.
Secondly, according to the definition of third-plus generations, it suggests that both parents have to be Australian-born in order to be categorised as a long-established ABC. However, for the purposes of this study only one parent needs to be Australian-born in order to be considered as third generation and so on for the higher orders. Allowance of greater flexibility is deliberate as the study is concerned with the impact of long-term residency on identity construction.
Thirdly, according to Khoo (2004), it is not possible to differentiate between third and higher orders generation in the 2001 census data. Furthermore the structure of the definition only addresses the birthplace but does not provide the generational distance an individual is away from China. These indicators are important aspects highlighting the diverse ways long-term ABC experience Chineseness. With the absence of segregated categorisations by the ABS, the present study hence identifies higher orders as follows:
Third generation ABC or 3(3) refers to people who are third generation away from China, were born in Australia and have one or both parents born in Australia.
Fourth generation ABC or 4(4) refers to people who are fourth generation away from China, were born in Australia, have one or both parents and grandparents born in Australia.
Fifth generation ABC or 5(5) refers to people who are fifth generation away from China, were born in Australia and have one or both parents, grandparents and great grandparents born in Australia.
43 Fourthly, it has to be highlighted that definitions based on generation and birthplace classification can never be totally clear-cut as there will always be cases situated in zones of liminality. The above categorisations are not always a straightforward matter as definitions do not always capture the rich variation in migratory flows and generational position. Complex migratory movements and marriage patterns can be highlighted by the continuous movements between China and Australia in a number of families. Many of the early generations were sojourners such that they travelled back and forth between China and Australia. The early discriminatory migration policy inhibited Chinese women to come into Australia. As a consequence of the unequal gender distribution Chinese men often returned to their homeland with the purpose of searching for a bride, and children would thus be born in China (Choi 1975).
For example, with the case of Andrew, although the previous three generations from the paternal side of the family have resided in Australia, he was the first to be born outside of China. Andrew’s great grandfather migrated to Australia in the late 1800s and later returned to China to marry as “there were hardly any Chinese women around at the time”. His grandfather was born in China but subsequently returned to Australia as a young adult. Upon reaching marital age, Andrew’s grandfather also returned to China to get married and subsequently his father was born overseas. Andrew’s father later migrated to Australia as a young adult and settled permanently. He married a HK-born migrant in Australia, where Andrew was born. In short, Andrew is the fourth generation away from China but a second generation ABC. For the purposes of this study he is considered as a forth generation ABC or 4(2). In other words, classification is based upon generational distance from China calculated from the side of the family which has the longest residence in Australia.
Furthermore, complex migratory movements can be highlighted by the continuous migratory movements not only between China and Australia but also a third place of settlement; for a number of the participants, their family migratory movement also included PNG32. Since 1921 the territory was formally under Australian civil administration until 1975 when it gained independence from Australia. During this period, citizens were given Australian citizenship and so a number of Chinese migrants
32 See List of Abbreviation. 44 in PNG moved to Australia in search of a better life as economic prospects were more promising in Australia. For a number of Chinese families the migratory journey was a departure from China to PNG, then to Australia. Such complex movement can be highlighted by Nelson’s family. His paternal great grandfather migrated from China to PNG in the late 1800s for commercial reasons. His grandfather was born in PNG but went back to China for education and married his grandmother. The couple later returned to PNG where his father was born. Both his grandparents and father were given Australian citizenship under the Australian mandate. In the 1960s his father moved to Australia to study and married his mother, a first generation HK migrant. Nelson was later to be born in Sydney. In short, Nelson is technically the fourth generation to be away from China but a second generation ABC. For the purposes of the study he will be identified as fourth generation ABC or 4(2).
In highlighting the complexity of classification, one can see the difficulties of presenting generational groupings in a precise and systematic form. This reaffirms the position of the study that identity is fluid and continually shifting. The significance of gaps in an individual’s family migratory and birthplace history reveals the complications of typology. Similar problems regarding presentation of generational indicators have been highlighted by Tan’s (2004: 49) intergenerational study on Chinese Australians, where she states “…generational indicators are so complex it is extremely difficult to identify these accurately and present them in any clear, coherent way.” Nonetheless, noting the complexity of generational groupings of respondents provides an understanding of the significant advantage in employing a qualitative approach – that is, a potential to identify a diversity of unseen variations within individual circumstances, particularly within family migratory movements.
Conclusion
In this chapter I outlined the logic of inquiry undertaken in this study while also addressing methodological issues involved in in-depth interview data as a basis for qualitative research and analysis. I provided a reflective account on limitations encountered in the process of data collection and highlighted the complications of generational classification for long-established ABC. Moreover, I presented the rationales involved in the development of sampling parameters (age group, gender and
45 generational distance from China) for identifying informants whose interviews have been used as a basis of critical analysis. While I outlined shared commonalities amongst the informants, I also identified important socio-economic variables (suburb of residency, education, marital status) which differentiate them individually. Having established the methodological approaches used to develop this study, the following chapter will examine the present body of literature on identity issues with respect to the experiences of Chinese in Australia.
46 CHAPTER 3 IDENTITY FORMATION AND CHINESENESS
The notion of identity is one of the most important organising principles of modernity. It has provided an overarching conceptual framework to understand larger areas of social life. However, the traditional concept of identity which assumes orderly patterns and static positions has come under attack because of its political limitations. For example, although ‘Chinese’ identity functions as a socially constructed category, it can be argued that it is not a genuine ethnicity. In other words, Chineseness is not an inert fact of nature. Just like any other racial collectivity, it is not merely there, but is ‘ideas’ that have histories and tradition of thoughts, imageries, and vocabularies that have given it reality and presence in and for the West (Said 1978). The word ‘Chinese’ is conventionally seen as a common place and regularly represents both a single language and a group of ‘dialects’ – the citizens of China and an enormous range of citizens of other countries, some of whom may speak one or more Chinese dialects among others, but many of whom have nothing in common with China except a distant line of descent (Reid & Reynolds 1999). Similar to other overseas work on Chinese diaspora such as Leung’s (2004) research in Germany, Man’s (2004) work in Canada, Greif’s (1974) and Ip’s (2003) studies in New Zealand, diasporic Chinese in Australia like any overseas Chinese communities are embedded in complex communal relationships constructed along divisions of birthplace, language, gender, generation, occupational background and political and religious affiliation. Leung (2006: 243) asserts these divisions change in time and space across the life course, carving out dynamic socio-cultural spaces for different individuals in the Chinese diaspora; this in turn forms their sometimes common, at other times dissimilar, experiences and self-perceptions. Thus, the monolithic construct of ‘Chinese’ needs to be re-addressed in order to better our understanding of the emergence of a new kind of diasporic experience for ‘Chinese’ overseas. As such, in these differing contexts, ‘Chinese’ can take on a wide diversity of meaning. The inadequacy of this single word, commonly used to represent an
47 extraordinary multiplicity of meanings has become the basis of social and political tension.
Consequently, the shift towards a postmodernist perspective on identity characterised by individualism, fragmentation, uncertainty and fluidity has gained much credence. Although it is correct that identities are not determined by any one social collectivity, nevertheless the major limitation of postmodern perspective is its inability to sufficiently account for the social and historical specifications of ethnicity and race, and their relation to cultural production (Nguyen 2000). Therefore, this chapter seeks to re- evaluate the conceptions of identity, as it is much more complex than what is commonly appreciated. The central focus is to engage broadly with the ideas of those who have sought to overcome the inadequacy of theoretical models by engaging in the flow of social processes and interactions that impact on the establishment of identity.
This chapter begins by an overview of the changing conceptions of identity as a result of dynamic global conditions which has led to the present state of dystopia. With greater spatial mobility characteristic of our present world, the once clear and definite markers of identity are becoming uncertain, and recognition has become a site of political affairs. I review the limitations pertinent in the two dominant perspectives on cultural identity, essentialism and postmodernism. The postmodernist perspective argues that old conceptions of essentialism are simply incapable of capturing the essence of the rapidly changing nature of global movements and new analytical frameworks need to understand the complex nature of shifting cultural identities. The general tendency is to delegitimise essentialist conceptions of identity because postmodernism argues that selves they claim to designate cannot be definitely defined. Identities are constantly being reconstructed through relational positioning and so it is ambiguity rather than a fixed essence that is central to social experience (Bauman 2000). However, despite the ambiguities of identity, essentialist notions still serve as the basis of the organisation of human beings which have been largely unaccounted in postmodernist literary. Identity is an imagined concept and its analysis is predicated on the centrality of collective constructs in shaping social life and the existence of firm social barriers. Instead of delegitimising essentialist identities as the postmodernists have pursued, I adhere to Mohanty (2000) that it is more fruitful to examine the
48 strategic forms of essentialism; that is, to seek an understanding of how individuals construct and deal with social determinants which are ‘real’ to everyday life.
In order to dismantle the concept of collective identities, in Part 2 I provide an analysis of the constructs of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’. This is fundamental to the central theoretical argument that although identity is an imagined construct and is contextually activated, essentialist notions were and continue to be the basis for the establishment of social positions. At a concrete level, members of diasporic communities do indeed position themselves according to specific collectivities. As Friedman (1997: 71) explains, with a declining hegemonic order in the age of globalisation, “we find a return to roots, to fixed identification that are immune, in principle from social change”. There is growing importance in the globalisation discourse to emphasize collective constructs of ethnicity and identity. On such a level of analysis, identity is examined through individual experiences where essentialised constructs function as the organising principal, differentiating one group from another.
However, at a more abstract level, the formation of identity is seen as a fluid process which is characterised by ambivalence and contradictions. According to Papastergiadis (2000: 33), ambivalence refers not only to the emotional oscillation from desire to disgust, but also the very difficulty a stranger encounters in understanding the identity of others. It is this difficulty in identifying the other and being able to articulate one’s relationship to the other that exposes the limitations of the conceptual frameworks at the abstract level. What do ambivalences around identity and imagery mean? According to Watson (1997: 25), they can be viewed as evidence for “the passage of real contradictions into consciousness” which are “fertile fields to plough”. As such, the ambivalences of ‘being Chinese’ are critically important for understanding how identity is formed.
Determining what it takes to be included and excluded may seem necessary in understanding the experiences of the diasporic community. However, this approach shadows essentialism insofar as it still conceptualises ‘identity’ through the traditional rigid structures. What is of more relevance is examining the social significance of markers of identity in differing contexts. In view of the contextual nature of Chineseness, it is fundamental to understand the nuances of recognition which form the
49 central argument for Part 3 of this chapter. Although in the discourse of Chinese diasporic studies, multiplicity of identities is well acknowledged, nevertheless the persistence of essentialist ideology still resonates in diasporic discourses. This is evidenced in the assumption that diasporic communities have certain similar cultural symbols that originated in China. Tan (2004) acknowledges the variations in cultural practices of Chinese diasporic communities all over the world, but argues that these reflect common ‘Chinese’ principles in their own unique ways. Similarly, Tu (1994b) challenges the holistic boundaries that normally define Chineseness but encapsulates the notion of ‘cultural China’ by emphasizing the periphery as the center. While these approaches recognise the varied experiences of diasporic Chinese, the focus on the origin of cultural symbols and cultural center seems to contradict the changing nature of identity. The point is that similarities and diversities exist in ‘Chinese’ cultural continuity and cultural transformation, as well as in expression of cultural identities. It is thus important to understand that each Chinese society has its own cultural conception of Chineseness, which is invariably different from Chinese communities elsewhere. Not only does the meaning of ‘Chineseness’ of these diasporic communities changes the cultural practices in China are also changing, and in each locality where there are also localised traditions. In fact, global cultural forces including Chinese culture from overseas also influence local culture in mainland China (Tan 2004). This study does not try to stipulate what exactly ‘Chineseness’ means in a static sense, rather it seeks to understand how members of the diasporic communities assert and manipulate their identities, and questions what it takes to be recognised as ‘belonging’.
Furthermore, the hegemonic discourse of authenticity is often predicated on issues of recognition. Diaspora literature has argued that ‘Chineseness’ has been continually (re)constructed as a result of the lingering dominant hegemony of Western culture (Chow 1998; Ang 2001). The discourse of Chineseness often reflects stereotyping of ethnic subjects imposed by the mainstream recognition of non-Western representations. However, I suggest it is also important to understand that although racialised ascriptions are often imposed by dominant groups, in-group members also play an important role in establishing their own hierarchy of identities. Therefore I examine authenticity by exploring the social significance of racial and cultural identity markers in different contexts and situations. I highlight the inadequacy of the generic assertion of physicality and language as a source of authentication. The following section proceeds to review
50 the essentialist and postmodern conception of ‘identity’ which is seminal in shaping the theoretical stance of this study.
Part 1 The Formation of Identity: A Conceptual Framework
The topic of cultural identity, as many argue, remains one of the most controversial and intensely debated subjects in sociological and cultural studies. Concepts of identity offer ways of conceptualizing individuality, community and solidarity and have provided essential means of understanding the social relations of human beings within and between different cultures (Abu-Lughod 1991; Chambers 1994; Hutnyk 1999; Papastergiadis 2000; Young 1995). Interestingly, while much has been written about identity, there has been a tendency, particularly by postmodernists, to delegitimise the concept itself by revealing its ontological and political limitations (Moya 2000a). The postmodernist critique of identity that I am highlighting should be understood partly as a corrective to a prior social tendency towards essentialism. The problem with essentialist conceptions of identity is the tendency to posit one aspect of identity as the single cause that determines the social meanings of an individual’s experience. While the postmodernist debates on the theoretical ambiguities of identity have gained much credence, socially embedded essentialist notions have been and are still serving as the fundamental organising principle of human beings. The fact is not only is it a state- imposed criteria for group identity, but that for many people identity feels ‘real’. Since collectivised notions of identity are crucial in giving meaning to everyday life their impact should not be underestimated. As Mohanty (2000) argues, a good theory of identities does more than simply celebrate or dismiss the various uses of identity, rather it provides explanation of where and why identities are problematic and where and why they are empowering.
This aim of this section is to bring to light major dimensions of the essentialist and postmodernist orientation as a tool to understand the dynamic formation of identity. I begin by reviewing the changing conceptions of identity from the ‘essentialist’ to ‘postmodernist’ orientation. Through examining the concepts of race and ethnicity I
51 highlight the limitations of both perspectives. In doing so, I suggest an alternative orientation which grounds the theoretical framework of this study.
Security in Essentialism Throughout modern history, the nationalisation of space by the state through the establishment of identity categories has been the organising principle in society. This was achieved through the deliberate shaping of identities through the process of simplification and rationalisation of social life. The attraction of the nation state was its actions that aimed at laying certainty and assurance of its citizens on a durable and trustworthy (since collectively insured) foundation. Mathews (2000: 7) notes that, throughout recent history, states have culturally shaped their citizens to believe that “the state and citizens are one within the ‘way of life’ of people, and citizens have for the most part believed this without a question”. The state used idealised concepts of the nation to justify its molding of disparate groups of rural people into urban mass society, through the establishment of a common identity. The simplification of diversity under a common identity was pertinent in the nation-building project in which people identified with a specific group for a sense of social solidarity through belongingness. This led to the development of collective cultural identities relating to class, religion, ethnicity and citizenship which were constructed in a homogenous way so that citizens could become members of a particular community which enabled them to be part of a nation-building project that promised solidarity and security (Smith 1999). The essentialist framework based on collective cultural identities was supposed to make visible the divisions between members and outsiders through homogenous racial notions.
The molding into a common identity was accepted as the natural order of life and the essentialist tendency was inherent in the basis of identity constructions. Communities were understood to be “units of belonging whose members shared cultural meanings … characterized by strong collective identities and high cultural cohesion” (Kempny 2003: 305). This vision of community was that of “an island of homely and cosy tranquility in a sea of turbulence and inhospitality”, such that being a part of a group seemingly ensured a sense of security and was a token to meaningful and rewarding life (Bauman 2000: 182). Identifying with a particular community was not a choice between different referents of belonging, rather it was between belonging and rootlessness, home and
52 homelessness, being and nothingness. The rigid structure of spatial relations meant that people were either classified as a part of a social group through the notion of sameness or a stranger (Simmel 1950). This single homogenous point of view was established through the construction of an ‘imaginary community’, a sense of belonging sustained as much by fantasy and the imagination as by any geographical or physical reality (Chambers 1994). Individuals imagined themselves to be complete and to have a full identity but certainly not to be open to fragmentation. Such an essentialist view assumes that identity common to members of a social group is relatively stable and unchanging since it is based on the experiences they share.
However, essentialist notions became seriously challenged, since they often ignore historical and social changes and neglect internal differences within a group by only acknowledging the experiences that are common to everyone (Moya 2000a). The complications of essentialist conceptions quickly become exposed as one begins to unravel the concept of ‘identity’ and its association with ‘race’, particularly for the diasporic communities. I will return to this point in the discussion on the concept of race and ethnicity. Appadurai (1997: 34) highlights that identity is a social imaginary that is influenced by a number of dimensions including ‘ethnoscape’. In this respect, the landscape of diasporic communities constitutes a shifting world, which includes tourists, immigrants, individuals and other moving groups and more importantly, challenges essentialist concepts of identity. The previously assumed isomorphism of space, time, community, identity and culture which Bauman (1998) claims as the ‘anchorage of society’ have been denied in the era of globalisation.
Ambivalence in Postmodernism
Countering the collective construction of identity is the postmodernist perspective which is in part seen as a corrective approach to the previous social and scholarly tendency towards essentialism. It insists that it needs to deconstruct the conceptually flawed and politically pernicious essentialist conceptions of identity. According to Nguyen (2000: 171), postmodernism is defined as:
53 …an intellectual position characterised by an epistemology of racial scepticism that takes truth and objectivity to be always socially and discursively constructed, mediated by power, discourse and desire.
This definition is common of the postmodernists view to cultural identities which argues that they are fictitious or unreal because the selves they claim to designate cannot be fixed and definitely defined (Moya 2000a).
The prominence of such phenomenon is highlighted in the countless discussions examining the nature of identity formation, where synonymous metaphors such as ‘flows and streams’ (Urray 2000) and ‘liquid modernity’ (Bauman 2000) have been used to challenge the inadequacy and disorderedness of collectivist cultural frameworks. The distinctiveness of the postmodernist approach is its treatment of the concept of difference, where it either internalises difference so that the individual is seen as ‘fragmented’ and ‘contradictory’ or attempts to subvert difference by showing that ‘difference’ is merely a discursive illusion (Moya 2000b: 68). As such the essentialist ideal of achieving ordered identity is doubtful: as expressed by Pickering (2001: 49), the critical lack of presence of order in our present world demands that, “…the Other be turned into an object of happy assimilation, as a spectacle, an exhibit, a source of entertainment or as fantasy”.
Postmodernism argues that the complication of shifting identities is distorting the imaginary of unity. The fluid movement of identity is seen as a journey that is often open and incomplete where there is no fixed identity. Chambers (1994: 25) explains:
So identity is form on the move, identity is formed at the unstable point where the “unspeakable” stories of subjectivity meet the narratives of history, of a culture. In that passage, and the sense of place and belonging that we construct there, our individual stories, our conscious drives and desires, acquire a form that is always contingent, in transit without a goal without an end.
This suggests that the self is continuously transforming and is opened to questioning, rewriting and rerouting. In this context, the formation of identity is seen as a hybrid
54 process where the self becomes a flexible zone, opening up multiple discourses (Mathews 2000). It involves complex transformations and the self in this respect is made of past memories and future anticipation linked to an ever-transforming present (Hall 1996). As such it enters into a state of hybridity in which no single narrative can confidently claim to represent the truth about the real world (Chambers 1994; Bhabha 1994).
Postmodernism in particular insists that experiences and histories cannot represent the truth. It holds the view that “identities are fabricated and constructed rather than self- evidently deduced from experience – since they claim that experience cannot be a source of objective knowledge” (Mohanty 2000: 31). Therefore there is no single frame that unites these experiences and histories, which implies that there is no privileged representation of reality, nor is there language in which the truth about the real world can be confidently asserted (Hawkes 1992). Thus, a fully objective perception of individual entities is not possible as any individual is bound to create something of what an individual observes (Berger 1984). Hawkes (1992: 17) notes that the true nature of things does not lie in things themselves, but rather “in relationships, which we construct and then perceive between”. In other words, experience is not a reliable source of knowledge because it is a social construction that is fluid in nature and thus cannot be a foundation of social identity.
The unconscious shifts in the social imaginary of a global system are producing changes in identity and culture that are beyond the boundaries of the conventional sociological frameworks, consequently destabilising the foundations of the nation-state which was built upon the rigid notion of sameness and difference. Bauman (1998: 38) argues that “the present situation of the world looks rather as a file of scattered and disparate forces, sedimenting in places difficult to predict and gathering momentum impossible to arrest”. The ‘dystopia’ of late modernity has come about as a result of the transformations of social frameworks; they have moved away from the once anchoring concepts of unification which conveyed hope and determination of order-making and sense of belongingness, to fluidity which is shaped by uncertainty and disorder. The impact of progressive waves of transnational movements has led to a distortion of time and space such that there are no longer any clearly defined identities. As Appadurai (1997: 26) contends, “the world we live in now seems rhizomic and even schizophrenic
55 which is calling for theories of rootlessness and alienation on one hand, and the fantasies (or nightmares) of virtual connectedness on the other”. The general sense of the present condition is that a sense of security and belonging through communitarism has become unattainable. People are thus left to deal with existential questions which once seemed to have concrete answers. The general awareness of this phenomenon has transcended into the angst of modern society. Chambers (1994: 25), however, holds a more positive view, suggesting that such recognition “permits us to acknowledge the limits of ourselves and with the possibility of dialoguing across the subsequent differences-boundary or horizon…” Thus, if communitarism and nationalism arose out of the rootlessness of disparate people displaced into urban society, one could argue that diasporic ambivalences are arising from the displacement of people induced by cross- border migratory movement and technological revolution of a globalising era.
Relational Nature of Identity
Cultural identity (or any identity) gains its significance by relational positioning through the local and global settings of life. Underlying this construction of identity categories is the ongoing sense of how the self conceives of itself and labels itself (Giddens 1990) which intersects with three interacting processes – that is, how we perceive ourselves to be, who we want to be perceived and what the other perceives you to be. Paradoxically, the tendency is to focus on that which divides the ‘self’ from the ‘other’, yet to focus on difference is something we all share (Sax 1998). Such process of othering is based on “allowing the other an apparent aura” which inherently involves the calculation of relationship between the self and the other (Trinh 1991: 186). A person’s identity will vary depending on the context and function of the questions posed to their identity in a particular instance. In this respect, a postmodernist perspective argues that a fully objective perception of individual entities is not possible, as any individual is bound to create something through relational positioning between the ‘self’ and the ‘other’. Hawkes (1992: 17) notes that the true nature of things does not lie in things themselves, but rather “in relationships, which we construct and then perceive between”. Identities are therefore not simply established by the ‘facts’ of an individual but rather by the perceptions of these socially constructed ‘facts’. In other words, cultural identities in some ways are “fictitious” because the selves they claim to represent cannot be pinned down, fixed or definitely identified.
56 The instability and heterogeneity of identity have prompted critiques of the essentialist conception of identity where the tendency is to posit one aspect of identity such as ‘race’ as the sole determinant constituting the social meaning of an individual’s experience. Identities are constituted differently in different social and historical context as discussed previously; so, for example, a working class ‘Chinese’ woman living in mainland China might experience Chineseness very differently from a middle class ‘Chinese’ housewife in Australia. Even if the two women were living in close proximity to each other – for example, the Shanghainese house-helper/maid and the HK immigrant housewife living in Canada – their experiences of Chineseness will be different because of their social status. Furthermore, if both women were living in Australia but in different historical times, their experiences of Chineseness would be very different: for example, an obvious comparison would be between women living in the early 1900s during the era of the White Australian Policy as compared to Chinese women presently living in Australia where the official policy is multiculturalism. As such, it is difficult to coherently describe the social meanings inscribed in those experiences in the same terms, which suggests social meanings attached to ‘race’ (or ethnicity depending on the context) are invariably different. These examples illustrate that, contrary to an essentialist view, collective identity categories are not static or homogenous.
The heterogeneity and relational nature of identity can be further understood through group membership. A person can concomitantly belong to different social groups which combine with and mutually constitute one another. For example, membership in one group, such as maleness, could mean something different in the context of some simultaneous group membership such as Chineseness, or another group such as fatherhood. The important consequence of such facts is that one cannot understand the self definitely as the sum of so many separate parts (maleness + Chineseness + fatherhood), but rather it is the mutual interaction and relations of parts to one another. Hames-Garcia (2000: 105) explains the totality of such relations in the establishment of the self:
Politically salient aspects of the self, such as race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender and class, link and imbricate themselves in fundamental ways. These various categories of social identity do not, therefore, comprise
57 essentially separate ‘axes’ that occasionally ‘intersect’. Such ‘salient aspects’ of the self expand one another and mutually constitute each other’s meaning.
Thus, the subjective experience of any social group’s constituent membership depends fundamentally on relations to memberships in other social groups. Fluidity stimulates the fusion of identity and movement where the central question arises of how individuals interpret, construct and reconstruct themselves and the culture of which they are a part (Anderson 1999; Chun 1996).
Indeed the way in which identity is established largely depends on how the self and the other are interpreted. Interpretation and construction of identity depends fundamentally on relations of power between social groups. The authority of relational positioning is highlighted by Chow (1998: 12) in her assessment of the significance of the Chinese language:
For the white person, in other words, competence in Chinese is viewed as a status symbol, an additional professional asset; for the Chinese person, a competence in Chinese is viewed rather as an index to existential values, of which one must supply a demonstration if one is not native Beijing. And of course, if one is not a native Beijing and thus not bonafide by definition, this attempt to prove oneself would be a doomed process from the beginning.
The social expectations percolating from a particular identity – whether ‘white’ or Chinese are subjected to relational positioning which changes according to social contexts and situations. The significance of an essentialised characteristic in this instance, language, is valued differently; for the ‘white’ person it is a status symbol, whereas for the Chinese it is an index to existential values. Because identities are constructed through relational positioning, there is no objective or essential part of an individual that can be considered as a concrete identity. Identities evolve through interactions and therefore are always in a state of being reconstructed and reshaped. As such, identities should always be considered in a context. However, this does not necessary make them less real to the participants.
58 Accepting Diversity, Accepting Solidarity Although the postmodernist approach is useful in understanding the constructed nature of identity and contextualising the present global condition where boundaries of collectivities seem to be increasingly blurred, these critiques have not adequately carried out the important task of evaluating the political implications of identity. As Said (1978: 5) rightly points out, “to believe that such things [identities] happen simply as a necessity of the imagination, is to be disingenuous”. It is thus important to evaluate the adequacy of the postmodernist perspective as a framework for the analysis of this study.
One of the major contradictions of the postmodernist approach is that its celebration of difference unintentionally creates a kind of universalising sameness, such that we are all marginal. Moya (2000b: 68) explains, “the institutionalization of a discourse of postmodernism has spawned an approach to difference that ironically erases the distinctiveness and relationality of difference itself.” Along similar lines, Dunn (1998:29) writes:
Unfortunately, despite a growing rejection of identity politics in favor of a politics of difference, a postmodern move intended to avoid essentialising and stabling connections, difference has remained inadequately theorized. In most postmodern writing, difference has become another essentialism and universal, whether through inclusionary or exclusionary strategies.
To hold the kind of skepticism towards experience as the postmodernist have pursued, would lead to a strange conclusion that the experiences of members of societies are irrelevant to explain their moral and political growth (Mohanty 2000). Although the postmodernist argument that identities are not homogeneously determined by any one social collectivity is correct, it however misses an important point that social collectivities such as ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ are relevant to the construction of identities. As Friedman (1997: 71) rightly acknowledges, the formerly ideally homogenous Sweden is nowadays increasingly segregated by demands for power from the Sami,
59 from parts of the regions and from immigrant groups; while in the national population there has been an increasing ethnic sentiment. This process is paralleled in some other nations of Europe (e.g. France) and in the United States. The fact is that collectivist social constructs are core components in the process of identity formation which is inescapable from the dialectics of sameness and difference.
As highlighted previously, identity is conditioned through ongoing interactions between the ‘self’ with the ‘other’ which involves a process of relational positioning. People can identify a person of Chinese background because of certain predefined signifiers which mark differences from the self to the ‘other’ – Chineseness is not Englishness, not Frenchness and so on. The boundaries of inclusion and exclusion are thus based on essentialist constructs which are vital elements in shaping and giving meaning in social lives. Thus, cultural identity is rarely a question of who one is as an individual, despite appearances to the contrary, but always of who we are, as a group (Chun 1996). The substance of any identity is based on the reality that individual security can only be attained in a social setting in which the security of one individual depends on the association with others (Carter 2004). The fact that scholars such as Ang (Asianness) and McKinney (whiteness) organise and theorise on the basis of identities which are innately tied to the social collectivities such as ethnicity and gender that make up their individual social location, contradicts the postmodernist rejection of identity. In this respect, essentialist or collective identity categories provide important modes of articulating and examining significant correlations between the lived experience and the social location.
The postmodernist approach lacks an analysis of how the social categories that make up one’s social location are relevant for one’s experience as well as how those experiences inform cultural identities. The irony is that postmodernism cannot conceive a way to ground identities without essentialising them. The major limitation of postmodern perspectives on theoretical collectivities then, is its inability to sufficiently account for the social and historical specifications of ethnicity and race and their relation to cultural production (Nguyen 2000). Such critique of the postmodern perspective of identity is opportune and relevant; as it highlights the significant weaknesses in the postmodernist framework by drawing attention to the intellectual and political limitations of employing such a framework to the racial context.
60 In short, the limitations of both the essentialist and postmodern approaches have tended to overestimate or underestimate the political salience of actual identities. As Moya (2000a: 7) points out, neither ‘essentialist’ nor ‘postmodernist’ theories of identity are able to adequately analyse the epidemic status and political salience of any given identity or provide the resource to ascertain and evaluate the possibilities and limits of different identities. I argue that despite the ambiguities of identity, essentialist notions still serve as the basis of the organisation of human beings which has been largely unaccounted for in postmodernist literarure. It must be emphasized that I am not attempting to rehabilitate an essentialist notion of identity – the critiques and fallacy of essentialism have well been explored. What I propose adheres to Moya’s (2000a, 2000b) argument that is to acknowledge how social categories of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ function in individual lives without constricting individuals to those social collectivities. Instead of delegitimising essentialist identities as the postmodernists have pursued, it is more fruitful to examine the strategic forms of essentialism; that is, to seek an understanding of how individuals construct and deal with social determinants which are ‘real’ to everyday life. Thus as Alcoff and Mohanty (2006: 6) articulate, the theoretical issue concerning identities “is not whether they are constructed but what difference different kinds of construction make.” In this respect, this thesis argues the negotiations of Chineseness across the life course can lead to varying life trajectories; therefore, recognising its changes has the potential to enhance the understanding of the ‘real’ impact of identity on individual lives.
Identities are not simply imposed by society, individuals also are involved in the process of constructing their own identity that enables them to better understand and negotiated the social world. Individuals will internalise and enculturate the social norms and values of the particular cultural group that they belong to. As Kuah-Pearce (2006: 225) maintains, they will “interrogate and engage in not only the material but also the ideological orientation of the cultures and structures of the society that they are in”. As such, identities are the locus by which social, political and cultural constructs are played out, reinforced and sometimes challenged. “Social identities can be mired in distorted ideologies, but they can also be the lenses through which we learn to view our world accurately” (Alcoff and Mohanty 2006: 6). It is thus a false dilemma to suppose that we should accept pernicious uses of identity or pretend they do not exist. Part 2 follows on
61 from this argument and examines the pernicious and strategic uses of identity through the concepts of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’.
Part 2 Conceptualising ‘Race’ and ‘Ethnicity’
Collectivised social constructs are important in prompting specific cultural identities, as they have been built upon complex traditions of politics, ethics, identity and culture through the passing of time. As discussed, collective identities have been accepted by people as the natural order of things as they enabled them to be part of a nation-building project that promised protection and solidarity. At particular moments in history, certain characteristics such as ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ have come to be naturalised qualities of an identity and they are important sources of security and collective strength for individuals. The emphasis placed on belonging to such a collectivity marks out the divisions and subsets of our social lives. As Gilroy (2004: 25) highlights:
However dissimilar individual bodies are, the compelling idea of common, racially indicative bodily characteristic offers a welcome short- cut into the favored forms of solidarity and connection, even if they are effectively denied by divergent patterns in life chances and everyday experience.
Racial notions and their distinctive social structures have enabled individuals to define boundaries between the unevenness and heterogeneity of human beings. ‘Race’ and ‘ethnicity’ are closely related concepts which serve to consolidate not only the subdivision of humankind but also a racial hierarchy, established through racial boundaries.
One of the naturalised qualities of identity fundamental to the creation of racial and ethnic boundaries is inescapably associated with that of the body. The pernicious symptom of ‘race’ is the tendency to view physicality as the defining cultural marker of identities. The reading of physical appearance is embodied with essentialised notions of identity groupings, and consequently individuals are often positioned in a racial
62 hierarchical location at first sight. As Gilroy (ibid) contends, “the bodies of a culture’s practitioners can be called upon to supply the proof of where that culture fits in the inevitable hierarchy of value”. Physical attributes provide the preeminent basis on which a culture is to be ethnically assigned and is often the basis of how one is recognised as belonging to such a collectivity. The significance of physicality perpetuates in the discourse of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ where such concepts fall back on the fallacy of essentialism. In particular, is the interpretation of stereotypical features as being natural and thus biologically determined. I shall return to this point when I discuss the biological theory of race in the following section.
In attempting to understand the conceptual differentiation of racial and ethnic boundaries, the notion of community needs to be considered. Membership of any ‘racial’ community is something that is subjectively meaningful to the individual concerned, and can be based upon a combination of categories such as country of birth, nationality, language spoken at home, skin colour, birthplace, religion and geographical origin. Kibria (1998: 942) explains:
Questions of community are embedded in the dynamics by which a racialised group comes to define itself in terms of common ancestry, history and a set of cultural symbols that they see as capturing the essence of peoplehood.
The variations within racialised groups are often linked to the making of ethnic groups. Such differences shape the community that surrounds them. The concept of ethnicity provides a useful scheme for understanding the specific questions that inform the politics of community within racialised groups. Kibria (ibid) suggests ethnic communities can be defined as communities of interest, institutional communities and communities of culture, while for racialised groups the politics of community may revolve around questions about the larger dimensions of community.
Nonetheless, definitions of what constitutes a ‘racial’ and ‘ethnic’ group are subject to much discussion and to explicate the difference between these concepts is not such an easy task (Modood 1997). It can be argued that there is no consensus on what constitutes racialised groups and the terminology used to describe them has changed significantly over time. Concisely, although they are perceived as different social 63 categories such that ‘race’ often relates to a broader grouping of people based on boundaries of culture and biology (e.g. Asians), whereas ‘ethnicity’ relates to the sub- categories within a larger racial group (e.g. Japanese, Taiwanese or Chinese), these concepts are also completely interwoven and are often difficult to conceive one without the other. Therefore, it is more important to understand that both social constructs have become essential operations of power where dialectics of sameness and difference are often contested.
Challenging the Biological Theory of Race
The common notion of ‘race’ classifies people collectively by differentiating a distinct population of humans in some way from other humans. ‘Race’ has commonly been perceived as visible physical divisions among humans that are hereditary, reflected in morphology, and roughly but correctly captured by terms like ‘black’, ‘white’ and ‘Asian’. The biological theory of ‘race’ separates people into different genetic stocks such that every individual’s race has been stamped by nature. As such, physicality becomes the initial determinant of membership to a particular racial group. Crudely speaking, we may not always be able to define race but we can always tell ‘race’ when we see it.
Although ‘race’ historically has been viewed as a biological construct, it is now known to be more accurately characterised as a social category that has changed over time and varies across societies and cultures. The American Academy of Pediatrics (2000:1349) suggests:
Racial disparities in health generally do not reflect biologically determined differences in the genome or physiology…[and]…genetic differences between racial groups are small compared with genetic differences within groups, so racial differences in diseases are, to a significant degree, currently unexplained.
Such scientific evidence rightly challenges the biological theory of race which has been central to the everyday categorisation of people.
64 Furthermore, traditional notions of ‘race’ based on biological constructs are increasingly problematic particularly with the advancement of biotechnology. The rise of gene-oriented construction of race which underlines the meaning of racial difference is itself being challenged as the relationship between human beings and nature is changing as a consequence of the DNA revolution. Such complication can easily be highlighted by the international transracial trade in internal organs and other body parts for transplant. Another example is the manipulation of human fertility through donor egg and sperm programs which raises issues of whether mothers of one “race” might deliberately choose to bear babies of a particular race. Gilroy (2004:20) argues:
Awareness of the indissoluble unity of all life at the level of genetic materials leads to a stronger sense of the particularity of our species as a whole, as well as to new anxieties that its character is being fundamentally and irrevocably altered.
While on one side of the debate, biotechnological advancement is delegitimising the founding of racial categories, on the other side, recent advancement in racial medication is re-establishing racial boundaries. In America a two-drug combination pill dramatically reduced deaths among blacks with heart failure, “a landmark finding that is expected to lead to government approval of the first medication marketed for a specific race” (CBS News 2004).33 Critics warn that race-only drugs, which may be good medicine, could also feed the disease of racism.
With the biotechnological revolution, it demands us to reconceptualise our relationship to ourselves, our species, our nature and the idea of life. As Gilroy (1987: 39) contends, such a revolution highlights the “elasticity and the emptiness of racial signifiers as well as the ideological work which has to be done in order to turn them into signifiers in the first place.” The different advancements underscore the definition of race as an open political category which revolves around multiple disjunctures of categorical identities (e.g. Chinese, Asian) but at the same time are always transgressing their defined boundaries.
33 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/08/health/main654409.shtml (accessed on 1st Feb 2007) 65 The Discourse of Race and Ethnicity
The fallacy of the collective paradigm of racial categories lies in the fixidity of social perceptions consequently leading to the pigeonholing of identities into predefined boxes, which does not reflect reality (Pickering 2001). The concept of ‘the gaze’ draws attention to the way in which we automatically essentialise and naturalise the ‘other’ who is considered to be ‘different’ to ourselves, according to our perception of their fixed essential differences. This serves to differentiate and objectify one from another through the immediate dichotomy of ‘self’ and ‘other’.
While the discourse of ‘race’ has, to a certain extent, offered protection and organization of culture; however, it has also led to humiliation, brutality and contempt. Throughout history, there has been evidence of acceptance of lowly values placed upon people’s lives through racial hierarchies. The general response challenges essentialist racial identities that have been viewed as an initiation of ethnic conflicts; consequently, identity as a basis for political action is thus viewed as theoretically problematic and politically dangerous (Gilroy 2004). According to Said, any diversion of humanity into ‘us’ and ‘them’ leads to hostility, while dividing humanity into different cultures is dehumanising (Sax 1998: 293). The power of ‘race’ has significant import. Its greatest destructive power can be illustrated by the numerous instances of genocide throughout history in various parts of the world. In the 19th century, for example, there was the extermination of the aboriginal inhabitants of Tasmania, in the 20th century the Nazi genocide in Europe, and after the Vietnam War the extremities of racial discourse in the genocidal policies and actions of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. And now, the authority of racial discourse is evident in the post-September 11 wave of racially motivated attacks across the globe.
Through the course of my writing, the impact of racial discourse has always been clearly visible in the news headlines. For example, in early 2006, following the cartoon depiction of Prophet Mohammed in Denmark, the Sydney Morning Herald (9th Feb 2006) reported that the “Taliban would give 5kg of gold as a reward to anyone who killed any military personnel from Denmark, Norway and Germany in Afghanistan.” This is obviously an extreme act of anger which has ignited debates between groups that defended freedom of the press and the Muslim faithful who considered the depiction of
66 the Prophet Mohammed as blasphemous. However, my concern here is not about defending either side. What is interesting here is the identification of people from the specified nations. It is worth exploring the question of who were considered Danish, Norwegian or German; were they defining people by colour of skin – such that only ‘white’s’ were targeted, excluding citizens of these countries who were non-white – or by citizenship or residency? Underlying such identification is the politics of recognition. Although we would prefer not to admit that extreme forms of racism are still active in the world, racially ignited events suggest that people are subjected to the social framing of identities and that people still endorse some form of racial hierarchy. When elaborate ideas of racial particularity are inverted into defensive manners such that they provide sources of pride for some and insult upon others, they become difficult to relinquish. For many racialised populations, ‘race’ and oppositional identities are deeply ingrained and are not easily ceded.
While focusing on human differences is a human universal and people inevitably are drawn to others by fixed essential difference, the collective racial paradigms are becoming evermore problematic. As Werbner (1997: 3) maintains, “In the present deconstructive moment, any unitary concept of a bounded culture is pejoratively labelled naturalistic and essentialist. But the alternatives seem equally unconvincing …” Thus, biology is not the only means of naturalising human behaviour, culture too can also be naturalised and “function as a way of locking individuals and groups a priori into a genealogy, into a determination that is immutable and intangible in origin” (Balibar 1991: 12). Accordingly, the present study does not seek to engage in debating for a racial free world. It also does not presume to define ‘race’ and it its distinctive social structures, in a static sense, as such a non-problematised approach will not enhance the understanding of identity formation. The focus of this study seeks to examine the broader context of social identification through dialectics of sameness and difference. It is thus vitally important to understand the politics of recognition.
To summarise, while racial and ethnic identities are constructed, manipulated and change over time, they serve a functional purpose for collectivity marking-out the divisions and subsets of our social lives. As such, in understanding the process of identity formation it is important to examine how identities are shaped, how they vary and how assertion of identities occurs.
67 Part 3 The Contradiction and Ambivalence of Chinese as Identity
The traditional concept of ‘Chineseness’ based on essentialist notions has increasingly been contested as it is lacking an ethnically valid position in making sense of diasporic life. As highlighted previously, the problem with an essentialist conception of identity is its inclination to posit one aspect of identity as the sole determinant constituting the social meanings of an individual’s experience (Moya 2000a). This is often associated with the issue of authenticity in which a hierarchy of cultural representation reflects on relations of power (Kibria 1998). However, as rightly pointed out by contemporary critics, identities are constituted differently in differing social and historical contexts. The instability and heterogeneity of identity categories have promoted scholars to identify a range of identity issues through the concept of Chineseness.
The dominant discourse on ‘Chineseness’ seemingly celebrates such incommensurability, highlighting that its meaning is continually being (re)formed in different sites of negotiation and molded by different contexts and circumstances. While the resonance is diversity and multiplicity, contradictions and ambivalence of Chinese as identity still remain vexing phenomena of the diasporic experience. As such, a diversity of postulations has arisen in an attempt to clarify the ambiguities of ‘Chineseness’. However, the persistence of essentialist ideology lingers in these discourses. This section seeks to introduce the theoretical problem of Chineseness through some of the prevailing diasporic theories and establishes the basis for engaging in a critical analysis on the notion of identity as Chinese.
Theoretical Problems of Cultural China
In the habitual obsession with Chineseness, diasporic theories often encounter a kind of cultural essentialist ideal that draws an imaginary boundary between China and the rest of the world, a fascination of authenticity that can only originate from China. Although increasing emphasis is placed on cultural differentials, the persistence of essentialist ideology still resonates in diasporic discourses. The theorisation of Chineseness often entails the notion of ‘cultural China’, which assumes that Chinese diasporic
68 communities do have certain similar cultural symbols and that they originated from China. Scholars have insisted that Chinese diasporic communities perform different Chinese cultural practices in different localities, and the localised Chinese tradition of a diasporic community is the Chinese tradition that has become localised, or that is locally created. As Tan suggest (2004b: 12):
Different political system and geographical factors may influence Chinese people all over the world, but they do have certain similar cultural symbols that originated in China. Of course culture is ever- changing and ethnic Chinese have also developed distinct cultural expressions, nevertheless they share some similarities in Chinese culture.
Although this perception assumes volatile realities of ethnicities by acknowledging the variations of ‘Chinese’ cultural practices throughout the world, the emphasis on China as the original source contradicts the essence of change and flow of modernity. It highlights a fascination of a pure and authentic culture that must originate from China. Such discourse is a modified claim of a homogeneity, but though notions of a cultural China.
The process of de-centering, pivotal to the development of diasporic theory, has similarly been articulated in Tu’s (1994a) collection entitled The Living Tree: The Changing Meaning of Being Chinese Today. This collection challenges the holistic boundaries that normally define Chineseness and encapsulates the notion of ‘cultural China’ by emphasizing the periphery as the center. Tu (1994b: 13) argues cultural China consists of three continuous interacting universes: firstly, mainland China, Taiwan, HK and Singapore; secondly, overseas Chinese communities; and thirdly, the international communities of intellectuals and professionals generally concerned with China-related matters in practice. These universes refer to common interest in a single cultural sphere which transcends socially constructed boundaries. It attempts to de- center the discourse of a geopolitical China by emphasizing on the ‘periphery as the center’ in making sense of what it means to be Chinese in the present world. In Hsu’s words (1994: 240):
69 The center, be it geographic, geopolitical, social-economic or even cultural-ideological possesses a gravitational force which pulls from the peripheries whatever else are scattered therein … This force in turn causes the formation of new spheres of peripheries by influencing elements and resources scattered around it.
While this notion of a ‘new’ kind of cultural space challenges the traditional centrist conception of Chinese identity insofar as it aims to refute the static and rigid, stereotypical and conventional definition of ‘Chinese’, the orientation towards a discourse of ‘cultural China’ is in itself ironic. The privileging of the periphery – the diaspora – is nevertheless constructed within the boundaries of a shared cultural background and common ancestry. Ang (1998: 230) critiques Tu’s notion of ‘cultural China’ as a discourse that is “motivated by another kind of centrism, this time along notionally cultural line”.
The image of the “living tree” encapsulated by the title is a metaphor that represents the ambiguous status of belonging simultaneously to more than one collective entity. According to Hsu (1994:240):
The entire process can be envisioned as a tree-like pattern radiating from the center; adding to itself direct linkages between and among the branches, thereby increasing the density and intricacy of its network. Niches and gaps, places containing foreign elements, are gradually filled by the system, although these new components may still be alien to the original center.
While Hsu (1994) acknowledges the situational and contextual influences of ‘foreign elements’ on the formation of identity, she also assumes a homogeneously unified culture. Her perception of an ‘original center’ privileges an imagined collectivity as the source of authenticity. Such notions of identity involve another form of essentialism, one that is based on cultural centrism.
The presence of ‘cultural China’ in relation to the ‘older center’ can be further highlighted through the concept of huayi which designates people of a variety of
70 nationalities who are ethnically and culturally ‘Chinese’ (Wang 1991a). A number of scholars have extensively maintained that the study of diasporic Chinese today must take account of the historical and cultural experiences of those who left China in the early periods, as their descendants form the majority of those overseas who are still identified as ‘Chinese’, however defined (Wang 1991b, 2000; Elvin 1994; Cohen 1994). As Wang (1991b: 2) suggests, research on Chineseness must recognise that “it is living and changeable; it is also the product of a shared historical experience whose record has continually influenced its growth”. He further argues that such experiences, especially of those who left China in the early 18th century, illustrate degrees of self-discovery and rediscovery of Chineseness which is highly relevant to what the present generation of huayi are experiencing. The general suggestion is that although the meaning of being Chinese is continually changing, there are still ‘core’ characteristics – “the fruits of three thousand years of continuous history” – embedded in the notions of Chineseness today (ibid: 3). While acknowledging the historical significance in identity formation, it nevertheless indicates another kind of essentialism accentuated by collectivised notions based on common ancestry and a shared cultural background. As forms of uncertainty characterise the present world, the fantasy of a ‘pure’ culture warrants a discerning reassessment.
As highlighted, within the parameters of diasporic Chinese studies, there is the persistence of an essentialist approach adopted by some scholars toward their objects of study. Even at a period of what Bauman (2000) terms ‘liquid modernity’ where concepts of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ are being delegitimised because of their ontological and political limitations (Moya 2000a), essentialism continues to resonate under the guise of ‘progressive’ theoretical discourse (Chow 1998). Despite the ambiguities of the concept of Chineseness, the image and reality of it is creating a sense of unity amongst members of the Chinese diaspora. Gilroy (2004:99) explains the process of unification as “… a fundamental part of how [people] comprehend their kinship – which may be an imaginary connection, though nevertheless powerful for that.” The distinctiveness of identity is that is it able to create an ‘imagined community’ that can be transformed into notions of solidarity. Thus the concept of ‘Chinese’ reflects the shared essentials of race, ethnicity and culture which make binding (and blinding) connections possible.
71 Whether there is a ‘core’ in Chineseness is debatable; what is more important is understanding the dynamics of identity and its social significance in different contexts and situations. Thus, a broader context of Chineseness and its multi-dimensional nature need to be addressed. Accordingly, the present study does not presume to define what ‘Chineseness’ is in a static sense; as such a non-problematised approach will not illuminate a better understanding of the significance of identity. The theoretical stance that I take throughout this thesis is that Chineseness is an ‘imagined’ construct and inherently political – such that identity is contextually activated. As such, I argue if Chinese identity and its discourse are social constructions, why bother to question what they are? To confront the issue of Chineseness as a theoretical problem it seems much more meaningful to ask ‘when and why identity is evoked?’ It is therefore pertinent to the question of what it takes to be recognised as ‘being and belonging’ (see Levitt and Glick-Schiller 2004) and the social significance of ‘being Chinese’ in different contexts and situations
Having raised these problematic perspectives of ethnicity that pertain to the field of Chinese diasporic studies as a whole, I will now move on to a detailed analysis of the more special aspects of the relations between Chineseness and the markers of Chinese identity. I will draw attention to the inadequacy of the generic assertion of a collective Chinese identity by highlighting the ambiguity of Chineseness.
