Identity Construction Among Second-Generation Chinese American Women in a Transnational Context

• In Event: 4124 - Section on Race, Gender, and Class Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (100 min): Table 8. Identities/Subjectivity

Abstract

To dismantle their confusion and struggles, in this study I concentrate on how Chinese American women understood and responded to “what it means to be Chinese American women” through the threads of how they make sense of the politics of race, class, ethnicity, and gender in the American context, and how they are affected and react. Being aware of the specificity of each informant’s experience, I hope to present a convergence of collectivity that every single woman participated could contribute to, compare individuals’ voice with stories of others, and finally, to transform their “invisible past” into a “visible present.” How Chinese American women understand, interpret, and perform their Chinese American identity as daughters of Chinese immigrants embodies how their experience of what was ascribed to being Chinese American and negotiations with ethnicity and race are closely interrelated.

Author

• Qing Li, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics