Identity and Belonging among Chinese Canadian Youth 

Research Highlighted:

Cui, D. (2024) Identity and belonging among Chinese Canadian youth: Racialized habitus in school, family and media. Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003054023

Introduction:

This book examines how Chinese immigrant youth navigates their identities as racialized minorities within school, family, and through their interactions with Canadian mainstream media. Drawing on rich interview data, the author unveils how contemporary forms of racism, multiculturalism, immigration, and transnationalism shape the identity construction and sense of belonging among second-generation Chinese immigrant youth in Canada. This book offers a systematic analysis of how these youth and young adults negotiate their lived experiences and perceptions of race, ethnicity and class.

By uniquely extending Bourdieu’s concept of habitus to race and ethnicity, the author traces the impact of racism and “model minority” discourses not only to their systemic and institutional roots but also to their internalization in individual thoughts, behaviors, and identities.

This book will appeal to academics and researchers examining racial inequality and Asian diasporas in Western societies, as well as those seeking new insights into contemporary schooling, media studies, and immigrant family dynamics, with a focus on multicultural education, the sociology of education, and critical theories of race and ethnicity.

Author bio

Dan Cui is an Associate Professor in the Department of Child and Youth Studies at Brock University, Canada. Her research interests include sociology of education, immigration, integration and transnationalism, international and comparative education, social justice and equity studies, Chinese/Asian diasporas, and qualitative research methods. She previously held a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California Berkeley. Her work has been widely published across disciplines, appearing in the British Journal of Sociology of Education, Journal of International Migration and Integration, Journal of Youth Studies, and etc.

Managing Editor: Tong Meng