Authenticity and Recognition
As I have discussed previously, while racial paradigms are problematic in that they are constructed through idealised notions, it should be emphasized that focusing on differences is a human universal and people inevitably are drawn to others by difference and sameness. According to Said (1978: 12), “the world is made up of two unequal halves, Orient and Occident”. Such conditioning is based on the authentication process of labelling and representation of the ‘other’ through the essentialisation of cultural attributes (Pickering 2001). The qualification of such constructed ‘ideas’ cannot be seriously studied without their ‘configurations of power’, as negotiation of racial identities involves a hegemonic relationship with the Other. As Said (1978: xii) rightly points out, no collective entities such as the ‘Orient’ or the ‘West’ has any ontological stability; “each is made up of human effort, partly affirmation, partly identification of
72 the Other”. The point is not to engage in the argument of a racial-free world but rather examine the broader context of social identification through the dialectics of sameness and difference. This serves to differentiate and objectify one from another through the immediate dichotomy of ‘self’ and ‘other’. As such, in exploring the notion of identity as Chinese, an essential focus that needs to be examined is the hegemonic discourse of authenticity and recognition.
In exploring the hegemonic discourse of ‘Chineseness’, an essential question that needs to be examined is ‘Who is Chinese?’ A closer look at this seemingly straightforward question immediately conjures up complex issues of recognition. Why is one person considered ‘Chinese’ while the other isn’t? With those who self-declare to be Chinese, what makes them so? And how do they know that they are Chinese? Do factors such as language and physicality impact on the negotiation of Chineseness? To a certain extent, determining ‘what is’ and ‘what is not Chinese’ has become the necessary preliminary question in understanding the experience of diasporic Chinese. However, such an of inquiry shadows the centrist conception of the Chinese identity insofar as it still conceptualises ‘Chinese’ through the conventional static and rigid structure. What is of more significance is examining the politics of recognition and its social significance of markers of identity in different contexts and situations. Intrinsic to racial construction of ‘Chineseness’ is group positioning and this is established through the markers of identity such as language and physicality. These markers play an important part in the process of categorical location as they serve to consolidate not only the subdivision of humankind but also a racial hierarchy, established through socially constructed boundaries. With increasingly complex transnational processes, many seemingly clear markers are becoming blurred and recognition has become a site of political controversy.
The establishment of racial collectivities is essentially based on naturalised and idealised notions of a socially constructed community which Anderson (1983) describes as an ‘imagined community’. This process inherently involves some form of stereotyping which is an evaluative form of labelling and representations of the ‘other’ through imposing order and fixing meaning as natural and given (Pickering 2001). As Kibria (1998: 942) contends, “because racial membership is widely believed to be given as a biological matter, the presumed traits of race and the institutional conditions and
73 inequalities with which they are intertwined, can also be seen as natural, inherent.” As such, the general determination of ‘what is’ and ‘what is not ‘Chinese’ is predicated on the hegemonic discourse of authenticity which is inevitably associated with racial markers. The collective habit of associating ‘markers’ with the notion of ‘Chinese’ assists in defining racial boundaries and they become the authoritative stamp of authenticity – an inevitable hierarchy of cultural representations. Ang (2001:30) explains:
Chinese identity becomes confined to essentialist notions of Chineseness, the source of which can only originate from China, to which the ethicised Chinese subject must adhere to acquire the stamp of authenticity.
As a result of the lingering pervasive hegemony of authenticity, it creates a hierarchical classification that stratifies the position of the diasporic Chinese given their embeddedness in a larger system of power. The distinguishing feature of such racial markers is that they reflect relations of power, in particular the ability of the dominant group to construct and impose identities upon others (Kibria 1998).
Diaspora literature have generally argued that the collectivised notion of ‘Chinese’ has been continually constructed and re-constructed as a result of the lingering dominant hegemony of the Western culture (Chow 1998; Ang 2001). The discourse of Chineseness often reflects stereotyping of ethnic subjects externally imposed by the mainstream recognition of non-Western representations. Chow (1998: 4) contends the way in which the West affirms their moral supremacy is precisely by way of ethnic, national labels. The implication on ethnic minority is a continual struggle for recognition, where Chow argues:
Against the systematic exclusivism of many hegemonic Western practices, the ethnic supplement occurs first and foremost as a struggle for access to representation while at the same time contesting the conventional simplification and stereotyping of ethnic subjects as such.
74 Even when such ‘access’ into the mainstream society is achieved, representations are continually constructed under the influence of the Western hegemony. To this extent, knowledge of the Chinese culture and civilisation often become the pre-eminent basis for establishing the foundations of a Chinese identity for the diasporic community; this undeniably is associated with the spoken language (as well as other cultural forms such as physicality and food).
However, it is also important to consider that although racialised collectivities are stratified by Western ascriptions, in-group members also play an important role in establishing their own hierarchy of identities. As Kibria (1998: 940) explains:
By definition, given their embeddedness in a larger system of power, racial categories reflect the externally imposed designations or assignments of dominant groups upon others. But racial definition is also shaped by the action of the categorized group itself. That is, within the limits of prevailing structure of opportunity and constraint, racialised groups work to shape their own identities.
As such, I suggest it is equally important to question the politics of recognition that is shaped by the action of the categorised group itself. The theorisation of Chineseness in other words would be incomplete without a concurrent problematisation of Chineseness within the stratified position of ‘Chinese’ within the Chinese diaspora.
Having highlighted these general issues of the politics of identity that pertain to the discourse of Chineseness, I move on to examine the hegemonic discourse of authenticity through the markers of language and physicality which are intrinsic to the racial constructions.
Language and Authenticity
Language is commonly perceived as a core element in the interrelationships between an ethnic minority and the host group as it provides common means of communication and, more importantly, represents a mode of identity. The behaviour of language can also be explained by communal notions of social categorisation, social identity, social
75 comparison, psychological distinctiveness and cognitive alternatives (Wu 1995: 107). Finocchiaro (1995: 42) explains that language is much more than just a means of exchange between the two groups “they are also trying to understand, accept, assimilate, reject each other’s values, traditions, peculiarities in one word, culture.” Thus, language expresses and evokes something deeper in addition to the preliminary function for expressing thoughts, perceptions, sentiments and values of a culture; it also represents a fundamental mode of collective social identity. The significance of language as indicative of authenticity is illustrated by Wu (1995: 118): “for some cultural groups, language is symbolic of their ethnic identity and values and it demarcates the boundaries of group membership”.
Previous research on language and ethnicity has proposed a strong relationship between language and ethnic identity. Language is socially accepted as an important system of signs for identifying the uniqueness of any culture which is crucial to cultural reclamation as it is a sign of “systematic codification and management of ethnicity, that is typical of modernity” (Chow 1998: 11). There are various resolutions when the language of a migrant group comes into contact with a different language spoken by the host group. According to Clyne (1991: 54), the framework of language shift involves a transition of resolutions. In the initial stage both languages are retained and become part of the national social life where each language acquires a well-defined function. The transition progresses to a later stage where the incoming group loses its language and the host language become dominant gradually. A number of Canadian studies have also found a decline in language competence from first to third generation migrants (O’ Bryan et al.. 1997; Breton et al.. 1990; Castonguay 1998). Such type of transition is often correlated as a key measurement of identity – as Wang (2002: 67) argues, “to escape ethnic segregation, individuals must assimilate into the mainstream and lose some ethnicity”. Similarly de Vries maintains that “those who care about maintaining their cultural heritage usually also care about maintaining their ethnic language” and language loss may imply a “loss of associated ethnicity” (de Vries 1990: 241 cited in Wang 2002: 65).
These arguments suggest language retention is a necessary condition for maintaining ethnic identity and survival, and identification with a minority group weakens with declining knowledge of its ethnic language. An ideological demand and cultural
76 expectation of retaining one’s native language is often imposed onto members of the diasporic communities. The expectation is that one naturally speaks one’s ethnic language if one is associated with an ethnic group. Thus, for diasporic Chinese, ‘to be Chinese’, one must possess knowledge of the Chinese language. Nevertheless, although the emphasis on the direct relationship between language and identity is not completely unfound for ethnic groups, the limitations of such a perspective becomes problematic in the face of empirical realities. In a study on the ancestry of Australians it was found that ninety three percent of families with one parent born overseas only spoke English at home (ABS 2001). If we were to analyse this data from such a perspective, it seems rather extreme to affirm that such a large group of people have experienced a “loss of associated ethnicity”. As Finochhiaro (1995: 52) rightly asserts in his study on Italian immigrant families with three generations residing in Australia, ethnicity may be felt through various means other than language:
Language maintenance is not strictly tied with the maintenance of an Italian identity/ethnicity and vice versa. Italian ethnicity may be felt, appreciated and maintained by the group in the Australian society without necessarily expressing it through the Italian language.
I argue that language should not be attributed as a single evaluated form of ethnicity, as a variety of factors promote and inhibit the maintenance of language.
Chineseness and Language
The essentialist notion of China as the land of ancestors of the people of ‘Chinese’ descent and the ‘original’ source of Chinese civilization has much relevance to reiteration of identity of diasporic Chinese everywhere. As discussed, language is often articulated to determine one’s connection with one’s identity and is also seen as a link to one’s cultural heritage. Tan (2004b: 122) suggests that the literacy of diasporic Chinese is vitally significant for their negotiation of Chineseness. Those who were educated in Chinese and are literate in Chinese can have access to and are in greater touch with the historical and cultural heritage of China. The ability of speaking and writing Chinese denotes a source of superiority. He suggests, for this group, when they visit places in China, they have intimate associations:
77 In the first place, the Chinese perceives China as the land of his ancestors and a land of his very civilization. Secondly the Chinese-educated Chinese does not just do sight seeing. The historical places in China remind him of certain places of Chinese history which he has read about. The may remind him of certain poets and their poems, or of certain heroes and sages which he has become familiar with through reading. In this respect, the Chinese-educated people of Chinese descent have similarities end there. Subjectively, the ethnic Chinese perceive themselves as people of different nationalities or as not belonging to China.
Underlying Tan’s argument is the assumption that the ‘Chinese-educated people of Chinese descent’ share similar connections with China because of their educational background and language ability. Their ability to read Chinese means that they can have access to and are in greater touch with the historical and cultural heritage of China (ibid: 122). For illiterate Chinese, Tan (2004b: 122) has this perspective:
For the illiterate, Chinese is merely the land of their ancestors and they may have historical memory of ancestral site there or even be proud of their ancestral land. For those who are familiar with the historical and literary tradition of China, China of course means more. While those not literate in Chinese may have learnt about the history and even literature of China, the Chinese-educated generally know more and feel more intimate with the historical and literary traditions of Chinese; they have their great cultural identification with the overall civilization of China. There is a difference between one who merely admires the beauty of a historical site and one who thinks about a certain Tang poem (for instance) upon seeing the sites or monuments. The cultural identities of the Chinese are very much influenced by their language of literacy.
According to Tan, ‘cultural identification’ and intimacy with China are dependent upon literacy, as such language ability and those who are literate will have much closer affiliation and thus are more Chinese than those who are literate. If we analysed his
78 prideful assumption through a different context, it immediately becomes problematic. Would diasporic Chinese who were educated about European history and spoke fluent English have the equivalent level of connection as European-educated people of European descent when they go to certain monumental sights? Perhaps yes, but only a minority. Relations with homeland involve not only education and literacy but also other factors such as memories and familial imaginations (see Chapter 4). The prevailing theoretical framework of using language as a centering device for cultural attachment is problematic.
Interestingly, Tan contradicts himself in his analysis of Babas in Malaysia. The Babas, who identify themselves as Chinese Peranakan, are descendents of some of the earliest Chinese settlers who had married Malay, Siamese and Balinese women. This category of Chinese Peranakan speaks Baba Malay as their language and writes English. Due to the loss of their original Chinese language, the Baba places much emphasis on traditional Chinese customs and religion, or at least their own versions or it. The point of interest is that while language is a crucial symbol of ethnic identity, its loss does not necessarily mean the loss of an ethnic identity. He argues that the Babas have remained Chinese despite not speaking any form of Chinese dialect. While the Chinese label persists, the meaning of that label has changed as they have become a different kind of Chinese – one that does not fit into the collective paradigm of Chineseness. Subjectively, whether one speaks a Chinese language or not does not make one more or less Chinese, as there are different ways of ‘being Chinese. Tan (ibid: 133) concludes that “while language is a crucial symbol of ethnic identity, its loss does not necessarily mean the loss of an ethnic identity”. However, despite their self identification as ‘Chinese’ the Babas are often confronted with derogatory attitudes by the mainstream Chinese. Because of their language loss, their non-Baba Chinese friends often teased them as not being real Chinese. Due to adaptations, integration and localisation with local communities through time, the identity of diasporic Chinese often contradicts stereotypical notions of ‘Chineseness’, thus highlighting that language ability as a centring device of Chineseness is problematic.
The pervasiveness of the diasporic imagination of ‘being Chinese’ through language ability can be further highlighted in Ang’s (2001:30) semi-autobiographical paper:
79 So it was one day that a self-assured, Dutch, white, middle-class, Marxist leftist, asked me, ‘Do you speak Chinese?’ I said no. ‘What a fake Chinese you are!’ was his only mildly kidding response, thereby unwittingly but aggressively adopting the disdainful position of judge to sift ‘real’ from ‘fake’ Chinese.
From this excerpt, it is evident that, from the view of a ‘white’ person, competence in Chinese is viewed as an index to existential value of a ‘Chinese’ person. Such then is a paradoxical construction of ‘Chineseness’ established through a system of values that arises with Westernised ascriptions. In such cases of language loss, I would adhere to Ang’s (2001: 30) argument that it “is a condition that has been hegemonically constructed as a lack, a sign of loss of authenticity”.
However, what Ang seemingly misses out is that although the collectivised notion of ‘Chineseness’ has been continually re-constructed as a result of the lingering dominant hegemony of the Western culture, the process of authentication is also shaped by the action of in-group members. As such, one could also speculate if Ang would have reacted differently if the question had been asked by, say, a person from Beijing. Such in-group judgment can be highlighted in Work’s (2001: 19) autobiographical essay where she expresses, “I have had Chinese come up to me and ask me if I was Chinese and when I said yes, start talking to me in Chinese. When I looked stupefied, they would be incredulous that someone Chinese couldn’t speak her mother tongue”. Furthermore, many diasporic Chinese who don’t speak Chinese when travelling in China are judged in a similar way.
The standardisation of the Chinese language as Mandarin is another aspect that highlights the limit of the theoretical framework of Chineseness. A seemingly simple question of ‘What is standard Chinese?’ quickly draws us to the complexity of Chinese diasporic politics. Most commonly it is perceived as Mandarin which has been adopted as the official language and its hegemony can be highlighted by its authority over other Chinese dialects (Chow 1998). However, there are a multiple of other ‘subordinate’ dialects’ that are spoken by the Chinese population within and outside China which illuminates the difficulty of constructing a definite position. An excerpt from an
80 autobiographical essay by Tham (2001: 44) who has been living in diasporas illustrates this phenomenon:
I personally thought that the people from the Chinese embassy were different from us, because the embassy staff spoke to us in Mandarin, which most of us local Chinese did not understand…I accepted that they were Chinese, but just as we considered ourselves a subset of the Chinese race, I considered them China Chinese.
The fluency of Mandarin has become a cultural authentication of Chineseness; a recognition that is certainly contestable. The concept of Chineseness does not generally entail knowledge of any kind of Chinese language, but specifically competence in Mandarin. From my personal encounters, the usual form of ‘evaluation’ of my ‘Chineseness’ precedes with the question of ‘do you speak Chinese?’ Rarely, do I get asked about a specific dialect such as Cantonese or Chiu Chow. Speaking ‘Chinese’ is almost unquestionably perceived as speaking Mandarin which is a stereotypical feature of being Chinese. The ability of speaking the ‘Chinese’ language – Mandarin per se – is viewed as an index to the existential value of Chineseness.
Furthermore, Chow (1998) argues that in Western societies, the fluency of Mandarin has become a cultural authentication of Chineseness; a recognition that is certainly contestable. The concept of Chineseness does not generally entail knowledge of any kind of Chinese language, but specifically competence in Mandarin. The standard speech that most ‘white’ scholars will learn, when they intend to learn ‘Chinese’, is Mandarin because of its ascription within the discourse of Chineseness. To the contrary, what Chow seemingly misses is that many foreign scholars choose to learn Mandarin among other dialects because of the practicality and advantages associated with fluency in the official language of China. It is also the second most convenient common language (English being the first) transnationally for the Chinese worldwide (Tan 2004b).
The ideology that China is the land of the ancestors of the people of Chinese descent and the original source of Chinese civilization has both historical and cultural relevance to the Chinese everywhere. The lingering pervasive hegemony of authenticity creates a
81 hierarchical classification that stratifies the position of diasporic Chinese. Therefore, I argue that it is also important to understand that although racialised collectivities are stratified within a broader social spectrum where stereotypical identities are often imposed by the dominant groups, in-group members also play an important role in establishing their own hierarchy of identities. As such, within the prevailing rigid structure of identity, racialised categories not only reflect the wider ascription by the dominant groups – Western ascriptions per se – but also reflect internal stratification by in-group members.
Physicality and Recognition
A large part of people’s identity is shaped by the continual reinforcement of the wider society where essentialised physical characteristics are attached to ethnic labels such as ‘Chinese’. Such identification inevitably involves some level of stereotyping that is a process of externalising, distancing and naturalising the designated through the construction of difference in relation to the self, in order to establish identity (Pickering 2001). Trinh (1991: 186) notes such a form of 'othering' is based on “allowing the other an apparent aura”. As one side fixes the identity of a group, that group also fixes the identity of another. Thus, difference through otherness is a vital element of identity as it is essential to the production of meaning. However, it is such difference that turns the other into what Pickering (2001:49) describes as “an object of happy assimilation, as a spectacle, an exhibit, a source of entertainment or as fantasy”. Ethnic identity thus is often reinforced by external appearance as cross-cultural borders cannot be easily transgressed, which highlights the underlying process of othering through difference and sameness.
Physicality has always been an existential condition for ethnic minorities which has been hegemonically constructed as an initial sign of identity regardless of the particularities of personal history34 (Ang 2001). This is particularly significant for diasporic Chinese who live in a Western environment where the mainstream society is dominated by ‘white’. In the Western world, the notion of Chinese is synonymously associated with Han Chinese without regard to the other fifty-five Chinese ethnic
34 By personal history it includes factors such as length of residence, place of birth, ethnic background and so on. 82 minority groups who do not necessarily look stereotypically Chinese – round face, short in build and slanty eyes. Such a process of unconscious labelling has become a usual practice in multicultural Australia where representations of Chinese people are often reinforced through the bombardment of manipulated media images such as exotic Chinese banquets, ‘nerdy’ Chinese students, thrifty Chinese people, and so on. Such stereotypical representations inevitably limit the degree of cultural diversity implied by the boundedness of labels. As such, although multiculturalism has transgressed in favour of cultural diversity, ironically it is actually maintaining the boundaries between the diverse cultures it encompasses and also the boundaries circumscribing the nation- state as a whole, as Ang (2001: 16) explains: “…multiculturalism is nothing more and nothing less than a more complex form of nationalism aimed at securing national boundaries in an increasing borderless world.” Although multiplicity has become a salient feature of identity, people still seem have an expectation that you have to be either part of one group or another and you cannot be part of two or more. Under such a platform, members of the diasporic community are forced go back and forth between different identities which situates them in a space of liminality.
Ang (2001) argues that for Australians of Chinese descent (as well as other ‘non-white’ backgrounds, that no matter how ‘Australian’ or ‘Westernised’ one feels, physical appearance which includes facial features, skin colour and height, become the definite racial marker. For some, this reinforcement may be natural while for others they may feel it is an identity imposed upon them. Often confrontation with ethnicity is inescapable from an insistence of inquiry into origins, which involves questions like:
Where do you come from? Australia. No, where did you really come from?
Australia seems to never be an acceptable answer and its rejection reveals at once that the question is not about hometowns. The repeated question almost implies, ‘you couldn’t be from here’, which equates non-whites with aliens (Lee 1999). Ang (2001: 29) described these inclinations of specificity as “the disturbing signals for the impossibility of complete integration (or perhaps naturalisation is a better term), no matter how much I (pragmatically) strived for it.” Ethnic identity is reinforced by
83 external appearance as cross-cultural borders cannot be easily transgressed, which alerts us to the underlying process of otherness through differences.
Here, I would like to consider a personal incident that can be shared by many individuals of ethnic minorities in the West. I was at a European restaurant in the lower North Shore of Sydney with a group of ex-school friends35 of ‘Chinese’ descent. Perhaps more precisely, we were the ‘parachute children’36 of HK ‘astronaut families’ who left at the peak migration period of the late 1980s (Pe-Pua et al. 1996; Skeldon 1995a; Ho et al. 2001). I will explain the point of such specification shortly. As with any other social gatherings, we chatted away in the most comfortable language shared by the group, which at that event was ‘Cantonese’. Looking rather annoyed, a ‘white’ gentleman (accompanied by several ‘white’ friends) sitting across our table, came over to us and asked us to keep our voices down. Although he may have genuinely felt we were loud and did not even think about racial prejudice, our reaction to his request was an immediate suspicion of racial discrimination, indicating our own predispositions. We were deviant in that context because the language we spoke was Chinese and the way we looked was Chinese. Perhaps that made us rather intolerable? If my friends and I were ‘white’ and spoke English, would our behaviour be less disturbing for this ‘white’ gentleman? The dialects of sameness and difference in this context involve a process of naturalising the other into broad generic categories (that is ‘whiteness’ or ‘Chineseness’) based on physical attributes. Of course, similar encounters like this are shared by many people through the world, where migration has become an increasingly common phenomenon. The experience of such confrontation could easily be seen as an intolerable sign of difference much like what Ang (2001: 28) called the “inescapably of Chineseness”, inscribed as it was, on the very surface of our bodies and the conduct of our language. One could further argue that such behaviour percolates from the enduring hegemony of white supremacy37. However, if the context had changed, if we were in a
35 These were friends that I studied with in my primary and high school years in Sydney. 36 The peak period of immigration from HK to Australia was around the late 1980s, before its handover to China in 1997. Many HK immigrants migrated as a family unit in which one or both parents along with their children settled permanently in Australia. In many cases the father returned to HK for work purposes, while the rest of the family remained in Australia. The terms ‘astronaut family’ and ‘parachute children’ describe the family arrangement of these HK migrants in Australia (Pe-Pua et al. 1996). 37 Similar to White supremacy, auto-orientalism has become a guiding ideology; an established way of othering adopted around the globe in all different contexts (e.g. ‘Japan’ is associated with high technology and the common ideology is the best of anything electronic has to be found in Japan.) 84 Chinese restaurant, inhabiting a ‘Chinese’ space, I would be quite certain that the gentleman would not have made such a request. In view of that, tolerance and social expectation are contextually – and situationally – based and the discourse is set by both sides. In other words, although racial categories are stratified within a broader social spectrum, they not only differ contextually but are impacted by a dialectic process of othering, where both side plays the game.
Comparably, I would like to highlight a similar experience where I was dining at a social gathering in a fine Chinese restaurant in Sydney. My friends brought to my attention a group of overseas ‘Chinese’ tourists, who were mixing lemonade with some fine red wine (I am referring to the wine as ‘fine’ because, when they ordered, they loudly expressed that they wanted the best wine of the house.) Cultural practices as Tan (2004b) suggests are recreated through transnational cultural flows together with local forces in different parts of the world as people construct new ways of living. Such differentiation in cultural behavior led me to feel a desperate sense of disassociation, not with ‘Chinese’ per se, but a particular category of ‘Chinese’ I saw different from myself. While this is not exactly the place to recapitulate modern Chinese cultural practices in detail, I highlight it for the purpose of underscoring the complexity behind the issue of recognition. My point is not to critise or make judgment about the supremacy of certain cultural practices – the purpose of such illustrations brings with it a shift in perspective that, in differing contexts, different stereotypical identities are not only imposed by the dominant groups, in-group members also play an important role in establishing their own categorisation of identities. In a broader social spectrum, due to the Western hegemonic construction of the Chinese imagery, those who ‘look’ Chinese would be generically labelled as ‘Chinese’ by Western observers. However, as illustrated, the meaning of and the association with ‘Chineseness’ invariably changes for diasporic Chinese living in different localities in relation with other ‘Chinese’. As Ang (2001) suggested, racial categories do not only exist outside a particular social and cultural context, but are thoroughly framed by and within them as well. The contextual nature of Chineseness thus highlights the inadequacy of the prevailing paradigm of physicality as a determination of the Chinese identity.
The current obsession to emphase Western hegemonic discourse to all racial questions is very much an outgrowth of post-colonial theories. To confront Chineseness as a
85 theoretical problem, it is not sufficient to only point to the Western ascriptions as such. In other words, the theorisation on Chineseness would be incomplete without a problematisation of Chinese identity as understood by in-group members within the broad framework of Chinese diasporic studies. As Gilroy (2004) asserts, there is an urgent need for a change in the social understanding of race, embodiment and human specificity. Therefore, a broader context of social identification through dialectics of sameness and difference needs to be considered in the politics of recognition.
Conclusion
This chapter has provided theoretical discussions on the formations of identity which frame the information, ideas and perspectives presented in the main body of this thesis. I highlighted that identities are fluid, context-dependent, relational and constructed – thus it is difficult to say anything precise about identities in general. Therefore, to overcome the difficulty in the analysis of identity, it is important to examine specific identity groups in defined settings. Although the degree to which identification is context-specific limits our ability to establish many grand theoretical claims, nevertheless some assertions can be made about the process, if not the content of identity per se. As Mohanty (2000) contends, an enriching theory does more than simply celebrate or dismiss the various uses of identity, but provides explanation of how and why identities are problematic and where and why they are empowering. As such, rather than providing a definition of the meaning of being Chineseness, the aim of this study is to analyse the construction of Chineseness and its hegemonic discourse through the experience of long-established ABC in Australia.
This chapter began by a discussion of the essentialist and postmodern conceptions of ‘identity’ which have been seminal in shaping the theoretical stance of this study. I highlighted that identities are relational in nature and evolve through interaction; thus are always in a state of reconstruction and subjected to manipulation. The constantly shifting nature of identities and validity of ethnic and racial realities highlight the limits of racialised collectivities. While one should not assume any understanding of the meaning of a particular identity as fixed and permanent, neither should one assume that identities are insubstantial and that because they are fluid they are not worth examining. Concisely, as Moya (2000a, 2000b) maintains, identities can be both ‘real’ and
86 ‘constructed’ such that on the one hand they can be politically significant but on the other they can be variable, contextual and non-essential. Although identity is perceived as an imagined construct and is contextually activated, it is nevertheless a ‘real’ organising principle in society. As such, rather than focusing on the dismissal of identity categories as the postmodernists have pursued, it is more significant to deconstruct and revaluate the ways in which broad labels such as ‘Chinese’ or ‘Australian’ are used to give meanings to the everyday living. Given this kind of formulation, it can be argued that the interrelationship between self-construction and social process relationship constitutes a basic framework for theorisation of the Chineseness of long-established ABC.
The theorisation of Chineseness often entails the notion of ‘cultural China’, which assumes that Chinese diasporic communities do have certain similar cultural symbols and that they originated from China. However, due to global migratory movements, transnational linkages and local forces, perceptions of ‘being Chinese’ vary greatly in different locations, thus Chineseness cannot be concretely defined. For example, individuals of long-settled Chinese diasporic communities do not share a similar collective consciousness of Chineseness with other recent Chinese migrants in the same locality. Throughout their history of settlement they have had to make cultural and social adjustments, as highlighted by Tan’s (2004b) study of the Babas in Malay. As such, they may have developed their own perception of being Chinese. They may have never even been to ‘China’ or where their family originally migrated from, or may not speak a Chinese language or may not look ‘Chinese’, but still identify with the Chinese cultural. As Tan notes, most ethnic Chinese live locally and identify to different degrees with the local; thus for Chinese in Australia they may identity themselves as Chinese Australians, Australian-born Chinese or just merely Chinese if they live transnationally and do not wish to emphasize any particular loyalty. Differences within particular ethnic groups are also proliferated along divisions of gender, age, sexuality, region, life stage, educational background and class which subsequently impact on the dynamics of identity construction.
Nevertheless, the ways in which members of Chinese diasporic communities position themselves within a racial hierarchy suggest that essentialist notions of being Chinese remain central in the carving of identities. Chineseness as a racialised collectivity,
87 constructed through a larger system of power, is manifestly associated with the issue of authenticity. This inherently involves some form of labelling and representations of the ‘other’ through imposing order and fixing meaning as natural (Pickering 2001). Stereotypical characteristics such as language and physicality often become the defining makers of racial boundaries; the ultimate source of an authoritative stamp of authenticity. As a result of the lingering pervasive hegemony of authenticity, it creates a hierarchical classification that stratifies the social position of the diasporic Chinese. The distinguishing feature of such idealised racial markers is that they reflect relations of power, in particular the ability of the dominant group to construct and impose identities upon others. As a result, there has been much concentration on the paradoxical construction of ‘Chineseness’ reflecting a system of values that arises with Westernised ascriptions (Chow 1998; Ang 2001).
Although Chineseness has been continually re-constructed as a result of the lingering dominant hegemony of the Western culture, authenticity which inevitably impacts on the social hierarchy of identity is also shaped by the action of in-group members. For example, those who can speak Mandarin are placed on a higher hierarchy than those who speak Cantonese, and those who speak Beijing Mandarin are considered the most authentic. Thus, it is equally important to question the politics of recognition that is shaped by the action of the categorised group itself. In this manner ‘Chinese’ as a collective identity functions as the organising principal, differentiating one group from another at an individual level. The theorisation of Chineseness in other words would be incomplete without a concurrent problematisation of Chineseness within the stratified position of other ‘Chinese’ groups within the Chinese diaspora.
Since the reality of ‘Chineseness’ is encapsulated with many contradictions and ambiguities, this is a particularly fertile field to plough. As such, this study takes the inconsistencies and ambivalences of ‘being Chinese’ as critical junctures for advancing the understanding of identity-formation in the diasporic world. I have argued that not all diasporic Chinese experience ‘being Chinese’ in the same way. However, this does not suggest that Chineseness is an essential characteristic complemented by other statuses and processes. The analysis of language and physicality highlights that Chineseness is somewhat remote from the abstraction of a ‘cultural China’ where the emphasis is on an authentic culture that must originate from China. Instead, I argue that Chineseness can
88 be explored as a symbolic resource that diasporic Chinese use in constructing their understandings of a racialised world. Chineseness in this sense is a discourse, a way of speaking of human experience and a way of seeing human relations. As such, in order to comprehend how Chineseness is constructed, it is necessary to understand how identity is constructed and how it operates, within the diasporic spaces that they inhabit.
Although the substantive issues of this chapter surround the construction of Chineseness, which is obviously one of the central concerns to the field of Chinese diasporic research, the underlying processes of negotiations are also related to other ethnic identities. Scholars studying other diasporas might not relate to the specific issues of Chineseness; however, this way of seeing the world has significant consequences in both Chinese diasporic lives and the lives of people of other racial and ethnic groups.
Having established the theoretical problems of identity construction and the ambiguities of Chinese identity, the next chapter provides a framework for the analysis of Chineseness of long-established ABC. By providing a critical evaluation of the life course and life cycle perspectives, I argue that the theoretical orientation of the life course through life stages is a particularly useful framework for analysing the dynamic negotiations of Chineseness. I examine the current theorisation of ‘hybridity’ as a means to understand diversity of experiences and differences in the course of the lives of diasporic Chinese. Moreover, I highlight that contrary to the assumption that successive generations fully assimilate and thus have decreased ethnic identification, descendents of early Chinese migrants are nevertheless situated in a liminal zone. Their construction of identity takes place as part of an on-going process in which certain aspects of the ‘original culture’ are persevered while others are reinvented by the impact of changing social environment and intergenerational influence. I argue that their experiences of hybridity need to be studied in a ‘spatial’ context, as Chineseness is an ‘imaginary’ construction which is continually reshaped through decentered linkages in the form of memory, nostalgia and imagination.
89 CHAPTER 4 LIFE COURSE AND HYBRIDITY
In Chapter 3, I unveiled the contradictions and ambivalence of ‘Chineseness’ through the essentialist and postmodernist discourses of identity. Since the analysis of Chineseness is predicated on the centrality of collective constructs in shaping social life, being Chinese’ to a large extent also means living within the norms of the Chinese life cycle. However, the assumptions of orderly patterns, static positions and firm boundaries in life are problematic because changes through the life course are inevitable, consequently leading to a diversity of trajectories. This is evidenced in Chinese diasporic studies where variations of experiences have been well documented (Ma 2003). Similarities and diversities exist in ‘Chinese’ cultural continuity and cultural transformations, as well as in expression of cultural identities. It is thus important to understand that each Chinese society has its own cultural conception of Chineseness which is invariably different from Chinese communities elsewhere. Not only does the meaning of ‘Chineseness’ of these diasporic communities changes the cultural practices in China are also changing and in each locality through localised traditions. In fact, global cultural forces including Chinese culture from overseas also influence local culture in mainland China (Tan 2004b). Diaspora Chinese of different generations and birth cohorts have also developed distinct cultural expressions. In particular, I argue that subsequent generations who are influenced by historical events and social contexts of local societies no longer live within the ‘norms’ of the Chinese life. The once clear and definite patterns of life have become uncertain as such new analytical frameworks need to understand the complex nature of shifting cultural identities.
In this chapter I begin by arguing that the theoretical orientation of the life course through life stages is a particularly useful framework for analysing the hybrid experiences of Chineseness of long-established ABC. This approach dwells on the diversity of experiences in the course of people's lives and focuses on the interpretation of different stages of life (see, for example, Elder et al. 2003; Hareven 1996; Alwin and McCammon 2003; Hockey and James 2003). While previous Chinese diasporic studies focused on the social experiences of individuals at particular stages of life, the complex
90 social processes and hybrid experiences involved in ‘being Chinese’ in relation to the life course have remained largely uncharted and certainly under-theorised, despite age being one of the key bases for the production of identity. The aging process is a significant resource through which individuals construct their biographical narratives as well as their interactions with others which are intricately linked to the establishment of cultural identities and belongingness. If the postmodern concept of identity is characterised as ‘becoming’ rather than ‘being’ and as a social process which can never be fixed in place, this means that childhood, adulthood and old age cannot be easily identified as static times and spaces between which the individual makes transitions. In this manner, the timing of transitions to different life stages and different perspectives constitute an objective location; without them it would be impossible to explain significant features of identity formation.
By drawing upon the concept of life course, the second part of this chapter examines the current theorisation of ‘hybridity’ as a means to understand diversity of experiences and differences in the course of the lives of diasporic Chinese. Various perspectives of hybridity such as ‘double consciousness’ (see for example Gilroy 1994; Nagata 1979) and ‘third space’ (see for example Bhabha 1991, 1994; Hall 1996) have received much credit in understanding the multiple identities characteristic of members of diasporic communities. However, I demonstrate that while there have been attempts to abandon homogeneous identity categories, the significance of identity still depends largely on the fact that the organisation of society is highly correlated to collectivised identities. Contrary to postmodernist arguments that identity cannot be definitely defined, the way in which members of diasporic communities position themselves according to specific collectivities suggests that essentialist notions perpetuate in the carving-out of identities in their daily lives.
Furthermore, I highlight the misconceptions often associated with the experience of successive generations. The general focus of migration literature has been on the problematic experience of first and second generation Chinese migrants, as ethic identification is perceived to decrease through successive generations. While the experience of subsequent generations is invariably different from other recent Chinese migrants, I argue that they still encounter experiences of hybridity. Their (re)construction of identity takes place as part of an on-going process in which certain
91 aspects of the ‘original culture’ are persevered with while others are reinvented, submerged or discarded due to the impact of changing social environment and intergenerational influence (Alba & Nee 1999; Nagel 1994). Moreover, diasporic literature maintains hybrid identities as problematic for diasporic communities as their experience is often seen as a struggle of marginalisation (e.g. Ang 2001). Quite certainly such negative experience is undeniable for some; however, what is missing from the debates on hybridity is an interest in those who have accepted hybridity in their lives.
In the third part of the chapter, the hybrid process of identity is examined through the decentered links maintained by subsequent generations with the homeland. For descendents of Chinese migrants, cultural identification with China is often established through their imagination of homeland which speaks to the negotiation of Chineseness. Although the transnational framework has been central in studies of ‘home’, there has been a tendency to focus on the regular transnational practices and physical linkages (see, for example, Wolf 2002; Levitt and Waters 2002; Ma 2003; Nonini and Ong 1997). However, diasporic images of ‘home’ often intertwine between origin, cultural heritage, ancestral homeland and local residence which form part of a wider world that has become important in theorising identity. As such, I argue that rather than examining notions of ‘home’ and identity in a physical space, they need to be studied in a ‘spatial’ context as it is an ‘imaginary’ construction which is continually reshaped by the decentered links of memory, nostalgia and imagination.
The following section proceeds to highlight the variations in the social construction of identity across the life course and thereby legitimize the ‘life course’ orientation over the ‘life cycle’ for the analysis of Chineseness between generations and within same generations.
Part 1 Variations in the Social Construction of Identity across the Life Course
The title of this section, “Variations in the Social Construction of Identities across the Life Course” stems from a question which is implicit in the theories of identity
92 formation: how do we come to know that identity is a social construction? This question recognises that, although identities change over time, cultural identities are made sense of by individuals in relation to the wider social and cultural norms of the age-based transitions through the life course. The aging process through an individual’s life course is one of the key bases for the production of social identity which in turn acts as way to classify and order the passing of time (Hockey and James 2003; Clausen 1986; Riley et al. 1982). Chronological age and its association with social time has a powerful impact on the way we see ourselves and how others see us, as it is the basis of the establishment of a social identity. Social time may be defined as “the set of norms that specify when particular life transitions or accomplishments are expected to occur in a particular society or social milieu” (Clausen 1986: 2). The ‘set of norms’ of a culture – which may include beliefs, values, morals or practices – are widely shared by members of a particular society at any given time. Thus, age identities imply social and moral obligations and have a powerful effect on what is expected and refused by an individual in different social contexts through the life course. However, social time may not necessary fuse with fixed chronological age, as expectations will vary considerably from one milieu to another (Clausen 1986).
This aim of this section is to bring to light major dimensions of the life course orientation as a tool to understand the dynamic formation of Chineseness. By pointing out the diversity of trajectories of diasporic Chinese, the first part of this section introduces the inadequacy of utilising the Chinese family cycle as a means to ‘measure’ or understand their Chineseness. The second part examines the legitimacy of the ‘life course’ orientation over the ‘life cycle’ for the analysis of Chineseness and suggests a framework that incorporates aspects of both orientations in analysing the experience of subsequent generations. Social and historical context, familial influences and gendered issues will be discussed as factors leading to varying life trajectories.
The Problem of Chinese Family Cycle There has been relatively little research about how ethnic identities are, in practice, made sense of by individuals in relation to the wider social and cultural norms of aging. While previous Chinese diasporic studies have focused on social experience by
93 generation (see, for example, Pe-Pua et al. 1996; Ip and Hsu 2006; Mar 1998; Ip et al. 1997) and by gender (see, for example, Ryan 2003; Hibbins 2006), the complex social processes and hybrid experiences involved in becoming Australian, Chinese or an ABC, in relation to the life course have remained largely uncharted and certainly under- theorised. The few studies that have examined the relationships between life course and ethnicity include Rivas and Torres-Gil (1992), Levitt (2002) and Smith (2002). As highlighted in the previous chapter, the notion of ‘Chineseness’ is established based on socially embedded essentialist constructs; thus being Chinese also means living through the traditional Chinese family cycle. As Kuah-Pearce (2006: 225) contends, “within a Chinese society that continues to embrace Confucian values, the social self is expected to conform and act to social expectations. The communal self is enculturated to fit into the cultural paradigm and enact roles expected of the self.” In all societies including, Chinese society, there is an insistence on social conformity, especially in the moral values and actions of their members. The self is thus subjected to various levels of pressure to ensure that it falls within the social expectations of the community.
Traditionally, ideologies of the Confucian social philosophy determined the roles and expectations at every stage in the Chinese life cycle. In the Confucian tradition, certain relations between family members were provided a position of paramount importance, in particular senior members of a family were accorded a wide range of authority with respect to the juniors. Both parties to a relationship were circumscribed by rules of correct behaviour which entailed rights and responsibilities for each (Bond and Hwang 1986). Xiao or filial piety, which principally defines children's moral duty to their parents, has been understood in the Chinese tradition as the root of morality and it is, in Weber's (1951: 157) words, “the absolutely primary virtue” which preceded all other virtues in China. The significant of Xiao in the lives of Chinese is similarly noted by Wang (1991c: 169), “Whatever else may be uncertain, there was no doubt that loyalty and filial respect were the duties par excellence in traditional China”. Traditionally, through education and indoctrination, the younger members of the extended Chinese family learned and accepted the responsibility that they will care for, the financial and social wellbeing of the elderly members in their family. The elderly accepted care as their right and families had pressure from the wider community to meet their obligations. Such reciprocal relationships were and still are considered a distinctive characteristic of Chinese family cultural values (Ryan 2003: 64).
94 Furthermore, gender ideology differentiated the moral duty to parents. According to Choi (1975: 12), in a traditional Chinese cycle, marriage was the norm of life. One of the main purposes of marriage was the fulfillment of the sacred duty of producing male heirs for the perpetuation of the ancestor’s lineage and the begetting of sons for the security of the parent’s old age. In this way, it was particularly important for sons to get married as they carried the name of the family. As such, marriage was perceived as an obligation of children to their parents. Up until the mid-20th century, the most common marital formation in China was to have the marriage arranged by one’s parents as it was too important a duty to be left to the inexperienced young. Good education leading to prosperity was the token to marrying a good Chinese wife, particularly when Chinese woman were scarcely available during the early part of the 20th century (Choi 1975). Even though daughter-in-laws were in some respects an outsider, a Chinese daughter- in-law had more value than a non-Chinese foreigner (Bao 2005: 44).
There is a longstanding literature concerning the philosophy of Confucius (see for example Fung 1948). The concern here, however, is to highlight its influence in Chinese familial values and social roles of individuals as they age. According to Chinese philosophy, age transition is perceived as a series of fixed states which imply social and moral obligations and a pattern that is to be repeated across the generations. However, what is the experience of those who never marry, are interracially married or are homosexual, as well as those with disabilities who are nursed by their elderly parents? These individuals cannot be accounted for as part of the ‘normative’ Chinese development as portrayed by the traditional paradigm. Furthermore, those who departed from China for a substantial period of time often found cultural values and gender identities regarding duty for the aged to be increasingly influenced by the cultural values of the host country. As Uhlenberg and Mueller (2003: 124) explain, “the significance of any specific family environment may vary markedly across societies and across time…” It is important to stress that no single Chinese identity is more authentic – the Confucius ideology only makes up part of the Chinese imaginary. Nevertheless, while the concept of Chinese identity is not neatly definable, there is a notion of Chineseness, whatever that may be.
95 Furthermore, the experiences an individual has are likely to have been largely determined by his/her social location and consequently influence the formation of an individual’s cultural identity (Moya 2000b). For example, there are different expectations for non-migrant background children and for immigrants’ children of Chinese families. Most of those with migratory background develop better foreign language ability than that of their parents and are required to assist in daily communicative tasks which normally are done by adults. The change in social context means that migrants’ children are taking on a certain responsibility at a much earlier age than the social norm. This can be highlighted by Pe-Pua et al.’s (1996: 59) study on HK astronaut families and parachute children in Australia, where immigrants’ children have been identified as taking on a much larger amount of domestic responsibility in Australia compared with what was expected of them in HK, particularly if their mother could not speak English well. As children, they were taking up responsibilities such as banking, dealing with bureaucracy and doing repairs around the house that normally were chores for adults. Their experiences suggest that there is considerable variability in the ages in which individuals enter into new social roles. Riley et al. (1982: 13) contend, “…aging must be seen as series of continually changing – and mostly changeable – experiences involving and often transforming individuals and society…” The contribution of age to the establishment of an identity is thus an experiential and situated process. How do those with ‘deviant’ life trajectories negotiate their Chineseness?
While diasporic studies highlight that the diverse experiences of overseas Chinese lie largely in their complex communal relationships constructed along divisions of birthplace, language, gender, generation, occupational background, religion and political affiliation, there has not been any substantial study focusing on the different ways Chineseness is negotiated through life course trajectories. These divisions change in time and space across the life course and in turn form their sometimes common, at other times dissimilar, experiences and self-perceptions. In recognition that cultural identities are influenced by ever-changing historical, social and biographical contexts, the proceeding section will highlight that the major dimensions the life course approach are particularly valuable in providing data to expand knowledge of Chineseness in relation to universal aspects of the human developmental cycle. One major aspect that this study seeks to understand is the developing path of Chineseness in relation to the
96 changing social experiences through the life course. Thus, in understanding the experience of long-established migrants, it is important to highlight a diversity of trajectories, rather than a commonality and continuity of experiences as the narrative of identity formation. The orientation of the ‘life course’ has therefore been adopted as a way of envisaging the fluid and unpredictable passage of a lifetime.
Life Cycle as Repetitive Patterns While the study of individual life span through the life cycle in the context of changing social and historical conditions has been developed, it is only recently that an effort to examine these processes from a contextual perspective has begun to mature (Hareven 1982: 4). Earlier research explained the ‘life course’ in terms of transitions through a series of rites of passage which allowed individuals to enter into clearly differentiated roles as statuses (e.g. Hertz 1960; Van Gennep 1960; Erikson 1950). Thus, the aging process was often represented as the ‘life cycle’ because it was perceived as a series of fixed states which implied social and moral obligations with a pattern that was to be repeated across the generations (Hockey and James 2003: 11). The static stages of life have provided one of the traditional bases for studies of the life course.
Erikson’s (1950) theory of the life cycle is presented in eight stages of life – infancy, early childhood, play age, school age, adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood and old age – through which individuals in Western society pass as they age. He argued that each state represents a challenging task that must be accomplished in order to advance further in normal development. Each task must be dealt with within a particular pattern and they are posed for the individuals at age levels that reflect societal expectations. For example, from childhood onwards there is increasing demand from others that a child behaves in accordance with established social norms and standards. This is conditioned through ongoing interactions of the ‘self’ with the ‘other’ which involves a process of relational positioning in which a child learns to identify sameness/difference (Clausen 1986: 64–84). Adolescence is a time of self-exploration and self-expression, yet it is also a period when social and cultural influences play a major role in shaping an individual’s identity (Clausen 1986: 85). The establishment of selfhood concerns not only a conscious feeling of having a personal identity through selfsameness, belonging
97 and continuity perceived by oneself and the other, but also what Erikson (1980: 4) conveys as the ego quality of this existence:
Ego identity, then, in its subjective aspect, is the awareness of the fact that there is a selfsameness and continuity to the ego’s synthesizing methods and that these methods are effective in safeguarding the sameness and continuity of one’s meaning for others.
The accommodation of difference is particularly fundamental in ensuring a sense of sameness and belonging during adolescence.
The transition to parenthood brings with it dramatic changes through taking-up primary responsibility for the rearing of children. The lifestyle and comfort of oneself often becomes less important. Everyday interactions of parents with their children play one of the most influential processes in the development of children’s cultural identity. As Gecas (2003: 374) explains, “parents are the first and in many ways the most important teachers for their children.” As children grow, their general knowledge of their society is often learnt from their observation of daily encounters and knowledge from their parents. Moral and cultural values are one of the most deeply ingrained life-guiding qualities which to a certain extent are both consciously and subconsciously carved into the developing path of children from their parents. Yet the influences in the parent- child relationship are highly reciprocal, with children having a substantial effect on their parents as well as the reverse (Gecas 2003: 375).
From childhood through to parenthood and the middle years to follow, most of the expected transitions that go with increasing age involve learning new roles and engaging in tasks for valued reward. However, in the later years of life, not only are there less prospects of taking on new roles, but roles long-held – such as significantly yielding power to influence to younger cohorts in the family – is given up. Clausen notes (1986: 175) role changes associated with old age have largely negative consequences:
The old are devalued; they are often seen as stereotypes rather than as individuals, they are excluded from many opportunities for social
98 participation, they lose their major work and family roles through retirement and widowhood; and the primary role remaining to such a period is unstructured and ambiguous, not serving as a basis for maintaining a positive identity.
Roles entail obligations and privileges, while in old age these roles seem to be no special tasks except those required to maintain one’s ties with others and one’s sense of identity and worth.38 The different duties associated at different life stages and their association with social time has a powerful impact on the way we interpret ourselves and how others see us, as it is the basis of the establishment of a social identity.
Similar to any collectivised identities, age identities associated with life stages inherently involve some form of stereotyping which involves an evaluative process of labeling and representations of the ‘other’ through fixing and ascribing meanings as natural and given (Pickering 2001). To migrate at the age of ninety is a rather different experience than that of a younger person. It underscores the irony of venturing into a new lifestyle at the end of one’s life when, rather than experiencing a new home or new culture, it is just to stay peacefully settled and secured in one country. Hockey and James (2003: 4) contend, aging thus “legitimates access to certain social experiences, while denying access to others and also embraces sets of implicit expectation about behaviour in relation to age identities.” In everyday life there is a ‘natural’ tendency to recourse to the stereotypes of aging through which we place and locate people’s identities because of the internalisation of social norms – habitus. Nevertheless, while the theoretical framework of the life cycle has provided a guideline by which progress along the life course may be accessed in particular social milieus, it has increasingly come under scrutiny because of its inability to account for variation and diversity of movement through biography and historical time. The recent work on identity and the position of this study, are precisely in opposition to such a static perspective.
38 Aging /old age is an emerging theme in anthropology and sociology. See also Lamb’s (2000) study on aging in North India.
99 Life Course as a Theoretical Orientation The theoretical orientation of ‘life course’ challenges such fixed and repetitive sequence of ages and stages of the life cycle. Collectivised constructs of life stages are problematic as both aging and identity formation are social processes which are continually undergoing transformation through time and space. Elder et al. (2003: 7) explain that the life course as a theoretical orientation arose from “the desire to understand social pathways, their developmental effect, and their relation to personal and social-historical conditions”. This approach dwells on the diversity of experiences in the course of people's lives which are made up of transitions which often involve changes in identity, both personally and socially thus, opening up opportunities for behavioral changes leading to varying life trajectories (ibid: 8). Furthermore, it focuses on the interpretation of different stages of life. This means that childhood, adulthood and old age cannot be reduced to static times, spaces and roles39 between which the individual makes their transition. For example, the meaning of old age is subject to complete transformations in different cultures, genders and times. Factors such as health conditions and official retirement age can lead to variations in experiences.
Hareven (1996: 3) summarises that underlying the life course approach are three major dimensions: individual timing of life transition in relation to external historical events; the synchronization of individual life transitions within the family; and the impact of earlier life events, as shaped by historical circumstances on subsequent ones. These concepts reflect the temporal nature of lives, conveying movement through historical and biographical time and will be discussed in greater detail in the proceeding section. Individual changes arising from movement through historical time come from people’s response to historical events and processes. Changes arising from biographical times happen because of the combination of biological, psychological and social mechanisms through aging. Furthermore, transitions into different social phases of life from childhood to old age are interrelated and complicated by generations and birth cohorts. Age and its varied connections to time are thus important determinants for understanding the changing contexts of lives (Elder et al. 2003: 8).
39 For example, in one context parenthood might be profoundly life-altering, but in other contexts, as for one who has divorced his/her children for a new life, it may be inconsequential. 100 Generations and Birth Cohorts
It is important to note here that the term ‘generation’ should not be used to represent ‘birth cohort’. In the kinship sense, generations are nested within families and individual family members are nested within the generations (e.g. child, parent, grandparent). Each generation has its unique themes and problems which are vastly different from those that confronted their parents (Clausen 1986: 7). However, those of the same generation may also experience vastly different experiences because of social events such as war, drought and migration policy which are unevenly spaced across the life course. The timing of experiences of such events can consequently bring about changes in perspectives resulting in different life trajectories for younger and older children in the same family (ibid: 8). In my honours study on HK immigrants children, it was obvious that there were major differences in settlement experiences between those who migrated during early childhood and those who migrated in adolescence (Ngan 2003). For the older siblings, during early childhood in HK, many would have parents, grandparent and maids to perform household chores. However, after migration they would be expected to take-up domestic responsibilities which were never expected of them in HK. This readjustment is also noted in Pe-Pua et al.’s study (1996: 59). For the younger siblings who were brought up in Australia, such type of cross-cultural experience was not as distinctively difficult for them as for their older siblings. The difference lies in the cultural upbringing and expectations in different social contexts.
Unlike generation, birth cohort explicitly refers to the year of birth, which in general is used as an index to a unique historical period in which a group’s common experiences are embedded. The importance of using cohorts in the studying of the life course is that “it focuses on change in the total society, as roles and institutions change; historical events occur; science, beliefs, and values are transformed; and the age structure of the population alters” (Riley et al. 1982: 12). In other words, a cohort’s placement in historical time indicates a great deal about the opportunities and the constraints placed upon its members. Individuals growing up at different times are predisposed to characteristic modes of experience of particular points in time. As such, the socio- cultural context in relation to the individual is an important aspect to consider in order to achieve accurate generalisation about identity formation in the life course in a particular society at a particular time. In this manner, Alwin and McCammon (2003: 26)
101 argue that members of a birth cohort usually share a social history at a given time and thus experience historical events at about the same age. However, individuals of a common cohort who are living in the same country may not necessary share similar life experiences. This can be highlighted by the experiences of informants in this study. For example, the account of informant May 3(3) highlights that while the White Australia Policy had negatively impacted on the experience of Chinese settlement in Australia, not all living in that period experienced the same degree of discrimination:
When we were evacuated from Adelaide to Sydney because of the war I can remember people teased us in the streets like “Ching Chong Chinaman. Ha! Ha! Ha! Born in a teapot, christened in a jar!” …Anyone Chinese, they would do that. That was only in Sydney. When we went back to Darwin we never experienced that. There were many more Chinese and we were business folk, so more elite. There were also lots of aboriginals too. That’s why we never felt it. When I got married and went to HK they kept talking about the White Australian policy. I was ignorant about that, I didn’t even realise that it had existed because we had never had an experience of that. It was never spoken about. But now I realise what it was. There was not much discrimination in Darwin. Even in Adelaide I wouldn’t call it discrimination, I would call it curiosity. They were respectful.
This excerpt highlights that the socio-cultural context of different localities have significant impact on an individual’s experience of Chineseness. During Margaret’s childhood in the 1940s, while the impact of the racist White Australia Policy was aimed at restriction of permanent residence (Choi 1975: 39), it remained largely unnoticed in the closely-knit community of Darwin to the extent that she “didn’t realise that it had existed”. Yet during Vera’s childhood, the policy caused her parents to be separated for many years before the family could reunite.40 The variations highlighted in these narratives suggest that those of the same generation do not necessarily share similar experiences of Chineseness, and those of a birth cohort do not always share a social
40 See detailed account in Chapter 7, Part 4, Intergenerational Influence. 102 history at a given time due to contextual specific issues. Nevertheless, the concepts of cohorts and generations do assist individuals to make sense of their social position.
The informants who grew up in Darwin were only confronted with their Chineseness when they moved to other urban parts of Australia. Rob 3(3) explains the reason behind the vastly differing attitude between the localities of Darwin and Sydney as a child during the 1930s:
In Darwin in those days, Chinese was the majority there. The other foreigners were a few Malays, Japanese and Pilipino and also aboriginal. The few Australians that were there were single men who worked in a permanent job but they were all spread out. We had problem getting work, but we never had discrimination there because we were all Asians. The truth was that the white people caused the discrimination…There was no discrimination against Chinese in Darwin but when I came down south in Sydney, just before the War, people were very racist. I think it’s because there were hardly any Chinese people in Sydney in those days… They were all spread out.
What was significant about Darwin’s Chinese population compared to metropolitan Sydney was that successful integration took place, particularly after World War II. During the post-war period, while Sydney had a relatively larger Chinese population than other states in Australia41, the Chinese were often confronted with discrimination (Choi 1975: 70). A contributing factor was that the Chinese in Sydney were sparsely dispersed in middle-distance suburbs and outer suburbs and so they were often the minority in their local community. Contrastingly, the Chinese in Darwin were widely dispersed throughout the society without any apparent social tension, nor were they completely assimilated in so far as they retained many of their traditional cultural traits and their physical distinctiveness (Inglis 1972). According to Choi (1976: 69), the success was largely due to its relatively distant location from other urban areas, which meant that it received little immigration of Chinese even after the war; only one-fourth
41 The three states, NSW, Victoria and Queensland had over eighty percent of the Chinese population in 1947 (Choi 1975: 51). Sydney had a much larger Chinese population than Darwin; in 1966 there where 9943 Chinese in Sydney as compared to the 400 in Darwin (Choi 1975: 69). 103 of their population was foreign-born and many were third and forth generation Chinese. Moreover, Darwin was far from typical of other Australian cities in its significantly small Chinese population and “racially and ethnically very heterogeneous population” (Inglis 1972: 279). The experiences of the Chinese there is very important in highlighting that individuals of a common birth cohort living in the same country may not necessary share similar life experience. Socio-cultural factors such as migration policy, intercultural relations or ethnic composition in different localities have profound impact on the formation of identity, consequently bringing about changes in their experiences of Chineseness.
For diasporic communities a further aspect of transition is complicated by migration history of the family. The term ‘migratory generation’ is nested within the generational distance of one’s departure from the homeland.42 Each migratory generation has its unique themes and problems due to settlement and integration. The experiences of recent Chinese migrant generations are invariably different from long-established generation ABC. For example, Ip and Hsu’s (2006: 286) study on the 1.5 43generation Taiwanese in Brisbane highlights that despite growing up in Australia, this generation continues to use “Chinese or Taiwanese language in forming friendship” and has “assertion of a taste for Asian rather than Australian popular culture and lifestyle”. Their experiences are vastly different from long-established ABC of this study whose primary language is English and who live an Australian lifestyle.44 However, different migratory generations may also share similar experiences because they are in a common cohort, thus are embedded in a similar social context of a particular time. Since cultural identities are influenced by an ever-changing historical, social and biographical context, the life course approach is thus useful in understanding the diversity of experiences and differences in the course of people's lives.
Historical Events and Social Contexts
In examining Chineseness of subsequent generations it is important to contextualise and historicise identity across the life course. Elder et al. (2003: 12) highlights that “the life
42 See Chapter 3. 43 1.5 generations refers to immigrants’ children who migrated with their parents at a young age. 44 See chapter 5. 104 course of individuals is embedded and shaped by the historical times and places they experience over their lifetime”. As such, if identity is socially constructed, no identity per se can be adequately understood outside its historical and social context. Similarly, Alcoff (2006: 9) reminds us of the importance of context-based research:
The topic of identity is best approached in very specific context-based analyses. This locality and specificity is necessary because identities are conditioned by social contextual conditions of interaction in specific cultures at particular historical periods, and thus their nature, effects and the problems that need to be addressed in regard to them will be largely local.
Individual changes come about through personal response to significant events of particular periods. When the entire society is affected by a set of historical events such as a social movement, political changes or technological advancements, widespread changes occur (Alwin and McCammon 2003: 30).
In the Australian context, unforeseen events such as the Gold Rush, Federation, White Australia policy, multicultural policy, periodic prosperity and economic downturns had profound influences on life trajectories in both individuals and age cohorts of long- established ABC. In particular, the change from the policy of White Australia45 to multiculturalism dramatically changed ideas about race and culture. During the period of strict Australian immigration law, there was only a small Chinese population remaining in Australia and the experience of Chineseness of this minority community was conditioned by encounters of ‘difference’. Jerry 3(2), born in 1942, illuminates his minority status in 1950s Sydney:
In the 50s, when I went to boarding school in Randwick, there was only about a dozen Asian, out of the one hundred and forty boarders … In those days there was none of this easy street that the Asian kids have now. In our period there were no allowances. You got what was given to
45 The White Australia Policy, which excluded all non-white people from Australia, was the official policy of all governments from the 1890s to the 1950s, and elements of the policy survived until the 1970s. 105 you. No going home to have sicko46, there was none of that, you got thrown in and that was it … it was English all of the time.
John’s account highlights the changes in social environment which have powerful influence on the negotiation of Chinese identity. He explains that during the ‘old days’ being Chinese was a ‘burden’ and he deliberately disassociated himself with the Chinese culture. The impact of this led to his attempted suicide. He explains, “I did have one suicide attempt at twenty-four. There was so much pressure living in the white world and living in the yellow world and being nowhere.” While through a changing social atmosphere47 he has become more relaxed and open about being Chinese he still believes that the majority of ‘whites’ are inherently racist and claims he was retrenched from his job recently because he was Chinese.
During the 1970s, Australia first began to adopt a policy of multiculturalism and Chinese migrants were allowed to settle in Australia. With increasing migrant populations from all over the world, it has given greater visibility to the importance of social and cultural diversity. Due to the change in the social environment, Danny 3(3), who is also a third generation ABC but born in 1981, had a more positive childhood experience about being Chinese in Sydney in the 1990s:
At boarding school, I was probably the minority, in terms of race. There were many Chinese but not in boarding school. I felt slightly discriminated against only because people just sort of assume that you fit into a typical Chinese group based on your race. So people judge firstly by your appearance and ethnicity comes into it. But it hasn’t been on a big scale, it’s just small. But I have no problems admitting I am Chinese. I am just not the typical nerdy type!
46 ‘sicko’ or ‘sickie’ is an Australian slang for sick-leave 47 Massive influxes of Chinese in Australia in the Gold Rush era lead to social fears of ‘Chinese invasion’ into Australia. Consequently the legislation for the exclusion of Chinese was enacted severely to restrict Chinese immigration. After World War II, Australia launched a massive immigration program, believing that the nation must either 'populate or perish'. Thousands of displaced Europeans, including large numbers of Jews, immigrated to Australia. This wave of immigration greatly changed the previous monoculture and conservative character of Australian society. However, immigration was still restricted to Europeans in most circumstances, although the White Australia Policy was gradually eased from the 1950s onwards. 106 While looking Chinese was still a mark of difference, the comparison between Jerry’s and Danny’s accounts highlight the negotiation of Chineseness is contingent to circumstances of different social periods. While they are both identified as third generation ABC, nevertheless there are variations in their experience of Chineseness because they are in different birth cohorts. The construal of Chineseness is influenced by ever-changing contextual factors which often create diversity within generations of different birth cohorts. Elder et al. (2003: 12) explain, “the developmental antecedents and consequences of life transitions, events and behavioral patterns vary according to their timing in a person’s life”. In other words, the same encounters may affect individuals in different ways depending on when they occur in the life course. The term ‘life course’ has therefore been adopted as a way of envisaging the fluid and unpredictable passage of an individual’s lifetime. Thus, to adequately understand the negotiation of Chineseness of subsequent generations, it is important to contextualise and historicise identity by examining the trajectories of individuals.
Synchronization of Life Transitions within the Family
A problematic component of the life cycle is its focus on isolated, repetitive life stages. In most societies, each generation experiences life differently – consequently each encounter vastly different problems from those confronted by their children or parents. The parental generation is often responsible for mediating the influences of social change on their children (Alwin and McCammon 2003: 28). Intergenerational studies illustrate that the (re)construction of identity between generations takes place as part of an on-going process in which certain aspects of the ‘original culture’ are preserved while others are reinvented, submerged or discarded due to the impact of changing social environment (Alba & Nee 1999; Nagel 1994). As such, no cultural values and practices can be totally repeated or recreated across the generations. This point is useful when considering the (re)construction of identity of the successive generations of early Chinese migrants. Rather than emphasizing on a commonality of experiences characteristic of the life cycle approach, the life course orientation focuses on the diversity of trajectories and experiences which are made up of transitions or changes in state or role.
107 Hockey and James (2003) explain that both aging and the formation of social and cultural identities are social processes that emerge through the interactions between people’s social relationships which are infinitely dynamic and varied. For example, transition may involve becoming a parent or grandparent with the birth of a new generation, but the transition may occur in different times in the life course for each individual, leading to diversity of trajectories. In other words, not only do cultural identities change, the social categories in which one inhibits are also changing through time across the life course. The dynamics of identity through transitions within the life course can be highlighted by Jean 4(3) as she expresses the developing path of her sense of Chineseness through the various stages in her life:
I am less Chinese than ever at the moment. I don’t have that connection. I don’t have my grandfather giving conversation to me. I more focused in my own life, working and all that. At certain points in my life I was more connected but that has got to do with priorities; in adolescent you were thinking about yourself, you are reflecting. I did deal with more of a Chinese group – it influences you.
Within a familial setting, the life transitions of the younger generations are intertwined with those of the older generations and as such are intergenerationally influenced. Moreover, the establishment of Chineseness can also change through the consequences of social experiences in life and therefore cannot be fully repeated across the generations. As Hockey and James (2003: 11) highlight, “different individuals will draw on a diversity of resources to negotiate one among any number of later life social identities.” Since the family is a major arena, the understanding of the identity formation will be advanced by examining the way in which intergenerational relations are acted through the life course.
Furthermore, transitions across the life course are part of an overall process of generational interaction in the context of changing historical events, rather than an isolated stage (Hareven 1996). Uhlenberg and Mueller (2003: 139) explain that “intergenerational relationships potentially contribute to the well-being of people in later life.” It is important to consider the impact of cultural factors in the way intergenerational relations are acted out, as expectations of recipients and the care
108 givers are influenced by their respective social and cultural milieux. A common issue of contemporary Western societies about generational relations in later life involves who actually provide support for the elderly and what form this supports takes. On the one hand, family members assume that the state carries major responsibilities of care for the aged; on the other hand, the state assumes that the family is responsible for some of these areas. Such confusion of responsibilities often means that the elderly are situated between the family and the welfare state without receiving proper support from either (Hareven 1996: 1). As such, how much support an older person receives from the younger generation depends upon cultural–familial experiences and ideologies. In this manner, any stage of life is part of an overall process of aging. In short, Elder et al. (2003: 13) summaries, “lives are lived interdependently and socio-historical influences are expressed through this network of shared relationship.”
Gender, Sexuality and Trajectories
While those of the same birth cohort may display signs of difference due to differing impact of historical events, social context and intergenerational influence, the discourses of gender bring with it social ramifications that determine an individual’s sense of identity at varying points across the life course leading to different life trajectories (Clausen 1986). The extent to which individuals make choices about the way they express themselves and their identities as gendered or sexualised beings are not to be identified with sexual or innate differences, but rather with social forces and cultural ideologies (Butler 1990). Scientific evidence and hormonal experiments have indicated that social factors and pressures are more important than physiological ones in the development of sexuality (Howe 1979). Social forces have contributed to the construction of sexual stereotypes which are assumed differences, social conventions or norms, learned behaviour, attitudes and expectations labelled upon gendered bodies which we begin to develop during infancy. Since people learn sexual stereotypes at a very early age, they become deeply internalised and “hardly possible by traditional means, to change their attitudes about sex roles – whether they are male or female” (ibid: 56). Furthermore, sexual divisions represented differently in different times and places are a means to understand the manner in which power is articulated and channelled in different communities. As such, sexuality is an important aspect in the life
109 course as it has a great impact towards the ways individuals choose to negotiate their identity.
Since individuals negotiate and acquire identities in relation to social contexts, that process is inevitably guided by social norms which have been internalised through time. Hockey and James (2003: 141) explain, in studying gender and sexuality with relation to the life course, it requires:
… not only to explore the ways in which age intersects with the other aspects of identity but to reveal the existence of subtler systems of power which operate covertly as a form of moral and structural regulation over individual agency via micro politics of discipline.
The conceptualisation of gender practices are socially developed from an early age through a diversity of mediums such as education at school, media portrayals, cultural expectations, family upbringing and intergenerational influence. Gender provides some of the languages and categories through which family, nation-state and other social arrangements are articulated and justified. In childhood, patterns of inequality and identity differences are firmly established which work to either empower or restrict choices later in the life course when children grow into adult women and men (Hockey and James 2003: 145). The impact of gender awareness on decision-making is highlighted by Hochschild (1989) who argues that an individual will engage in a ‘gender strategy’ through which a plan of action is created to solve problems at hand, given the cultural notions of gender at play which inevitably assists or constrains the individual behaviour. To pursue a gender strategy, an individual draws on beliefs about manhood and womanhood that are forged in early childhood and which are anchored with deep emotions. Since individuals negotiate and acquire identities in relation to the social context, that process is inevitably guided by sexual norms associated with particular stages of life course. Hochschild (1989: 25) explains that a man will make “a connection between how he thinks about his manhood, what he feels about it, and what he does. It works in the same way for a woman”. In this way, gendered identity is therefore more than a personal or individual matter. It is an outcome of a dialectic process (Hibbins 2006). As such, generalised notions of masculinity and femininity and
110 stereotypical gender roles and relations have significant implications for the ways in which identities are negotiated across the later life course.
The construal of ‘gender strategies’ or gender-related decisions are connected to the perpetuation of traditional gender ideology. Sexual stereotypes are deeply engrained in our culture and the extent to which sexuality is internalised can be highlighted by the persistence of gender roles from the past to the present. Chow (1991) writes that the internal self is already mapped out for a Chinese woman as two thousand years of definitions, expectation and clichés has determined what she always already is. For example, as highlighted previously in this chapter, the chief purpose of marriage in a Chinese family was “the fulfillment of the sacred duty of producing male heirs for the perpetuation off the ancestor’s lineage, the acquiring of an extra woman to help in domestic work, and the begetting of sons for the security of the parent’s old age” (Choi 1975: 12). The focus on men and the importance of family lineage can be detected in the process of Chinese migration. During the late 1800s, while there was comparatively little objection to males migrating, there was strong objection regarding females “for fear of that the whole family would be lost” – as the role of a married woman was keeping the family unit together (ibid). As such, Chinese men migrated to the Australian goldfields in search of gold while their wives remained with their children in China waiting for their husband’s return with wealth and fortune. Men were expected to make money abroad and to remit a portion back to their home villages in China to promote the interest of their lineage. The gender role of Chinese men as dominant income earners for the family, and women as the maintenance of the family unit, has perpetuated in the contemporary era, where a similar pattern can be illustrated by a recent type of immigration from HK to Australia. In these ‘astronaut families’ the father returns to HK for business purposes, while the wife remains and looks after the rest of the family in Australia (Pe-Pua et al. 1996). Due to the implications of sexual ideology, Chinese women’s economic and social contributions to migration were considered trivial as they were routinely viewed as dependents of male migrants or as a passive participant in migration (Ryan 2003). Because of the inequality in the constructed notion of sexuality, both genders have not received the same proportion of visibility. Although it is obvious that there have been significant changes in social conventions of
111 sexual roles through the women’s liberation movement and equal access policies48 etc., nevertheless a persistence of traditional sexual ideology still remains deeply embedded which differentiates the behaviour of males and females (Hochschild 1989). Thus, notions of sexuality have direct impact on the carving of identities which simultaneously affect choices that individuals make in their everyday lives.
More recently, the contemporary diasporic literature dealing with interracial relations has paid increasingly more attention to the gender imbalances and objectification of Asian women who are characterised by hyper-femininity and submissiveness. The focus has largely centered on the ambivalence of the Asian woman who is the objectified subject (Ang 2001; Ryan 2003; Ip 2002). While the experience of the objectified is crucial, to adequately encapsulate the entirety of the self/other relations the objectifications within Asian communities are also necessary. Largely neglected in the literature are the attitudes and experience of the Asian men who are also part of the ‘gaze’. The discourse of the White Australia Policy has led to a lowering of the social status of Chinese men, which has perpetuated into the contemporary era. There was a deliberate desexualisation of Chinese men in order to keep them away from Anglo- Celtic women. Through the hegemony of White superiority is an emergence of a subculture where Chinese men are perceived as “not quite real men, as they fail the (Western) test of masculinity … particularly the ‘macho’ version” (Hibbins 2006: 291). This marginalisation is exacerbated by the typical feminised representation of Chinese men as physically smaller than ‘white’ men, which is an example of hegemonic masculinity. In the case of sexuality, Chinese men are depicted as asexual. As ambivalence pervades the daily life of diasporic subjects in multicultural societies, examination of ambivalent moments of both male and female subjects have much relevance in understanding the construal of identities.
In acknowledging that identity is constantly changing, the discussion on the dynamics within life course has demonstrated the limitations of the life cycle orientation. Social
48 Generalised notions of masculinity and femininity not only have implication in the way identity is negotiated but also in the social research and public policies. In the public arena, gender implications can be highlighted by the perusal of equal access – whether it is gender, language, culture – to government services and programs. However, simply applying fair treatment to all groups is insufficient as different gender groups may need more assistance to ensure more equitable outcomes because they have been historically disadvantaged – e.g. women trying to break into a traditionally male industry. 112 factors such as family, socio-cultural context, gender and sexuality bring with them cultural ramifications leading to different life trajectories. These factors which surround the negotiation of identity within the life course must be considered in order to adequately comprehend how people shape their identity.
A Theoretical Orientation towards Life Course through Life Stages
While the life course paradigm adequately challenges the problematic notion of fixed states of the life-cycle approach, Alcoff (2006) contends that visible manifestation of life stage and race consequently are unavoidable features of the present day operations of social identities. The life course approach overcomes the static, isolated and repetitive nature of the life cycle pattern by highlighting fluidity, hybridity and diversity of life trajectories. For those living in-between cultures, not only is life’s movement always varied, vague and dynamic, movements through historical and biographical time further lead to a diversity of life trajectories. With such variations, how can one conduct any meaningful analysis on the temporal nature of lives? Life stages are signifiers and triggers which do play on people’s lives. It is widely common that individuals in the Western world identify themselves and others through the visible manifestation of life stages in one way or another, either voluntarily or impinged upon by others. While they may remain similar in signification for individuals inhabiting a common society, different trajectories are inevitable because of the circumstances of individual biography and historical contexts. While the notion of Chinese identity is socially constructed and fluid in nature, there is something we call ‘Chinese’. In the same manner, while the timing of transition into different socially constructed stages varies for each individual, we can still speak of continuity– there is something that we call adulthood or old age. As such, if we totally dismiss the social construct of ‘life stages’ which is a significant feature of the developing path of life, it makes it rather difficulty to draw any conclusive account on the meaning of variability of individual lives.
Life stages similar to racial categories share at least two features: both are fundamental rather than peripheral to the self and – unlike for example, one’s identity as a Chinese history teacher or a Liberal – are relational to the other as they operate through socially constructed visual markers on the body. Even though postmodern literature maintains
113 the fluid and dynamic nature of identity, the truth of one’s life stage and race are widely thought to be visibly manifest through social constructions – as such constituting an objective location. As Alcoff (2006: 7) explains, those who are of ambiguous identity such as mixed race often encounter an insistent skepticism and anxiety when there is no visible manifestation of their declared racial identity. Those who are situated in a hybrid zone often experience anxiety when mythic racial physical features that are thought to determine identity fail to match an individual’s claim to identity. The notion of hybridity will be discussed in greater detail in Part 2 of this chapter. In the same manner, parenthood as a life stage is fundamental to the self and is also relational. In most contexts being a parent is fundamental not only to one’s everyday life, but also to an individual’s relationship with a community, orientation towards the world, potential life choices and cultural and political values. In turn, these properties can profoundly affect how we are seen and interacted with by others. Learning that someone is a mother produces unconscious or conscious reactions in people, often involving socially constructed presumptions. Furthermore, when racial identity is complicated with life stages, it often engenders unconscious assumptions about one’s past experience or one’s moral values (e.g. a woman who is a full-time working, single Chinese mother of five children compared to a non-working Anglo mother of one child in a suburban household). As such, rather than dismissing the use of a particular life stage, one should seek for the variations in how such stage is produced and regulated for individuals.
Childhood as a stage of life, for example, is a theoretical construct, but it involves the kind of social theory that is pivotal to making sense of a central feature of our world. The theoretical notion of childhood refers not just to the experiences of children but also to a particular social arrangement of generational relations and age hierarchies which can be evaluated. The experience of children in this society is not self-evidently deduced from the lived experience of individual children, rather it is based in children’s lives to the extent that it articulates an individual’s social location. Such location is discovered by an explanatory account of the nature of generational stratification, how it is recreated and regulated and the particular social groups and culture it legitimates. This example highlights that while childhood is socially constructed, the constructedness does not make it illegitimate in advance. As Mohanty (2000: 38) explains, “experiences are crucial indexes of our relationship with our world… and to stress their cognitive nature is to argue that they can be susceptible to varying degrees
114 of socially constructed truth or error and can serve as source of objective knowledge or socially produced mystification.”
As such, rather than dismissing life stages altogether, this chapter analyses the construction and operation of identity as Chinese through dynamic transitions across the life course by utilizing life stages as guiding markers. While contemporary work highlights the importance of fluidity and fragmentation for understanding how identity is negotiated, I argue that specific social identities which are stamped onto the malleable individual across a life needs to be considered in the analysis of the developing path of Chineseness. As Mohanty (2000: 61-62) argues, “an adequate appreciation of such ‘particular’ perspectives and viewpoints makes possible a richer general picture and more nuanced universialist view of humanness and vulnerabilities, as well as – by implication-human flourishing.” Thus, even with obvious limitations of the homogenous concepts of life stages and Chineseness, identity-based narratives can be understood in terms of ‘real’ political insights.
Bourdieu (1990) suggests that the objective condition of existence, including material events in social history, generate the ‘habitus’ which in turn creates certain dispositions, attitudes and behaviours which individuals can choose from. Similarly, Mathews’ (2000) notion of a ‘cultural supermarket’ echoes Bourdieu’s concept of ‘habitus’, where he argues that people can ‘pick and choose’ their identity in accordance with fundamental factors as well as their personal molding, but also in negotiation with and performance for others or with others. Such cultural tastes and values play a critical role in the establishment of identity and social relationship, from the choice of marriage partners to preference of food. Thus, the choices one make is powerfully influenced by one’s cultural background and social environment. While identity to a degree is becoming a matter of personal taste, the choices they make are not totally free but are conditioned by factors of age, gender, sexuality, cultural norms, wider social contexts across the life course and the family. Thus as Alcoff et al. (2006: 6) explain, identities are markers for history, social location and positionality which are always subject to an individual’s interpretation of their meaningfulness in an individual’s life. In this way cultural values are not merely a matter of personal preference but are indications of one’s location in the social hierarchy.
115 As signified by the concept of ‘habitus’, referring to the processes through which the self and social world ever shape each other, in order to adequately understand the multifarious ways long-established ABC configure Chineseness, it is necessary to examine its dynamic and hybrid formation in relation to social conditions and contextual changes over life course trajectories. The concept of hybridity provides a means to understand the ambivalence and unsettling identities characteristic of the diasporic experience. It challenges traditional essentialist frameworks that were built upon notions of homogeneity and singularity by highlighting the presence of gaps and contradictions in the traditional paradigms of identity, centered around notions of singularity and unity.
The following section examines the concept of ‘hybridity’ which has emerged in postmodernist literature as a means to explain the relational positioning and contextual significance in diasporic space. The general emphasis of ‘hybridity’ has been on the negative experience; however, missing from the debates are those who have accepted multiplicity in their lives. Therefore, I illustrate the ways in which the manipulation and reshaping of identities can also have positive effects on the lives of individuals.
Part 2 Life Trajectories and Hybridity
In understanding the experience of diasporic Chinese, it is important to highlight a diversity of trajectories within and across successive generations, rather than a commonality and continuity of experiences as the narrative of identity formation. The formation of identity between generations takes place as part of an on-going process in which certain aspects of the ‘original culture’ are maintained or reclaimed while other aspects and expectations of the previous generation that appear irrelevant are modified, resisted or discarded (Alba & Nee 1999; Nagel 1994). In this manner, subsequent generations reconstruct hybridised forms of Chineseness in ways of their own choosing that are relevant and meaningful to their identifications. Hence the image of a Chinese identity is a cultural product that can be established in various ways depending on one’s social and cultural locations.
The aim of this section is to provide a discussion on the adequacy of the concept of hybridity as a framework for analysing the experience of subsequent generations. By
116 problematising melting-pot concepts of assimilation, the first part of this section highlights the underlying reasons behind the lack of in-depth research relating to the negotiation of identity of the subsequent generations of Chinese diasporic communities in Australia. The second part then examines the limitations and usefulness of two distinct notions of hybridity – namely, ‘double consciousness’ and ‘third space’ – for understanding those situated in liminal zones. While underlying both approaches is an intellectual decentering built upon notions of difference and otherness and an attempt to abolish the reliance on unitary notions embedded in previous assimilationist frameworks, ironically the very logic of these conceptual notions of hybridity have led to a reinstatement of sameness and a redrawing of exclusionary lines. The third part argues that while negative experiences have often been associated with hybrid identities, what is missing from the debates is an interest in those who have accepted hybridity in their lives.
Challenging the Melting Pot
The notion of hybridity has largely been formulated as a means to problematise the complex process of identity formation of recent migrant communities. In particular, it challenges the ideal of homogeneity embedded in early assimilation models. The model projects that, through a process of assimilation, ethnic and racial groups would be integrated into the majority of society’s institutions and culture in which minority identities would eventually disappear (Cornell and Hartmann 1998: 44). In particular, Rivas & Torres-Gil (1992: 94) argue that most ethnic groups will assimilate and acculturate by the third generation, thus becoming more like members of the dominant population. In the Australian context, the idea was that a much wider group of people could become part of Australian society and be able to share the Australian way of life. While there was acceptance that complete assimilation might not be achieved in the first generation, as Markus (2001: 17) notes, “assimilation remained the long-term objective”. Even as late as 1969, Bill Snedden, the minister for migration, suggested that “integration implies and requires a willingness on the part of the community to move towards the migrant, just as it requires the migrant to move to the community”.
117 He was adamant that Australia must remain a homogenous culture with a single culture (Snedden cited in Markus 2001: 17).49
However, due to transgressions of boundaries and dynamics of social environment, the formation of identities of diasporic communities is increasingly complex and cannot be defined simply in bounded homogenous notions. For diasporic Chinese in Australia, particularly the first, 1.5 and second generations, a number of studies have highlighted their feelings of liminality and hybridised identities (see for example, Davidson 2004; Pe-Pua et al. 1996; Ang 2001 correspondingly). While the notion of hybridity confronts and problematises the unsettling boundaries of identities, the identity of later generations is still largely subsumed to the traditional models of assimilation which assume ethnic identification to decrease over successive generations. Such perceptions are highlighted by Rivas and Torres-Gil (1992: 94) suggesting that, “most ethnic groups will assimilate and acculturate by the third generation, thus becoming more like members of the dominant population”. Consequently, this has led to a lack of in-depth research relating to identity formation of the descendents of early Chinese migrants in Australia. The common assumption is that a natural linear process occurs that eventually leads to complete integration into the mainstream society, and the consequent erasure of ‘ethnicity’ such as Chineseness is perceived as the price of assimilation (Martin 1978; Wilton and Bosworth 1984). In common parlance, the perception is the more Australian one becomes, the less Chinese one will be.
Contributing to the lack of in-depth analysis on the identity of subsequent generations is that their claims to ethnicity have generally been seen as inauthentic and unreal. According to Gans’ (1979) study among third and fourth generation European immigrants in the United States, only ‘symbolic ethnicity’ is left after substantive ties have disappeared. Gans (ibid: 9) suggests the following about symbolic identity: “It is characterized by a nostalgic allegiance to the culture of the immigrant generation, or that of the old country; a love for and a pride in a tradition that can be felt without having to be incorporated in everyday behavior”. According to him, successive generations are able to be ‘ethnic’ through symbols, but not necessarily by participating
49 Even in the present day, Peter Costello, Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Australia, expresses similar ideologies. 118 in ethnic organisations or affiliating with ethnic groups or by living in ethnic enclaves. In other words, symbolic ethnicity does not require functioning groups and networks, it does not need a practiced culture but is instead dominated by the preservation of symbols such as ethnic restaurants and festivals. Thus occasional ethnic behavior is seen by Gans as an absence of "real" ethnicity. In short, Gans conceptualises the weakening of ethnicity as ‘symbolic ethnicity’ and argues that ethnicity is a question of ‘feeling ethnic’ rather than one of being so.
Another closely associated problem contributing to the lack of research on different Chinese groups (and Asian groups), particularly that of subsequent generations, lies in the general tendency of treating ‘Chineseness’ and, in a broader sense, ‘Asianness’ as a common unifying factor which connects everyone of Asian descent (Gilbert et al. 2000). Subsequently, historical migration conditions and specific issues that different Chinese diasporic groups face within mainstream Australian society become subsumed within the homogenising categories of ‘Chinese-Australian’ and ‘Asian-Australian’. This practice is problematic as it serves to reproduce and reinforce Oriental conceptions of ‘China’ and ‘Chinese’ and more broadly Asia’ and ‘Asians’ already operating within mainstream Australian discourse, which contains all ‘yellow’ colored skin people together as a single group (Ang 2001).
Challenging Theoretical Perspectives of ‘Hybridity’
A number of theoretical dimensions of ‘hybridity’ have increasingly received much resonance in understanding the syncretic complexities of identity formation which shape social incorporation in fundamentally different ways. Postmodern literature maintains hybridity is a notion of crossroads and borderlands which implies a blurring of boundaries as a result of unsettling of identities. This concept is often used as a means to explain the relational positioning of identity and a device to analyse complicated entanglements of identity, which is a condition of marginalisation for many members of the ethnic minorities (Ang 2001: 34). One perspective acknowledges that individuals develop multiple identities in which they oscillate between one to the other in different contexts through a ‘double consciousness’ (Gilroy 1994; Nagata 1979). Another perspective emphasizes the fusion of identities in which a ‘third space’ is created (Bhabha 1991, 1994; Hall 1996). I demonstrate here, through a close analysis of
119 these frameworks, that their attempts at the abandonment of identity categories as currently formulated are fundamentally problematic. The significance of identity still depends largely on the fact that the organisation of society is highly correlated to identity categories.
Double Consciousness
It has been acknowledged that diasporic communities often maintain a social and cultural foothold in two or more distinct ethnic environments, living with what Gilroy (1994) terms a ‘double consciousness’. More often than not they find themselves developing two or more identities in transnational spaces in which they learn to move between one to another. The concept of ‘double consciousness’ reveals the hybrid character of modern ethnicity and its profound affect on the diasporic communities. The fluidity of ethnic and cultural boundaries is maintained through interpretation of cultural phenomena in accordance with the requirements of a situation. On the one hand, the formation of identity is influenced by the degree to which families and ethnic communities draw on the social-control properties of ethnic boundaries and identity. In this respect, the family plays an important function in the construction and maintenance of ethnic identity though celebration of traditions and rituals and through intergenerational influence of cultural values and morals. On the other hand, influences from the wider community can lead to some rejection of a family's ethnic identity while self-identifying with those engaged in what they perceive as socially accepted lifestyles (Wolf 1997). Often the types of social networks outside of the home environment (such as friends from schools) have a direct impact on the establishment of their identity. In this context, the experiences of marginality – of straddling two or more cultural contexts – become a necessary condition of daily life (Davidson 1991). The concept of hybridity, as Ang (2001: 194) maintains, “is a means of bridging the multiple boundaries which constitute ‘Asian’ and ‘Western’ in identities as mutually exclusive and incommensurable. The analogy of an international buffet provides a descriptive means of understanding this hybrid oscillation of identity, such that you can pick and choose a bit of this and a bit of that as you wish.
While this postmodernist notion of hybridity represents a new kind of cultural space that challenges the traditional centrist conception of identity as a single entity, the
120 orientation towards a discourse of ‘double consciousness’ is in itself ironic. The privileging of multiple ‘groups’ of identity is nevertheless constructed within the boundaries of a unified and collectivist paradigm. Such discourse is motivated by another kind of centrism – this time along the conglomeration of multiple groups of identities. As such this notion of hybridity still largely depends on that fact that identification of where one fits in society is highly correlated to identity categories.
The Third Space
An alternative postmodern concept of hybridity problematises boundaries and argues that they are an opening within which different elements encounter and transform each other. In this respect, hybridity is a dialectical identity construction with the original and its counter identity yielding a third new form of identity in a boundless site articulated by Bhabha (1991: 211) as the ‘third space’:
For me the importance of hybridity is not to be able to trace two original moments from which the third emerges, rather hybridity to me is the ‘third space’ which enables other positions to emerge. The third space displaces the histories that constitute it, and sets up new structures of authority, new political initiatives, which are inadequately understood through received wisdom.
According to Bhabha, hybridity is not a consequence of other ‘pure’ collectivities intermixed together. More precisely he explains that third spaces are “discursive sites or conditions that ensure that the meaning and symbols of culture have no primordial unity or fixity; that even the same signs can be appropriated, translated, and rehistoricized anew” (Bhabha 1994: 37). In other words, the third space is a site where identity is negotiated and where a person’s ambiguity, complexity, and hybridity is situated. This notion opens up possibilities for new structures of authority and for new interpretations of identity as temporary, dynamic and fluid.
As such, an analysis on identity formation should not begin with two or more pure cultures and then a tracing of their historical movements of hybridisation. While hybridity can be perceived as both the assemblage that occurs whenever two or more
121 elements meet and the initiation of a process of change, we cannot take discussions of cultural difference as if there really are different cultures to be studied discretely (Huddart 2006: 126). Cultures are always consequences of historical process and they are fused by the movement of groups in different territories through time and space. Thus, according to this perspective, one can argue that Singaporean Chinese are in many respects a hybrid. This concept may be used to conceive the complicated entanglements of cultural boundaries as highlighted by Ang’s (2001: 194) experience:
If I were to apply this notion of complicated entanglement to my own personal situation, I would describe myself as suspended in-between: neither truly Western nor authentically Asian; embedded in the West yet always partially disengaged from it; disembedded from Asia yet somehow enduringly attached to it emotionally and historically. I wish to hold onto this hybrid in-betweeness not because it is a comfortable position to be in, but because its very ambivalence is a discourse of cultural permeability and vulnerability which is a necessary condition for living together-in-difference.
Such ‘hybrid in-betweeness’ is a new form of identity suspended in a space of liminality in which complicated entanglement of identity is positioned. The postmodern concept of hybridity also stresses that identity is not the combination, accumulation or fusion of various components, rather it is an energy field of different forces (Papastergiadis 2000; Werbner 1997; Anthias 2001) The emergence of a floating identity is a result of the combination of different forces which further accentuates the limitations of essentialist social constructs in representing the complex processes of identity formation for the diasporic communities. In this respect, the analogy of fusion cuisine50 seems to adequately describe this hybrid formation of identity, as fusion food is the combination of different culinary traditions which have created new hybrid food styles.
50 It is interesting to note that fusion cuisine originally developed in the kitchens of Australia and New Zealand. A combination of classically trained chefs, fresh native produce and close links with Southeast Asia led to the development of a new approach to cooking that strove to break away from the norms of European-style cuisine. Instead of focusing on rigorously enforced "rules of combinations", interesting hybrid food styles emerged (Tyler 2005, http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/eat_feat_fusion.asp).
122 Indeed this perspective of hybridity provides an alterative account to multiplicity. However, such an orientation towards a discourse of ‘in-between’ is similarly as ironic as the previous discussion of the oscillation of identity. Contrary to Ang’s analysis of hybridity that identity is a ‘complicated entanglement’ such that it cannot be definitely defined, I argue that it is possible to develop reliable knowledge about the world and about how and where one fits into that world (Mohanty 2000; Moya 2000b; Nguyen 2000). In Ang’s situation, the way in which she positions herself in relation to ‘imaginary’ cultural boundaries (suspended ‘in-between’, neither ‘Western’ nor ‘Asian’ ) demonstrates that she is clear about where she fits according to restricted essentialist categories, although the meaning of these constructs themselves are invariably dynamic. Nevertheless, these imaginary constructs are still serving as the organising notion of life. Indeed, there may be variations of experience such that one may identify with several cultural groups or they may feel caught in-between or they may even feel that they do not belong to any cultural groups at all; however, the manner in which members of diasporic communities position themselves according to specific collectivities suggests that essentialist structures still shape our perceptions to features of the real world.
As such, despite postmodernist attempts to delegitimise identities, collective notions still perpetuate in the carving of identities in daily life. I emphasize that in understanding identities we cannot totally dismiss the historical and social significance of cultural collectivities as they are tools that enable us to account for the role of multiplicity in an enabling way.
Enriching Aspects of Hybridity
One of the major positions that postmodernists draw towards is that the preset destination of security through unity and singularity has become unattainable and there has been a break in the vision of progress and control. Floating and unsettling identities are challenging the traditional essentialist paradigms. The general response maintains hybrid identities as problematic for diasporic communities as their experience is often seen as a struggle of marginalisation with detrimental impact on social mobility (e.g. Ang 2001; Wolf 1997). Most people are uncomfortable with multi-ethnicity – both in- and out-group members are bounded by cultural identifiers such that you have to be
123 either part of one group or another. The tendency is to attack everything which separates the individual from the wider group as it breaks a collectively assured sense of security. Gilroy (2004: 106) highlights, “to have mixed is to have been party to a great betrayal. Any unsettling traces of hybridity must be exercised from the tidy, bleached- out zones of impossibly pure culture.” The fear of uncertainty is an inherent character of human beings; thus often much contempt if placed upon those who do not ‘fit’ within the ‘familiar’ social norm. The postmodernist concept of hybridity indeed has made possible new and different ways of understanding the ‘ambivalent’ experiences of diasporic communities.
Quite certainly such negative experience is undeniable for some; however, what is missing from the debates on hybridity is an interest in those who have accepted hybridity in their lives. Much of the postmodernist writing overlooks the positive aspects, consequently failing to explain important modes by which individuals experience and understand their social world. As Moya (2000a: 8) contends, “cultural identities are not only and always wounded attachments. They can also be enabling, enlightening, and enriching structures of attachment and feelings.” Contrary to the largely assumed detrimental impact of multi-identities, cultural maintenance through transnational practices as well as adaptation could also positively facilitate social situations. Here I would like illustrate the strategic move of large Western enterprises in their adaptation to the China market:
It’s not unusual for Western food chains to have trouble selling China. McDonald’s was aware that the Chinese consume more chicken than beef, and offered a spicy chicken burger, KFC got rid of coleslaw in favor of seasonal dishes such as shredded carrots, fungus or bamboo shoots (Alder 2005: 72).
These Western enterprises have strategically altered their menu that they could tailor to Chinese tastes and also showed that they are respecting the local culture. Such ways of (re)-orientation to a selected group of reference consequently led to successful results. Although this is undeniably an example of corporate strategy, nevertheless it provides a clear illustration of how affinity and adaptation can be strategically operationalised.
124 In similar ways, diasporic communities are able to manipulate or actively assert their identity in order to enhance their position in social situations. Through relational positioning of identities, they can subsequently influence the strategic expression of either social distance or solidarity. Under different circumstances people who usually identify with a particular membership group may temporarily reorient themselves and select a different group of references in accordance with the degree of affinity they wish to express in a given situation. Such positioning is often contextually activated, as illustrated in Nagata’s (1979) case study on the situational selection of ethnic identity in Malaysia. She argues that in a plural society there is no neutral culture and it is in this diverse environment that the constant oscillation of ethnic status within an individual daily life occurs. Through the contextual selection of ethnic identity, some factors of immediate relevance are equated with an ethnic status, but at the same time, they may bear no direct relationship to the length of stay nor place of residence of an individual. Nagata further argues that the ease in switching between ethnic identities seems to be a positive value in enabling an individual to avoid conflict caused by inconsistencies of the role expectation in any particular situation. This can be highlighted in the code- switching of language from Malay to English to Chinese according to a particular context. As such, ethnic identities are often established “without anchorage in any one territory” (Axford 1995: 167), but are influenced by strategic expression.
Selective strategic assertion of unique ethnic traits is likely to reward members of the diasporic communities with positive advancement. Here I would like to highlight an incident of when my family and I (note that we possess the essentialised physical features of Chinese) went to a local Spanish restaurant in the North Shore. Typical of my dining experiences, the staff welcomed our arrival, but as soon as the only Chinese waitress greeted us in Chinese, an overwhelming expectation of attachment was placed between her and us. Such expectation was clearly evident when I requested to order: the Spanish waiter immediately asked the Chinese waitress to serve us and basically she was to be the sole person serving us the whole night. It seemed as though the other staff felt that they would interfere with the imaginary connection between us. Why she greeted us in Chinese is an interesting matter as it can be perceived as a strategic expression of social solidarity which arguably could have been an unconscious or a deliberate decision. It could be perceived that by communicating to us in the Chinese language, it demonstrated to the other staff a connection to Chinese customers that they
125 could not offer as they did not possess the essentialised qualities. This highlights that identity is contextually activated and is often a strategic expression of how individuals choose to display who they are or how they want to be seen using a variety of material and symbolic resources. Identifying with particular groups often promotes a sense of social solidarity through belongingness which is an inherent emotional need of human beings. Because identities are concerned with perceptions which are in essence relational, it should be emphasized that the process by which individuals engage in identity construction, maintenance and transformation often are selective and strategic by nature.
The strategic assertion of identity can sometimes become something of a ‘political football’. On the front-page headline ‘Oscar honor brings joy to Chinese’ of the China Daily, Brokeback Mountain director Ang Lee became what the state-run paper called ‘the glory of Chinese cinematic talent’. In Lee’s acceptance speech in the 2006 Oscar Awards, he thanked Taiwan and HK separately from China. This became politically controversial as Beijing regards Taiwan as sovereign territory and HK returned to Chinese rule in 1997. But what is even more interesting is that Lee punctuated his English-language speech to Hollywood with a “thank you, everyone” in Mandarin Chinese, the official language of both the mainland and Taiwan. Though his deliberate manipulation of the two languages he was able to strategically express social solidarity as desired.
Yet, one could also argue that the expression of an identity may not necessarily be straightforwardly strategic. In Wikerson’s (2000: 255) analysis of the coming-out experience of homosexuality, he highlights his long association with the ‘queer’ community before his process of coming out. Although every queer friend he knew was speculating about him, he was in denial for a long period, yet ironically he was living within the queer community. His choice of partaking in that community cannot be accurately interpreted as a strategic expression of social solidarity as he was unconscious of his bodily experience and sexual orientation. The experience of associating with the queer community prior to self-knowing about his own sexual orientation seems to challenge the notion of strategic expression which argues that individuals selectively reorient themselves in accordance to the degree of affinity they wish to express in a given situation. The possible interpretation that can be placed on
126 such experience is that the strategic expression of identity may occur in an unconscious manner which seems to be guided by one’s most intimate bodily experience.
