Miri Song

Is Intermarriage a Good Indicator of Integration

In this paper I review and examine the assumed link between intermarriage and integration. I focus primarily on literature from the US and Britain. Intermarriage is said to signal a significant lessening of ‘social distance’ between a minority group and the White majority, enabling unions between groups which would previously have been taboo. It is often assumed that intermarriage for ethnic minorities is the ultimate litmus test of integration, but is it? And if there is a link between intermarriage and integration, what is the nature and extent of ‘integration’ achieved by minority groups and by the minority partner? I argue that the link between intermarriage and integration is both more tenuous and more complex than many social scientists have argued, and needs a critical reappraisal, especially in multiethnic societies which are witnessing unprecedented levels of diversity, both across and within their ethnic minority groups.

New ethnicities online: reflexive racialisation and the internet

In this article we analyse the emergence of Internet activity addressing the experiences of young people in two British communities: South Asian and Chinese. We focus on two web sites: www.barficulture.com and www.britishbornchinese.org.uk, drawing on interviews with site editors, content analysis of the discussion forums, and E-mail exchanges with site users. Our analysis of these two web sites shows how collective identities still matter, being redefined rather than erased by online interaction. We understand the site content through the notion of reflexive racialisation. We use this term to modify the stress given to individualisation in accounts of reflexive modernisation. In addition we question the allocation of racialised meaning from above implied by the concept of racialisation. Internet discussion forums can act as witnesses to social inequalities and through sharing experiences of racism and marginalisation, an oppositional social perspective may develop. The online exchanges have had offline consequences: social gatherings, charitable donations and campaigns against adverse media representations. These web sites have begun to change the terms of engagement between these ethnic groups and the wider society, and they have considerable potential to develop new forms of social action.

Inclusion, Participation and the Emergence of British Chinese Websites

Previous work has drawn attention to the relative absence of British Chinese voices in public culture. No one is more aware of this invisibility than British-born Chinese people themselves. Since 2000 the emergence of Internet discussion sites produced by British Chinese young people has provided an important forum for many of them to grapple with questions concerning their identities, experiences and status in Britain. In this paper we explore the ways in which Internet usage by British-born Chinese people has facilitated forms of self-expression, collective identity production and social and political action. This examination of British Chinese websites raises important questions about inclusion and exclusion, citizenship, participation and the development of a sense of belonging in Britain, issues which are usually overlooked in relation to a group which appears to be well integrated and successful in higher education.

'You're becoming more and more English': Investigating Chinese siblings' cultural identities

Abstract In recent years, there has been a growing body of research on the cultural identities of the ‘second generation’ of ethnic minorities and of ‘new ethnicities’ in Britain. Much of this literature to date has explored the identities of ethnic minority youth in the context of inter‐generational relations between parents and children, whereby conflict and ‘culture gap’ between the generations have been investigated. However, there has been very little study of how siblings’ cultural identities within ethnic minority families may differ. The present study of young peoples’ labour participation in Chinese families running take‐away businesses revealed that siblings could be committed to ‘helping‐out’ in the take‐away to different degrees. These differences in ‘helping out’ were understood in terms of siblings’ respective family reputations and cultural identities. This suggests the importance of looking beyond inter‐generational negotiations of ethnic identity and cultural practices, and situating youn...

Ethnicity, Social Capital and the Internet

This article explores websites developed to express the interests and experiences of young Chinese people in Britain. Drawing on content analysis of site discussions and dialogues with site users, we argue these new communicative practices are best understood through a reworking of the social capital problematic. First, by recognizing the irreducibility of Internet-mediated connections to the calculative instrumentalism underlying many applications of social capital theory. Second, by providing a more differentiated account of social capital. The interactions we explore comprise a specifically ‘second generation’ form of social capital, cutting across the binary of bonding and bridging social capital. Third, judgement on the social capital consequences of Internet interactions must await a longer-term assessment of whether British Chinese institutions emerge to engage with the wider polity.

Does 'race' matter? A study of 'mixed race' siblings' identifications

‘Mixed’ people comprise one of the fastest growing populations in Britain today, and their growth refutes the idea that there exist distinct, ‘natural’ races among people in multiethnic societies, such as Britain. In recent years, a large body of scholarship, both in the US and Britain, has begun to investigate the diverse social experiences and racial identifications of mixed people. In this article, I investigate the ways in which mixed siblings perceive and think about race and differences in racial, ethnic, and religious identification within their families. What role do race and the recognition of difference play in sibling relationships and in family life more generally? I draw upon a small number of cases to illustrate the diverse ways in which understandings of race, ethnicity, and religion are (or are not) regarded as important in these families. I also consider whether there are group differences in terms of how disparate types of mixed siblings may perceive pressures to identify in particular ways.

