{"id":19089,"date":"2011-12-18T17:19:33","date_gmt":"2011-12-18T17:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=19089"},"modified":"2011-12-18T17:19:33","modified_gmt":"2011-12-18T17:19:33","slug":"celtic-tiger-hidden-dragon-exploring-identity-among-second-generation-chinese-in-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=19089","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Tiger, Hidden Dragon: exploring identity among second generation Chinese in Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Celtic Tiger, Hidden Dragon: exploring identity among second generation Chinese in Ireland<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Irish Migration, Race and Social Transformation Review<\/a>
\nVolume 2, Issue 1<\/a> (Summer 2007)
\npages 48-69<\/p>\n

Nicola Yau<\/a><\/strong>, Independent Researcher<\/p>\n

Through qualitative interviews, participant observation and an asynchronous group discussion on an Internet forum for second generation Chinese, this article explores identity among the second generation in \u2018Celtic Tiger<\/a>\u2019 Ireland. The Chinese, while being one of the largest minority ethnic groups, are almost invisible in other ways. This article examines how the second generation self-identify by analysing the theory of double consciousness<\/a>, the significance of experiencing identity in contrast to a search for \u2018authentic identities\u2019 and the limitations of an Irish-only identity which questions what it really means to be Irish. The diasporic nature of identity is also explored through a \u2018homing desire\u2019 in terms of ties to China and Hong Kong, as is representation due to the changing nature of racialisation in Ireland following the recent arrival of \u2018new\u2019 Mainland Chinese immigrants and the addition of an \u2018ethnic\u2019 question to the 2006 Census form.<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Identity in the age of modernity is always in process, leading Stuart Hall<\/a> (1996a) to pose the question: who needs \u2018identity\u2019? Whether we are migrants ourselves or products of migration, identity at home and away is vital in locating ourselves in the world. In the age of migration, identity gains greater saliency. In this article, I explore identity among second generation Chinese in \u2018Celtic Tiger\u2019 Ireland. Identity formation has always played a significant part in my own life because my father is ethnic Chinese and I had often wondered who the other members of the second generation were and if they had similar experiences to my own. In my mind there was a \u2018felt necessity\u2019 (Stanley 1996: 48, original emphasis) to carry out this research because, while being one of the largest visible minority ethnic groups in Ireland, the Chinese are very much invisible in other ways. I believe it is also important to research self-identification among the second generation which will assist in understanding the wide variety of experiences making up the current ethnic diversity of the country.<\/p>\n

I begin by looking at identity as a process, how the second generation self identify and how they feel they are perceived by mainstream Irish society. The diasporic nature of identity is explored through the idea of a \u2018homing desire\u2019 (Brah 1996), by examining ties to China and Hong Kong, and finally I use theories of home and belonging to look at how the second generation views Ireland and what it represents for them and their identities…<\/p>\n

…When I asked my participants how they would describe their identity, answers varied depending on their own processes of identification. However, the sense of identification being a process, of becoming, of journeying was clear, for example, when Lucy said her identity was fragmented, fractured and belligerent. She explained this by saying:<\/p>\n

Because you\u2019re really on your own your parents aren\u2019t really helping you out with that. I don\u2019t think anyone can really help you out with that, you know what I mean\u2026you kind of have to just, yeah, figure it out in your own head. It takes a few years\u2026but then once you figure it out and are happy with what you figured out then it\u2019s fine but up until that point it does give an awful amount of trouble.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is clear that her identity was individual, that it was her journey and her sense of becoming. Identity to her was the process, not merely the label she chose to go by. It was only when I asked her how she would describe her national identity that she discussed labels, none of which she chose herself:<\/p>\n

