multicultural media and the chinese community ommi annotated … · 2014-06-19 · multicultural...

Multicultural Media and the Chinese Community OMMI Annotated Bibliography

1

Reference Ahadi, D., and Murray, C. A. (2009). Urban mediascapes and multicultural flows: Assessing Vancouver’s communication infrastructure. Canadian Journal of Communication, 34(4). Retrieved from http://cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/2122

Source Type Academic Journal

Target Audience Academics

Geographic Scope Vancouver, Canada

Data Collection Method

Survey, and In-depth Interview

Key Words Ethnic Media, Ethnic Diversity, Communication Infrastructure, Multiculturalism, Media Policy, Content Analysis, Comparative Media Analysis

Abstract and Key Findings

This paper adopts a communication infrastructure model in mapping the flow and meaning of ethnic media in Vancouver and their interaction with local, national, and global conceptions of a public commons. A communication infrastructure consists of a “thick” social network of media and organizations, which create and disseminate everyday conversations and news to any given community. Without the existence of a sustainable communication infrastructure, communities cannot form and function. The intersection of social capacity and media infrastructure, then, becomes an important predictor of potential for democratic deliberation and political engagement. Presenting an empirical study of ethnic media in Vancouver, this article asks how well these outlets provide resources to construct inclusion in an urban setting. A more complex infrastructure was mapped than anticipated, but several blind spots were still found. A set of recommendations is made to expand the politics of inclusion and recognition of shared citizenship and civic engagement.

Annotation This article recommends a series of print, broadcasting, and competition policy considerations for a multicultural communication infrastructure model for the city of Vancouver, based on a mapping of the ethnic media in Vancouver, content and discourse analyses of these ethnic media as well as mainstream media, and interviews with stakeholders. The authors conclude that while ethnic media must both foster a sense of connection to the ethnic community and to the larger community in order to contribute to successful immigrant experiences, much of the ethnic media examined was too inwardly focused and missed reporting on host country issues of relevance for immigrants. Members of different ethnic communities also feel that many ethnic media organizations are too business-oriented and do not take enough interest in social issues. Members of these communities also often feel strongly about being able to contribute editorial letters and opinions. The authors suggest further topics of research in the area and advocate more intercultural awareness, including making local news more visible in ethnic media and making mainstream media more responsive to collaboration, towards a more truly multicultural media landscape.


2

Reference Carstens, S. A. (2003). Constructing transnational identities? Mass media and the Malaysian Chinese audience. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 26(2), 321–344.



Geographic Scope Chinese in Malaysian Cities


Ethnographic Surveys

Key Words Transnational Identities, Transnational Mass Media, Chinese Diaspora, Malaysian Chinese


This article examines the influence of Chinese transnational mass media, in particular television, videos, and films, on the creation of transnational Chinese identities among Malaysian Chinese. Drawing on ethnographic research and surveys of adults and high school students in four Malaysian cities, it argues that local audiences distinguish clearly between the various forms of transnational Chinese media produced in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. Although preferences for different types of transnational media vary among viewers in terms of age, gender, educational background, and place of residence in Malaysia, Hong Kong productions are clearly the most popular. Similarities between the experiences and perspectives of Hong Kong and Malaysian Chinese are examined as possible explanations for this preference.

Annotation This article discusses how Chinese mass media, at home and abroad, communicates culture and affects the cultural identity of the Chinese diaspora. The data gathered are from ethnographic research and surveys done with Chinese transnationals in Malaysia. The author analyses the findings in terms of Appadurai’s mediascapes, ethnoscapes, and ideoscapes. Although participants enjoyed having access to Chinese media, the research showed that there was no unified transnational Chinese culture being represented and local Chinese media production in Malaysia was thought to be of poor quality. The generation gaps yielded predictable results with older generations preferring more conservative, traditional media productions from Taiwan and China and young people preferring the more modern ‘Canto-pop’ of Hong Kong. Gender also proved important, where men preferred Hong Kong productions, which feature more action, with women preferring Taiwanese and Chinese productions about family and romance. Finally, Hong Kong productions were most popular among the ordinary people while intellectuals and professionals preferred the sophistication of Chinese media. The overwhelming popularity of Hong Kong media may have been due to migration patterns and the urban scenes that Malaysian Chinese transnationals could relate to.

