Understanding the Educational Trajectories and Life Experiences of Young Chinese Restaurant Owners in the United States

• In Event: Navigating Education Across Geographic and Institutional Contexts

Abstract

Incorporating the Bourdieusian theory of “transnational habitus”, the researcher conducted in-depth interviews with nine Chinese restaurant owners in Western New York. Profoundly, the narratives demonstrate the within-group variances by identifying two types of participants. They brought varying amounts of different forms of capital to the U.S and developed different transnational habitus within which they constantly reframe distinct mechanisms to evaluate their ethnic, family, and human capital for upward social mobility. The elucidation of different life circumstances shows certain types of capital denote both advantages and disadvantages in immigrants’ transnational life journey. Setting forth their diverse strategies in maximizing the resources in hands, this study offers a comprehensive lens to understand immigrants’ human agency in coping with social and racial inequity.

Author

• Yuejia Wang, University at Buffalo - SUNY