Identity and Belonging among Chinese Canadian Youth

Identity and Belonging among Chinese Canadian Youth unveils how Chinese immigrant youth struggle as racialized minorities at school, in their family, and through their formative interactions with Canadian mainstream media.

Utilizing rich interview data, the author explores how the contemporary forms of racism, multiculturalism, immigration, and transnationalism affect the identity construction of second-generation Chinese immigrant youth in Canada, as well as their negotiation of belonging at social institutions through schools and mainstream media in Canada. The text systematically examines the lived experiences and perceptions of Chinese immigrant youth in relation to race, ethnicity, and class. Uniquely extending Bourdieu’s concept of habitus to race and ethnicity, the author traces issues of racism and “model minority” discourses not only to systemic and institutional origins but also to internalized individual ways of thinking, doing, and being.

This book will appeal to academics and scholars tracing racial inequality through the multiplicity of Asian diasporas in Western societies, as well as researchers seeking new understandings of modern-day school and media and with interests in multicultural education, sociology of education, and theories of race and ethnicity.