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/doSearch?action=runSearch&type=advanced&result=true&prevSearch=keywordsfield%3A(%22Transnational+Identities%22)

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/doSearch?action=runSearch&type=advanced&result=true&prevSearch=keywordsfield%3A(%22Transnational+Mass+Media%22)

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/doSearch?action=runSearch&type=advanced&result=true&prevSearch=keywordsfield%3A(%22Chinese+Diaspora%22)

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/doSearch?action=runSearch&type=advanced&result=true&prevSearch=keywordsfield%3A(%22Malaysian+Chinese%22)

http://www.tandfonline.com/action/doSearch?action=runSearch&type=advanced&result=true&prevSearch=keywordsfield%3A(%22Malaysian+Chinese%22)


3

Reference Chan, B. (2005). Imagining the homeland: The internet and diasporic discourse of nationalism. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 29(4), 336–368. doi:10.1177/0196859905278499

Source Type Journal Article


Geographic Scope Singapore


Qualitative Analysis, Textual Analysis, and In-depth Interviews

Key Words Internet, Liminal Spaces, Chinese Migrants, National Identity, Nationalism


This article examines the identity discourses of Chinese migrants in cyberspace in the light of contemporary theorizing of Chinese national identities and Chinese nationalism. The study adopts a qualitative methodology, based on the textual analysis of postings on Internet forums frequented by migrants from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) who are currently studying and working in Singapore, and in-depth interviews with the forum participants. Findings show that the Internet opens up liminal spaces from which migrants can resist, challenge, and speak against regimes of truth imposed on them by their homeland and the host society. Furthermore, the combination of text and image on the forums enable the migrants from the PRC to produce an online imaginary of China as a superpower and an empire, thus articulating a form of resistance against the perceived hegemony of the United States in the international system and the disciplining of the host state.

Annotation Through Appadurai’s notion of ethnoscapes, this article analyzes posts made on a virtual forum for transnationals of the People’s Republic of China and follow-up interviews with contributors, in order to shed light on how Internet media and migration intersect to create diasporic imaginings of China and Chinese transnational identity. The author concludes that Internet spaces, which are neither private nor totally public, are characterized by a liminality that allows transnationals to resist and reject fixed notions of identity and nationalism imposed on them by both home and host countries. This liminality is by no means a tool to create a new unified transnational Chinese identity, but a space for negotiation and the existence of multiple diasporic identities. Transnationals adopted an identity they considered to be purely Chinese when confronted with events concerning Chinese conflict with other nations, but in terms of internal events felt more comfortable adopting more regional or ideological identities. Media texts and images were used to imagine China as a unified, powerful, and desirable nation of origin.


4

Reference Chen, W. (2010). Internet-usage patterns of immigrants in the process of intercultural adaptation. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 13(4), 387–399.



Geographic Scope Chinese Immigrants in Singapore


Nationwide Telephone Survey

Key Words N/A


This paper investigates Internet-usage patterns of immigrants, and seeks to identify the correlation between Internet use and intercultural adaptation. The study focuses on mainland Chinese immigrants in Singapore, and was conducted via a nationwide telephone survey. The results show that immigrants tend to change their preferences on Internet use to reflect their residence in the host country. In particular, the longer an immigrant resides in the host country, the less likely they would be to surf their original country's websites and the more likely they would be to communicate with local people via the Internet. More importantly, differences in Internet usage are found to have a significant impact on immigrants' intercultural adaptation. In an online environment, the social communication in the host country is a critical component that can facilitate or impede immigrants' successful adaptation to the host country, whereas ethnic social communication also plays a role at the initial stage of transition.

Annotation No access


5

Reference Cheng, H. L. (2005). Constructing a transnational, multilocal sense of belonging: An analysis of Ming Pao (West Canadian Edition). Journal of Communication Inquiry, 29(2), 141–159. doi:10.1177/0196859904273194





Content Analysis

Key Words Globalization, Place Polygamy, People-oriented Locality, Place-oriented Locality


Globalization has challenged the traditional conceptualization of the sense of belonging between people and places. This article takes up social theorist Ulrich Beck’s notion of place polygamy as a theoretical departure to understand immigrants and their sense of belonging to multiple places. The author analyzes Ming Pao (West Canadian Edition), a Cantonese newspaper in Vancouver, Canada, to argue that the immigrant press is constructing two locals, one place oriented and one people oriented, on a daily basis. The notions of multiple homelands and multiple attachments provide a new perspective to study how the community can be imaged and narrated across national borders. It also challenges traditional immigrant scholarship that treats the home country and the host society as an either-or dichotomy for winning immigrants’ affection and loyalty.

