Session 4(a): Cultural Constructs
Session 4(a):Cultural Constructs
Chair: Naki Osutei
Transnational Self in the Chinese Diaspora: A Conceptual Framework
Kuah-Pearce Khun Eng
Department of Sociology, University of Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
In the march into the 21st century, time-space compression has become a routine part of our life as a result of modern communicative devices and transportation. Migrational flows have become thicker and denser on the one hand, and faster and more fluid on the other, giving rise to myriad formulations of migrational flow. No longer do we see, nor are migrants contented with, a single destination. Often a destination serves as a hop-over point to another, with migrants constantly searching for greener pastures on the other side of the fence. ‘Greener pastures’ denote not only economic but also socio-psychological as well as political landscapes where lifestyles are now of paramount significance. What we are witnessing is the emergence of a circulatory migration chain where the movement could be unilinear, multilinear and/or circulatorily multilinear in scope. Likewise, the migrants that we are confronting are multifaceted, ranging from illegal migrants to the most sophisticated, savvy, highly educated professionals in the migration chain. Irrespective of whether they are illegal, irregular or sophisticated, the original “self” – one of localized parochialism – has undergone a process of transformation and through the various movements has become transnational.
This paper will attempt to develop a conceptual framework for our exploration of the “self” and how the “self” is constructed and reconstructed in the diasporic community and the host country and within the global migration circuit. The complexity and multilineality of the flow pattern, with migrants on the move and shifting over not only physical but also mental and socio-psychological terrains, has impacted greatly on how migrants explore as well as locate the “self” in the various stops on the global migration circuit and in the host country and their original home city/village. Specifically, it will explore the process of construction, reconstruction and negotiation of the self within this complex landscape, influenced as it is by global capitalism, ethno-religious affiliations, nationalism, xenophobia and human rights considerations. This process of construction and negotiation is very much tied up with how Chinese as individuals and as a communal social group perceive themselves and interact with the local society, their ethnic community and the global community. At the same time, it is also about the social experiences that govern how they locate themselves. It will also explore the increasing attempts by Chinese to create different sets of identities as the individual constantly negotiates between various sets of demands, resulting in the creation of multiple selves – from ethnic to transnational – according to the needs and demands of the social environment.
The Diasporisation of Contemporary Overseas Chinese: From Alienation to an Alternative Way of Life
Jia Gao
Chinese Studies, Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
This article is based on an analysis of the empirical data from some research on contemporary overseas Chinese communities, and examines the apparent differences between the key elements of the traditional concept of diaspora and the complexities of more recent worldwide migrations of Chinese people. The article will begin with a review of the recent efforts to use the concept in analysing various forms of new Chinese migrants, and examine in what ways the term diaspora has been utilised in this context. The discussion will then focus on why and how so many Chinese were motivated to leave their places of origins, and how and why their new diasporic communities were formed. The simplicity of the idea of dispersal carried by the conventional concept of diaspora will then be discussed. This article will continue with an in-depth look at the data concerning diasporic lives of new overseas Chinese. Special attention will be given to the findings relied upon by the present researcher in forming the idea of “dual-track demarginalisation” in an earlier study, which will be utilised to address the one-sidedness of the notion of separation or isolation in the long-established concept of diaspora.
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En/Countering the Camp: Bare Life, Bio-politics and Diaspora in Australian Refugee Communities
Lana Zannettino
Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies, University of South Australia, Australia
The concentration camps, the most extreme of which was Auschwitz, were the Holocaust’s most defining feature and the Third Reich’s most inhumane strategy. Even though the concentration camp has become the quintessential signifier of the horror of the Holocaust, the camp as Giorgio Agamben (1998: 166) argues is ‘not a historical fact and anomaly belonging in the past (even if still verifiable) but [is the] hidden matrix and nomos of the political space in which we are still living.’
In Australia, the mandatory detention of unauthorised arrivals (i.e. persons entering or remaining in the country who do not have a valid visa) has existed since 1992, when it was introduced with bi-partisan support. Whilst the policy has faced condemnation from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (2002) and has attracted a great deal of criticism from a range of religious, academic, community and political groups, particularly in relation to its alleged circumvention of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, it has prevailed and with even greater intensity following the Tampa crisis.
Drawing on Agamben’s concepts of homo sacer (bare life) and bio-politics as well as his examination of the Muselmänner – the most extreme inhabitant of the Nazi concentration camp – this paper attempts to show how the policy and system of mandatory detention in Australia signifies a continuation of the bio-political paradigm that both created and supported the atrocity of Auschwitz, thus allowing the spectre of the Muselmann to once again inhabit its corporeal form. The paper argues therefore that the concept of diaspora can neither adequately explicate nor account for the detained refugee in Australia today because issues of migration, culture, race and hybridity become inevitably subsumed within and transcended by questions of humanity and non-humanity brought about by the creation of the camp and the designation of its inhabitants.
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Returning to the Diaspora: Israeli Women Living in the UK – Challenges to Identity and Psychological Implications
Yasmin Fulder-Heyd
Department of Psychology, City University, London, United Kingdom.
A major personal challenge that often accompanies exile or immigration, is the management of particular identities. There may be a sense of lack of belonging to either country of origin or host country – which can significantly affect the adjustment process and daily life of immigrants. In this qualitative study, the experience of Israeli women immigrants in the UK was investigated, focusing on the impact this experience had on their multiple identities of Israeli and woman. The various psychological implications were explored. Very little research has been previously carried out on this unique population of Israelis choosing to live outside of Israel. In this population, in which the concept of Diaspora is intertwined in society and culture, there is a strong sense of Israel as the primary home, and at the same time the ambivalence associated with choosing to live outside of a conflict-ridden country. The study presented here interviewed 9 participants, from a variety of age groups and backgrounds. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. This paper will present key themes, which emerged from the women’s accounts, illustrating them with interview quotes. The paper will explore the psychological impact of these woman’s unique experiences, as well as the consequences of keeping the question of belonging open and unresolved. From the participants’ experience it emerges that the question of home and belonging reflects trans-generational experiences of Diaspora, as well as their cultural background as Jews and Israelis.
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