Despite postmodern theoretical discourses that identities are constructed and that they are somehow not real, identities are generally expressed precisely because they feel ‘natural’ and ‘essential’ and are inherently political. The way in which we make sense of ourselves and the other is established through relational positioning of socially embedded constructs. In the discussion above, the relational positioning of the self always is determined upon references to a number of essentialised collectivities. It is important to highlight that no matter whether one positions himself/herself within or outside a cultural group, collective identities are definitively utilised as a point of reference. The fact is that for many people identity feels ‘real’ and it is still serving as the fundamental organising principle of human beings. However, if we were to speak of identities as ‘real’, we slip into the trap of naturalising them and disguising the structure of power involved in their production and maintenance (Moya 2000a: 6). Nevertheless, whether we inherit an identity – masculinity or Chineseness – or we actively or unconsciously choose one on the basis of our strategic expression, our identities are ways of making sense of our experiences. Identities are theoretical constructions that give us the tools to comprehend the world in specific ways. In this sense, whether we may perceive identity as artificial or real, the fact is that cultural identities are real social and symbolic forces in histories and politics (Ang 2001). Since collective identities are fundamental in giving meaning to everyday life, we should not fail to appreciate their significance.
The following section will discuss the hybrid process of identity formation for subsequent generations. I highlight the fundamental problem in current theoretical discourse of ‘transnationalism’. I then form the argument for exploring the decentered connection with homeland as the manner by which subsequent generations sustain multi-stranded social relations across imagined ‘boundaries’ leading to hybridised forms of Chineseness.
127 Part 3 Links to Homeland
In diasporic studies on Chinese identities, there has been an interest in the critical relations between home and identity. An important aspect of such connections are the ways migrants and their descendants construct notions of ‘home’ whereby a sense of self, place and belonging are shaped, articulated and contested. ‘Home’ is embedded with meanings, emotions, experience and relationships that create a sense of belongingness, vital to the well-being of human life. Traditionally, ‘home’ has been located as the ‘lived’ experience of locality, a concrete place where intimate familial relations are established (Rapport and Dawson 1998). However, as previously suggested, due to intensified interconnectedness across national and cultural borders, individuals are able to sustain multiple identities and create new cultural forms using elements from a diversity of settings (Ma 2003). As such, diasporic images of ‘home’ often intertwine between origin, cultural heritage, ancestral homeland and local residence which form part of a wider ‘spatial’ world that has become important in theorising identity (Kuah-Pearce and Davidson 2007). They are often closely linked to notions about the politics of location and attempts to situate both knowledge and identity (Blunt 2005). Thus, contrary to the traditional concept, ‘home’ can no longer be tied to boundaries of a physical territory and be conceived as geographies of dwelling in concrete places. As different people are drawn into interconnections with each other, waves of social transformation cross virtually all over the world which impact on the link between home and identity, leading to hybridised identities. Davidson (2004) suggests that by incorporating a ‘spatial’ understanding it enables home to be stretched, to be multi-focal as people conceptualise and act on different contexts of home, and thus are connected to home through variant social relations. It is precisely because of its fluid nature that notions of home can be unfixed, multiple and contested. As such, in order to comprehend the connections between ‘home’ and identity, notions of home need to be opened up to unconventional explorations where identities are constructed through a complexity of social relations overlapping spaces and places.
Part 3 of this chapter highlights that that notions of ‘home’ are important aspects in understanding the hybrid process of identity formation. The first part discusses the theoretical orientation of transnationalism which has been regarded as a crucial process that shapes the construction of identity for diasporic communities linking them from the
128 host country to their homeland. Although this framework has much to recommend, its focus has largely centered on the experience of transmigrants who consciously share similar transnational practices with other recent Chinese migrants in other countries. Thus the second part brings to light the importance of considering decentered links to ‘homeland’ that are maintained by the force of memory, nostalgia and imagination of the family as they are a part of daily life which continuously shape the identities of subsequent generations.
Transnational Linkages Recently there has been growing awareness of the inadequacy of the older theoretical framework which emphasized migration as being a once-off process of movement from the homeland to a new home where assimilation would occur (e.g. Glick-Schiller et al. 1991; Basch et al. 1994; Levitt and Glick-Schiller 2004; Foner and Glick-Schiller 2002; Smith 2002). These scholars see migrants’ cross-border ties as variable and argue that to understand contemporary migratory experiences, the influence and impact of these ties must be empirically addressed through a transnational perspective. In particular, they reject the long-held notion that the establishment of ethnic identity is solely enhanced by the continuous movement across physical territories and argue that it is conditioned by transnationality which Ong (1999: 4) defines as the “cultural interconnectedness and mobility across space”. The exploration into the flexible practices and strategies of the transnationality of Chinese subjects have given rise to figures such as the ‘multi-passport holder’; ‘the multicultural manager’ with ‘flexible capital’; the ‘astronaut’, shuttling across borders on business; ‘parachute kids’ who can be dropped off in another country by parents on the trans-Pacific business commute and so on” (ibid: 19).
The concept of transnationalism describes a set of activities that involves “the frequent and widespread movement back and forth between communities of origin and destination and the resulting economic and cultural transformations” (Levitt & Waters 2002: 7). A heavy emphasis is placed on the flows and networks within a social space that is characterised by “contested cultural boundaries, flexible citizenship and intensive flows of people capital, subcontracted goods, technology and information, all tied directly or indirectly in their own ways with the transmigrants and their place-based
129 social networks” (Ma 2003: 5). Thus, it has become widely acknowledged that separate places become a single community “through the continuous circulation of people, money goods and information” (Rouse 1991: 14). Technological innovations (e.g. internet, emails, cheap IDD phone cards) and media intervention (e.g. satellite television, movies, music) all contribute to the connection with homeland. The framework seeks to understand the migration experience through multi-level social, legal, political, economic, religious and educational linkages that are sustained by migrants and non-migrants to one another across national borders which have important ramifications on notions of home and sense of identity. It has to be noted that the substantive concerns of ‘diaspora’ and ‘transnationalism’ are similar, and sometimes difficult to clearly differentiate; however, for the purpose of the present study I utilise the concept of ‘transnationalism’ as the linkages and flows within a social space conceived as ‘diaspora’. This is a collective social space that links individuals throughout the world. Transnational linkages across national and cultural boundaries have enabled diasporic communities to sustain multiple identities and create new cultural forms using elements from a diversity of contexts which contribute to the theorisation of identity.
The transnational framework has gained credence for not only understanding the pattern of linkages but also the connection between home and identity that goes beyond simple bounded notions. It has enabled scholars to understand the volatile realities of collectivist notions of race and ethnicity as they are simply incapable of capturing the essence of the shifting cultural identities in diasporas. The distinctive character of the diasporic experience is that people are able, to a certain extent, to unrestrictedly negotiate multiple identities and create new cultural forms using elements from a diversity of settings. This view is supported by Papastergiadis (2000: 90) who argues that the process of transnationalism is a “complex process comprising interrelated tendencies which interact in unpredictable ways and result in uneven effects.” With increasingly complicated movements, social frameworks which were steered by grand narratives51 have transformed to ones which acknowledge the consequences of modernity as being more radicalised and universalised than ever before. The evidence of the multiplicity of connections and movements across social space is the blurring of
51 That is, where things had a definite past and a predicable future. 130 bounded and fixed locations of home and identity. Wolf (2002: 257) notes “a transnational approach acknowledges a plurality of cultural codes and symbols that go beyond the national state and also the multiple locations of home that may exist not only geographically but ideologically and emotionally as well.” Through a transnational framework, ‘home’ can be seen as a complex set of processes that involve multiple, interacting and conflicting layers.
Alongside is the concept of diaspora which usually presupposes “longer distances and a separation more like exile, a constitutive taboo on return, or its postponement to a remote future” (Clifford 1994: 304). It often assumes connections between multiple communities of a dispersed population who feel, maintain or revive or reinvent a connection with a prior home in various ways. As Clifford (ibid: 311) highlights, the discourse of diasporas reflects “the sense of being part of an ongoing transnational network that includes the homeland, not as something simply left behind, but as a place of attachment in a contrapuntal modernity”. While the transnational characteristic of systematic border crossings may be part of such interconnection, “multi-locale diasporas cultures are not necessarily defined by a geographical boundary” (ibid: 304).
Tenuous credit can be given to the transnational framework for understanding the patterns of linkages and the connections between home and identity that go beyond simple bounded notions. Through a transnational framework, the construction of ‘home’ can be seen as a complex set of processes that involve multiple, interacting and conflicting dimensions. Although this framework has been central in studies of ‘home’, there has been a tendency to focus on the regular transnational practices and physical linkages – such as physical movements52, remittances, communication53 – that persist as migrants establish their identities that are deeply connected to their homeland (Wolf 2002). Nonini and Ong (1997: 26) among others, see Chinese identities in diasporas as transnational in nature such that they are increasingly independent of place. For them, a common Chinese identity is made up of a pattern denoting a common condition that individuals separated by space perceive themselves as sharing, such as “varied
52 Physical movements such as temporary and permanent return, and visits to homeland. 53 Transnational communication to maintain connection. These may be personal such as phone, letters, email, SMS text, electronic funds transfer, or indirect such as newspaper, radio, local TV, videos, DVDs, websites, Webcam. 131 connections of family ties, kinship, commerce, sentiments and values about a native place in China, shared memberships in transnational organisation”. These patterns reproduce and replicate in the different countries diasporic Chinese settle. While acknowledging the ideological and emotional aspects of transnationalism, most diasporic studies have indicated that when first and second generations make references to ‘home’, it always meant the greater home, a physical place across the national boundaries, suggesting more of a sojourner’s sense of roots in a diasporic setting. For the purpose of clarity, I will ultilise the term ‘homeland’ to designate this notion. Particularly for first generation migrants54, a number of studies have focused on the patterns linking their homeland while living in a new environment, examining particularly the notion of co-existing imaginary ‘homes’ (Phizacklea 2000). Living in a plurality of imagined worlds inevitably impacts on the feelings of belongingness and the construal of home. This has significant import for migrants for their continuous negotiation and configuration of identities.
While all diasporic communities are characterised by some form of differentiation, those with a long settlement history in particular take on new dimensions in their construal of home (Winland 1998). Levitt and Glick-Schiller (2004: 1003) remind us that migratory research “must necessarily broaden and deepen because migrants are often embedded in multi-layered, multi-sited transnational social fields, encompassing those who move and stay behind.” However, largely neglected in the literature is how the descendents of those who ‘stay behind’ establish their identity in relation to their imagination of their homeland. Unlike overseas-born migrants, individuals of long- settled diasporic communities are not necessarily the transmigrants that Levitt and Waters (2002: 5) describe as maintaining “widespread movement back and forth between communities of origin and destinations,” or what Nonini and Ong (1997) suggest as those who are conscious of sharing similar conditions with other ethnic Chinese in other countries. As highlighted in a number of the autobiographies in Cultural Curiosity edited by Khu 2001, these individuals may not even be familiar with patterns of transnational practices. Moreover, they may not necessarily regard themselves as participants of Tu’s (1994b) ‘Cultural China’.55 They may have never
54 First generation migrants are those that that were born overseas and later migrated to a foreign country. 55 See chapter 3. 132 even been to the ‘homeland’ where their family originally migrated from or may not speak a Chinese language. For those with long-term settlement, connections with homeland are often more ‘faded’ than that of first or second generations; as such, rather than transnational linkages, it is the diasporic imagination of their homeland which is fundamental to the construction of their identities. As Appadurai (1997: 7) contends, “diasporas always leave a collective memory about another place and time and create new maps of desire and of attachment.” As such, although individuals may have never set foot on the soil of their ancestral homeland, through the accumulation of cultural knowledge from the family, media, Internet etc. they may be thoroughly penetrated by social ideologies quite distant from them. Consequently, this leads to the creation of an imaginary attachment with their homeland in ways that are very different from other migrants. The persistence of physical and emotional linkages maintained within the family undoubtedly create a sense of ethnicity; however, underlying this is an allegiance to an imagined past which establishes identities for the descendents of migrants. Moreover, as Winland (1998: 7) suggests, “ties to the homeland play a crucial, ongoing, and often central role in informing not only notions of immigrant ethnicity but also of one's relationship to society.” Therefore notions of ‘home’ need to be studied in a ‘spatial’ context as it is an ‘imaginary’ construction which is continually reshaped by the force of memory, nostalgia and imagination.
Imagination, Memory and Nostalgia as Decentered Connections The establishment of an imaginary homeland through intergenerational influence of memories is an important aspect in the establishment of identity for descendents of migrants with long-term settlement. A number of studies have indicated that although first generational migrant parents are more active in maintaining the relationship that directly links the homeland and the receiving country (Basch et al. 1994; Wolf 2002), children of immigrants at the very least maintain these ties at emotional levels through ideologies and cultural codes. Even those who never return to their parent’s ancestral homes are brought up in familial environments where people, values and goods from somewhere distinct are present on a daily basis. Levit and Glick-Schiller (2004: 1017) explain, for subsequent generations, “the generational experience is not territorially bounded but is based on actual and imagined experiences that are shared across borders
133 regardless of where someone was born or now lives.” An interesting question to ask is how do the older generations’ notions of home and association with homeland impact on their descendents? In Wolf’s (2002: 258) study of the struggles of second generation Filipinos in California, she highlights the aspect of ‘emotional transnationalism’ whereby “migrant children are often situated between different generational and locational points of reference, both the real and the imagined – their parents, sometimes also their grandparents and other relatives, and their own.” The carving of identity is influenced by the transnational ties maintained by the older generations within the family. Through intergenerational connections, memories of stories, myths, events and old photos of the family become a part of daily life which continuously shape identities and establishes a sense of belongingness. Similarly Kuah-Pearce (2006: 230) explains, “the self marshals its understanding of the social history of its kinship and social groups, selecting and negotiating its memories to suit its individual needs”. Even when subsequent generations reproduce collective social memories, the details tend to differ from one individual to another as each seeks to transform and established a new self identity. As such, the formation of identity between generations often takes place as part of an on-going process in which certain aspects are maintained while others aspects of the previous generations that appear irrelevant are modified (Alba & Nee 1999; Nagel 1994). The autobiographic essays in Cultural Curiosity edited by Khu (2001), reveal the power of intergenerational influence on the establishment of identity as Chineseness. As Chan (2001: 144) expresses, “my feeling of alienation from and my rejection of my Chineseness was most of all linked with and intensified by the growing rift with my father” and for Chu (2001: 131) his mother would constantly remind him about “the long glorious history of the Chinese people… to make [him] feel proud of [his] heritage.” The diasporic experience thus is a dynamic process of interactions between places and ideologies as identities are not established in a vacuum but are intergenerationally influenced.
In this way, intergenerational influence of memories often produces varied notions of homes, leading to the development of hybridised lives (Soyal: 2001). As discussed in Part 2 of this chapter, the formation of identity is a hybrid process where the self becomes a flexible zone, opening up multiple discourses. The self in this respect is made of past memories and future anticipation linked to an ever-transforming present
134 (Hall 1996). As such, in the hybridised lives of descendents their negotiation of identity and belongingness are inevitably influenced by their family’s imagination of ‘home’. Appadurai (1997) explains that such imagination is different from the classical sort as these mythographies are characters for new social projects and not just counterpoints to the certainties of daily lives. It is within the ambiguities of movement and identity that diasporic communities locate a sense of belongingness, contest boundaries and attempt new spaces of identity. Although there is no unchallengeable authentic grounding of identity, the home is often designated as an authentic site for the migrants as a reaffirmation of identity. Thus, at any moment in the diasporic trajectory, tensions are released in different orders of home as well as in different feelings of belonging.
Unquestionably memories provide an intimate means of connecting life worlds of the past and the present. Memory is often linked with subjectivity but is still often regarded as authentic, especially when it comes to eyewitness accounts that provide a record of the impact of momentous events on individual lives – increasing studies of personal testimony and cultural memory testify to this. Concisely, the notion of home has been celebrated as a site of authentic meaning, value and experience, imbued with nostalgic memories and the love of a particular place (Blunt 2005). However, memory fragments as a source of authenticity is problematic. Cook (2005: 3) explains that “the fact that the eyewitness was actually present at the time invests their recollections with an aura that transcend the knowledge that their experience is reconstructed for the purposes of current agendas, and endow with it authority and emotional power”. Memories, therefore, are not simply dissociated pieces of past events but are continually reconstructed to provide a new take on the old and reshaped to provide different perspectives (Davidson 2004). Nostalgic memories, in particular, intensify the intergenerational impact on the construal of home and identity. Nostalgia can be defined as a state of longing for something that is known to be irretrievable, but is sought anyway (Cook 2005). In so far as it is rooted in disavowal or suspension of disbelief, nostalgia is generally associated with fantasy and regarded as even more inauthentic than memory. The intensity of longing inevitably impacts not only the overseas-born migrant’s sense of identity but also that of their descendants because of emotional power. For long-established descendents of migrants, links to homeland are largely shaped by nostalgic memories of previous generations. Chu (2001: 14) writes, “this and
135 other stories about my ancestors indeed made a deep impression on me. They reminded me of the great sacrifices that my ancestors had made to create a better life for their descendants…” The distinction between memory, nostalgia and history which are the source of imagination are often blurred and dynamic – as such, notions of home which shape identity are always changing.
So one could ask, if memories are reconstructed, identity is fluid and home is an imagination, why are they still significant in diasporic lives? Although these notions are constantly changing and contextually activated they act nevertheless as a source of stability and security. As such, in studying the formation of identity, the insistence to seek for concrete definitions or authenticity shadows the centrist conception insofar as it conceptualises ‘identity’ and ‘home’ through the conventional static and rigid structure. What is of more significance is examining the politics of home: How does the meaning of home change through the life course? What are the interrelations between identity and notions of home? How does one’s notion of home impact on the formation of identity?
The current transnationalism theoretical framework is certainly important; however, it is equally important to examine the force of imagination as both memory and desire in diasporic lives. The negotiation of identity for those with long-term settlement is not merely a passive process of being influence by transnational ties but also the active force of memory, nostalgia and imagination of the family as they become a part of daily life. As such, the connections between ‘home’ and ‘identity’ need to be studied in a ‘spatial’ context as it is an ‘imaginary’ construction which is continually undergoing transformation.
Conclusion
The aim of the range of discussions in this chapter and the previous chapter is to pave a framework for the in-depth analysis of qualitative data collected from long-established ABC. This chapter has argued that in order to understanding their experience, it is important to highlight a diversity of trajectories, rather than a commonality and continuity of experiences as the narrative of identity formation.
136 Since cultural identities are influenced by an ever-changing historical, social and biographical context, I demonstrated that the major dimensions of the life course approach are much more useful than the life cycle as a framework for the analysis of the construal of Chineseness. The inadequacy of the life cycle lies largely in its homogenising approach which focuses on the static and repetitive patterns of life stages, thus limiting its ability to account for varied, hybrid and diverse movements through biography and historical time. The life course orientation, however, incorporates individual timing of life transitions in relation to external historical events, intergenerational influence with the family, and the impact of gender and sexuality. These factors which surround the negotiation of identity and the temporal nature of lives within the life course must be considered in order to adequately comprehend how people shape their identity. As Hareven (1996: 3) points out, earlier life-course experiences affected by social, familial and cultural circumstances guide the life path of members in later life. Individuals are not passively impacted by such influences, instead they make compromises based on the choices that they perceive before them. As such, the planning of individuals within the particular constraints of their world can have important consequences for future trajectories (Elder et al. 2003: 11). Consequently, the experiences within the social phases of childhood to adulthood can vary dramatically between different migrant generations, leading to a diversity of trajectories for individuals. The theoretical orientation of the ‘life course’ which challenges such a fixed and repetitive sequence of ages and states of the life cycle has thus been developed to incorporate the diversities of life.
While taking in account these dynamic factors, I have argued that specific social identities/stages such as childhood, which are stamped onto the malleable individual across the life course, also need to be considered in the analysis of Chineseness, as they are signifiers which do play on people’s lives. While they may remain similar in signification for individuals inhabiting a common society, different trajectories are inevitable because of the circumstances of individual biography and historical contexts. Social events such as migration policy or ethnic composition have significant impact on the formation of identity, consequently bringing about changes in their experiences of Chineseness across the life course. Since Chineseness is socially constructed, to adequately understand the formation process, the context of age transitions need to be considered in analysis. If we totally dismiss the social construct of ‘life stages’, which is
137 a significant feature of the developing path of life, it makes it rather difficult to draw any conclusive account on the meaning of variability of individual lives. Even with the obvious limitation of the homogenous concepts of life stages and Chineseness, I argued that identity-based narratives can be understood in terms of ‘real’ political insights because the varying experiences of identity at different stages constitute an objective location, a significant resource through which individuals construct their biographical narratives as well as their interaction with others. In order to account for differing life course trajectories, I proposed the use of life stages as guiding markers to analyse the diversity of experience of Chineseness of long-established ABC across their life course. By taking this approach it provides a long-term perspective of the influences between generations and also allows greater understanding Chineseness through the interplay of age transitions and contextual changes.
A number of theoretical dimensions of ‘hybridity’ such as ‘third space’ (see for example Bhabha 1991) and ‘double consciousness’ (see for example Gilroy 1994) have increasingly received much resonance in understanding the syncretic complexities of identity formation in fundamentally different ways. The general postmodern literature maintains hybridity as a notion of crossroads and borderlands which implies a blurring of boundaries as a result of unsettling of identities. This concept is often used as a means to explain the relational positioning of identity and a device to analyse complicated entanglements of identity which is a condition of marginalisation for many members of ethnic minorities (Ang 2001: 34). Variations of experience have been well documented – one may identify with several cultural groups or feel caught in-between or one may even feel that one does not belong to any cultural groups at all. Consequently, the general tendency is to assume hybridity as a negative experience.
However, through a close analysis of the various frameworks, I highlighted that attempts to abandon identity categories as currently formulated is fundamentally problematic. To give privilege to liminality is to undermine solid, authentic culture in favor of hybrid, fluid cultures. However, as discussed in Chapter 3, to focus solely on signification rather than concrete borders is idealistic and unrealistic. As Moya (2000a, 2000b) maintains, socially embedded essentialist notions have been and are still serving as the fundamental organising principle at an everyday level. Despite the debates on the theoretical ambiguities of identity, the fact is for many people identity feels ‘real’ and is
138 crucial to giving meaning to daily life, therefore its impact should not be underestimated. Moreover, hybrid identities are not always wounded attachments, they can also be enriching experience. In short, I argued that hybrid formations of Chineseness embedded through the life course become an objective location, which is a useful tool to explain significant features of identity formation.
Furthermore, I highlighted the necessity of exploring a diversity of trajectories within and across successive generations, rather than a focus on commonality and continuity of experiences as the narrative of identity formation. As discussed, the formation of identity between generations often takes place as part of an on-going process in which certain aspects of the ‘original culture’ are maintained while other aspects of the previous generations that appear irrelevant are modified (Alba & Nee 1999; Nagel 1994). As such, in examining the experience of subsequent generations, it is important to examine the ways they reconstruct hybridised forms of Chineseness in their own choosing that are meaningful to their identifications. In this way an important aspect of understanding the hybrid process of identity formation is through the ways migrants and their descendants construct notions of ‘home’, whereby a sense of self, place and belonging are shaped, which often serves as a defining factor of social position. Diasporic images of ‘home’ often intertwine between origin, cultural heritage, ancestral homeland and local residence which form part of a wider ‘spatial’ world that has become important in theorising identity. Such notions of home are inevitably associated with China and are often deployed in migration narratives.
Although transnationalism has been regarded as a crucial framework that shapes the identities of diasporic communities linking them from the host country to their homeland, its focus has largely centred on the experience of transmigrants who share similar transnational practices with other first and second generation migrants. However, what is the experience of those with long-term settlement outside mainland China and do not associate with practices and imagination of Chinese subjects, as highlighted in the transnational studies? As Winland (1998) maintains, while all diasporic communities are characterised by some form of differentiation, those with a long settlement history particularly take on new dimensions in their construal of home.
139 Moreover, they may not necessarily regard themselves as participants of Tu’s (1994b) Cultural China56 or may have never even been to the ‘homeland’ where their family originally migrated. While subsequent generations may not share similar transnational linkages as recent migrants, the links maintained within the family often produce varied notions of home in the form of stories, myths, secrets and photographs leading to the development of hybridised lives (Soyal: 2001). Therefore, in understanding the connection with homeland of those with long-term settlement, I argued that ‘home’ needs to be studied in a ‘spatial’ context as it is an ‘imaginary’ construction which is continually reshaped by the force of memory, nostalgia and imagination. ‘Home’ thus represents imaginings that are spatially expressed and emotionally realised.
Having established a theoretical framework for this study in this chapter and the previous two chapters of this thesis, I will now focus on actual examination of the multifarious ways Chineseness is negotiated in the lives of long-established Australian- born Chinese within the social and cultural spaces they inhabit. The next chapter will do this by exploring Chineseness through the prevailing discourse of authenticity and recognition through their daily social experiences. More importantly, I will highlight the significance and validly of Chineseness as a category of identification and analysis. Specifically I will examine the ways in which the racial attribute of physicality and the cultural attribute of language are centering devices which serve to consolidate difference and sameness.
56 See chapter 3. 140 CHAPTER 5 AUTHENTICITY AND RECOGNITION: CHINESENESS THROUGH CULTURAL AND RACIAL DISCOURSES
Having established a theoretical framework for this study in Chapters 3 and 4, this chapter will begin exploring the various ways Chineseness is negotiated in the lives of long-established ABC within the social and cultural spaces they inhabit. An important aspect in the examination of Chineseness seems to involve locating its precise definition which is determined by the prime questions of ‘what is’ and ‘what is not Chinese’. However, the formation of identity is a fluid process characterised by ambivalence and contradiction. Consequently the very suggestion of understanding Chineseness through notions of authenticity risks the danger of being identified as engaging with the flaws of essentialism which sees ‘truth’ and authenticity as qualities that are fixed, static and persistent over time. Moreover, an inquiry that focuses on locating a rigid definition is doomed to failure (insofar as it conceptualises ‘Chinese’ through the conventional static and rigid structure). While critiques on essentialism are necessary, the postmodernist orientation has resulted in a reductionist presumption that we are never going to locate a definite identity and only versions of truth can be understood.57
Therefore, the point of this chapter is not to dispute the existence of Chineseness – as there would be millions of people in the world that would identify themselves as Chinese in one way or another, either voluntarily or impinged upon by others – but to examine the construction and operation of identity as Chineseness. How does being Chinese take on meaning? How does it operate in different cultural contexts? What are the varying degrees of its complex hegemony? Although the ambivalences of ‘being Chinese’ have been critically significant for understanding how identity is negotiated, the theorisation of Chineseness would be incomplete without a concurrent
57 See discussion in Chapter 3. 141 problematisation of its configuration of power that stratifies the hierarchical positions of the diasporic Chinese in differing social situations. As Mohanty (2000) reminds us, an enriching theory of identities does more than simply celebrate or dismiss the various uses of identity, rather it provides explanation of how and why identities are problematic and where and why they are empowering. In this way, this chapter not only investigates the different meanings Chineseness takes on, but more importantly, it examines the significance and validly of Chineseness as a category of identification and analysis. It approaches this investigation by examining the ways in which subsequent generations negotiate ‘Chineseness’ within the context of daily life58.
In examining Chineseness through the prevailing discourse of authenticity, this chapter is divided into three specific sections. The first section considers the ways in which racial attributes of physicality serve to consolidate subdivisions through essentialised boundaries. It examines the configuration of power through the dialectics of difference and sameness. Such modes of identification by others and the self are the basis by which long-established ABC negotiate their Chineseness. The subsequent impact on differing associations with ‘being Chinese’ is discussed. Along similar lines, the second section examines the cultural attribute of language as a centering device for hierarchical categorisation. It begins by highlighting the significance of functionality and practicality and the social forces that impact on the development of language. Consideration is given to the intergenerational differences, tensions and conflicts shaping relationships between parents and children that impact on the transmission of culture. The third part takes language as a fundamental mode of collective identity and examines the relations of power through the hierarchical segregation of diasporic Chinese.
The following section proceeds to examine authenticity by exploring the social significance of racial and cultural identity markers.
58 Parts of this chapter were included in a conference paper entitled ‘Chineseness: An Enquiry on the Identity of Long-established Australian-born Chinese presented at the ‘Chinese Studies Postgraduate Forum’ held by the Chinese Studies Research Group, the University of Melbourne, Melbourne 29–30 June 2005.
142 Part 1 Racial Attribute: Authenticating Chineseness through Phenotypic Features
Racial notions serve to consolidate not only the subdivisions intrinsic to the heterogeneous nature of humankind but also a racial hierarchy, established through racial boundaries. ‘Race’ has commonly been perceived as visible physical divisions among humans that are hereditary, reflected in morphology which is fundamental to the creation of racial boundaries. The general tendency is to view phenotypic characteristics as the defining marker of cultural identities thus automatically, unquestionably and permanently determining one’s membership to a particular racial group. Physical attributes in this way provide the preeminent basis on which an individual is ethnically assigned and categorised (Gilroy 2004: 25). However, there has been much debate highlighting the limitations of the biological traits as a source of authentication of identity (Ang 2001; Gilroy 1987, 2000, 2004; Kibria 1998; Balibar 1991). As I have pointed out, there are many people in this world that identify themselves as Chinese in one way or another and to categorise them based on defining characteristics such as ‘looks’ would inevitably be futile. This can be clearly illustrated by informants who ‘look’ Chinese but may not consider themselves as ‘real’ Chinese due to the large cultural differences from other Chinese groups. To further complicate matters, there are children of mixed descent whose ‘looks’ are located in a zone of ‘in-betweeness’.
While the variations of Chinese are obvious, nevertheless the fixity of perceptions based on essentialist characteristics often demarcates Chineseness into an absolute oppositioning of authentic and inauthentic, real and fake. The fact is that many people still naturalise the ‘other’ according to perceptions of fixed essential differences and as such while physical and racial traits are social constructs they still function as tools for collective identification. My purpose here is to examine how physicality as a mode of identification impacts on the variations in the negotiation of Chineseness of long- established ABC. Before proceeding with the analysis it is appropriate to highlight here that all participants are Han Chinese, whose family originated from Guangdong Province situated in the southern part of China mainland. Out of forty-three participants, twenty-eight claim there has not been intermarriage with a Westerner in their line of the family. Of the fifteen where intermarriages occurred, continual intermarriages
143 throughout the generations only occurred in the family of two participants.59 Let me make clear that my purpose is not to categorise individuals according to the biological theory of race – the point of such detail is an attempt to illustrate their appearance such that they fit largely into the social assumption of the Chinese ‘look’.
You can’t be one of us because you look different! Phenotypic characteristic is an existential condition for long-established ABC which has been hegemonically constructed as an initial sign of identity regardless of their particularities of personal history. Even for those whose families have inhabited Australia since the mid-nineteenth century, their Chinese appearance is still the immediate source of racial identification. This is particularly significant in the Australian context as it is largely a Western society where the mainstream is dominated by Anglo-Celtic Australians. A brief highlight of the changing social context in Australia is important in understanding the construction of difference and identification for ‘Chinese looking’ Australians. Immigration was a major focus of class struggle in 19th century Australia as employers called for recruitment of non-British labour to restrict the power of trade unions. By the late 19th century there was an emerging sense of Australian nationalism, based on stereotypes of the 'yellow peril' — the fear of an Asian invasion into the sparsely populated continent. MacQueen (1970) explains that there was an intimate link between racism and the emerging feeling of Australian identity and nationhood creating a new egalitarian society while maintaining British culture and heritage. By the time of Federation in 1901, the White Australia Policy was seen by most Australians as fundamental for national survival. One of the initial legislations passed by the new Federal Parliament was the Immigration Restriction Act, which excluded the migration of non-Europeans with the intention to create a culturally homogenous and cohesive ‘white’ society. However, as it became apparent that insufficient British immigrants wanted to enter, recruitment was broadened to other parts of Europe, including Italy, Greece and Spain, as they were considered as immigrants who could be relatively easy to culturally and socially absorb and could rapidly become indistinguishable from the existing Anglo-Australian population compared to Asian migrants because of their European background and appearance (Vasta 2005).
59 See Appendix 12, patterns of marriage. 144 Even in the 1950s overt racial segregation was still apparent. This is highlighted by Jerry’s experience when he returned from PNG to Sydney in the 1950s. Jerry’s parents were born in PNG and because of the breakout of war they were deported as refugees to Sydney in 1941 where he was born in 1942. Due to their refugee status the family was reluctantly sent back to PNG in 1949. However, through continuous appeals they were later allowed to return to Australia in the 1950s. Jerry 3(2) recalls the discriminatory treatment at Sydney airport on his return from PNG:
It was apartheid then. I remember going to the education office to sit the exam to come to Australia. You had to pass an English test. I remember in the office of this white education officer. I must have stood there for an hour while he sat behind this desk. That was another thing. When I arrived in Australia at Kingsford Smith Airport, coloureds were separated from whites.
The perpetuation of such essentialist ideology of racial boundaries can be highlighted by Sunny’s 4(4) sense of difference experienced during his childhood in the 1960s:
I was always aware that I was different because in primary school I was picked out all the time. You got all these Italians. They were migrants themselves…You know little kids, they are very cruel, they call you ‘Ching Chong’, slant eyes and so on. You look very different. But Italians don’t look all that different from Aussies. The Chinese were very different straight away and you get segregated. So I knew I was different from primary school.
While it is not possible to conclude that Italians or other Australians of European descent are exempt from a prism of otherness in White Australian society, it does highlight that the intensity of difference from the mainstream society is greater for those of non-European appearance. This is largely due to the effect of racial sentiments in the period of the ‘White Australia Policy’. Although there was a change to the ethnic composition of the Australian population that led to the alteration of government settlement policy from one of open racism through the White Australia Policy, to an official policy of pluralism through the multicultural policy in a short period of around
145 thirty years, the perpetuation of the earlier racial discourse that defined the nation and ethnic boundaries continues to impact on the experience of long-established ABC today.
Western Hierarchical Stratification
The fixity of social perceptions often leads to the pigeonholing of identities into predefined boxes, which does not reflect reality (Pickering 2001). Jerry 3(2) expresses his frustration at the evaluative forms of labelling impinged upon him by others:
I noticed that whenever I go to parties, dinners, theatre with a group of people and tell my Western friends about the event, they would all ask, “Were they Chinese?” and that's a very strange question. I don't see the relevance of the background of what company I keep. Then when I told them that my parents had moved to Chatswood into the nursing home, the first thing they asked was "Oh, are they all Chinese?" and that really puzzles me. That means they put me into a box, C for Chinese or whatever. It's very weird... I also organised this old boy’s reunion for ten of us plus their wives at a French restaurant in Balmain. So out of twenty people there were only three Asians, me, my cousin and her husband. I told my other Western friends about the night with my high school friends but they still say to me, “How are your Chinese friends?” It wasn't a Chinese night, it was an old boys’ night but their emphasis was your ‘Chinese’ friends…
Common to informants’ experience is that no matter how ‘Australian’ or ‘Westernised’ they may feel, their physical Chinese appearance is always a definite racial marker. The stereotypical identification involves a process of distancing the designated through the construction of difference. In this way, Chineseness is often involuntarily forced upon them by the wider Western society. Dianne 4(4) expresses the impossibility of being a ‘real’ Australian because of the way she looks:
Being Australian means being able to go out into society and not to be judged by your looks, which is difficult because you can’t change the way you look. I can go out there and be an Australian. I can act like an
146 Australian, I can talk like an Australian, and I know all the traditions of Australians, but when you look at it from an Australian’s perspective, I guess I’m not an Australian because of the way I look.
Similarly Rob 5(5) articulates the difficulty of full integration:
My identity is basically Australian. I see myself as Australian and I think like an Australian. But unfortunately, I look Chinese which makes it difficult...Well people treat you with a sense of Otherness. To them I will always be Chinese...People will treat you the way you look. And so because I am Chinese they will always treat me in a certain way. You will always be Chinese to them. That is the first thing.
It is important to understand that cultural identity attains its significance by relational positioning such that a person’s identity will vary depending on the context and function of questions posed to their identity (Hawkes 1992). As such, although informants may perceive themselves as Australian, they are continually viewed through a prism of Otherness which reinforces their ethnicity. The importance of such reinforcement by others is further articulated by Rob’s explanation of his preference for his children’s marriage partner:
… even though I wouldn’t mind my children marrying whoever, it would be nice if they could maintain their Chinese looks. Their cousins already look Australian, they are looking that look so people won’t treat them as Chinese. If no one is going to treat you as Chinese, then you won’t feel you are Chinese!
Although physical characteristics as a source of identification are definitely problematic, the point is that the negotiation of Chineseness is unavoidably associated with ‘looks’.
Furthermore, it is important to highlight that individuals themselves are caught within the authentication process. The internalisation of difference through physicality can be highlighted by Dianne 4(4):
147 See, if I say, I’m Chinese, I’m not really Chinese because I was born in Australia, so I’m embracing more of the Australian qualities like the culture and whatever. So if I say I’m Australian then I think to myself I’m not Australian because I don’t look like your typical Australian!
Ethnic identity thus is often reinforced by appearance as cross-cultural borders cannot be easily transgressed because of the underlying process of othering through difference and sameness. This leads to externalisation of those who do not fit into the dominant group.
To further illustrate the immutability of racial constructs, all informants express that when inquired by others about their origin, Australia never seems be an acceptable answer. Sean’s 4(3) encounter is typical of informants’ experiences:
When people ask “Where are you from?” If I say “I am from Australia” they will say “no no no”, then I say “Oh you mean I am Chinese ‘coz I look different?” Oh okay then ‘I am actually Chinese but was born in Australia.’
Sean’s agitation about the label placed on him highlights the intensity of the hegemonic construction of racial imageries by the wider society. Such dismissal of one’s proclaimed identity by others reveals the anxieties that motivate identity politics. Often rejection reveals that the question is not about origins but as Ang (2001: 29) describes, “disturbing signals for the impossibility of complete integration”. Moreover, as Pickering (2001) maintains, those that stand out as being different from the majority are turned into a spectacle, an exhibit and even a source of entertainment. Vera’s 3(2) continuous racial encounters points to this:
You know people would just yell out at you the usual things about your physical appearance or tell you to ‘go back to where you came from and that sort of stuff. It always stuck to my mind. It was very upsetting. Although it didn’t happen that often, but it was more than enough!
148 Racialised collectivities are often stratified within a broader social spectrum where stereotypes are often imposed by the dominant groups.
In-group Hierarchical Stratification
While Ang (2001: 30) maintains the collectivised notion of ‘Chineseness’ has been continually re-constructed as a result of the lingering dominant hegemony of the Western culture, the process of authentication which inevitably impacts on the hierarchical stratification of identity is also shaped by the action of in-group members. For a number of informants who identify with being Chinese, the continual inquiries into their origin by in-group members, particularly when traveling into China, highlight that an essentialist paradigm based on physicality is also deeply embedded within the Chinese diasporic world. The continuous questioning of Mary’s 3(3) identity by Chinese in HK highlights such phenomena:
I knew that I was different from other people because people would ask me, “Where are you from? What nationality are you?” and all that sort of thing. And I just used to take it for granted that I was Chinese, but when they used to ask me – they couldn’t tell what I was sometimes! I thought that was a bit queer, because I just automatically thought I was Chinese, but even last week somebody said, “You don’t look Chinese!” and I said “Oh, don’t I?” She was a lady from Beijing…When I went to HK in 1958 a Chinese man on the plane walked by and he said, “Are you Philippino?” He went through a lot of other nationalities because he didn’t know what I was and in the end I just said, “Sydney”... So, I think the best answer is to say you’re Australian with Chinese roots.
Under the Western hegemonic construction of Chineseness, subsequent generations who have stereotypical oriental features would be generically labelled as ‘Chinese’ by Western observers. As Mary explains, in Sydney she just takes for “granted” that she is Chinese. However, as illustrated, the physical marker of Chineseness invariably changes for diasporic Chinese living in different localities. Those like Mary who are of mixed descent – whose ‘looks’ are located in a zone of ‘in-betweeness’ – become a source of spectacle. As Gilroy explains, “to have mixed is to have been party to a great
149 betrayal. Any unsettling traces of hybridity must be exercised from the tidy, bleached- out zones of impossibly pure culture” (2004: 106). Ethnic identity is thus reinforced by external appearance as cross-cultural borders cannot be easily transgressed. Mary’s experience highlights that the underlying process of otherness perpetuates not only within Western discourse, the action of in-group members also shapes their own social hierarchy.
Jerry’s experience in Beijing further highlights this process of othering. His experience of in-group judgment is similar to Work’s (2001: 19) autobiographical essay on her inability to speak Chinese. They both feel stupefied because they are unable to meet the cultural expectation that a Chinese-looking person must be able to speak the Chinese language:
Living in Beijing made me ashamed. More ashamed and inadequate because sometimes I'd go to the restaurant or the coffee shop with a few white people, say some colleagues from work. The waiter would come straight to me with the menu and then the white person. The egg60 is so fluent that the waiter takes a double look at me because I can’t speak Mandarin properly. So this is the banana61 and that’s the egg. So embarrassing…I felt I was in no mans land. Similarly last night I went to the Chinese restaurant at Kensington, I was trying to bullshit my way through the menu. There was something on the menu (everything was in Chinese) but I didn't know what's in it. I asked, "How is it done?" He says something in Chinese. I know what's in it but I can't express it in Chinese. All this kinds of thing plus not having the vocabulary really cuts me.
60 Egg is a metaphor for Westerners who are knowledgeable about the Chinese culture which includes the ability to speak and write Chinese. The metaphor is based on the stereotypical colour of racial groupings; egg white on the outside and the yellow yolk inside implies Westerners who identified as ‘White’ are actually Chinese (yellow) internally. 61 Banana is a metaphor for Asians who speak and write English fluently and live a Western way of life. The metaphor is based on the stereotypical colour of racial groupings; yellow skin of the banana on the outside and white flesh inside implies Chinese who are identified as ‘Yellow’ are actually very Westernised (white) internally. 150 Moreover, from this excerpt, it is evident that a ‘white’ person competence in Chinese is viewed as an index to existential value of a ‘Chinese’ person. Such construction of Chineseness is established through a system of values that arises with Westernised ascriptions but also in-group expectations. As Ang (2001) suggests, racial categories do not only exist outside a particular cultural context, but are thoroughly framed by and within them as well. In this way in-group members also play an important role in establishing their own categorisation of identities.
Furthermore, Alcoff and Mohanty (2006: 6) maintain cultural expectations may not necessarily be impinged upon only by others – individuals associated with a particular minority group may draw evaluative forms of labelling on themselves to enable a better understanding of the social world they inhabit. This is highlighted by the social experience of Daisy (4)4, a descendant of a prominent merchant who migrated to Australia in the 1850s. She was raised in a Westernised family where intermarriage continued through the generations. Although she is identified as only one-eighth Chinese and does not have stereotypical Oriental features, she still has a very strong connection with her Chinese heritage:
First and foremost I think of myself as Australian. I have a strong interest in the Chinese side of my family. I get on well with most Chinese people I meet. I’d say probably eighty percent of me think of myself foremost as Australian but the rest of me acknowledges and welcomes the Chinese element of my being.
Daisy explains that at times she feels that she is a “fraud” Chinese, especially when she is amongst ‘full blooded Chinese’ who look and speak Chinese. Self-ethnicisation in this case serves as the trigger of a prescribed Otherness whereby she is situated in a state of liminality between the ‘real’ and ‘fake’. As Ang (2001: 30) contends, discourses of ethnicity begin to proliferate as ethnic minorities begin to assert themselves in their stated desire to maintain their cultural identity.
151 Differing Associations with ‘Looking’ Chinese
The accumulative impact of the impossibility of total integration into the Chinese or Western community and being a continuous source of spectacle often lead to a yearning for belonging. Consequently, two distinct phenomena are developed which are especially pertinent during childhood years: negative association with being Chinese and gravitation towards the ‘Chinese’ community.
Negative Association
Within a social context, the rigid structure of identity means that people are either classified as a part of a social group through the notion of sameness or singled out as a stranger. As such, in the Australian context, which is predominately ‘white’, Chinese appearance is often the source of negative segregation. The seeming impossibility of attainting a sense of sameness is expressed by Pete 4(4) whose feelings are typical of most informants: “It’s always there, on the level that is what you look like. People will always ask you where you come from. You never have an entire sense of being the norm.” There is always a physical sign of difference interfering with their attempts of integration.
During childhood, where the formation of identities is at the primary stage of development, this sense of difference often becomes a confusing experience.62 Rob 5(5) recalls that he always questioned himself whether it was his personality or his ethnicity that led to his rejection by his Anglo-Australian peers during his childhood. He admits that he deliberately tried to deny his identity by living (performing) a typical Australian way of life, “hanging out with his mates”, so he could fit in. The need for belonging is also vividly illustrated by Vera 3(2):
I don’t know why but I always remember when I was like about six years old or something. For a few months I would stand up in front of the mirror and I would try to give myself a crease above my eye and to try be
62 See Chapter 6, Remembering Childhood. 152 like everyone else at school and of course later found out it wasn’t going to work. It’s a very sad thing that I had to do that if you think about it!
These excepts highlight as children the learning of difference often leads to a yearning for acceptance by the dominant groups.
For some the impossibility of completeness inevitably led to negative identification with being Chinese. Pete 4(4) explains:
Being Chinese was only a negative identification. ‘Coz when we grew up in Ryde there were no Asians. But if you go there now there are lots of Asians. All the migrants were Italian or Greeks. Most of them have now moved out. We were one of the few Chinese families. It was quite conspicuous. So you develop a negative identification. So you are Chinese because they call you Ching Chong Chinaman or something like this.
The consequence of such sense of difference and stigmatism led to their deliberate disconnection with the Chinese heritage and culture. This can be illustrated by Lilly who is one-eighth Irish. She displays defiance, almost a sense of renunciation about her Chinese background, and emphases the Irish component of her ancestry. She claims that she has no interest in Chinese men, dislikes the loudness of the way Chinese people speak and sees herself as a “real Australian” except for her yellow skin, an inescapable Chinese phenotypic identifier. She is defiant about her Chinese identity and is inclined to emphase the Western part of her ancestry. Lily highlights the fondness of the natural blond strips in her hair:
My cousin’s hair is darker than mine. Because mine sort of has this blonde through it, which I think possibly came from my great- grandmother! Mum’s not pure black, obviously, with a Eurasian father…but I’m the one with the lightest…I like keeping it with the grey and stuff, because you can tell that it’s still got the blonde through it. I really like the colour of the hair. Yeah. It’s great!
153 The emphasis on her European features suggests the proudness of her Irish background. However, at the same time, she has an interest in Chinese history, associates with Chinese Australian community organisations in Australia and is at ease with people of Chinese heritage.
While the yearning for sameness with the majority may lead to negative association with being Chinese, an inherent social hierarchy of class and status are also important factors segregating long-established ABC from other Chinese communities in Australia. Lily expresses the differences between different Chinese groups based on wealth:
Well, I’d have to say I’m an Australian-born Chinese. But I’d say I’m different to other Chinese – because obviously now there’s the wealthy who live in these high-class suburbs – well, even like my friend Henri, who’s now working in Sweden, and Linda – they’re wealthy, they were born here but they were from wealthy families. We were from a poor family and have lived here for generations. So there’s the rich recent migrants and the poor Australian-born Chinese. There’s a difference…A different lifestyle…Well, most of the Chinese people went to university and things like that. I didn’t go to university. I suppose that’s in every nationality, though. I just had my education in a different way! Instead of going to university I just learnt it in life, really.
Lilly’s remark about wealth and education suggests the conscious categorisation of herself – middle-aged single woman, relatively minimal education, low wage earner – within a social hierarchy. It seems possible that her cultural disassociation with her Chinese heritage would uplift her social status. This feeling may have perpetuated from the racist notion as maintained by Robb (2003) that being Chinese meant that you were of a lower status in society in colonial Australia, although as Lilly stated, the status of Chinese nowadays has certainly improved. In the same manner Rob 5(5) also expresses the difference between different categories of Chinese in Australia:
It is the pecking order. It depends if you are the ABC who put themselves at the top or recent migrants who put themselves at the top and think that the ABCs are at the bottom. The reason they think that is
154 because the recent migrants are financially successful, that’s how they get in whereas most ABCs are just average Australians. There is no way you can consider me to be financially successful.
Furthermore, the adoption of colloquial terms such as ‘FOBS’ and ‘bananas’ in the speech of some participants is evidence of an enduring sense of difference that segregates themselves from other Chinese/Asian groups. A clear example can be highlighted by Bill’s 5(5) intensive disassociation of himself from other recent Asian migrants:
Do you know the term FOBs? Fresh-off-the-boat. I hate them to be honest with you, sorry to say this to you, but I mean all my Asian friends hate them. It’s for example, the way they drive, they think they are still over in Asia, double parking all over the place, driving all over the places, crossing lanes! When I go to Cabramatta, for example, I see people spitting on the ground and especially the way that they talk to you, the rudeness! I hate foby cab drivers, the ones that can’t speak the language and don’t know where they are going…
Although there is acknowledgment of an ‘Asian’ identity that is shared amongst his Asian friends, it is clear there that there are tensions and differences between groups within the so called ‘Asian-Australian’ community that keep them apart.
Gravitation towards ‘Chinese’ Community
However, being identified as Chinese is not necessary all negative. Some informants indicate that their Chinese identity can be positive and enriching and being Chinese is fundamental to group belonging. The substance of identity is based on the reality that individual security can only be attained in a social setting in which the security of one individual depends on the association with others. As Kuah-Pearce (2006: 224) points out, individuals look to the socialisation process were the self enculturates the norms of the particular group that they belong to. Thus as children, where the home is the most dominant environment, looking similar to siblings becomes an important aspect of
155 gaining a sense of belonging. This is highlighted by Sarah 3(3) who is of mixed heritage63:
My siblings looked more Chinese and I looked less Chinese than everybody from my real or my adopted family. I am the only one who doesn’t look Chinese. They all looked more Chinese. So as a matter of fact I wouldn’t mind if I looked more Chinese at all. I have always wanted to look more Chinese because I looked different from my siblings.