I think if you\u2019re kind of half and half and in between I don\u2019t know but maybe some people find it very easy in a country where there is a lot of other people like that, then it can be very easy to identify as being like say British or American, but in Ireland I don\u2019t think you\u2019re ever given the facility to do that. There just isn\u2019t the, you know, there isn\u2019t the acceptance here to do that; not that you need people\u2019s acceptance but like that does have an influence on you, you know people\u2019s reactions to you, so it doesn\u2019t really mean that much, it\u2019s a passport and it\u2019s an accent and that\u2019s about it. I think you can be yourself wherever you are, so you know you don\u2019t have to be constantly identifying yourself as Irish to be like a person.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lucy did not feel a particular affinity to being categorized as Irish. Her sense of becoming enveloped the process of identification as being a person of mixed-race origins. She highlighted the in-between nature of her identity and while her group of friends, all of whom are white Irish, would class her as Irish, she did not. Irish is an identity that is largely symbolic to her, which she reduces to an accent and a passport. Although she may be ethnically Irish and Chinese, she is racialised as Chinese which corresponds to Song\u2019s (2003) statement that very often people are forcefully included in groups and attributed ethnic identities which are not the same as their own sense of identity…<\/strong><\/p>\n

…For those of mixed race origins there were additional elements in their identity processes. This was evident in how my participants reacted to me. When the issue of my visible Chineseness was raised, Ida drew attention to my dual heritage while Catherine, who is also of dual heritage, thought that I looked \u2018obviously\u2019 Chinese. This mirrors the idea that monoracial groups often question membership of mixed race people because they are not \u2018fully\u2019 of any one heritage (Song 2003). Therefore, self-perception and perception by others plays a significant role in identity formation. In the next section, I examine how the second generation feel they are perceived by mainstream Irish society…<\/p>\n

…For some of my participants of mixed race origins the ethnicity question caused confusion. When discussing this with Jessica I asked her if she considered ticking the Other option, since it included those of a mixed race background. She came to the conclusion that:<\/p>\n

I was going to tick it but then I thought well you know I do kind of identify as Chinese, so, and Asia is ok for me and it was a difficult one to fill in to be honest. It was the last question I filled in, in the whole census form because it doesn\u2019t allow, I\u2019m not a complicated background, race background and I had a dilemma of which of two to fill in.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Jessica\u2019s decision to choose the Asian Irish option ahead of the Other category highlights her desire to stress both her identities, which the latter did not allow her to do. This reflects the opinions of Darryl Slater who is of dual heritage. He stresses his two ethnic identities, even though mainstream British society sees him only as Black. The mixed race lived experience adds a further dimension to the process of identification. As Song (2003) concludes, it is Slater\u2019s experience of his parents and his family relationships, if nothing else, that is distinct from that of monoracial people.<\/p>\n

This reflects Anderson\u2019s (1991: 166) contention that \u2018the fiction of the census is that everyone is in it, and that everyone has one\u2014and only one\u2014extremely clear place. No fractions\u2019. On the contrary, there is uncertainty and there are fractions. This sentiment was further conveyed by Lucy:<\/p>\n

I think that people who are, you know, mixed race and Chinese and Irish or brought up Irish like, you kind of fall down between the cracks really because you can\u2019t, because you\u2019re asked to identify yourself with one particular group but it\u2019s kind of hard to do it because culturally you might be but racially you\u2019re not really, still you\u2019re not seen as the same, so eh, which is a bit ridiculous really because it doesn\u2019t really matter\u2026that\u2019s Ireland though because in America you wouldn\u2019t have that because it\u2019s all just everyone, whatever, loads of different people you know you can all end up being American although you can have your separate identity but in Ireland it seems you have to be Irish and that\u2019s it and if you don\u2019t fit white Irish then you\u2019re not really Irish…<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Celtic Tiger, Hidden Dragon: exploring identity among second generation Chinese in Ireland The Irish Migration, Race and Social Transformation Review Volume 2, Issue 1 (Summer 2007) pages 48-69 Nicola Yau, Independent Researcher Through qualitative interviews, participant observation and an asynchronous group discussion on an Internet forum for second generation Chinese, this article explores identity among […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,16,28,125,8],"tags":[246,8782,8783],"class_list":["post-19089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-asia","category-europe","category-identitydevelopment","category-media-archive","tag-ireland","tag-nicola-yau","tag-the-irish-migration-race-and-social-transformation-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19089\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}