NEW ETHNICITIES AND THE INTERNET: Belonging and the negotiation of difference in multicultural Britain

Stuart Halls observation that ‘… identity is formed at that point where the unspeakable stories of subjectivity meet the narratives of history, of a culture …’ (Hall 1987, ‘Minimal Selves’, in Identity: The Real Me, ICA, London, p. 44) has inspired much of our previous exploration of the lives of second generation Chinese young people in Britain. In this work we have drawn attention to the relative absence of British Chinese voices in public culture. Since 1999 the emergence of Internet discussion sites produced by British Chinese young people has provided forums for many of their previously “unspeakable stories” to circulate. In this paper we re-examine Stuart Halls influential discussions of identity in the light of the Internets role in transmitting the discourses he regards as formative, rather than expressive, of identities. The everyday interchanges of the Internet provide more spontaneous representations than the artistic practices prompting Halls discussion of ‘new ethnicities’ 20 years ago. Accordingly, the online discussion forums we discuss in this paper address a number of issues often overlooked in appropriations of the new ethnicities terminology. In addition to ongoing debates about the ‘place’ and experiences of British Chinese people, we examine the growing off-line mobilizations engendered by online engagements.

Between “the front” and “the back”: Chinese women's work in family businesses

This article explores the family and work lives of Chinese ethnic migrant women, both mothers and daughters, in families who run Chinese take-away businesses in Britain. In reviewing the literature on the lives of “Black” women and “women of color” in both the United Kingdom and the United States, the author argues that the specific intersections of family and work found in Chinese take-aways is distinct from those of other “Black” women who are not engaged in family businesses. The family and work lives of these women, which are very intertwined, are both more varied and ambivalently experienced than has been suggested thus far in writings about women in ethnic businesses. The meanings associated with “helping out” for the younger generation provide a new and different perspective on the gendered and generationally disparate ways in which families organize their labors. By focusing upon the experiences of both mothers and daughters (and children more broadly), there is evidence of both continuing forms of womens subordination, as well as empowerment and change, in Chinese womens lives.

Is there a mixed race group in Britain? The diversity of multiracial identification and experience

In contemporary British society, references to ‘mixed race’ people and to various forms of mixing abound. But to what extent can we say that there is ‘a’ mixed race group in Britain today? If such a group exists, what commonalities underlie the experience of being mixed? In addressing this question, I draw on a study of the racial identifications of different types of mixed young people in Britain. I find that the meanings and significance of race and mixedness in these young people’s lives can vary considerably both across and within specific mixed groups. In conclusion, I argue that while there is evidence of a growing consciousness and interest in being mixed, we cannot (yet) speak of a coherent mixed group or experience in Britain.In contemporary British society, references to ‘mixed race’ people and to various forms of mixing abound. But to what extent can we say that there is ‘a’ mixed race group in Britain today? If such a group exists, what commonalities underlie the experience of being mixed? In addressing this question, I draw on a study of the racial identifications of different types of mixed young people in Britain. I find that the meanings and significance of race and mixedness in these young people’s lives can vary considerably both across and within specific mixed groups. In conclusion, I argue that while there is evidence of a growing consciousness and interest in being mixed, we cannot (yet) speak of a coherent mixed group or experience in Britain.

Is racial mismatch a problem for young ‘mixed race’ people in Britain? The findings of qualitative research

Recent evidence concerning the racial identifications of ‘mixed race’ people suggests growing latitude in how they may identify. In this article, we examine whether mixed race young people believe that their chosen identifications are validated by others, and how they respond to others’ racial perceptions of them. While existing studies tend to assume that a disjuncture between self-identification and others’ perceptions of them is problematic, this was not necessarily the case among our respondents. While a racial mismatch between expressed and observed identifications was a common experience for these individuals, they varied considerably in terms of how they responded to such occurrences, so that they could feel: (1) misrecognized (and there were differential bases and experiences of misrecognition); (2) positive about the mismatch; or (3) indifferent to how others racially categorized them in their day-to-day interactions. Some differences in responses to such mismatch emerged among disparate types of mixed people. This study also found that we need to consider national identity, and other forms of belonging, in making sense of the diverse and often multilayered identifications and experiences of mixed race young people in Britain.