Belonging to the nation: generational change,identity and the Chinese diaspora

This study reviews developments in the ethnic and national identity of the descendants of migrants, taking ethnic Chinese as a case study. Our core question is why, in spite of debates worldwide about identity, exclusion and rights, do minority communities continue to suffer discrimination and attacks? This question is asked in view of the growing incidence in recent years of ‘racial’ conflicts between majority and minority communities and among minorities, in both developed and developing countries. The study examines national identity from the perspective of migrants' descendants, whose national identity may be more rooted than is often thought. Concepts such as ‘new ethnicities’, ‘cultural fluidity’, and ‘new’ and ‘multiple’ identities feature in this examination. These concepts highlight identity changes across generations and the need to challenge and reinterpret the meaning of ‘nation’ and to review problems with policy initiatives designed to promote nation-building in multi-ethnic societies.     

‘After the break’: re-conceptualizing ethnicity,national identity and ‘Malaysian-Chinese’ identities

Focusing on ethnic Chinese as cultural citizens of the nation, this paper examines national identity in the context of generational change. In so doing, it connects to colonialist conceptions of identity the dominant framework of ethnicity that operates in Malaysia. It argues that this framework allows for the nationalist imagining of ‘Malaysian-Chinese’ as ‘outsiders’. In probing the complex conceptual relationship between ethnicity, national identity and cultural citizenship, this article asks: How does ‘ethnicity’ enter into negotiations over the ‘national’ in the cultural realm? What are the notions of cultural difference and national otherness that operate in the negative dualisms by which nation and ethnicity are defined? How are these dualisms tied to notions of authenticity and cultural citizenship? Using the novel The Harmony Silk Factory by Malaysian author Tash Aw to address these questions, this paper argues the need to rethink current policies and narratives of ethnic and national identity in Malaysia.     

‘Playing’ at the ethnic boundary: strategic boundary making/unmaking among ethnic Chinese groups in Australia

The sociological literature has constructed a systematic typology of ‘modes’ and ‘means’ of strategic ethnic boundary making/unmaking. Through exploring different strategies, scholars illustrate the processes and contexts of boundary expansion or contraction. Other scholars also distinguish ethnic elements and ‘moral' values attached to certain ethnicities but not to others. This paper acknowledges dynamic boundary making/unmaking and moral aspects of ethnicity, while exploring the different degrees to which national and pan-national identity nest within each other among ethnic Chinese groups, as well as how ethnic boundary becomes a field where people ‘play' in their everyday interactions. Based on participant observations and in-depth interviews from two pan-Chinese worksites in Australia, the paper argues that different interpretations of ethnic identity as well as how different identities (national and pan-national) are nested give people room to ‘play' at the ethnic boundary and result in different outcomes. This paper also shows that people can cross the ethnic boundary (between Taiwanese/Hong Kongese and PRC-Chinese) without expanding/contracting the existing categories or ‘repositioning/transvaluing' their ethnic statuses.     

Explaining Chinese identification in Hong Kong: the role of beliefs about group malleability

ABSTRACT

Hong Kong is an epicentre of identity conflicts in China. While numerous accounts have been proposed to explain the rise of “localism”, few have explained why many Hong Kong Chinese have maintained their ethnic identification with China. Based on an original survey of a representative sample of the population and an experiment conducted among college students, this article advances a novel explanation, arguing that people who perceive the core character of groups as shaped by context (i.e. it is malleable) are more likely to have a higher level of Chinese identification. The explanation is that in the face of deep cultural and political differences between mainland and Hong Kong Chinese, the belief induces the latter to understand those differences as stemming from people’s current situations rather than from some unchangeable national traits, thus reducing their need to adopt an alternative identity. The findings have important implications on (ethno) nation-building policies.     

Racialized national identity construction in the ancestral homeland: Japanese American migrants in Japan

This article examines Japanese Americans in Japan to illuminate how ‘Japanese American’ – an ethnic minority identity in the US – is reconstructed in Japan as a racialized national identity. Based on fifty interviews with American citizens of Japanese ancestry conducted between 2004 and 2007, I demonstrate how interactions with Japanese in Japan shape Japanese Americans’ racial and national understandings of themselves. After laying out a theoretical framework for understanding the shifting intersection of race, ethnicity, and nationality, I explore the interactive process of racial categorization and ethnic identity assertion for Japanese American transnationals in Japan. This process leads to what I call racialized national identities – the intersection of racial and national identities in an international context – and suggests that US racial minority identities are constructed not only within the US, but abroad as well.     

