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Chinese American Women, Identity and Education: a Qualitative Study

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Chinese American Women, Identity and Education: a Qualitative Study Syracuse University SURFACE Cultural Foundations of Education - Dissertations & Theses School of Education 5-2012 Chinese American Women, Identity and Education: A Qualitative Study Qing Li Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/cfe_etd Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Li, Qing, "Chinese American Women, Identity and Education: A Qualitative Study" (2012). Cultural Foundations of Education - Dissertations & Theses. 53. https://surface.syr.edu/cfe_etd/53 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Education at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Cultural Foundations of Education - Dissertations & Theses by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT This qualitative study explores how Chinese American women, as American- born children of new Chinese immigrants, have perceived and interpreted who they are, and how they become who they are while adapting to American society and negotiating with the interplay of race, ethnicity, class, and gender. Drawing on in- depth interviews with twenty-seven Chinese American women from two universities located on the East Coast, I argue that their segmented assimilation processes involving ongoing negotiations between maintaining ties with their ethnic and cultural backgrounds and selective integration into the mainstream of the society, which, to some extent, are subject to and predetermined by their parents‘ pre- and post- migration conditions. At the same time, my participants also struggled with how their self-defined ethnic identity intertwined with a socially constructed racial identity. My data show multiple settlement patterns among new Chinese immigrants, including traditional ethnic enclaves, and suburban white areas as well as a diverse class composition of college-educated professionals, small business owners, and working-class laborers. Those professionals from middle-class backgrounds had higher upward mobility and less residential restrictions. Participants who grew up in white neighborhoods and inner-city ethnic enclaves had different ways of understanding what it means to be Chinese American. Their identification is also subject to how they incorporated educational values and resources from their family and formal schooling into their own understandings of the social world they live in, how they negotiated their situatedness between their ethnic culture and the mainstream, and how they were recognized by others while dealing with stereotypes and discrimination. As a consequence, their identities changed over time when they were positioned in different social contexts and locations. CHINESE AMERICAN WOMEN, IDENTITY AND EDUCATION: A QUALITATIVE STUDY By Qing Li B.A. Hunan Normal University, 1999 M. Ed. Beijing Normal University, 2003 M.S. Syracuse University, 2008 DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Cultural Foundations of Education in the Graduate School of Syracuse University May 2012 Copyright 2012 Qing Li All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Honestly, I wrote this part the last after I finished the rest of this dissertation. Every time I intended to write down something, I was struggling so much with how to word what I felt and thank everyone that I was greatly indebted to. First and foremost, I would like to thank all Chinese American women who participated and shared their lives with me. I thank each of them for accepting me very quickly and trusting in me like an old friend with hospitality and generosity, and for inviting me to share their joy, pain, confusion, and struggles. Also to those who helped me out with finding participants and gave me a hand when I needed it throughout this research, I owe them so much. I have been so blessed to work with my committee members, Sari Biklen, Barbara Applebaum, and Jing Lei, who have guided me through my project with incisive comments and countless support. I specially want to thank my advisor and mentor, Sari. She is my role model. Inspired by her, I have eventually found myself a lifelong career to pursue, and realized what kind of person I want to be. I also want to thank Maryann Barker, who always gave me assistance and help. Meanwhile, I was so grateful that I have made a group of friends during my study at Syracuse. A cohort of female Chinese international students pursuing our Ph.D. in Education, we are so connected because we share intellectual sparks, face similar tough life situations, and comfort each other as sisters. Their friendship means a lot to me. Finally, my deepest thanks go to my family. My mother supports me with her unconditional love and patience. As for my husband, Qi Sun, I know he is always there for me, especially when I need a faithful listener. They are the reason why life is so beautiful and meaningful. I would also like to dedicate this dissertation to my late father. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................ iv LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. vii LIST OF FIGURE .................................................................................................. viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION: WHY CHINESE AMERICAN WOMEN IN COLLEGE SETTINGS? ............................................................................................................ 1 The Gravitating Force: Chinatown .................................................................. 8 Race and Racialized Discourses .................................................................... 15 Interpreting Chinese American Women‘s Experience with a Gender Lens ..... 20 Organization of the Chapters ......................................................................... 24 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................ 26 Segmented Assimilation and Immigration ..................................................... 26 Chinese Immigrants in the United States: Old and New ................................. 33 The Significance of Identity .......................................................................... 39 CHAPTER THREE: METHODS AND PROCEDURES ......................................... 47 Qualitative Methodology............................................................................... 48 Research Design ........................................................................................... 49 Subjects and the Settings .............................................................................. 51 Recruitment .................................................................................................. 54 In-depth Interviewing .................................................................................... 57 Ethical Consideration and Information Release ............................................ 60 Participants‘ Profiles ..................................................................................... 61 Data Analysis ................................................................................................ 83 Reflexivity .................................................................................................... 86 Learning ....................................................................................................... 88 CHAPTER FOUR: GROWING UP CHINESE AMERICAN .................................. 90 Neighborhood Matters .................................................................................. 94 Cultural Practices and Ethnic Affiliation ..................................................... 109 Education Is Important ................................................................................ 124 Summary .................................................................................................... 134 CHAPTER FIVE: NAVIGATING IDENTITY THROUGH COLLEGE................. 136 College Majors and Courses ........................................................................ 139 Pan-ethnic Student Organizations ................................................................ 156 Advocacy of Joining ................................................................................. 157 Alternative Reactions ............................................................................... 164 Dating and Marriage ................................................................................... 169 No Dating Until… .................................................................................... 170 Only Chinese/Asian ................................................................................. 174 Loosening Up .......................................................................................... 181 No Preference .......................................................................................... 187 Interracial Dating and Intermarriage ...................................................... 190 Summary .................................................................................................... 195 v CHAPTER SIX: CONSTRUCTING IDENTITY ................................................... 197 Interactions with Cultural Products ............................................................. 202 Comparison, Differentiation and Denial ...................................................... 214 Identity as Reconfiguration ........................................................................
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