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Decentered Linkages and Hybridity: The Ambivalence of Chineseness as Identity

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Abstract

Recently there has been growing awareness of the inadequacy of older theoretical frameworks that see migration as a once-off movement from the homeland to a new home where assimilation is alleged to occur inevitably (e.g., Basch, Glick-Schiller, & Szanton-Blanc, 1994; Foner & Glick-Schiller, 2002; Glick-Schiller, Basch, & Blanc-Szanton, 1991; Levitt & Glick-Schiller, 2004; Smith, 2002). To more fully understand contemporary migrant’s experiences—which often involve unsettling identities as a result of the intersections of crossroads and borderlands—emerging frameworks argue that the impact of cross-cultural and cross-national ties must be addressed from a transnational perspective.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Chap. 2.

  2. 2.

    RSL stands for Returned and Services League of Australia. The RSL is the largest ex-service organization in Australia and represents thousands of former and currently serving defence force personnel. RSL clubs usually have dining and bar facilities and gambling areas for their members and guests.

  3. 3.

    Traditional Chinese jacket made of silk floss, worn in winter for warmth.

  4. 4.

    Gweilo (Foreign Devil) is a Cantonese/Southern expression which essentially means White Westerners. The identification of Australians as Gweilo is suggestive of an inherent social barrier that segregates long-established Chinese migrants from mainstream white Australian society.

  5. 5.

    Kung Fu is the Chinese name for Chinese martial arts.

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Ngan, L.LS., Kwok-bun, C. (2012). Decentered Linkages and Hybridity: The Ambivalence of Chineseness as Identity. In: The Chinese Face in Australia. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-2131-3_7

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