Ethnicity, ‘status groups’ and racialization: A contribution to a debate on national identity in Britain

This paper is an intervention in a debate on national identity between ­Kenneth Smith on the one hand, and Tariq Modood, Richard Berthoud and James Nazroo, on the other, which had its origins in the influential study, Ethnic Minorities in Britain written in 1997 by Modood, Berthoud and Nazroo, and also Jane Lakey, Patten Smith, Satnam Virdee and Sharon Beishon. I pay particular attention to Smith’s insistence on ethnic self-­selection; his critical observations on the concept of ‘ethnicity’; and his advocacy of its replacement with the Weberian concept of ‘status groups.’ It is argued first of all, that self-selection should be pre-eminent; second that, in racialized societies, ‘ethnicity’ needs to be retained as a defining category; and third that the Marxist-derived concept of ‘racialization’ is more useful than ‘status groups’ as a way of understanding racism, both historically and in the present.     

Reducing the gap between leaders and voters? Elite polarization,outbidding competition,and the rise of secessionism in Catalonia

The ethnic outbidding thesis explains party polarization as a consequence of political changes amongst voters. We argued instead that party elites’ extreme position on the national identity cleavage can help polarizing strategies to prevail over moderate strategies in a context of increasing political uncertainty, without previous voters’ polarization. We test successfully this hypothesis in Catalonia by analysing the polarization of political parties and people’s demands for self-government in Catalonia since the early 2000s. We also find that the result of this outbidding pattern of competition was a reduction in the gap between elites’ and voters’ views on national identity. The analysis employs a set of unique data on party elites and activists’ national identity, from several surveys conducted on the delegates at party conferences of the main Catalan parties between 1996 and 2012. Our data provide empirical support for the argument that ethnic polarization is mainly an elite-driven process.     

The unbearable heaviness of being Kri: house construction and ethnolinguistic transformation in upland Laos

Kri people in central Laos traditionally engage in ‘heavy’ practices, including a stipulation that houses must be relocated and the flooring discarded upon a death in the family. Such ‘heavy’ practices are considered ‘real Kri’, and they are not adhered to by those who identify as Kri Phòòngq. This article examines the adoption of more enduring housing construction among the Kri, and the dynamics of ethnic identity implied by the dilemmas raised for individuals and families who must choose between (a) maintaining the heavy life of real Kri, (b) innovating new and less heavy solutions, or (c) changing identity entirely.     

Political mobilization of a regional minority: Han Chinese settlers in Xinjiang

The tumultuous events of summer 2009 have brought Uighur protests and minority mobilization in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) to the forefront. But this focus overlooks similar protests organized by various groups of Han Chinese settlers over the years. This paper contributes to the body of literature on minority mobilization and ethnic relations in Xinjiang by illustrating how the political mobilization of a group that is simultaneously a national majority and a regional minority differs substantially from ‘traditional’ minority mobilization. Reviewing the main instances of Han Chinese political mobilization since the XUAR was created in 1955, I argue that two factors are particularly important in enabling their mobilization: the Han Chinese's subjective perception of discrimination and their close ethnic ties to the state. This paper concludes with a discussion on the presence of a cycle of protests between Han settlers and the Uighurs in Xinjiang.     

Multiculturalism,Latin Americans and ‘Indigeneity’ in Australia

What are the relations between the discourse of ‘multiculturalism’ and that of ‘indigeneity’ in Australia? In problematising these relations this paper explores the affiliations that Latin American migrants and political refugees living in Adelaide have with the notion of indigeneity. For some Latin Americans affiliations with the struggle of Aboriginal people and indigeneity is a product of strong political identification with the political left and the struggle for human rights in their countries of origin. At the same time references to Latin Americans' indigeneity are often evoked within Australian multicultural settings and performances that promote ‘cultural diversity’ and are consumed by White Australians for their exotic otherness and as forms of cultural enrichment. Such representations work to marginalise further the migrants (and the ‘indigenous’) into a cultural sphere which marks them as the tolerated ethnic ‘Other’.     

New Poland's old dilemma: The Polish minority of Lithuania

This article seeks to explore the growing problem posed by the Slav/Polish ethnic minority in Lithuania and attempts to place this conflict in the general context of twentieth‐century East European ethnic conflicts. Particular attention is given to explaining the unique historical circumstances that produced this ethnically transitional area between the Byelorus, Polish and Lithuanian societies where throughout their history, the representatives of these ethnic groups as well as a large Jewish community and many other smaller ethnic groups have cohabited together as an intertwined mixture. However, with the spread of the idea of a single ethnic dominated national state, the transitional area in southwestern Lithuania ‐ as well as similar ethnically transitional areas elsewhere in eastern Europe ‐ were destined to be liquidated. Such areas could be liquidated either through some kind of enforceable dispersal of the now ‘undesirable’ ethnic groups from the region or through a state‐driven programme which would impose a new national identity on the ethnic groups involved. With Lithuania being much too weak a society to enforce the dispersal of its Slav minority, and with its élites determined to transform it into a single ethnic dominated national state, the only remaining option was a state policy of ‘Lithuanization’ of the Slav minority. The Slavs’ resistance to such a policy spurred on the growth of ethnic conflict in Lithuania and threatened to spill over into neighbouring countries. This article explores the regional ramifications of this ethnic conflict.     

