Memories, Belonging and Homemaking: Chinese Migrants in Germany

Abstract

Migrants, more often than those who are rooted, have to juggle their memories in the process of moving across geographic and cultural boundaries, making new homes, both in psychological and material ways. Memories of diverse nature, anchored in experiences and imaginings from various times and different places, shape migrants’ perceptions, identities and sense of belonging. As Fortier (2000, p. 157) states, ‘memory becomes a primary ground of identity formation in the context of migration, where “territory” is decentred and exploded into multiple settings’. In essence, memories are influencing factors in migrants’ lifelong projects in homemaking. ‘Homemaking’ is conceptualized here as a process made up of efforts undergone by an individual or community in economic, social, psychological and political spheres to create a habitable domestic environment. These projects can include an involvement in a network of co-ethnics to create a sense of home away from home, or putting children in Chinese schools to acquaint them with ‘home’ culture, or the establishment of a business in the new homeland to provide the basis of a livelihood. In the following, I shall explore how memories are shaped in these various aspects of homemaking among Chinese migrants in contemporary German society.

Unless otherwise noted, the term ‘Chinese’ refers to ethnic Chinese, regardless of their national background, throughout the chapter.