Chinese in New Zealand: Senses of Belonging for Aotearoa/New Zealand

1. Chinese in New Zealand:Senses of Belonging for Aotearoa/New Zealand Assoc Prof. James H. Liu Centre for Applied Cross Cultural Research School of Psychology Victoria University of Wellington

2. A Psychology of Social Identity • Identity is Self-concept. “Who am I?” • Social identity is that aspect of identity that pertains to membership in groups. • Social identities are plural, because we all belong to many groups or categories, each supplying information about who we are, and how we should act (e.g., in a socially sanctioned way). • According to Self-Categorization Theory (Turner et al., 1987) identity does not “belong” to an individual, but is produced out of an interaction between the person & situation. Different aspects of identity become “salient” in different situations, adapting behaviour to situations and other people.

3. Identity Salience • For example, in a conference on feminism, gender becomes salient, and behaviour will conform to norms for gender appropriate behaviour. At meetings of the United Nations security council, nationality guides behaviour, not gender. • Behaviour can be qualitatively different across situations, conforming to different norms for behaviour depending on identity salience. • Identity is constructed out of social comparison with relevant others. • Most people strive for a positive sense of identity.

4. Identity is Fluid not Fixed, but part of Society and Social Life • Think of identity as a story we tell ourselves that can give us strength and meaning even though our behavioural priorities change across situations. • Identity emerges at the confluence of who you think you are, and who others around you think you are. • Culture and history provide the shared materials from which individuals draw on to construct or narrate their stories of identity.

5. Acculturation and Identity • Minority ethnic group members have to manage their ethnic identities in relation to both the in-group (e.g., family, ethnic in-group) and out-group (e.g. the majority). • According to John Berry, how they do this depends on their answer to 2 questions: (1) Is it important for me to maintain cultural identity and characteristics? and (2) Is it important to maintain positive relations with the majority group (or host society)?

6. Berry Acculturation Model for Minorities + Maintenance of Culture and Identity - INTEGRATION ASSIMILATION Relations With Majority - SEPARATION MARGINALIZATION

7. Berry Acculturation Model for Majority + Maintenance of Minority Culture & Id - MULTICULTURALISM MELTING Relations POT With Minority SEGREGATION EXCLUSION -

8. ASSIMILATION • From the 1840s to 1980s, Westerners controlled every world resource, and most non-Western nations were either colonized or backwards. In this environment, assimilation was the most desired outcome for Chinese immigrants, often ejected from China via push factors and rejected from Western host societies by discrimination. • Heritage language lost in 3 generations typically. • Full acceptance desired but not always attained.

9. Do you like what you see?

10. Dating Preferences at UCLA (Liu, Campbell & Condie, 1995)

11. Most Important Qualities for a “True Nzer” (Uni students, Sibley & Liu, in press) • Feeling like a New Zealander • Respecting NZ laws • Being able to recognize the NZ flag • Treating all people of all races equally • Being tolerant of other cultures • Respect other cultures and other ethnic groups Least Important: Believing in God and Being a Christian

12. Maori and Pakeha are BOTH part of the NZ national identity in terms of implicit associations, but less so Asians

13. MARGINALIZATION • The incomplete quest for assimilation may result in marginalization, loss of heritage culture without full or even substantial acceptance in the mainstream. • A number of Chinese youngsters are here in NZ because they were struggling with school in their home countries, but also find it difficult here • En-yi (Judy) Lin’s PhD thesis on identity conflict among Chinese adolescents.

14. Identity Conflict as Adaptation Outcome among Chinese Aged 16-26 in NZ (Lin, 2006)

15. SEPARATION • As Asian migration became a major component of NZ demographics from the 1980s, visibly separate Chinese communities could be seen, especially in Auckland. As Ip (2005) notes, these new migrants could be confident in asserting their identity. • As multiculturalism is now a viable ideology for the mainstream, and transnational patterns as the “astronaut family” and return migration common, separation became more desirable as a strategy. • This creates tension for the more long-term Chinese settlers, who may see themselves as kiwi but are not recognized as such by others.