'Who the hell do you think you are?' Promoting religious identity among young Hindus in Britain

This article explores how Hindu activism in Britain challenges our understanding of the relationship between ethnicity and religion. It argues against the prevalent model in which Hindu identity is understood as a natural ‘product’ of ethnic identity development. Instead, this article calls for thinking about current religious activism as a response to multicultural politics, national belonging and the experience of being an ethnic minority. Based on anthropological fieldwork, the article examines the development of an organization that has successfully established Hindu societies across the UK, one that changed from initially being pro-Hindu to one that espouses Hindutva. The analysis of the rhetoric of a pro-Hindu speech reveals the aims of this group to distinguish themselves from other Asians, particularly the Muslim minority. Such examples of religious activism among “diaspora” youth require us to rethink our understandings of the connections between religion and ethnicity.     

Making sense of Jewish ethnicity: Identification patterns of New Zealanders of mixed parentage

Modern social life is sometimes characterized as ‘post‐traditional’, an environment where personal identity is continually reconstructed. Concepts of ethnic identity on the other hand usually evoke some notion of tradition, continuity with the past, and intersubjectivity. This article discusses the personal accounts of Jewishness given by a sample of New Zealanders with ‘mixed’ (Jewish and gentile) backgrounds. It explores and analyses their use of themes that come from both modernity and Jewish tradition and defines the different types of identification implicit in their accounts. Particular attention is paid to how these kinds of identification are transmitted, because the literature (on both Jewishness and ethnicity in general) contains debates about the persistence of different expressions of identity. I conclude that a substantial dispersal of Jewish identity has occurred in New Zealand which apparently contradictory theoretical positions are useful in explaining. This suggests that a more holistic perspective is required to account adequately for the diversity of ethnic identity in contemporary society.     

Ethnic identity on display: West Indian youth and the creation of ethnic boundaries in high school

The black immigrant population in New York City has grown exponentially since 1990, such that West Indians now compose the majority of the black population in several neighbourhoods. This article examines how this ethnic density manifests among youth in high school, and how it has influenced ethnic identity formation among second-generation West Indians. My findings are based on twenty-four interviews and eight months of participant observation in two Brooklyn high schools from 2003 to 2004. The results show that in both schools, Caribbean island identities have become a ‘cool’ commodity within peer groups. Further, although it was important to express pride in one's island identity, these young people often blurred their national origin boundaries by drawing on Jamaican popular culture as way of projecting a unified ‘West Indian identity’. The research also uncovers evidence of a de-stigmatization of Haitianness as a way to incorporate them as cultural insiders into the larger Caribbean collective.     

Maori Sport and Cultural Identity in Australia

Sport is an important aspect of cultural identity for New Zealand Maori migrants living in Australia. Maori sporting endeavours, especially at festivals such as the Taki Toa Tournament in New South Wales, often reveal distinctive Maori features of cultural performance, in the rituals prior to a game, in the spirited manner with which a game is played, and in the whânau (large/extended family) spirit of belonging and celebration that is encouraged after a game. However, notwithstanding the occasional Maori tournament or festival, Maori sporting participation in Australia is not restricted to an ‘ethnic ghetto’. Widespread Maori involvement in sport has provided an important avenue for Maori migrants to mix socially with Aboriginal and other Australians in their local communities, and to gain acceptance, respect and, in some cases, economic advancement. Many first‐generation Maori migrants display a keen sense of a New Zealand rather than an Australian identity when it comes to trans‐Tasman international sport. Transnational links are also important for Australian Maori who visit New Zealand with sporting teams and stay on various marae (tribal meeting places). The experience of ‘Maori culture’ and hospitality offered by their New Zealand kinsfolk may have a significant influence upon the sporting visitors' subsequent development of Maori cultural identity.     

Racism,identity and psychological well-being: a longitudinal perspective on politically embattled relations

The relation between racism, identity and well-being has stimulated political debate as well as psychological analysis. Research is reported that explores the relation among young people of white (n=97) and minority (n=174) ethnicity. On first assessment, minority ethnic participants reported: (1) more frequent experiences of racism and discrimination than white participants; and (2) higher levels of ethnic identity and equivalent levels of national identity. Three years later, depressive symptomatology was highest among minority ethnic participants, and (for this group only) positively associated with racism and discrimination reported at first assessment, and negatively associated with national identity.     

Race,ethnicity and German identity: a media analysis of the 2010 world cup men's national soccer team

Enjoying a surge of national pride, the German media celebrated the 2010 German World Cup team's success in South Africa. A dominant theme in this coverage was the ‘immigration background’ of 11 of the 23 players on the team and their claim to German identity despite their ethnic diversity. Amid debate over the changing nature of German citizenship, the national team's ‘multicultural kickers’ became the focal point for those who wished to re-frame German identity. This article examines German newspaper and magazine coverage of the national soccer team emphasizing the role that media played in constructing competing definitions of the German citizen and nation.