As Chamber (1994) articulates, the need for a sense of belonging is often created by a fantasy and an imagination of a homogeneous physical reality. For Sarah, during her childhood, to look more Chinese implied a stronger sense of belonging and connections with her family:
Indeed the way in which identity is established largely depends on how the self and the other are interpreted. Thus, the subjective experience of any social group membership depends fundamentally on relations to memberships of other social groups. Janice 4(4) highlights that the intensity of her sense of difference in relation to the dominant Anglo- Celtic Australian gradually led her to ‘gravitate back’ to those who share a similar background:
I think our upbringing was very Asian-based. When I was at school there was hardly any Asians in my class, there were probably none! So all my friends were Australians. I have always realised that I ate different food, I look different but more importantly I had a different lifestyle. I have always moved towards an Asian lifestyle. Maybe they always like the beaches, sports, swimming and stuff like that – we weren’t that style of people. Maybe we always had that problem because we looked Asian, there was a lot of name calling when we were growing up as there were not many Asians around. Basically we just stuck to ourselves, we just didn’t mix very well. I found that even with my school friends, their way
63 Eurasian 156 of thinking was different from the way I thought, so when I got older I gravitated back to Asian people or even with Australia-born Chinese people who think similar.
For Dean 4(4), rather than a gradual gravitation to the Chinese community, difference from the dominant group was comfortably accepted as an advantage in the socialisation process:
Its not an issue now…It gives me among my Anglo friends a slant of difference on things…they would always ask me about Chinese food or places to go in China, this and that. It’s not negative of anything. And the Chinese community in Sydney is not a marginalised community like some of the others, like Lebanese for example that are really battling along.
A contributing factor leading to one sense of difference/sameness is located in complex notions of recognition and belonging where the central question arises of how individuals interpret, construct and reconstruct themselves in the culture of which they are a part (Anderson 1999). As such, for informants, the experience of group membership is located in the very definition of Chineseness (and Australianess since the significant of any identity depends on the association with others, as identity construction is a relational process). The formation of identity involves entering a state of hybridity, such that their sense of identity is often situated in liminal space as they negotiate and display who they are or how they want to be seen in different contexts.
Chineseness as a racialised collectivity is stratified within a broad social spectrum through the dialectics of sameness and difference. Certainly stereotypical characteristics such as certain physical attributes are often imposed by the dominant groups (within the Australian context it is Anglo-Celtic Australian) which subsequently become an important source of reinforcement of their Chineseness. However, it is also important to understand that essentialist ideologies are also the basis by which in-group members make sense of their identity. Concisely, the construction of difference and sameness is a mode of identification by others and the self. Identifying with a particular group brings with it security and acceptance; consequently, long-established ABC’s sense of
157 belongingness within the Australian context has led to differing associations with being Chinese, particularly those developed during the childhood years of their life course.
Part 2 Cultural Attribute: Authenticating Chineseness through Language
The fluency of a particular language often affects the construction of cultural identity. However, since the essentialist notion of language as a source of authentication is deeply embedded in culture, those who look Chinese but cannot speak Chinese or speak very fluent English are often positioned in a peculiar position. This can be highlighted in the way Jerry 3(2) feels about subsequent generations who speak fluent Australian English:
I look at my nephews, nieces and some of my grandnieces now. They all speak with Australian accents so in a way there's a slight incursion of negativity when I hear that. I think, when you speak in that broad Australian accent, that accent only belongs to whites not to coloureds.
This excerpt highlights the difficulty to transcend the cultural expectation of language as a source of authentication. Ang’s (2001) semi-autobiographical work on the cultural peculiarities of not speaking Chinese points to the importance of such phenomena. She highlights the struggles between the social expectation of ‘being Chinese’ and her inability to speak Chinese. Thus, one’s ability to speak Chinese often becomes an external indicator of Chineseness. Such an essentialised notion of language as an authentic source of identity is shared among informants where many have been labelled as ‘fake Chinese’ because of their incompetence in Chinese. While all participants are illiterate in Chinese, most generally have a handful of daily expressions. Of those that are relatively more competent, they confess to being able to speak “pigeon Chinese with an Australian accent” and recognise very few written characters. Interestingly, while competency varies, the Chinese language continues to be active in the lives of long- established ABC, largely through the means of the family network. It needs to be highlighted that articulating precise language competence levels for participants in this study is a difficult matter as firstly, interviews were conducted in English and as such, it
158 was not possible to assess the fluency of their verbal Chinese skills directly; and secondly, individuals’ assessment of their language skills were often vague, with claims such as being able to speak ‘a little’, ‘broken bits and pieces’, ‘just enough to get by’ etc. While competency cannot be clearly illustrated, approximately fourteen out of forty-three participants indicated that they regularly communicated in Chinese with particular members of their immediate family, eight claimed they have no knowledge at all and none could read or write more than a handful of characters in Chinese. Moreover, there are different dialects of Chinese – Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakka and Seeyup spoken by older members of their family. However, for our discussion here, all references to the Chinese language in this thesis denote a broad categorisation of the different Chinese dialects and there is no privilege of Mandarin or Cantonese in particular unless otherwise specified.
Many scholars such as Ang (2001) and Chow (1998) have highlighted that the inability to speak Chinese is perceived as an existential index to the Chineseness of diasporic Chinese by the dominant Western society. However, the continual challenge of authenticity is not only reinforced by the Western hegemonic discourse, in-group members within the Chinese diaspora also play an important role in the establishment of Chinese identities.
The importance of examining Chineseness through cultural attributes such as language, as Kibria (1998) points out, is that they reflect relations of power, particularly of how in-group and cross-cultural groups construct and impose identities upon others. While language as a centering device of identity is problematic (as it is obvious that there are many different people in the world who are recognized or imposed as Chinese speak languages other than Chinese!), references to a shared notion of Chineseness based on essentialised such a cultural attribute continues to be a collective organising principle of social categorisation. This section examines the intersections of the dynamic conditioning of Chineseness in different contexts and variations of discourses. It begins by addressing the problematics of language as a centering device by highlighting the significance of functionality and practicality in relation to the changing social contexts.
159 Functional and Contextual Dimensions of Language Development
As noted, the language ability of informants shows a distinct shift from the minority language, Chinese, to the dominant daily language, English. Even for those who can speak Chinese, it is spoken only as a secondary language and in rare circumstances. Although such information supports Clyne’s (1991: 54) statement that ethnic minorities tend to lose their ethnic tongue over the generations (see also O’Bryan et al. 1997; Breton et al. 1990; Castonguay 1998), it should not be attributed as an evaluated form of their Chineseness, as a variety of factors promote and inhibit the maintenance of language. For informants, language transition does not necessarily lead to declined ethnic identification with their Chinese heritage. Jean 4(3) can only “speak a few words” of Chinese, yet she feels that she is “genuinely Chinese” and despises people who judge her Chineseness based on language competency:
I definitely am Chinese. I don’t like people stereotyping Chinese saying that you can’t be Chinese because you can’t speak Chinese! That is ignorant in my opinion. From the fact that we have been brought up by my grandparents, we have a generational link. In that way we are very traditional. It’s quite an insult!
Jean’s experience highlights that incompetency does not necessarily equate to the lessening of one’s sense of Chineseness. Perhaps a more vivid example can be illustrated by members of the Chinese Heritage Association of Australia. The association’s overall aim is to promote a better understanding of the Chinese community in Australia and its current focus is on Chinese Australian family history. The majority of its members are people of Chinese descent and have a long family history in Australia. While a few are competent in various Chinese dialects, the mode of conversation is in English. Nevertheless there is certainly a shared sense of Chineseness through common interests in their Chinese roots and migrant history.
While bringing to light the problematics of language as a symbol of ethnicity it is perceived nevertheless as a pertinent factor of cultural linkage. Such perception can be
160 illustrated by Don’s 4(4) mother’s persistence on the maintenance of language during his childhood:
We generally spoke English at home. They would speak English between them but sometimes they would also speak Cantonese. Dad would speak to me in English fully. Mum would deliberately speak Cantonese even though she could converse with me in English because mum wanted me to learn, understand and use Cantonese. That was why mum sent my brother, sister and I to Cantonese languages classes that our Church conducted. This was when I was eight or ten years old. I asked ‘Why do we have to do this?’ ‘Coz at school, my friends, they were not Chinese and I didn’t speak Chinese. And learning how to write was just a burden because I was never going to use it. But mum was saying that when I travel overseas I can use my knowledge of the Chinese language. When you are ten years old it is very hard for you to think ten years ahead. She wanted us to learn and understand our background.
Not only is language perceived as a linkage with the Chinese people and culture, it is also seen as a key to ethnic membership and belonging. For example, Sarah 3(3) who does not have any Chinese skills states, “I think if I know how to speak Chinese, I will feel much closer to Chinese culture. It is sad that I haven’t learned it when I could have.” The intimacy between language and culture is similarly felt by Pete 4(4):
In a lot of ways I was evading my Chinese background. It is quite a daunting thing. You feel it is a vast separation if you don’t have the language…I would like to be able to do it. I think in some ways it is harder. If it was a completely new language you don’t have a psychological barrier.
The inconstancy of the associations between Chineseness and language ability are clearly illustrated by the contrasting perceptions of subjects. While the status of Chineseness is a discursive construct rather than something natural, is it in fact a matter of subjective experience and not just a question of theory in real life. The point is not to argue about the adequacy of language as a condition of Chineseness, which would be a
161 futile assertion as individuals are bound to have different opinions, but to investigate its functional significance in relation to the changing social contexts.
Marriage Patterns and Changing Contexts
While the criteria of locating participants was based on their birthplace i.e. Australia and the generational distance from China i.e. they departed from China for at least three generations on at least one side of the family, they are still intricately connected to the Chinese language as it is continually spoken by members in family networks. Furthermore, contradictory to the literature, transition to English is not a gradual process over the generations but closely associated with the social context and life experience of a particular period. How do social forces impact the development of language? In order to answer this question, we need to examine the usage of Chinese language within the family.
For the generations of the early 1900s, the ability of speaking Chinese was an important mode of communication to members of the family who were often dispersed in both China and Australia. Wang (2000: 44) highlights that the Chinese who went overseas in this period were expected to have returned back home with the social expectation that if they were “good sons who were filial and loved their homes, they would always return”, or if they “failed to return home to die, would have tried whereever possible to ensure that their children would still consider themselves Chinese”. With such a normative approach of duty and loyalty, Wang (2000) argues that the overseas Chinese never stopped being Chinese and if they abandoned their Chinese loyalties and gained upward mobility these were done consciously. Certainly language retention is associated with the notion of Chineseness; however, it is important to understand the contributing factors of practicality and necessity related to the social context in the early part of the 20th century.
As noted, Federation imposed a White Australia Policy in 1901 and transformed Chinese residents into ‘domiciles’ with restricted rights. During the years of the ‘white’ policy, Chinese families were excluded from the political, social and economic life of mainstream Australia due to immigration restrictions, economic regulation and racial discrimination within broader society (Choi 1975; Fitzgerald 1997). The result was a
162 steady decline in the numbers of Chinese people in Australia (Williams 1999). Furthermore, due to immigration restrictions, the Chinese female population was extremely small – consequently, many returned to China to find a bride (Choi, 1975). To endure being on the margins of mainstream Australian society Tan (2001: 2) explains, “Chinese families relied on the cohesion of the family as a tightly-knit unit for social and economic survival.” As such, the retention of Chinese was largely a necessity for daily living.
In the families of long-established ABC, it is certainly evident that a number of the first and second generation migrants did return to China/HK and “got married”. Furthermore, if families had the opportunity, many tried to send their children back to China for a period of time to get some Chinese education so as to learn the Chinese language and Chinese way of life. This behaviour can best be illustrated in the previous generations of Andrew’s 4(2) family. Although his great grandfather was the first generation to come to Australia from Canton in the 1880s, there were continuous returns to China throughout the generations. The pattern of movement and marriage was similar for his great grandfather, grandfather and father – all born and educated in China, migrated to Australia to work in later years, returned to China to get married, then back again to Australia to work. Andrew explains because there were very few Chinese women in Australia during the early period and the mentality of Chinese was to only marry people of the ‘same kind’, they had to go back to his ancestral village to find a bride. Andrew, aged sixty five, was the first in his line of the family to be born and married with a first generation HK-born migrant in Australia. He still communicates in Chinese with certain members of his family. This glimpse into his family highlights that the persistence of the Chinese language lies in the perception of usefulness, particularly in the earlier period.
Overseas marriage patterns also have impacted the language retention of subsequent generations. George 4(4)’s father, who was born in Queensland around the 1920s, lived in HK for ten years because his grandfather sent his father back “to look for a wife”. His father married his HK-born mother in HK and later moved to Sydney around the early
163 1940s to escape the Japanese invasion64 of HK. Although his mother could only converse in Chinese, his father and siblings communicated mainly in English. George’s mother taught him Chinese at an early age. Unfortunately, due to mental illness, she lived most of her life in a mental institute and George had he take on the responsibility as a carer at an early age. The timing of becoming a carer in adulthood or for George in adolescence is closely interrelated with the circumstances of the older generation’s transition, leading to different life trajectories.65 The point is that due to the family circumstances, he had to retain Chinese in order to communicate with his mother:
I retained my Chinese by necessity, because my mother was a typical migrant wife. She came from HK and then to Sydney with her husband and her three children. Typical of female migrants, my mum never learned English because she was domesticated at home and never needed to learn everyday English. The point is that because she didn’t speak English, I had to retain certain amount of Chinese to communicate with my mum about day to day things. The reason why I retained some measure of Chinese language was because of necessity, to communicate with my mum who didn’t speak English.
In this manner maintenance rests on the usefulness of the Chinese language within the family which is intergenerationally influenced.
While return marriage and Chinese education was a normative mentality among migrants of the early part of the 1900s, with increasing growth of Chinese migrants in Australia because of the influx of refugees due to Japanese aggression in China and the Pacific in the 1930s and 1940s, the generations of this period were able to engage in relationships with overseas-born Chinese. As a result, Williams (1999: 2) explains there was “a new generation of Australian-born people of Chinese origin”. This ‘new generation’ can be exhibited by the marriage/relationship pattern of subjects and their parents. Thirty out of forty-three subjects had one or both parents overseas, with the
64 The Japanese invaded HK during the pacific campaign of WWII. It began on 8th December 1941 and ended on the 25th December 1941 with HK, then a British colony, surrendering to the control of Imperial Japan. The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong lasted for three years and eight months. 65 This will be discussed in detail in Chapter 6. 164 majority born in China and HK and sixteen out of twenty-six non-single66 subjects having a partner who is first or second generation ABC.67 These partners brought with them their own network of relatives, friends, sibling, parents etc. which consequently led to the continued engagement with the Chinese-speaking community. Although subjects are subsequent generations, due to social interaction with the overseas-born Chinese speaking community, the Chinese language still largely remains an important means of communication in familial networks. Thus, the ability of verbal communication in Chinese has a particular function of maintaining relations between members of the family. As such, often parents (particularly the overseas-born parent) of long-established ABC make conscious effort to teach their children Chinese where possible during their childhood years. For example because Rodney’s 3(2) grandfather married a HK-born wife who could not speak English, he learned Chinese by necessity in order to communicate with his grandmother and other relatives:
Since my grandmother didn’t speak English I must speak in Chinese otherwise she would have no idea what I was talking about. There was also this concern that I would never be able to communicate with my relatives if I didn’t keep my Chinese.
Language retention or transition is often conducted in a conscious matter which is largely impacted by the private domain. As highlighted in the above discussions, for long-established ABC, the pivotal reason for maintenance rests on the perception of usefulness and need in relation to usage of the Chinese language within the family. Although subsequent generations may not be totally competent in speaking Chinese, the Chinese language is a part of their social life and for some continues to function as an important means of communication. This is largely related to the pursual of Chinese education in China of early generations and the marriage patterns with overseas-born Chinese speaking partners within the family network.
66 It includes current partners of married and defacto status and ex-partners of divorced and widowed status. 67 See Appendix 12 for details of parents’ and partner’s place of birth. 165 Intergenerational Influence
While the retention of Chinese has been necessary because of the functional use of language in social settings for some subjects, there are also cases of deliberate transition to English, particularly during the childhood development. The family represents a fundamental context for childhood socialisation and development and plays a major role in the maintenance of culture and language across generations (Tan 2004a). This can be highlighted in the way parents of informants responded to the pressure of the changing social circumstances which inevitably determined the opportunities or limitations of their access into mainstream Australian life. During the mid-1900s, demographers like Price (1956) and Borrie (1949) promoted the dispersal of immigrants to prevent ethnic segregation and the quick learning of English, thus discouraging of the use of native languages. The idea was that immigrants and their families would strongly support the notion that they become fully assimilated Australian citizens. Schooling was seen to have a pivotal role in ensuring that the second generation and certainly the later descendants would reflect only the culture of Anglo-Australia (Vasta 2005).
Such an assimilationist atmosphere certainly impacted on the language development of long-established ABC where all their parents encouraged integration through the speaking of English. As Tan (2001: 3) explains, the family has significant influence as ‘gatekeepers’ who monitor the border-crossing activities of individual family members between the home and the outside world and either facilitated or hindered this process. One interesting practice which arose from the assimilationist ideology was the way in which parents monitored the language development of their children. For Dianne 4(4), because she saw the benefit of fluent English for her children, she deliberately changed the primary language from Cantonese to English:
I used to speak Cantonese to my children when they were little, but as they were growing up and started education we made English the primary language because we thought it was better for the children’s education, so as a consequence they’ve grown up not speaking Chinese, although my eldest daughter does now. My husband tried to teach the children as they were growing up, but she’s the only one that’s actually retained any competency in Chinese.
166 However, for Rodney 3(2), while his parents encouraged him to socialise in English outside, when at home only Chinese was to be spoken in order to communicate to his relatives and retain the Chinese culture:
My family was very interesting. My father always had Western friends, but family is family and friends are very different. We were never allowed to speak English at home, but when we had visitors we were never allowed to speak Chinese. They stressed that you must integrate but you must also maintain that respect and culture at home.
Similarly for Sunny 4(4), during his childhood he was encouraged to master English in order to integrate in Australian society; however, unlike Rodney and Dianne, his family was more relaxed with the choice of language he spoke at home:
I spoke Cantonese and English at home. Spoke Cantonese to parents and English to brothers. I can only write selected characters…My parents didn’t ask us to go to Chinese school only because we were living in Australia – they thought it would be better for us to learn English and to make friends with Australian kids.
While the assimilationist ideology is pertinent, it is evident that there were various patterns in the way parents monitored the use of Chinese and English within and outside of the home. It was in this role as ‘gatekeepers’ that parents influenced the language development of their children.
While informants’ families have resided in Australia for over three generation, it was only in the last few decades that a large emphasis on English occurred. Wang’s (2000: 43) discussion on the mentality of early migrants explains this phenonmena. He maintains that early migrant saw the host country as only a “temporary residence at a new place of abode” and they had strong intensions of return. For example, although Sunny’s great grandfather came in Australia in the late 1800s and his grandfather and mother were both born in Moree, nevertheless there were frequently journeys back and forth between the two places, suggesting a strong link with China. Furthermore, when his mother was five years old, she was sent back to China for Chinese education. She
167 lived there for twenty years until she got married and returned to Australia in the early 1950s because of the political upheaval associated with the Communist takeover in China68. As such, until the political circumstances deteriorated in China which meant the possibility of return was unlikely, the family base had always been China. While Sunny’s parents placed much emphasis on learning English and integration, at the same time they continued to speak to him in Chinese. Moreover, Chinese festivals were an important part of his childhood; he had “rice three times a day, seven days a week” and his “family friends were pretty much all Chinese.” His experience highlights that retention or transition of language is often a conscious and deliberate decision implicated by necessity and functional use as perceived by the parent. Certainly the shift from one language to another indicates possible intention of integration; however, it does not necessarily indicate the propensity towards the shredding or losing of an ethnic identity.
In Gerard’s 5(4) family the transition into English only occurred in Gerard's generation which was a deliberate decision by his father. His great grandfather migrated to Australia in 1856 and even though their family has resided in Australia for over 150 years, it was only at his generation that English became the primary language. This was because his great grandfather, grandfather and father were all educated in China in the early part of their life. In the case of his father who was born in Australia, he was sent to China at age seven by his grandfather to receive Chinese education. When he came back to Australia at seventeen years of age he “could not speak a word of English” and therefore could not enter into the wider workforce. Due to this experience, his father always encouraged them to learn English and integrate in order to gain an easier life. Geoff explains his father’s attitude towards the learning of Chinese:
Before I went to school I was taught Chinese, but once I went to school that was just left. He explained to me he had ten years experience in China and that was of no use to him when he returned to Australia. He couldn’t
68 Mao Zedong, the leader of the Communist Party, proclaimed the Republic of China on 1st October, 1949. The political changes after the communist take over caused immense social changes, particularly the propaganda that much of the previous ruling class was rightist. Such social changes led to a large number of Chinese civilians being discontented by China's economic and political transformation. In addition, the struggle for power within the Communist Party of China, which grew to include large sections of Chinese society, eventually brought China to the brink of civil war. 168 even speak a word of English when he returned to Australia so that made it very hard on him in his working life. He had to become independent. In other words he hasn’t had to work for anyone because he didn’t have a piece of paper, right, so it was a conscious decision that once we go to school we are to learn as much as we can and the Chinese side is just taught socially. It wasn’t important for us to speak Chinese if we wanted to live in Australia and our intensions were to live in Australia and earn an income here. In other words, why did we need the Chinese language if we weren’t going to work for a Chinese business?
While assimilation strategies discouraged the use of native languages in the early twentieth century, changes in social attitudes of the Australian society in the later part of the century through market demand on bilingual skills also revitalised the interest of informants to relearn their own heritage language. All subjects indicate a wish to have better Chinese proficiency, particularly Mandarin, because of the associated advantage of bilingual skills. Certainly Mandarin is foremost viewed as an index to the existential value of Chineseness and many choose to learn Mandarin among many dialects (see, for example, Chow 1998 and Tan 2004b). As I have pointed out in Chapter 3, the ability to speak the official language of China brings with it much advantage such as increased work opportunities. Sean 4(3) explains his experience in a suburb of Sydney which is largely populated with Mandarin-speaking Chinese:
I am comfortable with Ashfield. When I walk around I just blend in with the crowd, Asian faces you know! But in terms of language I sort of feel left out. I sort of feel a bit sad that I don’t speak Mandarin coz [sic] everyone speaks that now. Now that it is the official language and it is spoken widely, I wish my family spoke Mandarin rather than Cantonese so that I will be able to communicate with millions of people including those overseas.
The experience of informants highlights that the ability to speak Mandarin is largely associated with convenience and practicality of communication with many people rather than solely with authentication.
169 While, a classic statement about the tendency of an ethnic minority to lose their ethnic tongue over the generations is supported, as highlighted from the experiences of long- establish ABC, the transition from Chinese to English does not happen gradually but is rather directly impacted by the social circumstances and life experience. In particular, the private domain has great impact on the extent of intrusion of the host language as well as retention of the heritage language (Finocchiaro 1995). Parental influence plays a significant part in the development of language of their children. Often the decision to focus on mastering the ethnic or host language is based on the perceived necessity and functionality of usage by parents. This is clearly exemplified by contrasting behavior of early and later generations within a family because of the changing social context. Let me make clear that I am not disputing the presence of language as a mode of collective identity – my emphasis is to highlight that the retention of language is often impacted by practicality in particular contexts and thus should not be solely used as a measurement of Chineseness. The following section takes language as a fundamental mode of collective identity and examines the relations of power through the hierarchical categorisation of diasporic Chinese.
Part 3 Hierarchical Stratification of Chineseness
Ethnic identity is often authenticated by cultural attributes such as language and under the Western hegemonic discourse, it is an ideological demand and cultural expectation that one naturally speaks the ethnic language if one is to belong to an ethnic community. Because ethnic membership is widely believed to be a cultural and also biological matter, the presumed cultural trait of language is often seen as natural part of an ‘imagined community’ as it has always been a tradition of thought of the West (Anderson 1983). As Don 4(4), whose family has resided in Australia since the late 1800s points out, “when people meet me at the church I go to, which is mainly Anglo- based, they may not say it straight away but after a while they always say ‘I expected a difference accent’.” Being Chinese is therefore inevitably tied up with knowledge of the Chinese spoken language (at the least), traditions, and other cultural forms under the prevailing Western discourse of authenticity.
170 While Said (1978: 12) asserts that the dominant discourse is based on the relations between the ‘two halves’ – East and West – hierarchical stratification exists within each entity. Central to the diasporic paradigm is that Chineseness is not a fixed content: as Ang (1998: 225) puts it, “be it racial, cultural, or geographical – but operated as an open indeterminate signifier whose meanings are constantly negotiated and rearticulated in different sections of the Chinese diasporas”. The notion of being Chinese varies in different localities as people are influenced by local contexts and have constructed new ways of living. As such, long-established ABC who are living in Australia cannot possibly be the same as Chinese living in China or Chinese living in Germany. Neither are they the same as other Chinese ethnic groups such as HK and Taiwanese migrants living in Australia. The discussion about the notion of ‘being Chinese’ with Rodney 3(2) clearly illustrates such understanding:
There is no such thing as a Chinese person anymore unless you define exactly what you mean by Chinese. Are we talking about Chinese from China, Chinese from HK, Chinese from Australia, Chinese from the States or Chinese from the Singapore? I think everybody has different identities and those are sub-cultures of a larger Chinese identity.
This proposition entails a criticism of Chinese essentialism, a departure from the mode of defining Chineseness through binary oppositions of authentic and inauthentic, real and unreal, pure and impure.
While such a paradigm rightly acknowledges that there are many different Chinese identities and not a unified one, references to “a larger Chinese identity” – a shared notion of Chineseness based on essentialised cultural attributes such as language – still serve as a collective organising principle of social categorisation. In this sense, the competency of language (which may not necessarily be Chinese) too often becomes the defining source of the hierarchical position of diasporic Chinese. Such a conception can be clearly highlighted by Sean 4(3) in his categorisation of Chinese in Australia:
When I am referring to Chinese I don’t really distinguish them on whether they were born overseas or born in Australia. When I think about Chinese I tend to think of ones who can speak Chinese reasonably well and
171 associate with other Chinese. I don’t really think of ones who can’t speak English. I guess they don’t enter my sphere of interaction because I can’t interact with them. So they are mainly students here and those who were born here. But those who have forsaken their Chinese identity, I tend to stay away from them. And then there is the invisible group who speaks Mandarin, I can’t communicate to them at all.
While there is a notion of a common Chinese community, differences between groups often occur due to the dynamics of an individual’s social network and local context. For Sean, while his categorisation of Chinese is based on language and social connections, it contradicts the wider diasporic imagination of Chineseness that one must speak Chinese to be Chinese. The disjunctures of the shifting currents of discourses to Chineseness often lead to profoundly ambivalent experiences for those caught in- between. The experience of long-established ABC in this study testifies to this. While they are often acknowledged specifically as ‘Australian-born Chinese’ which indicates the variation from the common collective ‘Chinese’ community in Australia, they are nevertheless implicated by the discourses of Chineseness (commonly read as recent migrants from China, Taiwan and HK)69. Jenny 6(6) finds ‘being Chinese’ often involves a mixture of emotions of alienation and rejection. She recalls an incident in her childhood that highlights the way in which her identity as Chinese is enduringly framed by others:
I feel I am different. It depends on who I am with and how comfortable I am. So with different people, I feel more Chinese or less Chinese depending on what they do. I think it was when I was fourteen or fifteen, someone said to me, and this was my Western friend, she said ‘Sometimes I forget that you are Chinese’. I thought that was a weird thing to say. This was sort of like, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t think you were Chinese’! It made me think twice. ‘Isn’t it a weird thing to say’, I thought. It made me notice.
69 The conception of such difference is captured by Rodney 3(2): “I actually like the term ABC. It signifies that I am not recently off the boat!” 172 Such feelings of alienation were largely a consequence of the way in which her identity was imposed by the Western hegemonic imagination of Chinese. Yet at the same time, feelings of rejection are further implicated by in-group Chinese. She expresses her feelings of being unable to speak fluent Chinese:
Now that I can’t speak Chinese, I think it is important. Before I didn’t think it was quite important. I realise that it is part of history and because I look Chinese everyone assumes you can speak Chinese, but I can’t. So everyone is a bit shocked. So I kind of feel that I should because people expect me to, even amongst the Chinese. Also, most of my cousins can speak some Cantonese if not quite well – they can hold a conversation. I can only hold five words.
Ethnic language retention is often seen as an authentication of ethnicity, and as Ang (2001) rightly maintains, for those who ‘look’ Chinese, regardless of their generational distance from China, the social expectation is that they must speak Chinese. Yet it needs to be highlighted that such essentialist ideology is not only a consequence of the Western hegemonic discourse within the Chinese community essentialised qualities also exist. The intersection of such dynamic conditioning of Chineseness in different contexts and variations of discourses is the source of ambivalent experiences for diasporic Chinese.
Western Inscriptions of Chineseness
Literature on diasporas maintain that the collectivised notion of ‘Chinese’ is continually constructed and re-constructed as a result of the enduring hegemony of the Western culture (see Chow 1998; Ang 2001). As Kibria (1998) points out, the distinguishing role of racial markers such as language is that they reflect relations of power; in particular, the ability of the dominant group to construct and impose identities upon others. As such, for ethnic minorities in the West, their identities are often subjected to the mainstream imposition of non-Western representations. Chow (1998) highlights that Western imposition of identity often affirms its moral supremacy by way of stereotypical ethnic and national labels. Being Chinese, in the West, is often tied to an authentication process such that one must possess qualities that originated from China.
173 As Ang (2001:30) asserts, “Chinese identity becomes confined to essentialist notions of Chineseness, the source of which can only originate from China, to which the ethnicised Chinese subject must adhere to acquire the stamp of authenticity.” Thus, one’s ability to speak Chinese often becomes an external indicator of their Chineseness, as exemplified from Jenny’s 4(4) experience previously suggesting that “because I look Chinese everyone assumes you can speak Chinese”.
While Chinese language competency is perceived as an evaluative form of Chineseness, a lack of English skills is also seen as an existential index denoting inherent notions of supremacy. Jane 3(3), whose family has resided in Australia since the late 1800s, highlights such phenomena:
When people look at me they think I am really Chinese. But when I open my mouth and say something they are surprised to know that I have an Australian accent. If I spoke on the phone and didn’t give my name, they wouldn't know I am Chinese.
Such evaluative forms of labelling and cultural expectations are, as Ang (2001) contests, a result of the lingering dominant hegemony of the Western culture. Even when access into the mainstream society is achieved, the conventional simplification and stereotyping of ethnic subjects lingers. The pervasiveness of the Western imagination of being Chinese can be further highlighted through Vera’s 3(2) experiences in Europe:
You get more problems over there because obviously they look at your face. I remember when I studied French for a year there was an Italian student asking me where I came from and I said I’m from Australia. And she’s like “You can’t be from Australia, what’s wrong with you?” and I said I was born in Australia. And I guess they can’t compute that I would be calling myself Australian. This was about ten years ago. And I have been back to Europe last year and things haven’t been so bad now. And I had the same thing in England too with these white South Africans, they were just crazy. They would surprised be that I could use a knife and folk. And it’s like what are you talking about! So people in other parts of
174 the world find it very difficult. So they sort of label you. Even in Sydney, they immediately make a judgment like that. Unless they hear me speak, they think I’m a recent migrant. But once they hear you talk, they just speak to you normally. So it’s quite funny!
Through a system of values that arises with Western ascriptions, the index to existential value of a Chinese person is often based on a person’s competence in English (Ang 2001: 30). To this extent, the lack of knowledge of the Chinese culture and the lack of mainstream host culture become the pre-eminent basis for establishing the foundation of a Chinese identity for long-established Chinese communities in Australia.
In-group Inscriptions of Chineseness
While the hegemony of Western ascriptions is intimately felt by diasporic Chinese living in the West, the intensity of in-group ascriptions should not be underestimated. Within the Chinese diasporic universe, those that are able to speak and write Chinese are differentiated from those that can only speak; those that can only speak are differentiated from those who cannot; those who speak Mandarin are differentiated from those that speak other dialects. In this sense, the lingering pervasive hegemony of authenticity based on language per se functions as a mode of collective identity which has substantial impact on the hierarchical categorisation of diasporic Chinese.
One key aspect of the changing Australian demography concerns in-group variation of migrant populations which has undergone major transformations in recent decades due to reforms in migration policies and economic developments. In particular, the increased intake of skilled Chinese immigrants from HK and China in the last twenty years has led to an increase in first generation overseas-born migrants who have grown up in culturally different societies70 and are Chinese-literate. Their arrival has created greater in-group diversity among Chinese communities in Australia. This can be clearly highlighted by Ada 5(5) who can speak Zhongshan – a form of Chinese dialect. While she can speak a form of the Chinese language, she is segregated from the main ‘Chinese’ community made up of recent migrants from HK and China. When she
70 See Appendix 3 for the country of birth of Australian’s population from 1954–2005. 175 married a “wealthy” HK-born migrant in Australia, her husband constantly reminded her not to speak in that “country style language” and to learn “proper Cantonese”. He said in a well-educated HK family it was considered lowly to speak a rural language. The hierarchical system through the discourse of language clearly highlights the significant role of in-group ascriptions. Those caught in-between the intersections of the changing conditions of Chineseness in different contexts are fraught with feelings of ambivalence.
In-group ascriptions can often be clearly felt when informants visit Chinese dominated places. Most felt stigmatised because they are not able to speak fluent Chinese. Jenny 6(6) expresses her experience in HK:
In HK they are quiet racist. I find a lot of people are quite rude to me because I can’t speak Chinese. I think they can tell just from looking at the way you dress that you are not from HK. You go into shops and stuff and they don’t treat you very well. I feel I am looked down upon. I guess most of that is language.
Such sense of difference is often escalated when one steps foot onto the soil of China, which under the hegemonic discourse of authenticity, is the source of real Chineseness. Debra 4(4) expresses her experience in China:
There is this small part of me who is Chinese coz I can’t deny my heritage. But I didn’t have the language and didn’t have any experience of it because it has been removed by two generations. If my parents had some experience of living in China and speaking Chinese, there would be a lot more connection. We were in fact looked down upon when we were in China because we didn’t speak any Chinese, so I just didn’t feel I was part of them.
Such sense of stigmatism was similarly felt by Jane 3(3) when she visited China:
176 We felt left out, coz [sic] people would look at you and say, “How come you don’t speak Chinese. You look Chinese” ... It made me feel inadequate, that I didn’t speak Chinese very well.
Language is socially accepted as an important system of signs for identifying the uniqueness of any culture which is crucial to cultural reclamation. Within the social context of the Chinese diaspora, individuals who cannot speak the Chinese language – which is seen as an existential index – are fraught with feelings of guilt and inadequacy when coming to terms with their Chineseness. Jenny 6(6) states:
I would like to go to China for tourist purposes. I would like to go back to where my parents’ families are from but then I don’t speak Chinese so I’d feel funny going back. I’d feel like I don’t belong there coz [sic] I don’t speak the language. It not really undeserving or ungrateful but I would feel like I wasn’t fully appreciating if I didn’t know the language and not knowing a whole lot of history about it. It would be a wasted opportunity.
The persistence of the perception that being Chinese must entail all things that originated from China certainly has cultural relevance to the negotiation of Chineseness in the world. The lingering pervasive hegemony of authenticity creates a hierarchical classification that stratifies the position of diasporic Chinese.
Even within subsequent generational groups, authentication is also linked to the ability of speaking and writing Chinese. Sean 4(3) recalls his feeling of superiority over other Chinese Australian when he travelled to China on a heritage tour which aimed to promote cultural awareness to Chinese Australians:
Actually my Chinese was one of the best out of all those who went on the tour. Some of them couldn’t speak at all! I felt that was shocking! I felt it was a shame that they couldn’t speak it. Normally I am very proud and want to be the best. But I didn’t feel proud, I felt sadness really, for the ABC who couldn’t speak the language. I felt I was lucky that I was raised to have this, at least this level of proficiency to at least get by.
177 As such, even for those who cannot ‘really’ speak Chinese, the ability to speak a few words can be the source of segregation. Those that are recognised as Chinese but cannot speak the language are seen with shame and disappointment not only by dominant groups of the West but also by in-groups members. They often become a source of the humiliation because of the presumed inability to connect with the Chinese culture. This highlights that racialised collectivities are stratified within a broader social spectrum, where stereotypical identities are often imposed by external and internal forces, each establishing different hierarchy of identities.
Conclusion
This chapter examined the complex notion of ‘Chineseness’ through the disjunctures of essentialist and postmodern approaches to identity by engaging in the discourse of authenticity and recognition. Certainly, Chineseness is a negotiated, unstable assemblage of perceptions and the meaning and practice of ‘being Chinese’ varies in different social contexts. Yet the notion of Chineseness – however one may define it – is still crucial to making sense of the daily life of long-established ABC. The different perceptions of Chineseness provided the criteria used to ascertain the ‘authenticity’ of diasporic Chinese. I began with an examination on the racial attribute of phenotype as a marker of Chineseness. Through the dialectics of sameness and difference, I teased out the relationship of power and sense of belongingness. I highlighted that regardless of their personal history, or how strongly their cultural identities may be grounded in Australia, they are continually seen through a prism of otherness because of the racial discourse. The heading “You can’t be one of us because you look different” precisely describes their common expression of never being able to become a ‘real’ Australian. While racial characteristics based on physical attributes are often imposed by Western ascriptions which subsequently become an important source of reinforcement of Chineseness, at the same time the hierarchical stratification of identity is also shaped by the action of in-group members. Because they look Chinese they are subject to the cultural expectation of being able to speak Chinese. Those who don’t meet the expectations often are made to feel shame and embarrassment. Concisely, the construction of difference and sameness is a mode of identification by others and the self. The accumulative impact of the impossibility of total integration into the Chinese
178 or Western community and being a continuous source of spectacle often lead to a yearning for belonging. Consequently, two distinct phenomena were pertinent during their childhood years: negative association with being Chinese and gravitation towards the ‘Chinese’ community. The second part analysed the cultural attribute of language as a source of authenticating Chineseness and focused on the social stratification of ‘being Chinese’. While the salience of language as a marker of ‘authentic’ Chinese culture is well acknowledged, I highlighted that the retention of language is predominately impacted by practicality and functionality of social contexts and thus should not be solely used as a measurement of Chineseness. Of import is that transition from Chinese to English does not also happen gradually, but is rather directly impacted by the social circumstances and life experience of each generation. In particular, parental influence plays a significant part in the development of language of children, where they strategically monitor the extent of intrusion of the host language as well as retention of the heritage language. This is clearly exemplified by contrasting behaviour of early and later generations within a family. Because the mentality of Chinese migrants in the early 1900s was that of temporary residence in Australia, those that were born in Australia were often sent to China to receive Chinese education, and English was not keenly perused. Contrastingly, the later generations often had a mindset to settle in Australia and as such encouraged their children to pursue English for their future well-being. A contributing factor is the unlikelihood of return because of the political upheavals in China during the mid-1900s. In recent years, bilingual language ability is considered an added advantage and so there is increasing demand to master both English and Chinese. This discussion highlighted that the retention of language is often impacted by practicality in particular contexts and thus should not be solely used as a measurement of Chineseness.
Part three examined the role of language in the hegemonic positioning of diasporic Chinese subjects by exploring Chineseness through binary oppositions of authentic and inauthentic within Western and Chinese contexts. I highlighted that although racialised collectivities are stratified within a broader social spectrum where stereotypical labels are often imposed by the dominant groups of the West, in-group members also play an important role in establishing their own hierarchy of identities. Moreover, variations in the fluency of Chinese lead to hierarchies of Chineseness being formed in which long-
179 established ABC position themselves and others as ‘superior’ or ‘inferior’ depending on the perceived ‘authenticity’ of their Chineseness.
Through the postmodernist discourse, contradictions and ambivalences of ‘being Chinese’ have been critically significant in delegitimising the notion of Chineseness as a collectivised racial or cultural category. However, as I have consistently argued, essentialist notions still serve as the fundamental organising principle in constructing notions of sameness and difference between external and in-group members. This is highlighted by the way in which all informants continually position themselves relative to specific collectivities such as Chinese, Chinese Australians, ABC, Eurasians etc. Through relative positioning of oneself from other categories, long-established ABC designate their sense of Chineseness and make sense of who they are. This relationship is a ‘configuration of power’ and is reinforced by the collective persistence of associating cultural and racial markers. Such designated boundaries become an authoritative stamp of authenticity which consolidate a racial hierarchy of Chineseness stratifying the social positions of those that claim to be ‘Chinese’. As such, rather than simply celebrate or dismiss the various uses of the collective Chinese identity, this chapter has examined Chineseness through the discourse of authenticity and recognition. This provided an explanation of how and why identities are problematic and where and why they are empowering, thus highlighting the validly of Chineseness as an important category of identification and analysis. Let me make it clear that I am not disputing the critiques of the problematics of bounded and mutually exclusive identities – it is only its reductionism which I contest. The ways in which individuals negotiate and construct identities within preset boundaries need to be fully acknowledged, retained and explored in their own ramifications. In this way, it is important that collectivist notions are not be underestimated.
The proceeding chapter examines the manner in which Chineseness is continuously rewritten across the life course of long-established ABC from childhood through to old age. I describe the interplay of the ‘habitus’ of daily living, gender and sexuality, and specific age-based identities, showing that Chineseness and the developing path of life intricately shape each other. To do so, I employ the life course orientation to analyse the dynamic constructionism of Chineseness. The examination of personal experiences and
180 insights will contribute to an in-depth understanding of Chineseness through the changing context and life trajectories.
181 CHAPTER 6 CHINESENESS THROUGH LIFE COURSE TRAJECTORIES
In the previous chapter I highlighted that regardless of whether subsequent generations choose to identify or deny themselves as ‘Chinese’, Chineseness represents an inescapable ‘reality’ they have to confront due to discourses of recognition and essentialism. This has demonstrated that Chinese identity is not a unitary aspect of selfhood, but is relational, contextual and fundamental. Identity formation involves the establishment of social constructions which are fluid and dynamic in nature and (re)negotiations are always contingent to their meaningfulness in different contexts and situations. Identity, therefore, is an unstable assemblage of ideas and perceptions. Yet, despite the debates on the theoretical ambiguities of identity, the fact is that not only is it a nation-state imposed criteria for group identity but for many people identity feels ‘real’ and is crucial to giving meaning to daily life and thus its impact should not be underestimated. Therefore as Moya (2000a, 2000b) maintains, it is important to acknowledge how social categories of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ function in individual lives without constricting individuals to those social collectivities. This approach provides a useful framework to examine how long-established ABC, who are living in-between cultures, confront their Chineseness throughout their live courses. To escape the monolithic modes of understanding Chineseness that hamper our ability to comprehend the meaning of being Chinese today, it is important to highlight a diversity of trajectories within and across successive generations of diasporic Chinese, rather than a commonality as the narrative of identity formation. Since age-based transition is a significant resource through which individuals construct their biographical narratives as well as their interactions with others, the life course orientation is thus a useful tool to analyse the dynamic formation of Chineseness.
Similar to the recent postmodern notion of identity which has come to be seen as unfixed or ascribed, the concept of ‘life course’ has been adopted as “a way of envisaging the passage of a lifetime less as the mechanical turning of a wheel and more
182 as the unpredictable flow of the river” (Hockey and James 2003: 5). In replacement to the static life cycle approach which assumes life as a series of repetitive stages that all people go though, the life course orientation focuses on individual changes and movements in relation to dynamic contextual factors which is one of the key bases of the production of identity. Elder et al. (2003: 8) explain that the life course orientation reflects the temporal nature of lives, conveying movements through historical and biographical times in which age is a primary vehicle for understanding the changing contexts of lives. However, as Moya (2000b) maintains, one’s sense of identity also determines the experiences an individual is likely to have. As such, socially constructed age-based identities (e.g. childhood, old age) are fundamental not only to one’s orientation to the world (what is noticed, what is absorbed) but also to how one is seen and interacted with by others (Alcoff 2006: 90). Circumstances in life create identity to the same degree as identity creates circumstances. Thus in understanding the experience of long-established migrants, it is important to highlight a diversity of trajectories, rather than a commonality and continuity of experiences as the narrative of identity formation.
The chapter brings together the narratives of long-established ABC and examines how they make sense of Chineseness through specific age-based social identities from childhood through to old age.71 Gendered issues will be discussed in various stages of the life course where they are particularly relevant to understanding the formation of Chineseness. Before engaging in their individual narratives, it important to note that the dominant socio-cultural and geographical contexts in the formative years of informants had a great impact in the shaping of their identities and also reflected societal change in Australia. Given that informants were born between 1930–198072, the accounts of their childhood reflect their experiences of growing up during the years of the White Australia policy through the early period of multiculturalism. Accounts from adulthood onward explore diverse ways informants experienced their Chineseness as adults through notions of ‘difference’ and ‘sameness’. These narratives have a more contemporary
71 Parts of this chapter were included in a journal article entitled “Reclaiming and Resisting the Chinese Identity: Chineseness across the Life Course of Long-established ABC” for the issue on 'Resisting, Reclaiming and Rewriting the Asia-Pacific', The Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, vol 5 (1). This is a forthcoming publication and will be published in August 2007.
72 Out of forty-three individual informants, only two were born in the early 1980s, and two who were born in the 1920s, all others were between 1930–1980. 183 focus which takes into account both political and social changes that have taken place in Australian society since the abolition of the White Australia policy and the acceptance of multiculturalism as an official government policy in 1973. Evidence supporting the importance of transitions across the life course in shaping how informants experience Chineseness within mainstream Australian society is provided below.
Remembering Childhood
This section examines the diverse paths of the development of Chineseness from childhood to school age through the role of family and peers in socialisation. For children of Chinese migrant families, parents often act as ‘gatekeepers’ and monitor the border-crossing activities of children between the home and the outside by either facilitating or hindering this process (Tan 2001: 3). Since children’s identity is largely shaped within the family, cultural difference is indistinct during early childhood as they are mainly oriented to their immediate world of kin. At this early stage of life, parents often engender a sense of Chineseness in their children in purposeful but also indirect ways, even though they are thoroughly committed to remaining in Australia. For example, eating rice daily and using chopsticks are indirect yet influential ways of engendering a sense of ‘being Chinese’ for the majority of informants during their childhood, which has become the ‘habitus’ of daily living for later life. As Sandy 4(2) recalls, “I remember you will get a smack if you play with chopsticks because it was bad luck and you are not allowed.” More direct ways of developing Chineseness is through the practices of Chinese cultural traditions and celebrations that form an educative event for children. Ralph 3(3) recalls from his childhood in the 1930s:
We use to go to the jose house and all those processions. Every year they change the three main jose to various families. If you got the main jose in your house you got good luck, good health and everything. Everyone wants it. So every year they change it around and people compete for it. You pay red packets when they deliver it and fire crackers and all that. When we were young, Chinese boys use to go around to different Chinese families to get red packets. In 1936–37 two pounds is more than a week’s wage. It’s big money! It doesn’t take much for a boy to do that.
184 While these cultural events do engender a sense of being Chinese in the sense of festivities, the real meaning behind such rituals is largely unacknowledged by subsequent generations. Rodney 3(2) expresses:
My parents are really into Chinese festivals and rituals like Ching Ming73 but I do that out of respect. The actual rituals mean nothing to me, I didn’t understand it, I still don’t understand it but I can do the motions. It means something to someone in the family.
As such, the ongoing influences of rituals and cultural celebrations on their Chineseness are not directly linked to history and Chinese traditions, but rather are closely associated to the bonding with older generations in their family for the rest of life. Don 4(4) explains his reasons for continuing the practice of Chinese rituals:
Funnily enough I do it now with my own family. But growing up I don’t remember doing it all that much. I guess it is because my wife wants to follow more Chinese ways. And I also feel it will be honoring my mother because she has a stronger Chinese background. It is only in the last five to ten years that I even thought about Chinese New Year. It is not important to me but because it will be honoring mum then I will do it.
While children may be involved in cultural activities and rituals within the home, the awareness of cultural difference is not distinct in early childhood when they are oriented within the family context until they begin socialising with peers at school and in the wider community. It is evident as informants began socialising with peers at school, visible manifestation of physicality was fundamental for the awareness of their Chinese background in a ‘white’ dominated society where Chinese were a minority. The awareness of cultural difference can be highlighted by their yearning for sameness. May 3(3) explains “I can still remember when we were four or five, my little aboriginal
73 Ching Ming or Grave-Sweeping Day is a Chinese festival which involves a form of ancestor worship and is incorporated with the virtue of filial piety. Ching Ming rituals include cleaning of the headstone, weeding of the area, replacing the wilted flowers with fresh ones and also the lighting of incense and burning of imitation paper money. The burning of the imitation money is for the deceased to use in the afterlife. 185 friend and I would have showers together and she would be scrubbing trying to get white, so cute!” Tanya 3(3) who is of mixed race recalls an initial incident in her primary schooling years during the 1920s that led the awareness of her identity:
I remember an incident when I was young when I was playing with a young German boy, Red Apple, around the swimming pool. When I came in for dinner my father asked me what I have been doing and if I had a happy day. I said I went swimming by the pool and that boy, Red Apple, said to me, “Come on you half cast sausage machine!” I can remember the first time, my father had a slight change to his very calm Chinese face. He said to me “You know that there are some people who come from other parts of the world who come from other religions, Jews who are being persecuted by the German country. So they have been made to feel they are from an inferior race, I hope you will never suffer from that kind of distinction in Australia.” And that was how he would talk to an eleven years old...I thought it was terribly funny to be called a half-cast sausage machine. I probably showed off more! It never hit home. But on thinking about it afterwards using the word half-cast, was the first time I consciously thought of myself as “that”. That was a name given to me by a German refuge in 1931 when they had escaped Germany before the worst part of Nazism.
