Negotiating Chinese American middle-class identity in the Cold War suburbs
Date
2015
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
This project investigates how a suburban Chinese American middle class developed within the politically charged climate of the Cold War. It uses patterns of Chinese American suburban migration to understand mainstream Americans' shifting ideas of foreignness and racial difference. The first generation of Chinese American suburbanites occupied a marginal status in both Chinatowns and suburbia. While geographical location and social and class backgrounds separated Chinese suburbanites from urban Chinatown populations, race and culture distinguished them from their white American neighbors. Through an exploration of the intersections of Cold War cultural and policy shifts and post-World War II Chinese immigration patterns, this project explains how people of Chinese descent--the only group to be excluded from immigration into the United States because of racial prejudices--laid claim to the postwar "American Dream" of middle-class suburban home ownership. It challenges long-held scholarly and popular assumptions that the Cold War suburbs were "lily white" and culturally homogenous by asserting that Cold War liberal ideals of multiculturalism and the developing model minority stereotype of Asian Americans made it possible for Chinese people to settle in predominantly white suburban areas. ☐ By examining race-related suburban housing disputes, Chinese American domestic practices, and sites of suburban ethnic community, this project illustrates that suburban Chinese Americans did not blindly assimilate to the dominant streams of white suburban culture. Instead, they actively engaged in selective assimilation--adopting parts of American culture while maintaining connections to their Chinese heritage. In the activities of domestic life, including eating, celebrating holidays, raising children, and socializing, these suburbanites blended elements of American and Chinese cultures to create ethnic identities that were Chinese American yet separate from the experiences of immigrants who settled in Chinatowns. Moreover, new suburban sites of ethnic community, including community centers, churches, and weekend language schools served as arenas of cultural negotiation and contestation. By engaging in such practices, Chinese American suburbanites rearticulated the meanings of Chinese heritage and culture to fit their experiences as white-collar, middle-class suburbanites.
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Keywords
Chinese American middle class, American culture, Stereotype of Asian Americans, Chinese American suburbanites