Chinese American Women, Identity and Education: A Qualitative Study

摘要: This qualitative study explores how Chinese American women, as Americanborn children of new immigrants, have perceived and interpreted who they are, become are while adapting to society negotiating with the interplay race, ethnicity, class, gender. Drawing on indepth interviews twenty-seven women from two universities located East Coast, I argue that their segmented assimilation processes involving ongoing negotiations between maintaining ties ethnic cultural backgrounds selective integration into mainstream society, which, some extent, subject predetermined by parents‘ preand postmigration conditions. At same time, my participants also struggled self-defined identity intertwined a socially constructed racial identity. My data show multiple settlement patterns among including traditional enclaves, suburban white areas well diverse class composition college-educated professionals, small business owners, working-class laborers. Those professionals middle-class had higher upward mobility less residential restrictions. Participants grew up in neighborhoods inner-city enclaves different ways understanding what it means be American. Their identification is incorporated educational values resources family formal schooling own understandings social world live in, negotiated situatedness culture mainstream, were recognized others dealing stereotypes discrimination. As consequence, identities changed over time when positioned contexts locations. CHINESE AMERICAN WOMEN, IDENTITY AND EDUCATION: A QUALITATIVE STUDY