Similar to Tanya, George 4(4) experienced a sense of cultural difference that separated himself and Anglo-Celtic peers during childhood in the 1940s, but it did not induce distinctively negative feelings towards his Chinese background in his primary schooling years:
Apart from the usual in those times, 'Chinaman' name calling, I never encountered racial discrimination. I think in my childhood, I always fit really well, and academically, I wasn’t a brain, but I always did well. And I was never anything else, I was always a Chinese living in Australia, and just get on with life, never really conscious of my
186 difference from the others…I suppose I felt a sense of being Chinese then by participating in a skit about mah-jong74 playing, but the rest of the time I have always been just like any kids in high school and primary school, and never really conscious of the fact that I was Chinese.
Clausen explains (1986: 52) that during childhood a child comes to have a sense of self and others through relational difference that permits complex accommodation, which is the essence of social life. Those of different birth cohorts similarly feel such a sense of othering; however, the accommodation of difference varies between individuals, as highlighted by Dean’s primary school experience during the 1980s:
My Chinese background was never something that was discussed and I’m not sure if it was a deliberate intention not to discuss it around the school or it’s just not part of the day-to-day talk. But I remembered certain things like bringing certain Chinese food to school and people looking at it, not been able to understand what it is. I kind of felt different from everyone else because of that.
While his physicality was a fundamental factor for differentiation, the consumption of food became another marker of Chineseness that differentiated him from his ‘white’ peers. Personal narratives indicate that informants learned to deal with difference by performing and self-regulating in order to interact and cope with the behaviour of others. This involves adapting, acculturating and assimilating into the Australian way of life as much as possible in order to gain the acceptance and respect of peers. For Dean 4(4), it was the avoidance of bringing ‘Chinese’ food to school, which enabled him to gain greater acceptance among his ‘white’ Australian peers. Thus, regardless of the social era or generational distance from China, visible manifestation, cultural practices and consumption are all fundamental to the relational positioning of the self from the other, even as early as childhood. To a similar effect, they create cultural boundaries of inclusion and exclusion that are vital elements in shaping and giving meaning to social lives, taking on even more significance in adolescence.
74 Mah-jong is a game for four players that originated in China. It involves skill and calculation and luck. Depending on the variation which is played, luck can be a minor to a dominant factor in success. Mah-jong is popular as gambling or recreational game. 187 Adolescence to Adulthood
Adolescence in Western society is a time of self-exploration and expression, yet it is also a period when social and cultural influences play a major role in shaping an individual’s identity (Clausen 1986: 85). The accommodation of difference becomes fundamental in ensuring a sense of sameness and belonging. For most informants, the most effective method in safeguarding sameness and continuity of one’s identity in adolescence was through a denial of their Chinese background. Rob 5(5) describes such feelings of denial and dissociation with ‘anything Chinese’ that he and his daughters went through:
When you are young you try to compete. I wanted to be like everyone else because I couldn’t be. Chinese are always smaller than Australians. So I was always the smallest boy in my year. It was not only being Chinese and being short, I wasn’t good at sport as well... Like my children now, to them getting a partner is very important, and how do you do that? By doing all these things. But being Chinese I naturally didn’t have these attributes? So being Chinese was a negative attribute when I was young… I just thought of myself as being Australian. And that was it. I didn’t even consider myself as being Chinese. I didn’t want this sense of being an outsider. That is what all people want, we want to belong...When I went to HK, I suddenly had this sense that it is ok to be Chinese. That is what my daughters are doing, they are denying to be Chinese.
During adolescence, where social and cultural influences are most significant, being a part of not just any group, but the dominant group, Anglo-Celtic Australian per se, becomes vitally important to ensure a sense of security. The interactions with peers provide an understanding of what is expected and what features and behaviours are desirable leading to successful group belonging. In addition, forming an intimate tie with a person of the opposite (or same) sex is a critical developmental accomplishment for many adolescents as it is a key to establishing a strong sense of individual identity (Clausen 1986: 132). These factors often led to resistance towards their Chinese roots
188 for the majority of informants during their adolescence. Certainly socio-cultural contexts change through time; however, as each generation goes through adolescence, most experience similar needs for a sense of sameness and belonging, subsequently leading to the their unique ways of accommodation.75
While Clausen (1986: 85) argues that such self and social sorting processes that go on in adolescence tend to determine potentialities for the rest of the life, life events can bring major transitions to the reclamation of a Chinese identity. As highlighted by Rob 5(5), the turning point for him was a trip to HK where he suddenly felt, “it was ok to be Chinese.” Moreover, changes can occur through transitions across the course of life particularly through the transition into adulthood. Jenny 6(6) expresses her gradual attachment to her Chinese roots:
I don’t think about it in everyday life. But think that probably as I got older I appreciated it a bit more and am more proud of it than when I was younger. I think when I went to school, it was very middle class, very white, no ethnic. You know when you are young you don’t want to be different. So since I have been working in the public service, there is a big cross-section of people, I feel more comfortable in expressing any differences much more so than when I was at school. Now I am quite ok to do things and say things differently. I feel more comfortable and confident and not caring about what other people think. So it is okay to be different!
For Jenny the transition was relatively distinct as she learned to accommodate differences. However, for others, transitions were not always a clear progression from one identity to another, thus cannot be defined in bounded homogenous notions. Such an ambiguous process of transition was encountered by Debra 4(4):
When I was in primary school I didn’t feel different at that stage. It’s funny because now I feel different, because I’m older. I don’t know
75 See Chapter 5, Part 1, Differing Associations with ‘Looking’ Chinese.
189 why. Probably because you don’t have that thinking pattern when you’re young, and the fact that I was actually born here. But at the moment my sense of identity – I don’t feel that I’m Chinese and I don’t feel as if I’m an Australian.
Debra’s excerpt highlights feelings of hybridity and ambiguity as she transgressed from adolescence to adulthood.
For Daisy 4(4), a Eurasian who grew up in rural NSW in the 1950s, rather than feelings of ambiguity the social sorting processes in her adolescence involved much contradiction. Since the first generation onwards, her family deliberately moved away from “anything Chinese” because of intense racism during the early 1900s. Although she has a typical Chinese surname, Chinese ancestry was never mentioned in the family. The intensity of denial is highlighted when her aunty became furious with Daisy when she decided to find out about the family’s Chinese history as she entered university. However, changes in social environment and cultural influences had significant implications on her construal of Chineseness.
For a young girl who has been brought up in the country, a single girl, very pure Anglo Saxon upbringing, it was fascinating to meet all these Chinese people in university! It fascinates me how I developed this interest in how I connected with them ... I had no Chinese upbringing at all.
Daisy’s statement: “It fascinates me how I developed this interest in how I connected with them....” highlights a contradictory sense of identification which simultaneously impacts on the establishment of identity. On the one hand, fascination suggests a sense of difference distinguishing the self from the other, on the other hand, a sense of connection suggests commonality and bonding with other Chinese. The hybrid processes of identity formation that subsequent generations encounter will be discussed in detail in Chapter 8. The point emphasized here, however, is that the negotiation of identity concerns more than fluid and fragmented processes as conveyed in the notion of hybridity; it is a dynamic process that changes across the entire course of life
190 particularly as individuals go through marriage, divorce, parenthood and death in adult life that entail discontinuity and change.
Marriage and Family Life
The assertion that the family environment experienced by an individual at any point in life has ramifications for one’s subsequent life course is not likely to provoke much argument. This is because the conception of family life that is largely moulded by one’s parents tend to define for individuals the expectations and requirements that they must meet in their marriages, as they progress along their own life courses. Nevertheless, there are some important questions related to linkages between family context and subsequent outcomes of identity for subsequent generations of early Chinese migrants. How significant is the family in shaping marriage arrangements? What aspects of cultural-familial ideologies have genuine implications for particular outcomes? What are the implications of these values in one generation for the lives of those in other generations? Since long-established ABC have been socialised in the Western world, their conception of Chineseness invariably differs from Chinese communities elsewhere. Yet traditional Confucian ideologies still shape much of their contemporary life.
For example, marriage is often seen as a personal matter between two individuals; however, for subsequent generations, to a large extent it is a cultural issue connected to their Chineseness. Marriage, especially to an in-group member, is perceived as an obligation of children to their parents. The familial pressure for Jerry 3(2) to get married in the 1960s highlights the importance of marriage in a Chinese family:
They wanted me to marry a Chinese girl and that was because of pressure from my aunties, big aunties and big uncles! They sent me to Brisbane where I talked to the wrong girl. Then they took me to HK. I was not interested. By the time they tried to get me matchmaking, it was enough... By that time it was helter skelter you know, really crazy. My parents are very good at emotional blackmail….They don't verbalise it, it's the body language. For example, if you could do this for me I'd be happy…The guilt trip...After my attempted suicide, they stepped down a
191 bit but the silent pressure was still there. They loaded a lot of guilt onto me which I still carry. Guilt for being a failure. A failure as the number one son because you haven't fulfilled your obligation. Guilt is a terrible thing.
Jerry explains that it is the “son's filial duty” to let the parents decide on his marriage. So, unwillingly he agreed to go to HK for matchmaking, because it marked a solemn obligation dutifully discharged on the part of the parents. However, his final decision to live an unmarried life certainly did not allow him to wholly fulfill his duty as a son. Despite his previous efforts of obeying his parents wish to go to HK, he was considered a failure as a son, and his life was tragically burdened with guilt.
Such familial ideologies have continued influence on marriage patterns of subsequent generations. According to Ryan (2003: 63), there is evidence on mixed marriages in Australia to suggest that Asian women are more likely than Asian men to marry Anglo- Celtic Australians. The marriage figures of this study follow this pattern. Six out of forty-three informants are or have been interracially married76 and only one of the six married informants is male. Due to the sample size of this study, figures on interracial marriage cannot be conclusive of general trends of successive generations; however, individual narratives do suggest traditional Chinese expectations of marriage with in- group members is more a concern for male informants (whether married or unmarried) than female, suggesting the continued influence on Chinese males to marry Chinese women for lineage. As exemplified by Sean 4(3), who is married to a Chinese Indonesian:
Relationship with whites in terms of lust is ok…But ultimately for the sake of my children I would want to marry someone who was Chinese so that they have the reinforcement from both parents of who they are. Ideally I would want to marry someone who could read and write Chinese so that she can pass it onto my kids because I can’t do that, but I must have forgotten at the time I married my wife who can’t write Chinese!!!
76 including divorced and widowed, see Appendix 12 192 It is clear that the cultural values of lineage are strongly embedded in the minds of male participants, consequently implicating on the choice of marriage partners. Nevertheless, romance and love should not be underestimated. Although Sean wished to marry a Chinese-literate woman, he did not marry one, highlighting that embedded notions can and do shift in accordance to varying life circumstances. Furthermore, factors such as social class and economic prospects also influence the choice of partner and have significant impact on the success of a marriage. The significance of these specific factors is expressed by Jane 3(3):
When my marriage broke up I realised that we didn’t suit because he came from a different background...I was brought up here and we thought differently. Maybe he was more middle class and I was below middle class...I think I would have been better off if I married an Australian-born Chinese. Chinese but born in Australia. It would have been easier.
Thus, while in-group marriage is a deeply embedded ideology for the continuation of Chinese lineage, other factors such as class, romance and cultural norms specific to particular eras play an important part for the selective choice of marriage partners.
It is also important to note that cultural values of ‘being Chinese’ are not static, but change through the course of life. This can be clearly demonstrated by the progressive alteration in marriage expectations by Nelson’s 4(2) grandfather:
My grandfather is quite nationalistic. Given the old way he still wishes his sons and daughter and grandchildren to maintain their heritage and to marry Chinese. But he is progressively becoming more liberal. My parents are quite liberal about the situation. They are changing with the times.
To understand the intricacies of reclamation and resistance of Chineseness through the transition into marriage life, it is necessary to analyse interracial and interethnic marriage. The complex and profound ambivalence of the relations between minority and majority subjects cannot be, as Ang (2001: 143) points out, “sufficiently understood
193 in terms of the secure binary opposition of racism/antiracism and tolerance/intolerance, and to a certain extent, even that of dominant /sub dominant.”
Interracial Marriages through the Family’s Gaze For long-established ABC, their sense of Chineseness often is constructed and embodied within the parental family. The social norm of a culture and ideas of a family lay the foundations for marriage and ideals for children. While marriage could be considered as a consequence of courtship and personal choice on the part of the couple, the pressure to marry within one’s ethnic group to a varying extent determines the marriage pool, which undermines ethnic and racial boundaries. As cultural customs forbid interracial marriages or attach high cost, most parents of informants expressed negativity in varying intensity towards any engagement in mixed relationships. The common understanding among informants is that in the past marrying ‘outside’ was a shame to the family and marrying a Chinese is more important for a male than female as they carry the name of the family. In this excerpt, Donna 4(2) clearly captures the spirit within Chinese families around the 1950s in Australia:
My mother probably thought that I was going to elope with an Australian, and that would bring dishonour to my father’s name. She always had a thing about carrying my father’s name, all this kind of thing. So I think when she thought I was of marriageable age she just nagged and nagged about the fact that she would never accept an Australian person as an in-law…But the funny part about my family is that then my brother immediately below me married an Australian girl. He just told my mother that there was an Australian girl that was pregnant to him and he had to marry her. So she couldn’t do anything about it. She was extremely angry but didn’t disown him because he is a boy. Well, it should have mattered because he carries the father’s name…So, I think it was fear of being disowned that really changed the whole way of looking at it. I think that was a real fear because I’d grown up in this fairly close family where the whole family, ten of us sitting around the table every night, and I just couldn’t imagine how I could just be cast adrift…I got engaged to a Chinese boy and even though my
194 parents really didn’t like him, my mother told me later my father said to her, “Maybe he back-answers us and even if we don’t like him as a person, at least we should be grateful he’s full-blooded Chinese.”
The image of the ‘family’ is often perceived as a site of homely domestic harmony, yet it is not always as harmonious as widely suggested. Hockey and James (2003: 175) highlight, that the family can be the site for abusive social relationship and the context within which identities and life decisions can be manipulated or shattered. Regarding the issue of interracial marriage, parental pressure to the highest intensity, would lead to a possibility of being disowned by one’s parents as it was seen as a “shame” and “dishonour” to the family, which is particularly relevant to the experience of those living in the earlier part of the 20th century (Ryan 2003). As highlighted in the excerpt, although Donna’s parents didn’t like her partner, in the end they accepted the marriage, because he was a “full-blooded Chinese” which was most important for the family. Her choice of partner was greatly affected by her parents’ cultural expectations as intimate relationship with a Westerner would render a loss of trust, love and security provided by her family. While some experienced overt pressures from parents, others were unconsciously influenced by behaviours of siblings. Mary 3(3) expresses the impact of familial influence on her choice of partner around the 1950s:
When my brother married an Australian girl, I think my father never said “no”, but I’m sure underneath it, he would have liked his second son to have married a Chinese girl. That was just Chinese thinking in those days, because in those days Chinese married Chinese, and that was the way of thinking…I didn’t think “I have to marry” but I just wasn’t interested in Australian boys! (laughs)…I just seemed to be interested in Chinese boys! It’s funny, isn’t it…Why would that be? I wasn’t told ever who to mix with, you know, but I think you just follow the family. Like, you see your eldest sister marry a Chinese, you see your second sister marry a Chinese, you see your third sister marry a Chinese, you see your fourth sister marry a Chinese, you see your fifth sister marry a Chinese, and then you see your sixth brother to marry a Chinese – you just automatically felt that was the way of life. Yeah. I
195 suppose if you had maybe fallen in love with an Australian you might have thought differently then, but I didn’t think like that.
In this manner the values held by the family and the community significantly affected the life chances of subsequent generations and their construal of identity, demarcating the racial boundaries.
However, with societal changes, negativities towards mixed marriage have eased through the generations. As highlighted by Khoo’s (2004) study on the intermarriage pattern in Australia, the proportion of second generation Chinese Australians with spouses of Anglo-Celtic ancestry is approximately 21% and for third generation it is 68%. Yet informants still acknowledge the benefits of marrying a person of Chinese background, because of a greater understanding of each other through shared cultural background. To this point, Rob 5(5) argues that, “my marriage is relatively happier than my siblings who married Westerners because my wife and I are both Chinese.”
Another beneficial factor leading to the persistence of in-group marriage is related to issues of identity of mixed-raced children. Rob 5(5) explains that he wants his children to marry Chinese because he feels that “being mixed blood means you don’t belong to either culture and that would lead to much pain... I don’t want my children to go through such trauma.” The difficulty of mixed race issues led Donna 4(2) to selectively adopt a Chinese child:
We thought it was probably less complicated to bring – to not only have the issues of adoption to deal with but then to bring a child that may not have been from a full-blooded Chinese family into a full-blooded family, so we thought we were very blessed in having that luck come our way. At that stage, I was really quite racist in the way I thought. I thought – my husband and I both thought – that we would prefer to have a full- blooded Chinese than a mixed Chinese child, and we didn’t even think about adopting any other race ... all through my life I’d grown up thinking that the Chinese were a pure race, that we had to keep the line pure and whatnot. And it was only later, when I matured in my mid- twenties or so, that I got to thinking, well, it doesn’t matter what colour
196 skin and whatnot. But it’s very hard when you had parents who are holding on to the Chinese side of things … My former husband and I were married for seventeen years. After we broke up he married an Australian girl, so his views had also changed ... Supposedly a love match, but then we ended up divorcing!
The couple especially wanted a Chinese baby because they both are Chinese and as Donna expresses, it was “less complicated” and socially acceptable as they were a Chinese family with Chinese relatives and friends. The homogenising idea of Chineseness has perpetuated through Doreen’s family where, with the exception of her younger brother who married an Anglo-Australian, all the other siblings married Chinese Australians. Consequently, to overcome the fear of disharmony and ambiguity of identity that would arise from a non-Chinese child, the prerequisite for the adoption was to be a “full-blooded Chinese baby”. The selectiveness of the adoption highlights that ‘being Chinese’ is to a certain extent a matter of selective choice on the ‘habitus’ of everyday living. Mathews’ (2000) notion of a ‘cultural supermarket’ echoes Bourdieu’s concept of ‘habitus’, suggesting people can pick and choose their identity in accordance with fundamental factors such as age and gender as well as their personal moulding, but also in negotiation with and performance for others. In this way, Chineseness, to a certain extent can be argued as a consumed affair as subsequent generations make choices central to the ways in which it is constructed. Clearly despite the postmodernist insistence to deconstruct the conceptually flawed and politically pernicious essentialist conceptions of identity, Donna’s reasons for the adoption of a “full blooded Chinese child” highlight that Chineseness is still established by an essentialist ideology that is based on biology and physicality.
Intergenerational studies illustrate that the formation of identity between generations takes place as part of an on-going process in which certain aspects of the ‘original’ culture are maintained while others are reinvented or discarded (Alba & Nee 1999; Nagel 1994). Within the context of the family, individuals may accept or reject the values and expectations of the older generations (Thompson 1995). Thus, while in the past Donna had grown up thinking that, “the Chinese were a pure race”, and that it was her obligation to “keep the line pure”, she is now open to other ways of ‘being Chinese’ by discarding certain traditional social practices. She now has no cultural expectation 197 on the ethnicity of her daughter in law as she feels it is the personality that is the most important. Such alternation in values is linked to the dramatic changes in life. The experience of divorce tends to mark distinctive changes in the psyche leading to alteration of deeply-instilled values of life (Bohannan 1979). For Donna, dramatic life experiences of marriage, divorce and parenthood through the changing social contexts has progressively altered her cultural values towards interracial marriage. Changing cultural perceptions towards interracial marriage highlights that construction of Chineseness is intricately linked to the wider social and cultural norms of the age-based transitions through the life course. Long-established ABC are inevitably involved in a process of ‘picking and choosing’ aspects of ‘Chineseness’ to be retained or discarded. However, the acceptance or rejection of parental values and expectations is frequently perceived as a reflection of the persistence of Chineseness (Song 1997). In short, Chineseness is constantly being re-negotiated through resistance and reclamation, contingent to its meaningfulness in different age-related social identities. Furthermore, Chineseness and its associated set of social practices have implications on how subsequent generations comprehend themselves and the world.
Interracial Relationships through Gendered Gaze
As argued earlier, age-related transitions such as marriage have implications for the ways in which identities unfold across the life course. The cultural customs against interracial relationships and marriage which are deeply ingrained in Chinese culture are intricately intertwined with the Western sexual ascription, interwoven with the perpetuation of traditional gender ideology, interwoven with racial sexual stereotypes. For Jenny 6(6), the link between her Chinese background and the associated Western ascriptions of a Chinese woman was represented in all her interracial relationships.
I find that most of the guys that I dated had a thing for Asian women. But what can I do? I guess in a way it is an advantage but it also makes you think that would it have been the same if I wasn’t Asian. I know that initially it is always because of the way I look.
Jocelyn expresses a sense of ambivalence when she discusses the fact that her Chinese physique and the stereotypical qualities attached are an initial source of allure for most
198 Western men she encountered. While it could be said that looking Chinese is a value- added marker in terms of courtship, at the same time this maker belittles her sense of self-worth. The literature, in the main, on the study of the Other also underscores this point – the colonial subject seen through the exoticising gaze of Orientalism (Appadurai 1993; Said 1978). Representation of Asian women frequently focus on exotic characteristics, yet other stereotypes see Chinese women as passive and docile – the oppressed subject of traditional Chinese patriarchal practices (Ryan 2003: 73). Martin 4(2) also highlights such stereotypical portrayal of Chinese women which has been manifested in gender tensions:
I think the stereotypical perception of Asian women is better compared to Asian men. For example, the movie Joy Luck Club – from the women’s perspective the movie is just about mother and daughter relationships. But a lot of Asian men are frustrated about that movie – it portrays that when Asian women are with their Chinese husbands or boyfriends they live a very sad life. But later on in the film when they leave their Chinese husband and go out with Americans, they live a very happy life. So it gives a very bad portrayal of Chinese men ... but in the end women just want to be looked after. They don’t care what race it is.
These constructions of Oriental Others, according to Said (1978), sustain the manipulation of Western hegemony, as in the case of Chinese femininity (hyper- femininity). While one can debate the patriarchal nature of perception that “women just want to be looked after”, the point emphasized here is not about the reality of stereotypical portrayals but that Chinese women are so subjected to this gaze. To this, Ang (2001: 144) express her experience of being on the receiving end of such ambivalence: “The fact that one cannot prove any ‘hard’ racism here while still feeling objectified, subjected to scrutiny and othered.”
While it is necessary to highlight the experience of Chinese women as objectified subjects, it is also important to examine the ambivalent moments of male subjects whose experiences are largely invisible. For long-established ABC, the orientation for a partner based on ethnicity seems to be far more problematic for men than women, as females generally seemed more relaxed towards interracial marriage. Sean 4(3) suggests
199 that the flexibility of women toward their interracial relations is because “guys have more pride in their heritage than girls. The predisposition of girls to communicate more freely makes the difference…” His claim brings to light the existence of structural ambivalence created by the ongoing tension between difference as dissension and conflict. This tension has manifested itself in difficult gender and sexual relations created by cultural incommensurabilities.
The common feelings of discomfort and anxiety of a number of male informants toward mixed relationship between a Western man and a Chinese woman can be felt by Rob’s 5(5) simple statement: “I get that awful feeling when I see a Chinese girl with an Australian man.” Their ‘gaze’ often becomes the confronting end of what Ang (2001: 144) describes as, “not direct racial assault or straightforward discrimination…but something much less tangible than that.” It is important to note that there are varying kinds of response, behaviour and attitudes towards mixed couples. In the case of Asian women partnered with Western men, there is a sense of begrudging acceptance, as Martin 4(2) expresses:
I am not trying to be racist but this interracial thing does bug me. I have had a lot of experience, I have liked Asian girls and they have gone off with Australian guys…When you see Asian girls with Western men I feel a sense of betrayal. If she went out with an Asian guy I don’t feel as jealous. There are certain girls that I know who say that they only go out with white guys. They give their reasons because they are taller and funnier. There is the perception that we Asian guys are geeky and we have no sex appeal at all. That gets me angry sometimes.
However, in the case of Asian men with Western women, ambivalence is converted to a sense of victory. Sean 4(3) articulates such opposing feelings:
When I see mixed couples, if I see an Asian girl going out with a Western man, I look and see if she is pretty. If she is I think it is a waste, if she is ugly someone has got to take her. If an Asian guy going out with a Western girl, I say good on ya! It is like a sense of conquest!
200 Highlighted here are the significantly opposing responses towards the two combinations of interracial partnerships – most studies have been confined almost exclusively to the objectified subject. The source of such opposing gendered attitudes can be understood from Said’s (1978) claim that the Occident has always seen Orientals as degenerate and uncivilized, which is overwhelmingly tied to Western hegemony. Furthermore, it is also related to issues of stereotypes and notions of hegemonic, subordinated and marginalised masculinities that highlight the complex relations between sex, gender, sexuality and race. However, the point of the narratives presented in this section is that the articulation of Chineseness goes hand-in-hand with the articulation of sexism. While the experience of the objectified is crucial, to adequately encapsulate the entirety of the self/other relations, the perceptions of the ‘gazer’ are also necessary. Interracial relations is a site for struggle between proliferating identity options and provides important ways of understanding the management of the dynamic racial boundaries across the life course.
Parenthood
For long-established ABC, as they progress to parenthood their Chinese identity is consciously articulated due to the role of teaching and establishing Chineseness for their children in a ‘white’ dominated society of Australia. For Bill 5(5), who is twenty-eight years of age and not a parent, while claiming that “I am more Australian than I am Chinese”, he believes that learning about his Chinese heritage will be fundamental in the upbringing of his children in the future:
The reason I want to learn more about my Chinese heritage is because I want to know who I am and what makes up me. Because when my kid grows up I will be able to show them a little bit about what their family is, where they came from, I suppose who they are.
In the same manner for Bruce 4(4), who is in an interracial marriage and soon to be a father, his expression of Chineseness is illustrated in the way he would like his child to have appreciation for Chinese heritage and, perhaps more symbolically, he is giving his child a Chinese name:
201 I want to bring up my child as an Australian but they should be proud of their Chinese heritage as well. I would want them to have a Chinese name and know that their dad is Asian. But they should be proud of their Anglo descent as well. I think they should have an opportunity to learn Chinese. To have multiple language skills is good for work and social life.
The importance of construing Chineseness into the later generations through teaching Chinese heritage and culture is similarly felt by Ralph 3(3), who is a grandfather to a number of children:
When I started chasing my grandparents’ lives, I tried to find out how they came about. This was when I was in my 30s. Prior to that I was not interested because it was no big deal. But when you start tell your children and grandchildren about their Chinese heritage, if you don’t know nothing [sic], you can tell them nothing! So you kind of dig it up a little bit. You want to tell them what you did, what they did. When you get older you start boasting a little bit! You are telling all these stories. It is a bit silly if you don’t know nothing [sic].
Regardless of birth cohort and generation distance from China, the transition to parenthood brings Chineseness into the conscious awareness of long-established ABC. The general concern that these parents have for their children and grandchildren is that parental and familial teaching is an important part of the cultural need to instill the values of the Chinese family. This experience is also shared by other Chinese migrant parents abroad (Charney et al. 2003; Ryan 2003).
Later Years
To a large extent such change in roles and lifestyle in the later years, as noted by Clausen (1986), is experienced by a number of elderly informants. In particular, such changes have consequential impact on their construal of Chineseness. For elderly informants, Chineseness becomes increasingly a conscious awareness as primary family roles diminish through retirement and widowhood. Where time is always an issue for
202 younger cohorts as they engage in the of rush of daily living from career development to parenting, elderly informants commonly express in their later years that they have much more freedom allowing them space for self-reflection and time to pursue their interests. In particular, elderly female informants explain that the cultural expectations of a mother assumed much responsibility such as rearing of children, household chores, honouring the in-laws, making the middle years of life intensely busy. For Mary 3(3), because of the many duties of motherhood in the middle stages of life, she could not pursue her own interest in Chinese culture. Only in her later years as a widow does she have time to reflect on her Chinese heritage and develop Chinese language skills:
As I get older and I’m learning more in language and reading more about Chinese, I get more interested in their way of tradition, I suppose, and culture… I think that happens to all Chinese people that I know of. As they get older, they’ve got more time to get interested in Chinese backgrounds…You don’t think about that. Now we’ve got more time to think about it, and you’ve got more time to learn about it. When you’re young you’re just bringing up the children, getting meals…you don’t have time.
Thus self-identification as Chinese is closely linked with gender and life stage that changes across the life course. For Mary, her Chinese identity almost has become a matter of lifestyle in the ‘habitus’ of daily living – only in the later years of her life is she able to reclaim her Chinese identity.
Another point highlighting the relationship between aging and Chineseness is informants’ increasing interest in their family heritage and perusal of family history. As highlighted in Chapter 2, community organisations including CHAA and CAHS were initial points of contact for the recruitment of informants for this research. Both these organisations promote discussion of the history of Chinese community in Australia and, among their many objectives, one common aspect is to assist members in the recording of family and community histories. Through participant observation at their periodic meetings, I noticed that a majority of the attendees are made up of elderly retired Chinese Australians, although both organisations are also keenly interested in the recruitment of younger members. A number of older informants who are part of either
203 one or both organisations have expressed that these community groups are a safe place for socialisation with those of similar cultural background. For example, Sandy 4(2) aged 64, is conducting a research project on her family history. She became interested after attending an exhibition of old Chinatown where she saw much written about the long-established Chinese families, but nothing about hers. She wanted to honour her father, so she began her family research. While honoring the family is a major reason for her research, it also indicates her pride in being a Chinese in Australia. It is important to note here that such patriotism is not so much associated with China, as a place, but the culture and the history of Chinese presence in Australia.
Gendered Duty for the Aged This section addresses the support that older people receive from their adult children and from other kin. A major myth about the Chinese communities is that members of the older generation are secure in receiving support from their family members. The myth arises from the Confucian tradition, maintaining that respect and taking good care of one's aged parents as a moral duty, known as Xiao (filial piety), is considered a distinctive characteristic of Chinese family cultural values that is part of the moral life of long-established ABC. While ethnic values of pre-migration culture represent a more exclusive dependence on filial and kin assistance that do more contemporary attitudes of the West, nevertheless, among the majority of informants, duty for the aged is still noted as a distinctive feature of Chinese values. Donna 4(2) expresses that the care for her elderly mother is an obligation which she finds different among her Western friends who, if they decided to take on the responsibility of care, would do it because of love rather than duty:
My mother and I don’t have a strong bond, because she has this thing about daughters being second-class citizens, and that’s what I grew up with. She’s now eighty-four and she may have mellowed in that way, but before, daughters really were of no value because they didn’t carry the family name and all that kind of thing. And I sort of think, well, that wasn’t the right way to bring up children, they should all be treated the same…but I still feel duty-bound to her. There isn’t the unconditional
204 love that one should have for a mother that I see some of my Australian friends have, but it’s more obligation, more duty.
While long-established ABC are influenced by Western values, they still see their commitment to the aged as duty – seeking assistance from social welfare for aged parents is seen as shameful to many.
Related to the designation of children as carers is the question of the respective roles of adult children and other kin in carrying such responsibility for the aged. Hareven (1996: 9) raises an important question: When adult children serve as the primary carer, how is their assistance augmented by that of other kin? For the long-established Chinese community, the elderly were more likely to receive assistance from their children rather than from other siblings. Moreover, the perpetuation of traditional gender ideologies often results in sons being the main carers for their elder parents. Ryan (2003: 65) notes that in Legge and Westbrook’s study on homecare and nursing home experience for aged Chinese, Greek and Anglo-Australians, it was found that the main carers for the Chinese aged were the sons and daughters-in-law, whereas for the Greek aged the carers were the daughters.
Sons as the main carer can be explained by the perpetuation of traditional gender ideologies where, as Donna 4(2) explains, daughters are often seen as “second class citizens”. Similarly, gender inequality is also encountered by Jean 4(3) when asked about whether there are differences between how sons and daughters are treated in the family – she sobbingly answered “absolutely!” Crying, she couldn’t continue on with the issue. Her brother in another interview confirmed the unequal treatment of males and females in their family:
My younger sister didn’t have the influence from my grandparents. The fact that she was a girl – my grandparents didn’t pay much attention to them which is unfortunate. Out of that she didn’t pick up the language as well.
The preference for males is evidenced in Janice’s 4(4) family where her in-laws enforce pressure for her to try for a son, “to carry the family name.”
205 It was my husband’s family. They all said you should try for a boy. His mother wanted another grandson I suppose. There is a ten-years age gap between him and his next brother, I being the youngest one of the whole lot of them. They all depended on me to try for a son to carry the family name.
Hareven (1996: 5) explains that generational relations in later life are interconnected with experience and transition from earlier life – thus old age is part of an overall process of generational interaction, rather than an isolated stage. The preference for the birth of a son in adulthood is interacted with the older generations’ transition into old age. This is precisely where generations are interdependent. Together with the narratives of this study, they suggest the traditional Chinese gender ideologies and family cultural values of duty and obligation to the aged still have relevance for understanding the Chineseness of long-established Chinese communities in Australia, and gender has specific relevance for the way generational relations are acted out.
Being Gay and Duty for the Aged
An interesting aspect highlighted in this study is the interplay of homosexuality and duty for the aged. Elderly male informants who are homosexual explained that their sexuality and their life trajectory greatly determined their role as carer of the family. Being a son assumed the traditional responsibility of caring for their parents. Being gay, which means an unmarried life and no children, is an additional factor for carrying the main responsibility for the aged parents. Often siblings will be married and have children to look after; as such, the unmarried individuals who have relatively less familial responsibly are naturally expected to look after the rest of the family. Jerry 3(2), who is gay, is also the eldest son. Because of traditional ideology and the circumstances of his gay life, the responsibility for his aged parents as well as children of the extended family is naturally placed upon him:
…I have looked after almost twenty children – my siblings and then my cousins. My sister was the first to get married and she was only nineteen and her husband was only twenty, so they were very immature and I had
206 to look after her baby girl for two years because I'm the Dai Cao77 …It just goes on and on! I never have time for me. It's always looking after my family because I am the eldest brother in my family and naturally became the carer. Now I've been intensively looking after my parents for the last fifteen years…. All of my holidays were taking them to hospital backwards and forwards. They were always sick and I’m still doing it now, though not as much as I did before, but it's still regular.
Similarly, George 4(4) explains that he is the only one out of his siblings to be unmarried and to have no children. As one would expect, he too became the primary carer for this mother as all his siblings are “too busy” with their own family life:
For some reason I did not have a close relationship with my father but was more bonded with my mother. So when my father died earlier, for some years I cared solely for my mum because I was gay. The rest of the family were married and had children and had set up their own homes. The responsibility to take care of my mum was placed back on me as I was gay, meaning single, no child, so I have had to look after my mum.
Respect for the elderly and for family harmony certainly is central for male informants, thus reflecting the persistence of the traditional ideology of sons as the main carers for their parents and family. However, even for those informants who are gay, such an embedded gendered notion of ‘Xiao’ means that, despite their gayness, they still performed the cultural expectation of the male role as dominant carer to the family.
The persistence of such Chinese familial ideology can be further highlighted by George’s family. Even at his deathbed, his father’s last wish was that he marries a Chinese. George promised him that he would marry a Chinese woman, knowing that he was gay and would never marry. The social stigma of homosexuality and the unfulfilled obligations of a son often lead to a sense of guilt towards the parent. Interesting to note here is that gay men, in particular, often had confliction relationships with fathers when in their youth. Perhaps this is related to the perception that they are
77 Dai Cao is the Cantonese word for one’s mother’s eldest brother. 207 failures as sons, as they never fulfilled the Chinese obligation of marriage that was seen as a continuation of the ancestral line and the passing down of the name of the family. With maturity for both father and son, many of the tensions mellow, yet because of the conservatism of their largely Chinese-oriented families, none of the homosexual informants ever disclosed their homosexuality to their parents. In a study on the filial piety and sexual prejudice towards homosexuality of Chinese people, it was found that intolerant attitudes toward gayness are directly related to internalised filial piety (Hsu et al.: 2001). Since Xiao or filial piety emphasizes the production of male offspring to maintain the family name, consequently, a gay lifestyle is largely seen as a threat to the continuity of the family. Therefore, gay informants who live by the virtue of filial piety find it difficulty to disclose their homosexuality to their parents. In this way, the notion of ‘being Chinese’, or being a member of a ‘Chinese family’, has detrimental impact on self-identification as gay for homosexual male informants. The traditional Chinese ideology of Xiao embedded in their identity restricts them to disclose their homosexuality to their parents and family. As such, together with the relative flexibility of their unmarried and childless life, as well as a sense of guilt, gay sons continue to perform the cultural expectation of the male role and take on the dominant responsibility for their aged parents. Regardless of homosexuality, Chinese cultural traditions and gender ideologies play major roles in shaping patterns of generational assistance and the expectation of different generations.
Conclusion
Chinese diasporic communities and their concomitant life trajectories provide critical spaces to examine the ambiguous notion of Chineseness that have defined and differentiated diasporic lives. While long-established ABC have departed from China for more than three generations and have been socialised in the Western culture of Australia, it is evident that they are still influenced by the perpetuation of traditional Chinese ideologies in varying ways. Despite often being compelled to confront the inescapable ‘reality’ of the essentialist qualities of Chineseness inscribed into their lives by their families, mainstream Australian society and Chinese diasporic spaces they inhabit, they are able to negotiate Chineseness in meaningful ways across the life course. As such, in the analysis of Chineseness, I have emphasized the operation of Chinese identity through dynamic transitions across the life course by focusing on
208 change and movement. As highlighted by the narratives in this chapter, they experience a diversity of trajectories, rather than a commonality and continuity of experience. Unlike the first and second generation migrants where migratory generation is the basis of their distinctly varied experiences, the variations in subsequent generations’ experience of Chineseness are largely associated with social circumstances of birth cohorts and transitions into particular social roles. The reason for such difference is that, as a group, they share the experiences of long-term residence in Australia and thus are largely embedded within the local social and historical context.
While age transition is a significant resource through which individuals construct their biographical narratives as well as their interaction with others, it is important to emphasize the differing life trajectories due to varying cultural experience, biography and historical time. Individuals’ sense of identity changes over time in different localities and social eras and those changes are dependent on fundamental factors such as age, sexuality, gender and the transitions of childhood, adolescence, marriage life, parenthood to old age across the life course. On the one hand, Clausen (1986: 10) argues that to a considerable extent one’s daily experiences establishes one’s social location yet, on the other, Moya (2000b) maintains one’s social location also determines the experiences an individual is likely to have. For example, as a mother, Mary’s 3(3) Chinese heritage was of less importance, but as a widower, Chineseness becomes a conscious awareness. As such, her sense of Chineseness invariably changes across different stages of life. Yet, for Donna 4(2), it is her sense of Chineseness that influenced her decision to marry a man with “Chinese blood” and adopt a Chinese child. What I have discussed in this chapter is the complex interplay of these processes that intricately influence the formation of one’s cultural identity as signified by the concept of ‘habitus’. For informants, Chineseness and social identities are constantly being negotiated and re-negotiated contingent to their meaningfulness in different age- related social identities. Yet they are at the same time conditioned by a sense of Chineseness and its associated set of social practices that have implications on how they comprehend themselves and the world.
While highlighting that the dynamic negotiation of Chineseness is an embedded part of their identity, being Chinese is also a matter of lifestyle in the ‘habitus’ of every living which changes across the life course. The formation of identity between generations
209 takes place as part of an ongoing process in which certain aspects of the ‘original culture’ are maintained or reclaimed while other aspects and expectations of the previous generation that appear irrelevant are modified, resisted or discarded (Alba & Nee 1999; Nagel 1994) In this manner, Chineseness to a certain extent becomes a consumed affair as subsequent generations make choices central to the ways in which it is constructed. As Mathews (2000: 5) explains, “We seem to be able to pick and choose culturally who we are” in the food one eats and the language one chooses to learn. For Debra 4(4), Chineseness was impacted by the choice of learning the Chinese language particularly after marriage to an overseas-born Chinese, while for Dean 4(4) it was avoidance of eating Chinese food at school. Either way, the choice of what to consume and what not to has cultural implications on their negotiation of identity. The ability to ‘pick and choose’ allows subsequent generations to retain aspects of Chineseness that have positive and symbolic value while modifying or discarding other aspects that appear irrelevant. In this manner, they reconstruct hybridised forms of Chineseness in ways of their own choosing that are relevant and meaningful to their identifications as long-established ABC or Chinese Australians, or whatever category they feel represents their identity in a particular context. However, while ‘being Chinese’ to a degree is becoming a matter of personal taste, the choices that subsequent generations make are not totally free, but are conditioned by factors of age, gender, sexuality, cultural norms, and wider social context across the life course. Cultural capital as Bourdieu (1989) suggests is linked to class-related difference in consumption. So the coded and aesthetic marker that one has, or believes one has, shapes one’s sense of identity and difference. Hence the image of a Chinese identity is a cultural product that can be established in various ways depending on one’s social and cultural location. Variations in consumption across the life course are intrinsic cultural processes, which are increasingly central to the definition of identity.
Having established that the formation of Chineseness is a fluid process contingent on social and cultural contexts, biographical and historical time and socially constructed age-based identities, the next chapter focuses on exploring the process of hybridisation. It is what is in-between socially constructed cultural identities that is central to the understanding of the experience of Chineseness of long-established ABC. Instead of beginning with the idea of pure cultural identities interacting, I will direct attention to what happens on the borderlines of cultures – ‘Chinese’ and the ‘West’ – to see what
210 happens in the life course of subsequent generations who are living in-between cultures. It is the idea of what is in-between settled cultural identity, the self and other, that is central to the creation of new meaning. Chapter 7 begins by problematising melting pot concepts which contribute to the underlying reasons behind the lack of in-depth research relating to the negotiation of identity of the subsequent generations in Australia. It then takes two distinct notions of hybridity, namely, ‘double consciousness’ and ‘third space’, as a means to explore the liminal space in which subsequent generations are situated. While underlying both approaches is an intellectual decentering built upon notions of difference and otherness and an attempt to abolish the reliance on unitary notions embedded in previous assimilationist frameworks, ironically the very logic of these conceptual notions of hybridity have led to a reinstatement of samenesss and a redrawing of exclusionary lines. Thirdly, it highlights that while the general emphasis of ‘hybridity’ has been on the negative experience, it is equally important to portray the positive aspects in order to fully comprehend the complex process of hybridisation.
211 CHAPTER 7 HYBRIDITY: THE STATE OF NATURAL JOY?
All diasporic communities are characterised by some form of differentiation; differences proliferate amongst diasporic ‘Chinese’ as each diasporic Chinese community has its own cultural conception of Chineseness, which invariably differs from Chinese communities elsewhere (Wang 2001). As discussed in Chapter 5, while Chinese identity is a negotiated and unstable assemblage of perceptions, nevertheless, as an essentialist construct, it has been critically significant in organising notions of sameness and difference between external and in-group members. Precisely because of this fundamental organising principle, even when subsequent generations are compelled to confront inescapable inscriptions of essentialist ideals (by their families, mainstream Australian society and Chinese diasporic spaces they inhabit) they are able to negotiate Chineseness in meaningful ways across their life course. As highlighted in Chapter 6, while such negotiations and practices of being Chinese are contingent to factors of age, gender, sexuality and social class which vary through the entire course of life, Chineseness is still crucial to making sense of their daily lives. Having established that the formation of Chineseness is a fluid process contingent to social and cultural contexts, biographical and historical time and socially constructed age-based identities, this chapter proceeds to explore the hybrid formation of Chineseness through the cultural consciousness of the subsequent generations of early Chinese migrants in Australia.78
78Parts of this chapter were included in a conference paper entitled “Chinese Australian Lives” presented at the British Australian Studies Association Biennial Conference held at the University of Exeter in Cornwall. 2 – 10 Sept 2006. Parts of this chapter were included in a book chapter entitled “Generational Identities through Time: Memories and Homelands of the ABCs” in A. Davidson and K. E. Kuah-Pearce (eds) At Home in the Chinese Diaspora: Memories, Identity and Belonging, Hampshire, Palgrave. This is a forthcoming publication and will be published in late 2007.
212 Diasporic narratives fraught with contentions over belonging and difference are often subjected to notions of hybridity. According to Ang (2001: 194), hybridity “is a means of bridging the multiple boundaries which constitute ‘Asian’ and ‘Western’ in identities as mutually exclusive and incommensurable.” Certainly the diasporic literature have focused on hybrid natures of identity construction with a large emphasis centering on the experiences of first and second generation migrants and the sojourner’s sense of roots in a diasporic setting. However, somewhat lost in the debate over Chinese diasporas and identities are the experiences of those with long-term residence who have well-established themselves outside mainland China. Specifically, when descendants of early Chinese migrants become integrated into the host society, can they still be situated in a liminal zone? While hybridity confronts and problematises the unsettling boundaries of identities, ethnic identification is still largely perceived to decrease over successive generations, resulting in acculturation and then assimilation. Another problem contributing to a lack of research is the notion of unifying sameness that lumps all ‘Chinese’-looking people into one group (Gilbert et al. 2000).
Through in-depth analysis of the informants’ narratives, this chapter begins by bringing to light the fact that subsequent generations can also be situated in a hybrid space which is mingled with a variety of experiences, voices, language and identities. Part 2 problematises two distinct notions of hybridity, namely, ‘double consciousness’ and ‘third space’, as a means to explore the liminal space in which they are situated. The former suggests that there may be several identities that an individual can simultaneously assert and the latter suggests that there may be a number of different functions that a single source of identification may have. While underlying both approaches is an intellectual decentering built upon notions of difference and otherness, and an attempt to abolish the reliance on unitary notions embedded in previous assimilationist frameworks, ironically the very logic of these conceptions has led to a reinstatement of sameness and a redrawing of exclusionary lines. This reinforces the argument of the thesis, that despite identities being often ambiguities and fragmented, essentialist notions still serve as the fundamental principle in constructing notions of sameness and difference. Part 3 highlights that while the general emphasis of ‘hybridity’ has been on the negative experience, the manipulation and reshaping of identities can also lead to contentment for subsequent generations. I emphasize the
213 importance of portraying the varying experiences of hybridity in order to fully comprehend the complex process of hybridisation.
Part 4 explores hybridity though decentered links with home. It discusses the problematics of essentialist notions of home and transnational linkages as a source of authenticating Chineseness. While the lived experience of a place and the perpetuation of transnational practices are certainly significant phenomena for overseas Chinese migrants, long-established communities tend to have weak physical and emotional ties to China. The linkages are largely sustained by myths, stories and memories within the family. As such, I examine the ways in which the force of imagination through the generational and locational points of reference can bring in feelings of home, belongingness and identification with their Chinese heritage.
Part 1 Hybrid Identities of Subsequent Generations
The focus of diasporic literature has largely centered on the experiences of recent migrants, as ethnic identification is perceived to decrease through time. Melting-pot concepts of acculturation, assimilation and integration contribute to the underlying reasons behind the lack of in-depth research relating to the negotiation of identity of subsequent generations of the ABC community. However, through in-depth analysis, I found that later generations encounter a hybrid space which is mingled with a variety of experiences, voices, language and identities within the family.
Although long-established ABC have a strong sense of belonging and identities grounded in Australia, the particular histories of their families mixed with personal experiences often situate them between the master narratives of the dominant ‘white’ Australian and Chinese cultures. It is evident that informants and their families continue to incorporate aspects of Chinese culture but also Western culture into their everyday lives in Australia. This can be highlighted by Ralph’s 3(3) childhood experience:
My parents were strict but they were still Australian oriented. They had old traditional Chinese manners and practiced some Chinese customs.
214 Most of the families, like me, were brought up the same way. We were kind of Westernised but we were still Chinese in some ways.
Similarly Dianne 4(4) expresses that in her family she encouraged both Western and Chinese culture in the upbringing of her children:
Yeah, I don’t know about my husband but for me I thought, yes, I wanted them to keep their Chinese tradition, and I also wanted them to embrace the Australian tradition as well so that they can be assimilated into society successfully, and I think they’ve done that.
While subsequent generations may practice Chinese customs in the home, they are often seen as ‘fake’ Chinese due to inconsistencies with histories, traditions of thought, imageries, and vocabularies that have given Chineseness its reality (Said 1978). Since the way in which identity is located is largely through such authentication processes, informants who do not identify with collective racial constructs often experience a feeling of suspension in liminality. This can be clearly illuminated by Jenny’s 6(6) inability to have full integration in to the Western or Chinese community: “I don’t feel I fit into the Chinese community, but I don’t really feel like I fit into the white community either. I sort of feel I am floating in-between but I am okay with it.” Such feelings of partial belonging to the ‘white’ as well and Chinese community are typical of the experience of informants.