16. K.S. Yang (2004) Chinese Indigenous Psychology 本土心理學 • Rehabilitating traditional Chinese ideas as part of decolonization (Ip– the China factor). • Don’t: (1) uncritically adopt Western psychological concepts, (2) overlook Westerners’ life experiences in developing their indigenous psychologies, (3) reject useful indigenous concepts developed by Chinese, (4) adopt research strategies with Western imposed universals, (5) ponder problems in English • Do: (1) tolerate vagueness in developing indigenous ideas, (2) be a typical Chinese when functioning as a researcher, (3) take social, cultural, and historical context into account, (4) give priority to studying culturally unique phenomena, (5) base research on Chinese intellectual traditions, (6) study not only contemporary but ancient Chinese psychological functioning

17. Asian Association of Social Psychology (AASP, est. 1995) • promote the development of social psychological research and its application in the Asia-Pacific. • provide opportunities for students to pursue education and careers in social psychology • serve as an academic forum for social psychologists in the Asia-Pacific.

18. Perceived Problems for Asian and Western International Students

19. Positive & Negative Feelings for Asian and Western Internationals

20. Social integration difficult for Asian Internationals over time

21. Social integration easier for Western internationals

22. Integration- The Ideal Strategy? • Accumulated research following the Berry model suggests that integration is not only the preferred strategy, but it is also provides the best outcomes. • Compartmentalized integration maintains two separate identities within one person, each supported by a different social environment • Hybridized integration is putting ideas and values from the two cultural traditions together to create something new (e.g., “socialism with chinese characteristics” ala Deng Xiaoping).

26. Intergenerational communication with elderly family for NZ Europeans (Liu & Ng, 2004)

27. Intergenerational communication with elderly family for NZ Chinese

28. Filial Piety and Acculturation (Liu, Ng, Weatherall & Loong, 2000)

29. Committing to Core Social Relations in an impersonal, industrialized society has HUGE ADVANTAGES! • Industrialization has brought not only unprecedented wealth, but also a breakdown in social relations, where everything is accorded a market value, and each individual is out for themselves. • Chinese culture has a wealth of indigenous concepts that facilitate the maintenance of social relations in the face of not only adversity, but prosperity.

32. Core Issues in Biculturalism • Egalitarianism • Partnership (non-assimilable difference) • Equity (implementation issues; the best we can do may be to improve procedural justice) • Inclusiveness (are Asians and Pacific islanders more included under Biculturalism or under Liberalism?) In terms of cultural values, both are more collectivist than individualist, but Asians value work similarly to Protestants

33. Fairness as a core value for both biculturalism and multiculturalism? • Bicultural issues grounded in historical relationship between Maori and Pakeha, and the legacy of both colonization and shared practices. A fight between family. • Multicultural issues are a more recent product of change in immigration policies in 1987. Asians not as embedded in the collective consciousness of NZ, so they tend to couch their needs in terms of inclusion rather than entitlement

34. Visioning the Future Liberalism Biculturalism Asians Pacific Islanders NZ Europeans “unmarked” Pakeha Asians Maori Maori Pakeha PI

36. Do Chinese Nzers fit in better under Liberal Democracy or Biculturalism? Both are enduring aspects of NZs social fabric. We have the freedom to choose: • To attempt to succeed on our merits as individuals • Or to acknowledge the importance of social relations to our achievements in society • Or both, each in its own time and place • The time is now to articulate places where we stand.

37. WHO scale, n items=12, α=0.85 (Gezentsvey, PhD) • I do NOT know much about my family’s Chinese background (family) • I know about the experiences of the first Chinese immigrants to this country (local) • I remember the general history of Chinese people (general) • WHAT scale, n items=12, α=0.88 • I remember the founding fathers and mothers of Jewish tradition (integrity) • I remember the injustices that have happened to Jews (suffering) • I celebrate the points in history when Jews fought to maintain our culture (survival) • HOW scale, n items=6, α=0.78 • I can imagine being a part of the journeys my Maori ancestors made (affective- vicarious experience)

38. WHO: Maori>Chinese* WHAT: Jews>Maori>Chinese*** HOW: Jews>Chinese*** Maori>Chinese*** Jews: What>How>Who*** Maori: No sig diff. How-What Chinese: No sig diff. How-What

39. Conclusion • Young NZ Chinese know less about their cultural heritage (as indexed by history), and relate less to the experiences of their ancestors than either NZ Maori or Jews. • The strategy of assimilation is only one among a number of ways to adapt to a host culture. The times favour more integrative approaches that assert a place for oneself based on an ethnohistorical understanding of the fluid relationship between ingroups and relevent outgroups.

40. “ Endurance will depend as much on skillful navigation as on the direction of the tide or the size of the canoe” (Durie,2005, p.251)