Not Quite Australian
Often a sense of otherness separates long-established ABC from the mainstream Anglo- Celtic community, leading to difficulties of full integration into mainstream Western society. Jenny 6(6) explains that despite the fact that the majority of her friends are Westerners, and that she is in a defacto relationship with an Anglo-Australian, she still feels the difficulty to fully integrate:
I feel I am different. It depends on who I am with and how comfortable I am. So with different people, I feel more Chinese or less Chinese depending on what they do. I remember my friend once said to me,
215 “Sometimes I forget that you are Chinese”. I thought that was a weird thing to say. It made me think twice. It made me notice.
Although she sees herself as Australian, she is continually viewed through a prism of otherness differentiating her from Anglo-Celtic Australians because of the stereotypical images imposed by the broader social spectrum. Similarly, Jerry 3(2) also intensely feels the impossibility of integration into the Western society:
I did have one suicide attempt at twenty-four. There was so much pressure living in the white world and living in the yellow world and being nowhere... There was the RSL. It's only the last five years that I can actually go into an RSL club because, in my time, when you go into an RSL club and after a few drinks some people there would turn around, “Ah you fucking Jap! What are you fucking doing here?” The feeling you get is what are you doing in our world? Ooh, white man's territory. It used to be like that, but not anymore. But see, I overstepped the boundaries and I was actually participating in the white activities, playing golf and drinking. Meanwhile my parents worked very hard seven days a week. They wanted me to get into the family business but I had a bit of the white world in me so there was a clash ... but, it's not negative. It's just a feeling of not belonging, it's not necessarily negative. For example, after I leave you here I'll walk out, I know I don't belong here because it's all white. I'm not being discriminatory, it's just a white country, a white majority and from that point too.
These excerpts highlight that despite the length of residence and the grounding of their identities in Australia, the tendency to focus on difference through boundaries of inclusion and exclusion determines the limits of full participation into the dominant mainstream society.
Not Quite Chinese It is important to point out here that while a sense of otherness often differentiates long- established ABC from dominant ‘white’ Australians, neither do they fully associate
216 with Chinese communities in Australia. Common among the majority of informants is a sense of difference that separates themselves from other ‘Chinese’ groups in Australia. Dianne 4(4) explains that, through marriage with a first generation HK-born, it made her realise that she is situated in a liminal zone:
...because I was actually getting married to a really Chinese family, so that made me feel really uncomfortable, because I was Australian-born. I felt they were different. And I still do, actually. I don’t discriminate against it or anything, but I feel there is a difference...I seem to be more comfortable with Australians than with Chinese. I don’t know why. Maybe because we have common interests because we study together. I don’t know. It could be that. But my family practices many Chinese traditions...so I’m sort of in-between, yes. I feel as though because Chinese are a minority group in Australia I’m part of that minority group, but at the same time I’m not that minority group, I’m not that traditional Chinese minority, yes…I actually feel that the ABC’s are separate from the recent migrants, yes...I don’t know why, I just feel a difference. I guess because ABC’s are brought up with Australian traditions, maybe retaining some Chinese traditions but basically Australian traditions, whereas you get your migrants, they’re not educated in the Australian way, they’re more their own people and they tend to mix with their own people as well.
The liminal zone in which long-established ABC are situated can further be highlighted by Rob 5(5). He recalls a conversation with his wife who is a HK-born migrant who came to Australia as a child:
My wife still considers me to be Australian. She thinks I wear my Chineseness like a – something that I can put on and say ‘Oh I am Chinese I have a min larp79 on’ and then I take off. She doesn’t think I am Chinese at all ... My wife says “You are pretending to be Chinese and you are talking about things you don’t know anything about. You are
79 Traditional Chinese jacket made of silk floss, worn in winter for warmth. 217 trying to take the best of both worlds. You are trying to be Australian but you are trying to be Chinese at the same time.”
Although racialised collectivities are stratified within a broader social spectrum where stereotypical identities are often imposed by the dominant groups, as I have pointed out in the previous chapter, in-group members also play an important role in establishing their own hierarchy of identities. The way in which racialised groups shape their own identities is illustrated by the delegitimisation of Rob’s Chineseness by his HK-born wife. Such reaction is often percolated from the ideology that China is the land of the ancestors of the people of Chinese descent and the original source of Chinese civilization. Such a challenge of authenticity coincides with Gans' (1979) notion of symbolic ethnicity where occasional ethnic behavior is seen as an absence of ‘real’ ethnicity. Although Rob identifies himself as Chinese in certain situations, because of the hegemonic discourse of authenticity differentiating him from his wife he is teased as being ‘not a real Chinese’, thus situating him in a state of limbo. In this respect ABC’s claims to Chineseness often referred to as lacking substantial cultural content and as being culturally empty (Ang 2001).
Such sense of difference suggests that within the Chinese diasporic community in Australia there are internal stratifications of Chinese groups.80 Common to informants’ views is that groups are based on length of residency and language ability. The main groups are recent migrants and ABC. Within the ABCs there is not much differentiation in terms of migratory generation as they have been brought up similarly in a Western environment. Within the recent migrants the differentiation is based on the fluency of Chinese and English. For some informants, not only are they situated between the East and the West, some are also situated within Chinese groups. Dean 4(4) explains this hybrid sense of belonging between different Chinese groups:
I probably say there is the old group that have been around for more than one generation and there is that second group that are probably more of a HK background that were more able to get out and come for the better lifestyle. And maybe a third group that consists of more
80 See discussion on Chapter 5. 218 recent migrants from the mainland. These groups I see are more based around migrant patterns and history over time…if I had to position myself, it’s probably straddling the first and the second, because my dad’s line is definitely the first group; mum’s line is so definitely the second…being able to straddle between these groups is an advantage…it means I can’t be placed in the one group.
This excerpt highlights that there are complex segregations within the Chinese community in Australia and those who are situated in-between can experience feelings of enrichment. The positive aspect of identity will be discussed in greater detail in Part 3 of this chapter. Pertinent to the discussion here, however, is the problematic nature of assimilationist assumptions, which consider integration of subsequent generations as a unified, linear and unidirectional process. Although they have a strong sense of identity and belonging in Australia, their experiences reveal that it is not a simple case of weakening ethnicity or a progressive assimilationist path to ‘complete’ integration, but rather complicated entanglements and negotiations between cultural borders. Their sense of identity involves entering a state of hybridity, such that their sense of identity is often situated in liminal space as they negotiate and display who they are or want to be seen in different contexts. This demonstrates the impact that external agency has on the negotiation of identity and subsequent level of incorporation.
Part 2 Challenging Theoretical Conceptions of Hybridity
The concept of hybridity has credit in providing a way to understand the ambivalence and unsettling identities characteristic of the diasporic experience; however, the concept itself is problematic. Hybridity highlights the presence of gaps and contradictions in the traditional essentialist frameworks of identity, centered around notions of singularity, unity and homogeneity. Postmodernism maintains that hybridity is a state of unsettling identities which is associated with crossroads, borderlands and unclear boundaries. This concept is often used as a means to explain the relational positioning of identity and a device to analyse complicated entanglements of identity which is a condition of marginalisation for many members of the ethnic minorities (Ang 2001: 34). One
219 approach to hybridity as articulated by Gilroy (1994) emphasizes the notion of multiple identities in which individuals oscillate between one to the other in different contexts through ‘double consciousness’. Another approach as maintained by theorists like Bhabha (1994) and Hall (1996) emphasizes the fusion of identities in which a ‘third space’ is created. Underlying both approaches is an intellectual decentering built upon notions of difference and otherness – its stance against homogenisation of diverse cultures into a single group. Asserting difference is an attempt to abolish the reliance on unitary, fixed and essentialised concepts embedded in previous assimilationist framework.
While the postmodern thematising of hybridity has implicitly informed the anti- essentialist and assimilationist character of identity politics, ironically the very logic of it has led inevitably to the reinstatement of sameness and a redrawing of exclusionary lines. As Dunn (1998: 29) articulates, “in most postmodern writings, difference has become another essentialislism and universal, whether through inclusionary or exclusionary strategies.” I demonstrate here that attempts to abandon identity categories through notions of hybridity as currently formulated, are fundamentally problematic. The significance of identity still depends largely on that fact that the organisation of society is highly based on relative position from essentialist categories.
Double Consciousness
Diasporic literature has highlighted that migrants often maintain a social and cultural foothold in two or more distinct ethnic environments where they find themselves developing multiple identities in transnational spaces in which they learn to move between one to another. The concept of ‘double consciousness’ as articulated by Gilroy (1987) reveals the hybrid character of modern ethnicity and its profound effect on diasporic communities. This notion derives from the circumstances and contexts in which ethnic and racial groups find themselves. The analogy of an international buffet provides a descriptive means of understanding this hybrid oscillation of identity, such that you can pick and choose a bit of this and a bit of that as you wish. Such feelings of hybridity are also experienced by long-established ABC.
220 It needs to be highlighted that the switching of identities is not simply a straightforward process of alternation. The oscillations of their identities are subjected to the context in which they are situated. A person’s identity will vary depending on the context and function of the questions posed to their identity in a particular instance such that it is a contextual and relational positioning rather than a fixed essence. As Sunny 4(4) expresses, “if I was in HK right now, I might feel a little Chinese. If I was, say, in an all Anglo environment I would feel very Chinese. So a lot of it depends on my surroundings.” Thus, ethnic and cultural boundaries are maintained through interpretation of cultural phenomena in accordance with the requirements of particular contexts. Pete 4(4) explains the significance of social context:
You identify yourself situationally. But basically I am Australian. Sometimes Australian Chinese. It depends on what you want to present yourself as and what the context is. If people are interested in your Chineseness then you respond in that kind of way.
Similarly, the fluidity of identity can be highlighted by Nelson’s 4(2) appropriation of cultural values according to the contextual significance:
I think of myself as a mixture of both. Western culture in general is driven by Christianity, so I am religious. Well I also believe in a higher being, whether it be Buddha or God, Allah, Jesus Christ or whatever. I also live by the Chinese way of thinking. Sometimes it clashes, so what do I follow? I apply whatever value I think is appropriate at the time.
Contrary to the largely assumed detrimental impact of multi-identities, hybridity can also positively facilitate social integration. Similar to Nagata’s (1979) case on the situational selection of ethnic identity in Malaysia, subsequent generations are able to manipulate or actively assert their identity in order to enhance their position in social situations. Through relational positioning of identities they can subsequently influence the strategic expression of either social distance or solidarity, such that it is inherently political. Under different circumstances they are able to identify with a particular membership group and may temporarily reorient themselves and select a different group
221 of references in accordance with the degree of affinity they wish to express in a given situation. As Sean 4(2) explains:
I can probably adopt my identity to suit my friends, to make them comfortable. So with my Australian friends I probably adopt more ‘Australianism’ to make them more comfortable. For my Chinese friends I adopt more Chinese habits to make them more comfortable.
The ease in switching between ethnic identities can further be emphasized in Rob’s 5(5) simple comment, “I can wear my Chinese so easily. Whenever I feel comfortable”. Selective strategic assertion of unique ethnic traits seems to be a positive value in enabling subsequent generations to avoid conflict caused by inconsistencies of the role expectation in any particular situation. Through the contextual selection of ethnic identity, some factors of immediate relevance are equated with an ethnic status, but at the same time they may not necessarily bear any direct relationship to their length of residence in Australia. As such, ethnic identities are often established without anchorage in any one culture, but are influenced by strategic expression of how one chooses to be or be seen.
Certainly switching between ethnic identities, or what linguists term code-switching is related to the contextual environment; however, it does not necessarily enable the bridging of multiple boundaries which constitute ‘Asian’ and ‘Western’. This is because long-established ABC often find themselves unable to fully identity themselves as Chinese or as Australian, but suspended in-between. While this circumstantial notion of identity represents a new kind of cultural space that challenges the homogenous conception of identity as a single entity, the orientation towards a discourse of ‘double consciousness’ is in itself ironic. The privileging of multiple ‘groups’ of identity is nevertheless constructed within the boundaries of a unified and collectivist paradigm. Such discourse is motivated, by another kind of centrism, this time along the conglomeration of multiple groups of identities. The limitation of such perspectives of hybridity can be clearly portrayed by Sunny’s 4(4) experience about his sense of identity: “I think it is something uniquely different. To say oscillating between both implies you can totally fit into one camp or totally fit into another camp, which I don’t think I do.” It must be acknowledged that the switching of identities is not a
222 straightforward oscillating process between one to the other. Martin’s 4(2) experience brings to light the complexity of identities impacting on feelings of belonging:
When I am hanging out with ABC I don’t talk about this cultural identity thing. They don’t like talking about it. They don’t find it a problem. They probably just see themselves as Australians with Chinese background but they are in a new country so they have to become part of society. When I am hanging out with Western people, I tend to be more quiet because I don’t feel as comfortable. When I am hanging out with my Asian friends I can be more relaxed. They understand the jokes that I am trying to say. But with my Asians friends I can’t talk about political issues. But with some of my Western friends at least I can talk about political issues. I tend to be more critical of the conservative government in Australia and America.
The expression of an identity cannot be simply understood as strategic selection between different ends of the spectrum because cultural boundaries are often unclear and ambiguous, thus situating them in a zone of in-betweeness.
Third Space and In-betweeness
An alternative approach to hybridity in writings of Bhabha (1991), Hall (1996) and Ang (2001) problematises the rigid nature of boundaries. They argue that hybridity is an opening within which different elements encounter and transform each other. In this way identity is seen as a dialectical construction with the original and its counter- identity yielding a third new form known as the ‘third space’ or ‘in-betweeness’. They are symbolic spaces where identities are hybridised, the self and other are unsettled, and truths are ruptured (Ang 2001: 164). Bhabha (1991) asserts that, to adequately understand this liminal space, one should not conduct an analysis as if there really are pure cultures to compare discretely as this in-betweeness is not a consequence of other allegedly ‘pure’ identities intertwined together. While this concept attempts to abandon identity categories, ironically, I argue that such an approach of analysis is a reinstatement of unifying concepts of sameness; albeit a new dimension but an inclusive space of in-betweeness, articulated relative to other collectivities.
223 For long-established ABC, the suspension in third space is evident where complicated entanglement of cultural boundaries embodies their daily life. This notion of crossroads can be highlighted when Tanya speaks about her own sense of identity: “What am I? I am a person. I never think ‘Am I Chinese or Australian.’ Because I am a mix I can’t think of anyway except as a mix. A crazy mixed up kid, you see!” Her location of identity is in a third space where difference is neither one nor the other but something else besides. Martin’s 4(2) acknowledgment of an ‘in-between culture further illuminates their common experience:
I think there is a culture of in-between but it hard to know who belongs to that culture. A lot of people are marrying Western people, do you include them or not? Realistically I am a hybrid of both, but I would like to be more on the Chinese side.
The suspension in a space of in-betweeness implies a crossroads of cultural boundaries. The point becomes even clearer as Marco 3(3), who left Australia to HK during primary school and then returned to Australia for higher education, explains his complicated sense of identity:
When I came to Australia there was just a growing realisation that to be an Australian is to be more than just where you were born – although it is a birthright, but it’s also where you were brought up, where you can sort of identify strongly with particular values... I guess it’s where you can identify more, and I don’t identify with Australia as strongly compared with someone who was brought up here and who can name their favourite football club or the entire cricket team! I mean, I can only name three or four players! So it’s really hard to identify myself as Australian but I’m certainly not someone who can really identify strongly with HK either… as in the mainstream local HK person who can speak the language very fluently and who primarily uses a Cantonese language. If there was a statement it would be the overseas Chinese who was brought up in a British or Western system of education in HK. That would be the group I would identify myself with. It’s probably a very
224 small group, but that’s a group in terms of when I go back to HK, that’s the people I know well and they probably have the same sort of identity.
Marco’s experiences suggest that he is located in a liminal zone where he does not fit into either mainstream Australian or HK culture. This state of being would be accounted by postmodernism as the third space. However, this notion becomes problematic in understanding Marco’s experience. While his sense of identity is situated in liminal space, the significance of it is still based on predefined social categories. This is evident in the way he locates himself relative to cultural boundaries of language and social values that define being HK Chinese and Australian. Similarly for Martin 4(2), his sense of in-betweeness is articulated precisely relative to the bilateral ends of Western and Chinese culture. Ironically, although the notion of third space emphasizes non- inexistence of discrete cultures, the process of identity formation is nevertheless articulated on the basis of relative positioning between particular constructed collectivities. The fact is that identity categories are crucial in providing modes of articulating significant correlations between the lived experience and the social location.
Furthermore, while according to Bhabha (1991) hybridity as a floating identity means combination, amalgamation and fusion cannot be definitely defined, I argue it is possible to develop reliable knowledge about how and where one fits into the participation and relative positioning in a defined culture. For example, Janice’s 4(4) sense of identity is largely based on the shared similarities and differences of particular cultures:
I think our upbringing was very Asian-based. When I was at school there were hardly any Asians in my class, there were probably none! So all my friends were Australians. But I have always realised that not only did I eat different food but I had a different lifestyle! I have always moved towards an Asian lifestyle. Maybe they always liked the beach, sports, swimming and stuff like that, but we weren’t that style of people. Maybe we always had that problem because we looked Asian. There was a lot of name calling when we were growing up as there
225 weren’t many Asians around. Basically we just stuck to ourselves, we just didn’t mix very well. I found that, even with my school friends, their way of thinking was different from the way I thought, so when I got older I gravitated back to Asian people or even just with Australian- born Chinese who thought similar.
Individuals are often bound to one another by their participation in a common culture – that is, a set of more or less shared understandings and interpretations including ideas that guide actions. These ideas may be communicated implicitly in processes of socialisation or learned through shared experience sustained in other ways. Not only do they provide conceptual interpretation of the world at large and guides to action, they also specify and exalt the identity of that particular group. “What links group members to one another…is the perception that to a large degree they think alike, or at least view aspects of their own lives and certain critical features of the world similarly” (Cornell and Hartmann 1998: 87).
Indeed the way in which identity is established largely depends on how the self and the other are interpreted. Thus, the subjective experiences of any social group membership depend fundamentally on relations to memberships of other social groups. A contributing factor leading to one sense of difference/sameness is located in complex notions of recognition and belonging where the central question arises with how individuals interpret, construct and reconstruct themselves and the culture of which they are a part (Anderson 1999). As such, for long-established ABC, the experience of group membership is located in the very definition of racial categories of Chineseness and Australianness, since the significance of any identity depends on the association with others. This is highlighted by Nelson 4(2) when he explains his natural process of adaptation:
I am sure a lot of ABCs can understand when you are around Australians you may do things that may be regarded as more Asian such as Karaoke. But then when you hang around with your Asian friends and you play
226 rugby they say you are quite Gweilo81. So I try to maintain a balance. I take the values which I regard as important in both cultures. When people ask me, I say I am Australian. I was born and raised in Australia but in terms of ethnicity I am Chinese.
In Nelson’s situation, the way in which he positions himself in relation to cultural boundaries demonstrates that he is clear about where he fits according to essentialist categories of Chineseness and Australianness, although the meaning of these constructs are invariably dynamic. Nevertheless, these constructs still serve as the organising notion of life. Certainly, there may be variations of experiences such that one may identify with multiple cultural groups or they may feel suspended in-between or in more extreme cases they may not feel any sense of affiliation with any cultural groups at all. However, the manner in which members of diasporic communities position themselves according to specific collectivities suggests that essentialist structures still shape our perceptions to features of the real world.
Indeed this perspective of hybridity provides an alterative account to multiplicity. However, such an orientation towards a discourse of an in-between identity floating in the third space is ironically centered around homogenous notions. Despite postmodernist attempts to delegitimise identities, collectivise notions still perpetuate in the carving of identities in daily life. Since cultures are effects of social stablisation and historical process, there it is pertinent to understand the formation of social structures (Huddart 2006: 126). I emphasize that in understanding identities we cannot totally dismiss the historical and social significance of collective cultural constructs, as they are tools that enable us to account for the role of multiplicity in an enabling way.
Part 3 Accepting Complexity
Postmodernist literature maintains that we are living in era where the preset destination of security and a sense of belonging through unity, have become unattainable and there is a bleak vision of progress and control (Bauman 2000). In particular, hybrid identities
81 Gweilo (Foreign Devil) is a Cantonese/Southern expression which essentially means Westerners. The identification of Australians as Gweilo is suggestive of an inherent social barrier that segregates long- established Chinese migrant groups from mainstream Australian society. 227 are seen as problematic for diasporic communities as their experience is often seen as a struggle of marginalisation with detrimental impact on social mobility. Such dissolution is similarly expressed by Ang (2001: 17): “The very condition of in-betweeness can never be a question of simple shaking hands, of happy, harmonious, merger and fusion”. While complicated entanglements exist, missing from the debates is an interest in those who have accepted and embraced hybridity and view it as a positive condition in their lives. Both aspects need to be acknowledged in order to fully portray the experience of hybridisation of subsequent generations.
Ambivalence of Hybrid Identities Contrary to the assimilationist assumption, the formation of identity of subsequent generations, as I have discussed throughout this chapter, involves entering a state of hybridity where cultural borders are blurred and transgressed. Ang (1998) argues the encounters at the border – where the self and other, Asia and the West meet – often lead to potential intercultural conflict and miscommunication. Rob 5(5) illuminates such experience of disillusionment:
I have worked so hard to reconcile my Chineseness; in a sense it has been very painful. You may not admit it but it was painful being Chinese in Australia. You try to repress it all the time. You spend so much time repressing it that you can’t be normal. You think “Do they dislike me because I am Chinese or is it just me”. That is why I would love my Children marrying Chinese. You are ticking off the boxes that make it easier.
Encapsulated here is the very condition of in-betweeness. Borders are not easily crossed; as such, those who are straddling between cultures experience complicated entanglements. The paradox of hybridity in the postmodern context is that while the meaning of ‘Chinese’ can no longer be described in clear-cut terms, there is an increased salience of the very term as a self-conscious marker of identities for diasporic Chinese. Certainly differences and hierarchies exist, but they are becoming much more difficult to separate out As such, for Rob, the only way to find some sense of security was to identity with a collective whole – a whole that allows one to cleanly fit into a
228 single box. Thus, it is the very difficulty of positioning their identities to others that leads to the ambivalence of their daily life. As I have stressed at the beginning of this chapter, identities emerge in the midst of social relations involving the assertion of difference within a stratification system of the wider society. The difficulty of such conditioning can be highlighted by Marco 3(3) when he recalls his high school life:
In early high school, I encountered a girl who questioned why I would call myself an Australian if I wasn’t Caucasian. I don’t think she meant any spite by it, but it was just something she was probably brought up to think, and I explained it to her that I was born in Australia and my family has been there for generations and it didn’t really make sense to her, but that was the first time that I encountered someone who identified strongly that an Australian should have some sort of Caucasian background...so I don’t see myself as an “Australian”. I had the concept of being an “Australian” when I was growing up in HK because essentially my peers in school would identify where they were born. A lot of them were born in the UK, the US, Canada, other regions around the world, so that was the identity in terms of saying, “I’m an Australian”, “I’m an American”, “I’m a Canadian”.
The way in which Marco and his peers articulated their identities highlights that the social context in which people are situated invariably influence the priorities and responses that shape their identity (Papastergiadis 2000: 31). The construction of identity becomes constrained or motivated in relation to the ascriptions and expectations by the wider society. Since a collectively assured sense of solidarity is built upon the ideal of homogenous clear-cut identities, people are often uncomfortable with notions of fragmentation and multiplicity. It is this process of rethinking the relationships between the politics of hybrid and embedded essentialist dispositions which is disturbing for many people because of the impossibility of reconciliation. As such, often much contempt is placed upon those who do not ‘fit’ within the ‘familiar’ social norm as defined by the wider society and the tendency is to attack everything that separates the individual from the wider group. Thus, questions are raised concerning the construction of categories for self- definition and the way they constrain choices and possibilities of their identities.
229 Furthermore, for subsequent generations, the condition of in-betweeness is created by elements from a diversity of contexts as they encounter a variety of memories, experiences, voices, languages and identities. This is illuminated by Martin 4(2):
My home village in China is a place that I definitely have to go to. I can picture myself. It will be so emotional…I guess it is a sense that you are stuck in-between two cultures so you don’t really belong to either. I can’t really say that I feel like Australian. I definitely want to identify as Chinese but I can’t say that because I can’t even speak the language and I haven’t been taught much about the culture. I just imagine if my grandparents didn’t decide to migrate out of China, what life would have been. I just feel that I will have a sense of belonging that I don’t feel in Australia.
Arguably such hybrid multiplicity increasingly characterises the lives of diasporic Chinese. However, specifically important to the experience of subsequent generations is that they are suspended between different generational and locational points of reference – the previous generations, and their own, as they display who they are or want to be seen in different contexts.
I love being a Hybrid!
The postmodernist concept of hybridity indeed has made possible new and different ways of understanding the ‘ambivalent’ experience of diasporic communities. While recognisng diasporic feelings of alienation and insulation of subsequent generations, it is also important to acknowledge that not all are marginalised. Pluralisation or fragmentation of identities is not necessarily ‘wounded attachments’ but can be positive and enriching structures of belonging and identification. Much of the postmodernist writing on hybridity overlook this, consequently failing to explain important modes by which individuals experience and understand their social world. The following are highlights of informants’ positivity towards their hybrid identities:
230 …there’s this Chinese side of me that isn’t fully Australian. I feel I’m fortunate to be able to take lovely things out of the Western world as well. I sort of sit in the middle, and I don’t see it as no-man’s land. I’m just very fortunate to be sitting in the middle. That’s how I feel. Donna 4(2)
I feel I’m Chinese Australian, there are no two separate things. It’s actually unique because as I said before I’m bi-cultural so I fit in Western society very easily because I love going to Europe and I can speak French. I’ve lived there for a few years, things like that, and I can really appreciate European culture. But when I go to China I can also really appreciate Chinese cultures, I mean really enjoy and fit in! Whereas someone who is mono-cultural – say if you’re an Anglo and you go to China – you would feel uncomfortable. Just like if my mother went to Europe, she won’t feel comfortable too. So I feel I’m very lucky in that way. And that’s unique to my situation because I’m born in Australia of early Chinese migrants. Vera 3(2)
I have the best of both worlds, I have both influences from HK, China, and obviously from Australia, although I feel slightly torn between the two.” Don 4(4)
Common to participants’ responses is that while the hybrid zone in which they are suspended is often the source of racial contestations and delegitismisation, more importantly, such a condition has intrinsic value and is prerogative towards their social advancement. Andrew’s 4(2) experience exemplifies the complex feeling:
Dad always impinged on us, even if you don’t want to speak Chinese you can’t change your face. You are always forever Chinese so you might just as well get the best of it. So this became my philosophy. When I was growing up in Sydney, when people called you Ching Chong Chinaman or gave you names or graded your group, I just said “I am better than you, I got two languages and I can pick the best out of the two worlds!” That was how I got over discrimination which I didn’t suffer too much....
231 I was sort of the minority. When I first went to school there was only a Chinese boy in the class, so in a class of about twenty or thirty there were only two. But nowadays, half of them are Chinese… Its all changing, the West is meeting the East … the beauty of my situation is that I can pick the best of both worlds”
Despite the struggle in transgression of boundaries, subsequent generations have learned to rearticulate and recontextualise their complex identities in unprecedented ways. Over the years they have become used to the awkward position of being one of the few Asians in an otherwise ‘white’ environment. With increasing Asian migrants, they are no longer an anomaly but a regular presence in the Western dominated society of Australia. This has tremendous impact on the experience of being Chinese. While cross-cultural anxiety certainly exists, the malleable quantity of their identities, however, allows them to absorb cultural difference. As Phillip highlights: “It’s very difficult to separate both sides of my identity coz it’s kind of fused. Clearly being Chinese is not an absolute barrier. Depending on what field you are in it may even be an advantage.” Overall, informants project a positive tone highlighting their acceptance of a hybridity and in particular the unique advantage of an ability to enjoy varying aspects of Australian and Chinese culture as they like. Thus, contrary to what Ang (2001: 1998) maintains as “uncomfortable and threatening”, the idea of a hybrid future can be for some potentially positive and harmonious.
Part 4 Decentered Connections with Home
The critical relations between notions of home and identity play a central role in informing not only notions of Chineseness but also relations to society. With increasing interconnections across national and cultural borders, those in the diaspora are able to maintain multiple identities and create new cultural forms using elements from a wide variety of settings (Ma 2003). For diasporic Chinese, transnational linkages with homeland often become a source of authentication of Chineseness. While the lived experience of a place and the perpetuation of transnational practices are certainly significant phenomena for overseas Chinese migrants, long-established communities tend to have weak physical and emotional ties to land. How do those who do not actively participate in transnational activities negotiate Chineseness? How is
232 ‘Chineseness’ constructed for those who only see China as a land of their ancestors rather than a ‘homeland’? Are only ones who consider China as homeland ‘Chinese’?
The Missing Dimension
Authentication of Chineseness is often associated with the intensity of transnational practices. As Nonini & Ong (1997: 26) among others observes, it is increasingly independent of place as it is made up of patterns such as varied connections of family ties, kinship, commerce and sentiments which denote a common condition that is perceived to be shared by individuals separated by space. Although there is a departure from the mode of defining Chineseness through place and locality, references to land nevertheless still serve as collective points of reference of cultural attachments. For informants with family members who originated from HK, discussions on notions of homeland often entail specific sets of connections with HK and mainland China separately. Some feel stronger attachments to HK because of closer cultural ties, as Pete 4(4) articulates: “I sort of feel that I have some connections in HK. I can kind of relate to HK in a way. China seems to be too big to understand, it seems to be too vast. But I can relate to this tiny post-colonial place.” Others like Sunny 4(4) find that Chinese cultural heritage can only be associated with mainland China:
HK is a Western place. It is Chinese, I mean the people are Chinese, but it was a British colony, they all can speak English, they are very business-oriented. I feel more comfortable with mainland China because it is not as developed and not as much Western influenced as HK is, and Chinese culture has more purity than HK. You don’t really have Chinese culture in HK, it is more of a Western culture than China. Even with the handover it still is not the same. The influence has been so long.
While notions of home are undoubtedly spatially expressed, nevertheless reference to land is still an important principle for locating one’s sense of cultural affiliation.
Furthermore, although in the discourse of Chinese diasporic studies, multiplicity of identities is well acknowledged, there is nevertheless, an essentialist persistence
233 emphasizing on a cultural center, evidenced in the orientation that Chinese diasporic communities share similar transnational ties which have consequential impact on their construction of Chineseness. The tendency is to focus on the regular transnational practices and physical linkages of first and second generation migrants and the sojourner’s sense of roots in a diasporic setting (see, for example, Wolf 2002). Scholars such as Phizacklea (2000), Ryan (2003) and Waters (2002) have given much attention to the notion of co-existing homes that link the homeland with the host country. As Clifford (1994: 308) articulates, “It involves dwelling, maintaining communities, having collective homes away from home”. In the case of diasporic Chinese, negotiation of Chineseness is assumed to be linked with the intensity of transnational links that they maintain and cultural identification with homeland as ‘China’ per se becomes a defining factor of their Chineseness (Ma 2003). However, all diasporic communities are characterised by some form of differentiation – differences proliferate amongst diasporic ‘Chinese’ as each Chinese society in diasporas has is its own cultural construction and conception of Chineseness. Those with a long settlement history particularly take on new dimensions in their construal of their Chineseness through decentered connections rather than a linkage to a specific locality as homeland.
To precisely illustrate this point, the majority of the participants (except for one) in this study do not meet the articulated transnational practices; they do not hold strong emotional attachment with China as homeland. Jane 3(3) explains, “China is just a foreign place, it means nothing much to me”. Neither do they have a desire to return to a welcoming homeland as even my usage of terminology of ‘going back’ or ‘returning’ was highlighted as inadequate and inappropriate. Rodney 3(2) justifies his distant attachment with China by arguing that, firstly, his family has resided in Australia for three generations; secondly, he has never been to China; and thirdly, he has no intention of going. He contends, “We still have a traditional family house of which I have no interest in. Realistically what’s the point! I will never go there, I have no association. It’s a bit bizarre! I often say just give it away, we don’t need it.” While he has a definite proposition of no return to a real or symbolic homeland, connection with a Chinese identity is still evident:
I am Chinese because by definition I am. My cultural roots are Chinese. If you ask me what country I come from, it's Australia, but my cultural
234 background is Chinese. That is by definition, but I consider myself as an ABC. If you are asking me what makes me think I am Chinese, I don’t know!
The fact that he does not maintain physical and emotional links with China yet still defines himself as Chinese and more specifically as ABC illustrates that decentered connections may be just as important as those formed around teleology of return and origin. As Clifford (1994: 306) contends, “a shared ongoing history of displacement, suffering, adaptation or resistance may be as important as the projection of a specific origin”. The specification of ‘ABC’ suggests an exclusive social space of Australian- born Chinese who are able to share past experience of adaptation and connection but are innately connected to a larger imagined origin that is shared by diasporic Chinese.
While some do have distant relatives, they do not personally maintain close familial connections. Sunny 4(4) explains his connection with China:
I don’t consider China as my homeland because Australia is my home. But I have connections with it – that is how I view it. I guess I do have some contact with cousins … My mother always wants me to go back. The relatives want to see you and this and that. I say ok I’ll go back and say hello. For me it’s a place where my family grew up and there is connection before me, but it is not a total connection.
Persistence of physical and emotional linkages maintained within the family undoubtedly create a sense of ethnicity; however, underlying this is an allegiance to an imagined past which establishes a sense of cultural heritage. Thus, while Sunny experience’s does not totally encapsulate the notion of homeland as China, the invisible connection to an imagined collectivity is shared by participants of this study. Their notions of attachments to ‘homeland’ as China are quite different from recent migrants, as often highlighted in transnational studies.
Moreover, the centering device of physical return to land as a means of evaluating attachment to homeland is problematic. Jenny 6(6), whose father was born in HK, explains:
235 When I was little we used to go back to HK quite often and stayed with my grandparents for a few weeks. Being in those environments made me more Chinese but I don’t really feel that HK is home. It is hard for me to explain!
Contrary to the transnational paradigm, frequency of return does not necessitate a sense of home or intimate attachment to land. Although his father’s family was based in HK and visits were primarily familial-based, nonetheless a sense of attachment was uncultivated. Yet for Jenny there is certainly more of a connection with Chinese people than others in Australia, as she expresses: “I feel that there is more of a connection with Chinese people even if I don’t like them or they don’t like me or we don’t know each other. I sort of feel like there is.”
Indeed, long-established ABC’s experiences do not neatly meet the transnational criteria of a strong attachment to and desire for literal return to a well preserved homeland. There is little room in the transnational paradigm for the principled ambivalence about physical return and attachment to land which characterises much of their consciousness. Therefore we should be wary of defining identity solely based on the practice of ‘transnationalism’. How do history, articulations of travels, homes, memories and transnational connections appropriate and shift the discourse of Chineseness? The answer to this question lies in the particularity of feelings of home, belongingness and identification which are constructed not by fixing their location in space and defining them through distinctive positioning with a particular locality, but in interconnections porous and open. As such, the proceeding section brings to light such dimensions in relation to the significance of intergenerational ties that bring in the force of imagination as both memory and desire that are shared by long-established diasporic ABC.
Intergenerational Influence The establishment of Chineseness is often articulated through circuits of travels, memories, histories and links with homeland. Such circuits have been celebrated as a site of authentic meaning, value and experience, imbued with nostalgic memories and the love of a particular place. As such, memories provide an intimate means of
236 connecting life worlds of the past and the present and are continually reshaped to provide different perspectives (Davidson 2003). Nostalgic memories, in particular, intensify the intergenerational impact on the construal of home and identity, as the intensity of longing inevitably impacts not only the overseas-born migrant’s sense of identity but also that of their descendants because of the power of emotions. For descendents of migrants, links to homeland are largely shaped by nostalgic memories of previous generations. In this way, long-established ABC construction of Chineseness is not articulated through direct circuits but largely impacted by intergenerational forces of the linkages that older generations maintain. Their imagination of a notional homeland is often situated between different generational and locational points of reference percolating from their own parents, grandparents and other relatives.
Vera 3(2) was born in 1966 and grew up in Sydney. Her paternal grandfather moved from China to Australia in 1917 “to earn money”. Although her grandfather settled in Australia there was, nevertheless, the maintenance of intense transnational activities through constant physical movements, remittances, letters etc. between the two places. Her father was born in China where he married her mother. After the initial years of marriage her father moved to Australia to assist her grandfather’s market garden business. Her mother, while waiting for approval to migrate to Australia, was caught in the Chinese Cultural Revolution and was persecuted because the family owned properties in China. Her father tried hard to speed up the application process but due to the impact of the White Australia Policy, it took many years before her parents could reunite. Vera recounts her connections with China:
I have only been to China several times over the many years. I don’t have contact with any relatives over there. I don’t know anybody there, but I don’t mind going on visits. My mother doesn’t want to go to China because she was tortured and basically suffered quite a lot – she never wants to go back again. Only my father went back to the village a few times after they came to Australia. My mother used to talk about what life was like in China and she still talks about it now. She suffers depression and it actually gets worse when she talks about how she was persecuted. But for my father, when he talks about it he actually talks
237 about the good times. So they have totally different perspectives in their memories. This is a classic narrative that can undoubtedly be told in countless variations by many long-established diasporic Chinese throughout the world, articulating the shared experience of the weakening linkages with homeland as a locality – that is, geographical China per se. Yet, there are intimate connections established through intergenerational influence of stories, memories and myths which have significant impact on diasporic imagination of ‘being Chinese’. Vera reveals that she has only been to China a few times throughout her life and does not have emotional ties with relatives, but there is fascination about the place that her grandparents and parents left. She expresses, “I hear different stories about life in China and I sometimes imagine what my life would be like if I was brought up there”. At the same time, Vera has never lost a sense of certainty about the self-declared fact of her Chineseness. Although she is well integrated into the Australian society, she is proud of her Chinese heritage. She expresses, “I feel I’m very lucky as I have a unique quality to my situation. I was born in Australia but of Chinese heritage”. The connection which she has with the ‘Chinese race’ is emphasized by the intensity of her statement that “a political attack on the Chinese community is like a personal strike” on herself. Although well integrated, the stance on such issues highlights an identity which is established through connection with an imagined ‘Chinese’ collectivity. This glimpse into one ordinary individual with long history in Australia indicates that weak physical and emotional linkages that an individual holds with ‘homeland’ as China per se do not necessarily have direct impact on the construal of Chineseness. Through intergenerational connections, memories of stories, myths, events and old photos of the family become a part of daily life which continuously shape identities and establish a sense of attachment with the ‘homeland’.
The power of intergenerational influence on the establishment of identity for diasporic Chinese can further be highlighted through Sean 4(3)’s experience. Similar to Vera, he maintains no physical or emotion linkages with China, but there is definitely a sense of certainty about his sense of Chineseness which is spatially constructed. His connection with China was largely influenced by his grandparents’ conscious effort in maintaining his Chinese identity as well as through means of media during the first developmental
238 ten years of his life. Sean explains that the Kung Fu82 movies that his grandparents encouraged him to watch in his childhood played a major role in his establishment of Chineseness. He explains that because Kung Fu was symbolic of the Chinese culture, through watching those movies he developed an interest in the Chinese traditions, history and pride:
I think my grandparents were worried about our Chinese so they got us Kung Fu movies to watch. The videos! I think they wanted us to watch the soaps but I didn’t like them so they had to settle with the Kung Fu movies. I still watch them on occasions, if someone has got all the tapes then I will borrow them and watch them. But I guess I don’t watch them as much now because my wife can’t speak Chinese. But definitely during uni times and the first couple of years after uni, I listened to tapes, CDs, Chinese songs. Even though I didn’t understand, I still listened to them … I think my love of Chinese history comes from those Kung Fu movies. All the armies fighting, the emperors, I wanted to understand the culture behind the empires of China, one country three kingdoms, the classic stories!
An important aspect of the electronic media is that there has been a reinforcement of the stereotypes by which Chinese are represented. As Said (1978: 26) articulates, “All the media’s resources have forced information into more and more standardised modes.” Although Sean has never been to China until recently, the ideology of an imagined China as homeland was largely developed through the reinforcement of stereotypes through movies, TV, music and also through intergenerational influence throughout his life course. The interest in Chinese Kung Fu movies was due to his grandparents’ conscious effort in maintaining attachment to his Chinese roots. Consequently, he developed a cultural attachment to a long glorious history of the Chinese race which contributed to his Chinese heritage. His diasporic imagination of ‘being Chinese’ has direct ramifications of the way he determines to raise his children:
82 Kung Fu is a Chinese word for Chinese martial arts. 239 I want to raise my kids definitely with a Chinese identity. It is a conscious thing. I am proud to be Chinese and I want them to think that way. I am not going to teach them that the Chinese are better but definitely that the Chinese have contributed to world development. And I will teach them the key historical facts about Chinese history, that the Chinese empire was better than the Roman Empire!”
The diasporic experience is a dynamic process of interactions between places and ideologies, as identities are not established in a vacuum but are intergenerationally influenced. Although the distinction between memory, nostalgia and history which are the source of imagination are often blurred and dynamic in the passing of generations, nevertheless they are of much import in the construal of ethnicity for people in diasporas. This highlights that contemporary images of ‘home’ often intertwine between origin, roots, cultural heritage, ancestral homeland and local residence which form a significant part of the diasporic imagination of Chineseness.
Of importance here is that transnational links maintained by the family and intergenerational influence often produce varied notions of home, leading to the development of hybridised lives (Wolf 2002). These notions often lead to situations where the negotiation of identity for migrants and their descendents often occurs in a space of liminality and concepts of a de-centered identity develop. Martin 4(2) highlights the way in which intergenerational influence had consequential impact on the way in which he (re)negotiated and (re)articulated identity. He explains that his interest in Chinese culture and heritage all stemmed from his relationship with his grandfather who played an important role in the establishment of his identity. His grandfather would tell him Chinese myths and legends and the people’s way of life in China. Although his grandfather insisted on the maintenance of a Chinese identity, his parents, however, never really wanted to associate with their Chinese past because of the difficulties they had in establishing their life in the Western world. While both his father and Martin experienced racial assaults, for him they led to stronger affiliations with “everything Chinese” whereas, for his father, they led to a concealment of his Chinese past in order to be accepted. He struggled between his father’s persual of integration and his desire to maintain his Chinese heritage. In the hybridised lives of long-established migrants their
240 negotiation of identity and belongingness are inevitably influenced by their family’s imagination of ‘home’ and experience of displacement. It is within the ambiguities of movement and identity that diasporic communities locate a sense of belongingness, contest boundaries and attempt new spaces of identity. Concisely, although transnational practices are a significant aspect in understanding linkages between home and identity, other dimensions of diasporic imagination of homeland need to be explored in order to adequately capture the different processes of identity negotiations.
The negotiation of Chineseness as deployed in migration narratives often involves interplay of feelings of home and cultural identification with homeland which is inevitably associated with China. These stories illuminate the precarious establishment of Chineseness through diasporic imagination which is often neglected under the current transnational paradigm. If continuous transnational linkages are maintained with China, then Chineseness would be understood as constituting substantial cultural context. However, as with many cases of long-established Chinese, those who have settled away from the original homeland have imaginary and subjective relationships to this imputed homeland which is an important part of the construction of Chineseness. In other words, identification with China as homeland is constructed in a context of coexistence with a diasporic imagination that is influenced by the previous generations.
While the transnational framework is certainly important in understanding the physical and emotional linkages that migrants maintain, it is often bounded to particular localities as well as concentrating largely on the experience of recent migrants. As such, the prevailing theoretical framework of using transnational linkages as a centering device for the construction of ethnicity and attachment is problematic. Notions of home which shape identity should not be solely assessed on the intensity of transnational linkages – intergenerational influence in the form of stories, myths, secrets, photographs etc. actively shape the construal of an ‘imagined’ homeland. The negotiation of identity for those with long-term settlement is not merely a passive process of participation in transnationalism, but is also actively influenced by the force of memory, nostalgia and imagination of the family as they become a part of daily life.
241 Conclusion
While Australia is famous for its culturally diverse society and that it officially embraces the policy of multiculturalism, a major challenge that Chinese Australians still face daily (even those who have resided here for over three generations), is that of identity. The portrayals of images regarding integration and assimilation resulting in lack of research on subsequent generations have indeed led to misconceptions being formed about the nature of this community. While such models are not completely unfounded in the experience of early migrants and some overseas-born migrants, the experience of long-established ABC highlights that a much more complex process of identity negotiation is present which has subsequent impact for their incorporation into the wider Australian society. Indeed, a contributing factor leading to the production of assumptions noted above is located in the precise definition of Chineseness (and Australianness). Pertinent to the discussion in this chapter, however, is the problematic nature of assimilation models, which consider cultural identities bounded and mutually exclusive. As previously highlighted, this notion reflects the static nature of essentialist conceptions of ‘Chineseness’ and ‘Australianness’ held by Chinese and non-Chinese, which intertwine with notions of ‘race’, culture and identity. The problem then is the inability of assimilation models to reflect identity processes involved in the construction of multiple, hybrid and fusion identities. The formation of identity of subsequent generations is a fluid process and a number of different identities can be held and merged simultaneously without one identity necessarily predominating over or resulting in the erasure of the other. As such, in order to conduct any meaningful research, it is critical to acknowledge the heterogeneous divergences of the subsequent generations of Chinese communities in Australia.
Certainly the concept of hybridity has been useful in providing a way to understand the settled identities characteristic of the diasporic experience. Different approaches to hybridity have emerged as means to unwrap the complicated entanglements of identity. One perspective emphasizes ‘double consciousness’ where individuals are able to assert their identities according to different contexts. An alterative approach emphasizes the amalgamation of identities in which a ‘third space’ is created. Both perspectives are intellectual decenterings built upon notions of difference and otherness and are largely a means of deligitimising the homogenisation of diverse cultures into a single group.
242 However, the very logic of both aspects, as Moya (2000b) contends, is paradoxically, reinstatements of homogeneity based on exclusionary lines. The celebration of difference has unintentionally created a kind of universalising sameness such that we are all marginal. Attempts in the abandonment of identity categories through notions of hybridity as currently formulated thus fundamentally problematic as the significance of identity still depends largely on that fact that the organisation of society is highly based on relative position from essentialist categories. Moreover, we need to understand that the varying process of identity construction is at times purposeful, at times unintentional or wholly circumstantial. The purpose of this chapter is not to applaud or delegitimise a particular perspective of hybridty, but rather to bring to light that subsequent generations may engage in different processes of identity formation depending on the relational position of the self with the other in a particular social context.
The politics of multiple hybrid identities, as Papastergiadis (2000: 31) highlights, are “often perceived as the collapse of the political because it is considered impossible to reconcile solidity with difference”. Since all identities are subjected to change, how do members of diasporic communities make sense of themselves when identity seems to be changing and there is no sense of stability and truth? The answer lies in the relational positioning of the self to the other which is always determined upon references to a number of essentialised collectivities. As Dunn (1998: 21) maintains, “identity politics involves a preoccupation with group membership, the determination of group boundaries being a necessary condition for definition of the self”. It is important to highlight here that no matter whether one positions himself/herself within or outside a cultural group, collective identities are definitely utilised as a point of reference for making sense of one’s experiences. Collective identity may emerge as part of how groups meet their perceived needs, or it can be part of a gradually assembled view of a group conditioned by the social context in which they are embedded. What follow is a narrative that indicates what separates one from the other, that gives significance to that meaning of that separation resulting in the establishment of identity categories. In this sense. As Ang (2001) maintains, whether we may perceive identity as artificial or real, the fact is that cultural identities are real social and symbolic forces in histories and politics.
243 Furthermore, despite postmodern theoretical discourses that maintain identities are constructed, thus somehow not real – identities are generally expressed precisely because they feel ‘natural’ and ‘essential’ and are inherently political. While the general emphasis of ‘hybridity’ has been on the negative ambivalent experience, it is necessary to acknowledge those who have accepted multiplicity as a natural part of their lives. In the case of long-established ABC, the manipulation and reshaping of identities can lead to both contradictory feelings of ambivalence and contentment. In order to adequately comprehend the complex process of hybridisation it is vital to portray the varying hybrid experiences in the lives of diasporic communities.
The critical relation between notions of home and identity is a central role in the hybrid construction of Chineseness. I highlighted the inadequacy of transnational models in their incorporation of the experience of long-settled communities and the problematics of utilising transnational linkages as a centering tool for the construction of Chineseness and attachment to Chinese heritage. Those with long settlement cannot be adequately incorporated in the transnational paradigm as their negotiation of ethnicity is invariably different from recent migrants. Through the experience of subsequent generations I brought to light a decentered dimension of linkage with homeland through intergenerational ties that bring in the force of imagination as both memory and desire. Linkages connecting diasporic communities do not necessarily need to be articulated predominately through a real or symbolic homeland – decentered connections are as significant as those formed around notions of origin or return.
Having reached the final in-depth discussion of this thesis, the following chapter provides a summary of the main research carried out in this study and implications of my findings. The three main areas that this thesis has examined in detail are the authentication process of Chineseness, the interrelation between Chineseness and life transitions and the hybrid identities of subsequent generations. Furthermore, the final chapter will also highlight some significant areas for future research.
244 CHAPTER 8 CONCLUSION
Diaspora usually presupposes cultural connections between multiple communities of a dispersed population who feel, maintain, revive or reinvent a connection with an imagined homeland in various ways. This thesis has utilised diasporic and cultural theories on identity to explore construction of the Chinese identity through the multifarious ways long-established ABC negotiate Chineseness within the context of the family, mainstream Australian society, and Chinese diasporic spaces. Building on Mohanty’s (2000) work which argues that the oppositions between postmodernist and essentialist theories of identity are both false and unhelpful, this thesis has emphasized that identities can be real and constructed. They can be politically significant on the one hand and variable and dynamic on the other. In developing the framework of this research, I employed Moya’s (2000a, 2000b) theoretic orientation on the examination of identity that is – to acknowledge how social categories of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ function in individual lives without constricting individuals to those social collectivities. According to Elder and Johnson (2003: 54), theoretical orientations establish a common framework to guide explanatory research through the identification and formulation of research problems, the rationale for the selection of variables and strategies for designing research and analysing data. In this manner, this thesis proceeded with a framework that explored Chineseness as an objective location. Informants’ biographical narratives as well as their interaction with others in their daily lives contained deep sources of information on their experiences of Chineseness and accounts of their social world. As Hames-Garcia (2000: 112-113) contends:
Acknowledgement of how knowledge is situated enables strong objectivities rather than hinders it, whereas false objectivity…results from taking partial perspectives as universal and not interrogating the causes and results of their partiality.
245 Without collective cultural constructs, it would be impossible to explain significant features of identity formation. Thus, instead of delegitimising essentialist identities as the postmodernists have pursued, I examined the strategic forms of essentialism of Chineseness through racial and cultural discourses to gain an understanding of how subsequent generations construct and deal with social determinants which are ‘real’ to everyday life.
In exploring the Chineseness of long-established ABC, I demonstrated that despite their generational distance from China, a sense of ‘being Chinese’ – however one may define it – was still crucial to making sense of their identity across the life course. It needs to be noted that significant patterns relating to their experiences of Chineseness were not evident across different sequential generations. As Levitt and Glick-Schiller (2004: 1017) rightly point out:
Conceptualising generation as a lineal process, involving clear boundaries between one experience and the other, does not accurately capture the experiences of living in a transnational field because it implies a separation in migrants’ and non-migrants’ socialization and social networks that may not exist. It also fails to take into account that generational experiences are shaped by common experiences during youth that create a shared worldview or frame of reference which influences subsequent social and political activism.
Informants of different generations shared more commonalities than differences as they were influenced by similar factors including socio-cultural context, familial environment and intergenerational forces. The persistence of Chineseness was largely associated to the fact that they were compelled to confront Chineseness as an inescapable ‘reality’ in their lives because of cultural prescriptions such as visual manifestation of physicality in a ‘white’ dominated society of Australia. This ‘reality’ existed despite generational longevity and strong national and cultural identities grounded in Australia, and whether or not they willingly chose to identify as ‘Chinese’. Furthermore, intergenerational relations also played a crucial part in the (re)construction and (re)establishment of a Chinese identity across their life course, leading to varying trajectories.
246 However, the findings of this study highlighted that while Chineseness may be unavoidably inscribed into their lives, it did not necessary support Ang’s (2001: 44, 50) contention that Chineseness forms a kind of ‘prison-house’ that bounds the identities of diasporic Chinese, making it virtually impossible to escape from such inscriptions. Rather, the hybridness of their identity situated them in a unique position where they could contextually manipulate their identities as they wish. More importantly, while a sense of ‘being Chinese’ varied across their life course as they were subjected to differing biographical and historical circumstances, the hybrid nature of their identity was not always ‘wounded attachments’. Such hybridness was at times an enriching sense of identification.
In carrying out this examination, I took Chineseness as a unit to understanding what made the quality and character of the experiences of subsequent generations. While personal accounts were dynamic in nature as they involved an interplay of memory, recollection, attitudinal response and changing contexts, systematic illustration through excerpts from in-depth interviews provided a explanatory and exploratory way of understanding the contemporary process of identity negotiation. The specific experiences I took up in Chapters 5–7 represent local but significantly influential social phenomena for Chinese in Australia. I do not imagine that the accounts I have given of identity are exhaustive or completely universal, as differences arguably exist due to the dynamics of social contexts and histories of each community. However, I believe fundamental processes of identity negotiation are applicable to the social identities of race and ethnicity within the Chinese diaspora and are also shared by members of others societies.
In concluding this study it is pertinent to consider the implications of arguments presented and to note significant areas for future research that can build on the foundations this study provides. Before proceeding to a discussion of these aspects, this chapter begins by summarising the arguments established in the main chapters of this study. A brief summary of each chapter is thus outlined below.
247 Authenticity and Recognition
To pursue the main objective of exploring and deconstructing the concept of Chineseness, Chapter 5 established the problematic notion of Chineseness through the daily lives of long-established ABC. It examined the discourses of authenticity and recognition through the disjunctures of essentialist and postmodern approaches to identity as Chinese. While contradictions and ambivalences of ‘being Chinese’ have been critical in delegitimising the notion of Chineseness as a collective racial category, the essentialist notion of a Chinese identity is nevertheless fundamental in constructing notions of sameness and difference between external and in-group members. By engaging in the significance of essentialised cultural and racial ‘markers’ of language, physical appearance and links to homeland, I highlighted that racial boundaries were an authoritative stamp of authenticity consolidating the social positions of subsequent generations. As such, rather than dismissing their significance, preset boundaries need to be fully acknowledged, retained and explored in own ramifications. The theorisation of Chineseness would be incomplete without a concurrent problematisation on its configuration of power that stratifies the hierarchical positions of the diasporic Chinese. The discussion in Chapter 5 provided the basis from which hierarchies of Chineseness are constructed and the criteria used to ascertain the ‘authenticity’ of ‘being Chinese’.
Through the racial discourse, I highlighted that regardless of personal history or how strongly cultural identities may be grounded in Australia, informants were continually seen through a prism of otherness because of the visual manifestation of physicality which subsequently became an important source of reinforcement of Chineseness. In this manner, essentialist qualities prescribed through racial attributes formed the basis by which individuals constructed difference and sameness; thus, a mode of identification by others and the self. As such, in a ‘white’ dominated society, long- established ABC who ‘look’ Chinese often found it impossible to achieve complete integration. The intense desire for group recognition consequently led to differing responses and attitudes of belonging; for some it was a negative association with being Chinese, for others it was gravitation towards the Chinese community. Such variations were examined in detail through the movements and changes across the life course in Chapter 6. Particularly prominent in such longing for belonging was during the childhood and adolescence years as young people are especially susceptible to social
248 and cultural influences which play a major role in shaping an individual’s identity (Clausen 1986: 85). The accommodation of difference became fundamental in ensuring a sense of sameness.
While the salience of language as a cultural authentication of Chinese culture is well acknowledged, I highlighted that language retention is predominately impacted by practicality and functionality of social contexts and thus should not be solely used as a measurement of Chineseness. Of import was that the transition from Chinese to English did not happen gradually but was directly impacted by intergenerational relations across the life course. In particular, managing the extent of intrusion of the host language as well as retention of the heritage language was based on the perceived necessity of usage by one’s parents. In exploring the notion of Chineseness as an objective location, this chapter also examined the social stratification and racial hierarchical constructions of ‘being Chinese’ through the role of language. Although dominant groups of the West often prescribe stereotypical labels of ‘real’ or ‘unreal’ Chinese based on one’s ability to speak the language, in-group members also played an important role in establishing their own hierarchy of identities. For the illiterate Westerner, those who can speak any form of Chinese are deemed ‘true’ Chinese; for a Cantonese-speaking Chinese, only those who can speak Mandarin are deemed ‘authentic’; for a Mandarin-speaking Chinese, only those who speak Beijing Mandarin are ‘pure’ Chinese. For long- established ABC, variations in the fluency of Chinese led to hierarchies of Chineseness being formed as they positioned themselves against the different groups of Chinese migrants in Australia. A sense of ‘superiority’ or ‘inferiority’ to others varied depending on the perceived ‘authenticity’ of their Chineseness.
Concisely, Chapter 5 unveiled the ambivalence and contradictions in the notion of being ‘Chinese’ through the contemporary experiences of long-established Australian-born Chinese. Rather than simply celebrate or dismiss the various uses of the collective Chinese identity, this chapter examined the dialectics of sameness and difference, hierarchical stratification and decentered connections through the discourse of authenticity. Having established the problematic nature of Chineseness and its validity as an important category of identification and analysis, the next chapters proceeded to explain where and why ‘being Chinese’ is empowering.
249 Life Course
Chapter 6 examined how Chinese identity is reshaped across life course trajectories of sequential generations in cultural and social contexts, bringing in aspects of gender, sexuality and locality in the analysis. In line with the theoretical stance of this thesis which maintained socially constructed identities as crucial to giving meaning to daily life, my approach to the analysis of Chineseness was derived from both the static life cycle and fluid life course frameworks. Recently, the theoretical orientation of the life cycle has increasingly come under scrutiny because of its inability to account for variation and diversity of movement through time. In recognition that cultural identities are influenced by an ever-changing historical, social and biographical context, the ‘life course’ orientation has emerged to challenge the fixed and repetitive sequence of ages and stages of the life cycle. While the life course approach celebrates variability and dynamics of aging, visible manifestation of life stages is nevertheless an unavoidable feature of the present day operations of social identities. Life stages are signifiers and triggers which do play on people’s lives. While they may remain similar in signification for individuals inhabiting a common society, as Hareven (1996) and Elder et al. (2003) contend, different trajectories are inevitable because of individual biography and historical contexts. As discussed in Chapter 5, although the notion of Chinese identity is socially constructed and fluid in nature, there is nevertheless something we call Chinese. In the same manner, while the timing of transition into different socially constructed life stages varies for each individual, we can still speak of continuity, there is something that we call parenthood or adolescence. As such, if the social construct of life stages which is an essential feature of the developing path of life is totally dismissed, it makes it rather difficulty to draw any conclusive account on the meaning of variability of individual lives. In this respect, I argued that since age-based transitions is a significant resource through which individuals construct their biographical narratives as well as their interaction with others, socially constructed stages of life should not be casually delegitmised, but rather should be utilised as important guiding markers for the analysis of the changing nature of identity formation across life course trajectories.
Furthermore, the theoretical notion of life stages refers not just to the experiences of individuals in that age group but it also refers to a particular social arrangement of
250 intergenerational relations and age hierarchies which can be evaluated. For example, the experience of children in this society is not self-evidently deduced from the lived experiences of individual children, rather it is based in children’s lives to the extent that it articulates an individual’s social location. Such location is discovered by an explanatory account of the nature of generational stratification, how it is recreated and regulated and the particular social groups and culture it legitimates. As such, while a life stage is socially constructed, the constructedness does not make it illegitimate in advance.
Having established this, Chapter 6 brought together narratives of long-established ABC and examined how they make sense of Chineseness through specific age-based social identities from childhood through to old age. While most informants grew up in Australia during the period of the White Australia Policy and early-stage multiculturalism, it was evident that common birth cohorts and life stages did not necessary always equate to similar life experiences. Intricacies of local environments such as intercultural relation, and ethnic composition of community have profound impact on the varied ways Chineseness is negotiated, leading to different trajectories. Consequently, while the relational sorting processes in which young people learn to identify sameness/difference have been argued to determine potentialities for the rest of the life course, the experiences of informants highlighted that changes could occur through the interplay of age transitions, personal biography and social context across the course of life. Furthermore, gender and sexuality were also crucial aspects in the formation of social and cultural identities and at certain points in life they were distinctively meaningful and influential to the social roles of individuals.
During the growing up years, visible manifestation of physicality was fundamental for the awareness of their Chinese background in the social context of Australia where Chinese were a minority. This was conditioned through ongoing interactions of the ‘self’ with the ‘other’. In the transition to marriage life, familial manifestation of Chinese cultural ideologies took over, defining for subsequent generations the expectations and requirements that they must meet in their marriages. While marriage is often seen as a personal matter between two individuals, the pressure to marry within one’s ethnic group highlighted that cultural-familial ideologies through intergenerational relations had genuine implications for their life decisions. The choice
251 of their partner was thus often perceived as a cultural statement that embodied their sense of Chineseness. Consequently, those in interracial marriages, particularly women, became the subject of objectivity. While the experiences of the objectified are crucial, to adequately encapsulate the entirety of the self/other relations the examination of the perceptions of the ‘gazer’ is also necessary. The articulation of Chineseness thus goes hand in hand with the articulation of sexism. The transition to parenthood brought Chineseness into their conscious awareness as parents decided on what values were to be or not to be taught to their children. In the later years of life, Chineseness became a matter of lifestyle in the ‘habitus’ of everyday living as old age brought with it much time and space for self-reflection that was not possible in the busy middle years of life. Furthermore, familial-cultural values of duty and obligation to the elderly have continued relevance for care of the aged in which gender had specific relevance for the way generational relations were acted out. Since generational relations in later life were interconnected with experiences and transitions from earlier life, thus old age was part of an overall process of generational interaction, rather than an isolated stage.
In short, this chapter was concerned with the identity politics of how Chineseness was represented and configured across life course trajectories. It showed that the interplay of age and the dynamics of society were fundamental to the ways that subsequent generations negotiate Chineseness. Hence, Chinese identity is a cultural product that can be established in various ways depending on one’s social and cultural location across the life course.
Hybridity
Having established that the formation of Chineseness is a fluid process which is contingent to social and cultural contexts, biographical and historical time and socially constructed age-based identities, Chapter 7 proceeded to explore the process of hybridization, as it is what is in-between socially constructed cultural identities that is central to the understanding of subsequent generations’ experiences of Chineseness. Despite informants’ longevity in Australia, they were often situated in liminality where they were caught within collective social spaces of the Australian society and Chinese diaspora. Whilst raised and educated in Australia, they were subjected to the conditioning forces of intergenerational relations leading to both contradictory feelings
252 of ambivalence and contentment. Yet, their experiences of hybridity have largely been neglected in the literature. Melting-pot concepts, such as the perception that ethnic identification decreases over successive generations, and the concept of unifying sameness that lumps all ‘Chinese’-looking into one group have contributed to a lack of in-depth research relating to the negotiation of identity of the subsequent generations of early Chinese migrants in Australia.
The two main theoretical orientations of hybridity – ‘double consciousness’ and ‘third space’ – have emerged as an attempt to abolish the reliance on unitary notions embedded in previous assimilationist frameworks. The notion of ‘double consciousness’ suggests that there may be several identities that an individual can simultaneously assert and ‘third space’ suggests that there may be a number of different functions that a single source of identification may have. However, I argued that underlying both approaches is an intellectual decentering built upon collectivised notions; the very logic of these conceptual notions of hybridity has ironically led to a reinstatement of sameness and a redrawing of exclusionary lines. Since cultural identities are effects of social stablisation and historical process, therefore the social significances of collective cultural constructs cannot be totally dismissed as they are tools that enable us to account for the role of multiplicity in an enabling way. Feelings of ambiguities and ambivalences resulting from multiplication and fragmentation of identities are thus critical resources that serve as the fundamental organising principle in constructing notions of sameness and difference.
Diasporic literature has generally portrayed hybridity as a negative experience; missing from the debates are those who have accepted complex identities in their lives. I emphasized the importance of portraying the varying experiences of hybridity in order to fully comprehend the complex process of hybridisation. I illustrated the ways in which subsequent generations were able to manipulate and reshape their identities which not only led to feelings of ambivalence but also contentment. Their experiences highlighted a positive acceptance of hybridity as they take advantage of their unique ability to ‘pick and choose’ their Australian and Chinese identities as they like. As such, hybridity was not always a threatening site of struggle. Despite unavoidable inscriptions of Chineseness into their daily lives as a result of their racial attributes, to a large extent
253 that they were able to contextually select and manipulate their identities to enhance group belonging thus bringing about feelings of enrichment and social advancement. Furthermore, I highlighted that hybrid experiences of subsequent generations are associated with the nature of linkages with homeland in a peculiar way. Notions of ‘home’ are embedded with meanings, emotions, experiences and relationships that create a sense of belongingness – an important aspect in theorising identity. It was clear that due to their long-term residence in Australia, they did not engage in transnational practices or have the deep cultural memories of Chinese subjects as highlighted in the migration literature. There is little room in the diasporic paradigm for the principled ambivalence about physical return and attachment to land. Their experiences of Chineseness were established through decentered linkages with an imaginary homeland. Such decentered connections were intergenerationally influenced through a variety of memories, experiences and voices within the family that bring in the forces of imagination and desire.
This thesis has thus laid the groundwork for further studies to take place, which can build upon information and perspectives provided, and make further contributions to the field of knowledge on the politics of identity for Chinese in diaspora.
Future Projections: Identity as a Fusion of Complexities
Having summarised the main arguments and findings of this study, this discussion will now consider the contributions and implications of arguments presented, suggesting areas for future research that can build on the foundations this study provides. For while this study contributes to advances in the current field of literature on the identity politics of Chinese in Australia, there are still missing gaps that need to be filled in order to achieve a more distinct picture of the identity of the long-established ABC Chinese community within the context of mainstream Australian society and the wider Chinese diaspora of which they are embedded.
Plainly, the most important contribution of this study is providing a more informed understanding of the ways in which Chineseness is negotiated in the lives of the
254 subsequent generations. However, in considering the implications of their experiences, it is important to note that these go beyond simply providing a better understanding of the negotiation of Chineseness in their everyday lives. This study has allowed informants to be active agents in re-establishing and re-constructing the notion of Chineseness. In so doing, this study gives studies of Chinese in Australia a long-term perspective of the subjective perspectives that offer insights into the daily experiences, memories, and feelings of individuals which go beyond analysis based on quantitative ‘facts’ and historical events. With such emphasis on subjective experiences, this study contests the problematic orientation of postmodernist discourse that insists identities cannot be a source of objective knowledge because they are constructed, rather than self-evidently deduced from experiences. The subjective perspectives provided by informants contain deep sources of information and knowledge supporting Mohanty’s (2000: 62) argument about the relations between experience and cultural identity:
…with all their flaws and obvious limitation, identity-based political struggles can be built on genuine political insights. Once we acknowledge…that such struggles cannot be based on a priori claims to political or moral knowledge, we can understand how they can legitimately draw on personal experiences and histories to deepen our knowledge of society.
By drawing on the personal experiences, this study highlights that the theoretical constructions of Chineseness do in fact make sense of social experiences and enable one to read the world in specific ways.
In this manner, the revelation of the ‘realities’ of Chineseness that are often hidden within wider historical and contemporary portrayal of Chinese in Australia thus deepen our knowledge of society by bringing to light misconceptions and assumptions that have been produced within these portrayals. In particular is the continued misconception that ethnic identification decreases over successive generations, despite contemporary research into hybrid formations of identity. Thus, for long-established ABC, it is often assumed that they have completely assimilated into the Australian way of life and have consequently lost their Chineseness. This assumption reflects the persistence of essentialist perceptions of Australian and Chinese identity such that each is
255 homogenous, separate and mutually exclusive. This study reveals the invalidity of these assumptions by demonstrating that Chineseness remains a salient part of the lives of subsequent generations despite their cultural integration into mainstream Australian society. Further to this, in contradiction to the assumptions that ethnic identification is lost over subsequent generations – and thus is of relatively insignificant research value – this study shows that long-established ABC are of immense value in understanding identity politics and much yet needs to be discovered in this field.
A central contribution this study makes to elucidating the sense of Chineseness of subsequent generations is achieved through insights on the nature of power relations of ‘difference’ and ‘sameness’ operating through the social construction of race within dominant ‘white’ Australian society and the wider Chinese diaspora. This thesis reveals specific issues facing long-established ABC as a racialised minority. In particular, it highlights issues of ‘race’ precluding ABC from gaining unconditional acceptance in Australia as ‘real’ Australians on account of visible manifestation of physicality, suggesting a sense of being an outsider within mainstream Australian society. Yet, at the same time, they are also precluded from gaining group identity from Chinese communities on account of their cultural attributes. For while they have acquired a broad range of symbolic cultural capital of the Australian society and have maintained values and morals of the Chinese culture, they are still unable to totally fit into either community because of the hierarchical stratification by Western and in-group Chinese diasporic ascriptions. As such, essentialist ideologies are not only a consequence of the Western hegemonic discourse, within the Chinese community that is segregated largely by the differing cultural capital of recent and old migrants, stratification based on essentialised qualities also exists. This demonstrates that the prevailing discourse of authenticity based on essentialised attributes continues to be a ‘real’ factor in determining group belonging despite the delegitimisation of identity in postmodern discourses. This provides an accurate basis for discussing the long-term effects of migration on individuals’ attitudes to Australian society. Building on the groundwork of this study, further research can explore the nature of and interrelationships between more recent Chinese migrant groups that have settled in Australia. In particular, studies can explore a range of racial issues facing this community including the impact of identity on social mobility, identification of inappropriate stereotypes and actual forms of exclusion by in-group and external members of society. These advancements will
256 strengthen Australia’s capacity to embrace cultural diversity and have important ramifications on the maintenance of social cohesion. Moreover, this study contributes to an understanding of processes of cultural change involving the hybridisation of Chinese culture. Subsequent generations do not meet the typical transnational practices of contemporary migrants and do not hold strong emotional attachment with China as homeland, yet still identify with a Chinese identity. Instead of direct circuits of linkages, links to homeland are largely shaped by intergenerational transmission of nostalgic memories. As such, it demonstrates how those with a long settlement history take on new dimensions in their construal of their Chineseness through decentered connections to homeland rather than transnational linkages to a specific locality. In particular is the recognition that decentered connections are just as important as those formed around teleology of return and origin. This leads to ‘new’ forms of Chineseness being produced, which differ from other forms of Chineseness held by heterogeneous groups across the Chinese diaspora. Nevertheless, further research needs to be carried out to fully explore how subsequent generations construct and negotiate hybridised Chinese-Australian identities. Research designs that focus on intergenerational cultural transmission between generations will be beneficial in understanding the trajectories of change and continuity that mould the formation of Chineseness in hybridised lives. Comparative studies examining how different Chinese diasporic groups contest, negotiate and interpret the meanings of Chineseness across time and space will also be useful in enabling greater understanding of its operation in accordance with temporal-spatial conditions.
This study also highlights the significance of locality, gender, sexuality, age-based identities, birth cohorts and generation in shaping the experiences and identities of long- established ABC within the dynamic contexts of the social and cultural spaces they inhabit across their life course. Clearly, there are many difficulties in understanding such dynamics and complexity of lives. As highlighted by Elder and Johnson (2003:73), “an ongoing challenge in life course studies is to attend simultaneously to the contextual specificity of development and aging while identifying generalizable patterns toward more useful theory”. The innovative aspect of the conceptual framework of this study lies in its use of both the life course and life cycle orientations in examining how Chineseness is socially organised and evolves over time. Furthermore, this study builds upon the contradictory orientations that argue daily experiences establish social location
257 (Clausen 1986) and one’s social location also determines the experiences one is likely to have (Moya 2000b). In doing so, it highlights that aging is a significant resource through which individuals construct their biographical narratives as well as their interaction with others, and is intricately linked to the establishment of cultural identities and belongingness. The recognition of such important linkages between ethnic identity, social pathways, developmental trajectories and changes in society thus lay the groundwork for further studies in the life course trajectories of ethnic minorities. One of the limitations of this study lies in its focus on the experiences of long-established ABC. New frontiers can focus on the direct measurements of changing contexts and modelling the interplay of lives and ethnic identity over different migrant generations. This will provide a fuller generational description of the experiences of identity for migrant communities. Dynamic relations with other racial groups over the life course constitute important changing contexts for further research which will improve the understanding of identity formation.
Although the scope of this thesis is confined to exploring the various ways Chineseness is negotiated by long-established ABC within the social and cultural spaces they inhabit, this study is able to advance diasporic and cultural theoretical orientation of identity and also highlight important areas for future research on not only Chinese in Australia but also on long-term migration issues of the nation. In 2006 the United Nations Secretary General, in addressing the General Assembly high-level meeting on migration, argued that international migration can have beneficial impacts on the migrant, their country of destination and their country of origin. I believe that this is the case but that in the contemporary migration regime these benefits are not fully experienced. The reasons for this include bigotry, racism, misconceptions and a lack of understanding about the experiences of migrants and their descendents. Increasing understanding on long-term migration issues is crucial if the full benefits of migration are to be realised.
This thesis begins the difficult project of figuring out the related methodological and analytical strategies necessary for the development of new understandings of identity politics. In this process it solves some of the key problems of current theories of identity by challenging the role of the sceptic postmodernist and dismantling the certainty of the essentialist in order to undertake this difficult and uncertain task of
258 examining the formations of Chineseness. The task is difficult because to adequately analyse identity, as Mohanty (2000: 64) reminds us, there is “no easy way out”. If we deny the validity of all identities because they are always socially constructed and tied to subjective judgments, we lose the capacity to make useful and important distinctions between different kinds of identities, values and judgments. In order for significant advances to be made in this field, future studies must not take for granted contemporary theoretical orientations (or any for that matter) rather, they need to continue the challenging task of problematicising existing theories and draw from across a range of disciplines to develop innovative, interpretative and analytical theoretical tools that will help uncover and understand new information and perspectives. This was one of the fundamental objectives and outcomes of this thesis.
259 APPENDIX
Appendix 1: Australia’s Population by Self-reported Ancestry
1986 2001 '000 % '000 % Ancestry Australian 3,402.00 21.8 6,739.60 35.9 Other Australian 198.9 1.3 106.4 0.6 ancestries(a) New Zealander 75.1 0.5 123.3 0.7 Maori 26 0.2 73 0.4 Other Pacific 19.7 0.1 91.7 0.5 Islander European English 6,607.20 42.3 6,358.90 33.9 Irish 902.7 5.8 1,919.70 10.2 Scottish 740.5 4.7 540 2.9 Italian 620.2 4 800.3 4.3 German 510.4 3.3 742.2 4 Greek 336.8 2.2 375.7 2 Dutch 231.1 1.5 268.8 1.4 Maltese 125.8 0.8 136.8 0.7 Other European 1,600.70 10.3 1,196.20 6.4 Middle Eastern Lebanese 92.4 0.6 162.2 0.9 Turkish 36.9 0.2 54.6 0.3 Other Middle 107 0.7 147 0.8 Eastern Asian Chinese 201.3 1.3 556.6 3 Indian 71.2 0.5 156.6 0.8 Vietnamese 65 0.4 156.6 0.8 Filipino 38.7 0.2 129.8 0.7 Other Asian 107.4 0.7 339.5 1.8 Other ancestry(b) 284.2 1.8 243.9 1.3 Total 15,602.20 100 18,769.20 100 population(c) Source: ABS 2007
(a) Includes Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Australian of South Sea Islander descent. (b) Includes 'mixed' ancestry. (c) Components may not add to totals because people may report more than one ancestry.
260 Appendix 2: Ancestry of Australia's Population
Generations in Australia Australian- born of Also Australian- stated Proportion of First Second born another the Australian generation generation parents ancestry population Ancestry % % % % % '000 Chinese 74.1 20.7 5.2 14.8 3.2 556.6 Australian 1.5 15.7 82.8 24.3 38.7 6,739.60 English 18.7 21.1 60.2 41.8 36.5 6,358.90 Irish 11.4 16.4 72.1 75.8 11 1,919.70 Italian 30.9 44.4 24.7 33.9 4.6 800.3 German 19 22.5 58.5 68.3 4.3 742.2 Scottish 28.2 26.7 45.1 57.1 3.1 540 Greek 37.8 46.2 16 21.2 2.2 375.7 Dutch 39.4 44.9 15.7 42.7 1.5 268.8 Lebanese 43.7 50 6.4 12 0.9 162.2 Indian 77.4 20.7 2 17.1 0.9 156.6 Vietnamese 73.8 25.9 0.3 6 0.9 156.6 Polish 49.3 38.4 12.3 36.7 0.9 150.9 Source: ABS 2003
261 Appendix 3: Countries of Birth of Australia’s Population
1954 1961 1971 1981 1995 2005 Country of '000 '000 '000 '000 '000 '000 Birth United 664.2 755.4 1,081.30 1,075.80 1,220.90 1,137.40 Kingdom New 43.4 47 74.1 160.7 304.2 455.1 Zealand Italy 119.9 228.3 288.3 275 261.6 224.3 China 10.3 14.5 17.1 25.2 107.2 191.2
Vietnam n.a. n.a. n.a. 40.7 157.8 177.7 India 12 14.2 28.7 41 80 138.7 Philippines 0.2 0.4 2.3 14.8 98.3 129.4
Greece 25.9 77.3 159 145.8 142.3 127.2
65.4 109.3 110 109.3 120.1 115.2 Germany South 6 7.9 12.2 26.5 58.8 113.8 Africa Malaysia 2.3 5.8 14.4 30.5 82.8 100.3 52 102.1 98.6 95.1 96.1 87.7 Netherlands Lebanon 3.9 7.3 23.9 49.4 77.1 85.3 Hong 1.6 3.5 5.4 15.3 76.6 76.2 Kong (SAR of China) Total 1,285.80 1,778.30 2,545.90 2,950.90 4,164.10 4,829.50 overseas- born Australia 7,700.10 8,729.40 10,173.10 11,388.80 13,907.70 15,499.10 Total 8,986.50 10,508.20 12,719.50 14,516.90 18,071.80 20,328.60 population Source: ABS 2007
262 Appendix 4: Ancestry and Language of Australia's Population Spoke a language other than English at home Ancestry % '000 Chinese 79.6 443.1 Australian 1.2 80.9 English 0.9 57.2 Irish 1.1 21.1 Italian 42.3 338.5 German 9.8 72.7 Scottish 0.9 4.9 Greek 68.8 258.5 Dutch 15.1 40.6 Lebanese 80 129.8 Indian 60.2 94.3 Vietnamese 95.9 150.2 Polish 40.1 60.5
Source: ABS 2003
263 Appendix 5: Percent of Partnered Men and Women with Spouse of a Different Ancestry, by Ancestry and Generation
1st Generation 2nd Generation 3rd Generation Male Female Male Female Male Female Ancestry % % % % % % Chinese 10 20 39 48 85 86 American 83 82 97 97 100 100 Australia 40 41 33 37 28 31 English 38 37 43 46 24 27 Greek 16 12 45 37 82 77 Indian 18 19 50 55 87 78 Irish 69 67 84 84 74 73 Italian 28 17 59 51 87 84 Lebanese 15 12 38 27 77 69 Scottish 69 64 91 89 85 80 Spanish 43 45 80 79 99 98 Welsh 76 71 96 95 96 95 Source: Khoo 2004
264 Appendix 6: Percent of Partnered Men and Women of the Second or Third Generation of Non-English Speaking Ancestries with Spouse of Australian or Anglo-Celtic Ancestries
2nd Generation 3rd Generation Male Female Male Female Ancestry % % % % Chinese 27 35 69 66 Greek 26 19 62 56 Serbian 50 41 74 63 Croatian 40 33 61 44 Italian 44 34 72 66 Maltese 48 42 59 57 Spanish 47 42 59 57 Polish 59 55 69 61 Hungarian 61 55 53 66 Russian 53 49 63 54 Lebanese 20 12 58 49 Indian 32 36 65 55 Source: Khoo 2004
265 Appendix 7: Time Schedule
The present research was conducted within a three years and four months timeframe from the period of March 2004 to June 2007. A detailed time schedule was developed in Phase 1 to guide the process of research. Below is the time schedule of the six phases undertaken:
Phase 1 March 04–July 04 Concentration on literature review and preliminary data collection at the national, community and individual levels. Development of research proposal and time schedule.
Phase 2 July 04–December 04 Identification of themes required for further exploration among long-established ABC based on initial analyses of literature and data. Development of interview questionnaire and other fieldwork arrangements. Finalisation of application for Ethics Committee Approval for fieldwork data collection.
Phase 3 January 05–March 05 Commencement of local and individual levels of fieldwork data collection. Finalisation of the adaptation of questionnaires after appropriate trialling.
Phase 4 March 05–March 06 Continuations of data collection at local and individual level. Identification of emerging themes from data collection. Discussion of emerging themes from data collection at the Chinese Studies Postgraduate Forum at Melbourne University (29- 30 June 2005).
266 Phase 5 April 06 – April 07 Extensive data analysis of results and literature. Formal documentation of findings in thesis report. Discussion of preliminary findings at the British Australian Studies Association Biennial Conference at the University of Exeter (7–10 September 2006).
Phase 6 May 07 – June 2007 Finalisation of all documentation. Submission of thesis report.
267 Appendix 8: Flyer SSEEKING TTHIRD--PLUS GGENERATION AAUSTRALIAN--BORN CCHINESE
PHDRESEARCH AT UNSW
Lucille Ngan is conducting a PhD research at the University of New South Wales that examines the construction of identity among Australian-born Chinese who have a family of over three generations in Australia or are third generation or more ABC (i.e. people born in Australia and either one of the parents was born in Australia). The hope of the study is to understand how the Chinese identity is maintained by examining the long-term impact of migration on identity formation.
The interview session will involve discussions concerning family migration history, links maintained with place of origin, sense of identity and belongingness and social experiences.
If you would like to know more about the research, please contact Lucille Ngan on:
Email: [email protected] Mob: 0414 533 022 Phone: 9660 6767 [email protected] 022 0414533 Lucille Ngan Research Chinese Identity [email protected] 022 0414533 Lucille Ngan Research Chinese Identity [email protected] 022 0414533 Lucille Ngan Research Chinese Identity [email protected] 022 0414533 Lucille Ngan Research Chinese Identity [email protected] 022 0414533 Lucille Ngan Research Chinese Identity [email protected] 022 0414533 Lucille Ngan Research Chinese Identity [email protected] 022 0414533 Lucille Ngan Research Chinese Identity [email protected] 022 0414533 Lucille Ngan Research Chinese Identity [email protected] 022 0414533 Lucille Ngan Research Chinese Identity
268 Appendix 9: Participation Information Statement and Consent Form T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W S O U T H W A L E S
UNSW SYDNEY NSW 2052. AUSTRALIA Mobile: 0414 533 022 • Fax: (02) 9385 1824 Email Address: [email protected]
SCHOOL OF SOCIOLOGY & ANTHROPOLOGY Approval No 05 2 005 Chineseness: A Long-term Perspective on the Identity of Chinese Australians
PARTICIPANT INFORMATION STATEMENT
You are invited to participate in a PhD study from the University of New South Wales that examines how and why the Chinese identity acquires its persistence and solidarity among Chinese in Australia. The hope of the study is to understand how such persistence is maintained by examining the long-term impact of migration on identity formation as Chineseness across Australian-born Chinese (ABC) in Sydney who are third generation or more. Participants in the study will be invited to participate in an interview session which will be audio-taped and lasting approximately 1- 1.5 hours. The interview will be set as a loose structure, assisted by the development of an interview guide around a list of broad topics fundamental to the study, to guide the interviewing process. The content of the interviews will focus on issues that are central to the research questions and will involve discussions concerning your own background, family migration history, links you maintain with your place of origin, sense of identity and belongingness, social networks as well as your social experiences of being an ABC in Australia. The benefits for participating in this study are that you will gain a greater understanding of yourself, discovering significant issues that that you may not have been provoked to think about. Participation will also be beneficial to the community as your responses will contribute to a creation and discovery of knowledge. However, I cannot and do not guarantee or promise that you will receive any tangible benefits from this study. Any information that is obtained in connection with this study and that can be identified with you will remain confidential and will be disclosed only with your permission, except as required by law. If you give me your permission by signing this document, I plan to discuss the results in the form of an academic thesis. In any publication, information will be provided in such a way that you cannot be identified.
If you are older than 18 and are third generation or more Australian-born Chinese, and would like to participate in the study or find out more about it, please contact, me, Ms Lucille Ngan 0414 533 022 or 9660 6767 or e-mail at [email protected]. Your contacting me in no way commits you in any way.
269 Naturally participation in the study is entirely voluntary and you may discontinue your involvement at any time. Your decision whether or not to participate has no effect on any present or future relations with The University of New South Wales that you might have. The research is my own PhD project and is not an institutional project of The University of New South Wales.
Complaints of any kind may be directed to the Ethics Secretariat, The University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052. Telephone (02) 9385 4234, or FAX (02) 9385 6648, e-mail [email protected]. Any complaints you make will be treated in confidence and investigated, and you will be informed of the outcome.
I look forward to you participating in this study.
Yours Sincerely,
Lucille Ngan PhD Candidate School of Sociology & Anthropology University of New South Wales Sydney NSW 2052
270 THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
PARTICIPANT INFORMATION STATEMENT AND CONSENT FORM (continued)
Chineseness: A Long-term Perspective on the Identity of Chinese Australians
You are making a decision whether or not to participate. Your signature indicates that, having read the Participant Information Statement, you have decided to take part in the study.
…………………………………………………… .……………………………………………………. Signature of Research Participant Signature of Witness
…………………………………………………… .……………………………………………………. (Please PRINT name) (Please PRINT name)
…………………………………………………… .……………………………………………………. Date Nature of Witness
…………………………………………………… Signature(s) of Investigator(s)
.……………………………………………………. Please PRINT Name
REVOCATION OF CONSENT Chineseness: A Long-term Perspective on the Identity of Chinese Australians
I hereby wish to WITHDRAW my consent to participate in the research proposal described above and understand that such withdrawal WILL NOT jeopardise any treatment or my relationship with The University of New South Wales.
…………………………………………………… .……………………………………………………. Signature Date
…………………………………………………… Please PRINT Name
The section for Revocation of Consent should be forwarded to Ms Lucille Ngan at School of Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney
271 Appendix 10: Interview Schedule
Interview Schedule Interviewee Date Time commenced and Duration Language(s) used Location of interview Digital recorder folder and file no
Part A Personal Background 1 Gender 2 Date of birth 3 Country of Birth (State, City) 4 Suburb of Residency and Post code 5 Marital Status (If married, what is the ethnicity and birthplace of spouse) 6 Household- Who do you live with? 7 Number of Siblings; Number of Intermarriages 8 Number of Children; Number of Intermarriages 9 Education level/ Qualifications 10 Labour Market Status and Occupational Background (Have you worked overseas? If yes, when, nature of job, duration) 11 Level of Generation 12 Where did your family come from? (Province, city, village) 13 Religiosity
Part B Migration History 14 When did your family first arrive in Australia? (State and city of settlement) 15 Who was the first to migrate? (Relationship to you, age on arrival) 16 What was the reason for migrating to Australia? 17 Whom did they stay with when they first arrived? 18 How did they establish themselves in Australia? 19 Did they ever go back to China? (If no, give reasons for not returning; if yes what was the reason for going back)
Part C Growing up 20 What was the nature of relationship with your mother? In what ways do you think she most influenced the establishment of your identity? In what ways do you think your sense of identity differs from her?
272 21 What was the nature of relationship with your father? In what ways do you think he most influenced the establishment of your identity? In what ways do you think your sense of identity differs from him? 22 What was the nature of relationship with your siblings? In what ways do you think they most influenced the establishment of your identity? In what ways do you think your sense of identity differs from them? 23 What food was served at home? Who was responsible for cooking? 24 Did your family celebrate Chinese festivities, e.g. Ching Ming, Chinese New Year, Mid Autumn festival? (If so, how?) Do you celebrate Chinese festivals with your own family? 25 Can you tell me significant moments of your childhood when you became aware of your identity?
Part D Language 26 Chinese dialect (Fluency and frequency of use), Written Chinese (Fluency and frequency of use) 27 In what situations do you speak in Chinese? (Probe of social situations, e.g. amongst Chinese, non-Chinese etc) Why? 28 Language spoken with: grandparents, parents, relative, siblings, children, friends 29 How does the use of language impact on your sense of identity? 30 Do you have a Chinese name? (Frequency of use and by whom) 31 In what situations do you use your Chinese name?
Part E Marriage and Family Life 32 What are your views on intermarriage? Is it important for you to marry someone of the same ethnic background? Has your attitude towards marriage changed? Why? 33 What are your parent’s views on intermarriage? How have they influenced your views towards marriage? 34 How do you think your partner has influenced your sense of identity? 35 Do you think that having children impacts on your sense of identity? (e.g. the way in which you want them to identify themselves)
Part F Life Course 36 Can you tell me about the critical moment of your life when you did or saw things differently? It may be a specific event/situation that marks as a significant point in your life: e.g. 1st racial experience, 18th birthday, university, 1st job, 1st relationship, marriage 37 Can you tell me about the critical moments of your life when you became aware of your identity?
Part G Place and Locality *Place of Origin (China, HK, Taiwan, Macau) 38 What are your feelings towards China as place of origin? 39 Have you been back to China? (If no, why haven't you been back?)
273 40 When and how long was the last visit? 41 What was the reason for the visit? 42 Whom did you meet up with there? 43 Whom did you stay with? 44 Did you feel at home when you were back? 45 What are the major social ties you have with China (Social, Financial, and Political)? 46 How ties are maintained (Method of contact, frequency of contact)? 47 What feelings are conjured up when you meet someone that is from your ancestral homeland? 48 Do you feel that your family is strong in maintaining links with your country of origin? *Ancestral village /Province 49 Have you been back to the village? (When was the last visit? what was the reason for the visit?) 50 Do you still have relatives living in the village? (What is their relationship to you?) 51 What does the village mean to you? (Does it form part of your ethic identity? Under what situations would you refer to it? Frequency?) 52 Can you identify people who originated from the same ancestral village as you? What distinctive characteristics they possess? 53 Do you feel that your family is strong in maintaining links with your ancestral village? 54 Would you want your children to visit the village? Why? *Home Town in Australia 55 Have you been back to your home town? (When was the last visit? What was the reason for the visit?) 56 Do you still have relatives living in the home town? (What is their relationship to you?) 57 What does the home town mean to you? (Does it form part of your ethnic identity? Under what situations would you refer to it? Frequency?) 58 Can you identify people who originated from the same home as you? Do you feel a special bonding with people who came from the same home town? 59 Do you feel that your family is strong in maintaining links with your home town? 60 Would you want your children to visit the hometown? Why? 61 Does the home town in Australia establish a sense of belongingness for you (compared to your ancestral village, China)?
Part H Sense of Identity and Belongingness 62 What does it mean to be Chinese? (Discuss about family, food, language, morals, traditions, physical appearance) 63 How much do you feel you are Chinese? Why do you feel that way? 64 How much do you feel you are Australian? Why do you feel that way? 65 Does that feeling change depending on where you are? What you are doing? Whom you are with?
274 66 How do you describe yourself to other people in Australia? When you are overseas? When you are in China? (Probe Chinese Australian, ABC or Australian Chinese or other) 67 When racist remarks are made about the Chinese community, do you feel an obligation to defend them? 68 Do you think the term ABC is discriminatory? 69 Are you aware of the immigration policies? Have social policies affected your sense of identity in any way? (White Australia, Pauline Hanson) 70 How do you think you are doing (socially and financially) compared to your family, friends, other ABC and the general community? (Questions leading to discrimination)
Part I Social Networks 71 What is the ethnicity of your close friends? (level of tolerance for different ethnicity) 72 How has your network of friends changed through time? 73 What do you see as the major distinctions between the different generations of the ABC community? 74 What are the major differences towards being Chinese between recent migrant and long-established ABC (3rd + generation)? 75 How does being an ABC impact on your involvement with the Chinese community? 76 How does being an ABC impact on your involvement with the wider community? 77 Do you have involvement with the Chinese community in Australia whether they are clubs, organisation or social groups? 78 What are the names of these groups and what do they do? 79 What languages do you use in these groups? 80 How much of your free time is involved in these groups?
275 Appendix 11: Informant’s Personal Details
Female Informants – Personal Details Highest Date level of Migratory of Place of Suburb of Educational Pseudonym Generation Birth Birth Residency Occupation Attainment Administrative Assistant; Ada 5(5) 1949 Sydney City Spiritual Healer Diploma Graduate Bella 5(5) 1977 Sydney Hurstville Piano Teacher Diploma Administrative Assistant; Professional Catherine 4(4) 1963 Sydney Carlton Clown Tafe Bachelor Daisy 4(4) 1951 Rural NSW Queensclift Lawyer Degree Graduate Debra 4(4) 1955 Sydney Hurstville Housewife Diploma Bachelor Dianne 4(4) 1952 Sydney La Perouse Librarian Degree Retired Management Consultant; Post retirement Work - Masters Bachelor Donna 4(2) 1941 Sydney Darling Point Supervisor Degree Administrative Jane 3(3) 1944 Sydney Ashfield Assistant Year 12 Janice 4(4) 1963 Sydney Dundas Bank Teller Year 12 Engineering Bachelor Jean 4(3) 1981 Sydney Ashfield Consultant Degree Administrative Masters Jenny 6(6) 1974 Sydney Gladesville Officer Degree Taxation Bachelor Jessi 4(2) 1965 Sydney Five Dock Officer Degree Rockhampt Market Lilly 4(4) 1943 on (QLD) Guildford Researcher Year 12 Bachelor Loucia 5(4) 1973 Sydney Maroubra Consultant Degree Brighton le Bachelor Mandy 5(5) 1978 Sydney Sands Optometrist Degree Mary 3(3) 1934 Rural NSW Roseville Housewife Year 12 Masters May 3(3) 1941 Darwin East Killara Housewife Degree Clemton Bachelor Sandy 4(2) 1942 NSW Park Retire Nurse Degree 3(3) (adopted family); 4(4) Quality Control Sarah (real family) 1946 Sydney Toongabbie Auditor Year 12 Bachelor Tanya 3(3) 1920 Melbourne Lawson Librarian Degree Website McMahon’s Development Bachelor Vera 3(2) 1966 Sydney Pt Manager Degree
276 Male Informants – Personal Details Highest level of Migratory Date of Place of Suburb of Educational Pseudonyms Generation Birth Birth Residency Occupation Attainment Contract Bachelor Alan 5(5) 1957 Sydney West Ryde Engineer Degree Semi-retired Bachelor Andrew 4(2) 1940 Sydney Strathfield Pharmacist Degree Development Masters Andy 5(4) 1971 Sydney Bexley Manager Degree Recruitment Bill 5(5) 1977 Sydney Bonnyrig Officer Year 12 Bachelor Bruce 4(4) 1965 Darwin Erskinville IT Consultant Degree Development Bachelor Danny 3(3) 1981 Sydney Pyrmont Analyst Degree Bachelor Dave 4(4) 1982 Sydney Greenacre IT Consultant Degree
Equity Finance Bachelor Dean 4 (4) 1979 Sydney Burwood Analyst Degree West Graduate Don 4(4) 1959 Sydney Pennant Hill Librarian Diploma Bilgola Primary School Bachelor George 4(4) 1941 NSW Plateau Teacher Degree Gerard 5(4) 1952 Sydney Carlingford Accountant Diploma Retrenched Government Jonathan 3(2) 1942 Sydney Randwick Officer Matriculation Bachelor Leon 4(4) 1971 Darwin Erskinville Doctor Degree Investment Bachelor Marco 3(3) 1979 Sydney Pyrmont Analyst Degree Taxation Bachelor Martin 4(2) 1976 Sydney Auburn Officer Degree Bachelor Nelson 4(2) 1978 Sydney Lane Cove Options Trader Degree Pete 4(4) 1955 Sydney Redfern Researcher PhD Retired Ralph 3(3) 1928 Darwin Bexley Employee Year 8 Graduate Rob 5(5) 1951 Sydney Greenwich Librarian Diploma Richmond Chartered Masters Rodney 3(2) 1966 (QLD) St Leonards Accountant Degree Australia Post Bachelor Sean 4(3) 1974 Sydney Five Dock Officer Degree Semi-retired Businessmen; Graduate Sunny 4(4) 1960 Sydney Concord Missionary Diploma
277 Appendix 12: Patterns of Marriage
Female Informants – Patterns of Marriage Mother's Father's Intermarriage Marital COB Ethnicity Place of Place of on informant's Pseudonym Status Spouse of Spouse Birth Birth family line
Ada Divorced HK Chinese Australia Australia Yes
Bella Single - - Australia Australia Yes
Catherine Single - - Australia Malaysia Yes
Daisy Single - - Australia Australia Yes
Debra Married China Chinese Australia China No
Dianne Married Australia Caucasian Australia Australia Yes
Donna Divorced Australia Chinese Australia China No
Jane Divorced HK Chinese China Darwin No
Janice Married Malaysia Chinese Australia China No
Jean Single - - Australia HK No
Jenny Defacto Australia Caucasian Australia HK Yes
Jessi Married Australia Caucasian China China No
Lilly Widowed Australia Chinese Australia Australia No
Loucia Single - - Australia Vanuatu No
Mandy Married Australia Chinese Australia HK No
Mary Widowed Australia Chinese Australia Australia Yes
May Married HK Chinese Australia Australia No
Sandy Married Australia Caucasian China China Yes
Sarah Divorced Australia Caucasian Australia China Yes
Tanya Divorced Australia Caucasian Australia Australia Yes
Vera Divorced France Caucasian China China No
278 Male Informants – Patterns of Marriage Mother's Father's Intermarriage Marital COB Ethnicity of Place of Place of on informant's Pseudonyms Status Spouse Spouse Birth Birth family line
Alan Married Australia Chinese Australia China No
Andrew Married HK Chinese China China No
Andy Married Vietnam Chinese China Australia No
Bill Single - - Australia Australia Yes
Bruce Married Australia Caucasian HK Australia No
Danny Single - - HK Australia Yes
Dave Single - - Australia Australia No
Dean Single - - HK Australia No
Don Married Singapore Chinese China Australia No
George Defacto UK Caucasian HK Australia No
Gerard Married Macau Chinese Australia Australia No
Jonathan Single - - PNG PNG No
Leon Single - - HK Australia No
Marco Single - - HK Australia No
Martin Single - - PNG PNG No
Nelson Single - - HK Australia No
Pete Single - - Australia China Yes
Ralph Married HK Chinese Australia Australia No
Rob Married HK Chinese Australia Australia Yes
Rodney Single - - HK China No
Sean Married Indonesia Chinese Australia HK No
Sunny Single - - Australia China No
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