Annotation This article examines a Cantonese Vancouver newspaper, Ming Pao, through the lens of Ulrich Beck’s place polygamy regarding multilocal people in a globalized environment. The author asks how Hong Kong immigrants to Vancouver use this media to express a transnational, multilocal identity of belonging, both to Hong Kong and to Canada. Because immigrants are people divorces from their places of origin, the author concludes that ethnic news media speak in terms of two kinds of locality: a locality of residence, where immigrants are now located; and a locality of people, the origins of immigrants, in this case, Hong Kong. Globalization, for the author, has made everyone multilocal in terms of communication, travel, migration, and business, and so loyalties are not straightforward, but can be split between multiple localities. This is a rejection of black-and-white nationalism, where the local is not created but born, and challenges inside/outside dichotomies because in his view people are all global citizens.


6

Reference Dines, G., and Humez, J. M. (2003). Gender, race, and class in media: a text-reader. (Thousand Oaks, CA): SAGE.

Source Type Book

Target Audience Public, Academics

Geographic Scope N/A


N/A

Key Words Race, Class, Gender, Media


Incisive analyses of mass media including such forms as talk shows, MTV, the internet, soap operas, television sitcoms, dramatic series, pornography, and advertising-enable this provocative new edition of Gender, Race and Class in Media to engage students in critical mass media scholarship. Issues of power related to gender, race, and class are integrated into a wide range of articles examining the economic and cultural implications of mass media as institutions, including the political economy of media production, textual analysis, and media consumption. Ten new, original essays are included in this text, along with compelling previously published articles and book chapters by both established media scholars and new voices in the field. Together with new section introductions by Gail Dines and Jean Humez, the readings provide a solid yet accessible critical introduction to mass media studies. Features: Authority. Original essays and important reprinted articles from renowned scholars comprise this comprehensive and diverse volume Accessibility. Work in cultural studies and queer theory is made accessible to undergraduate students Activist Philosophy. Extensive bibliography and media resources encourage conscientious activism. Integrated analysis. Race is examined throughout the text rather than treated in a separate chapter. New to the Second Edition: Expanded coverage of "queer" representations in mass media New section introductions provide readers with a guide for each section New section on the violence debates and a new section on the Internet Two sections devoted to consumerism, marketing, and advertising Recommended for courses in mass media, feminist theory, race, class, and gender, and social theory in the Sociology, Communication, and Women's Studies disciplines. Also recommended as a general reference title for scholars and anyone interested in the representation of race, class, and gender in the media.

Annotation This book is designed for the undergraduate level and compiles a range of chapters on media studies from a critical perspective, which assumes that Western society is organized according to, and can only be understood in terms of, race, class, and gender considerations. The subjects addressed deal with the consumption of popular culture products through mass media technologies. Part one the book touches on media culture from the point of view of cultural studies and multiculturalism; of interest are essays on racist ideologies in the media, the construction of race, and cultural audience studies. Part two deals with advertising, of which articles on ethnic ownership and stereotyping, as well as ethnic targeting are of interest for the current study. Parts three and four take as their subjects romance, violence, and pornography, of which there are two articles on race and pornography. Parts five and six contain discussions on television, which presents the findings of ethnographic audience reception studies and the racism present in stereotyping. Part seven examines music videos and rap music in terms of cultural conflict. The book concludes with the observation that by problematizing femininity and color in separate chapters, mainstream academy contributes to the marginalization of these issues, unlike this book which takes them as fundamental lines of analysis and encourages media activism.


7

Reference Fleras, A. (2009). Theorizing multicultural media as social capital: Crossing borders, constructing buffers, creating bonds, building bridges. Canadian Journal of Communication, 34(4). Retrieved from http://cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/2296

Source Type Report, Academic Journal


Geographic Scope Canada


N/A

Key Words N/A


They respond to the needs of ethnic and racialized minorities; they provide a voice in advancing the welfare of the community; they challenge social injustices; they foster a sense of cultural pride; and they articulate the essence of their communities (Gonzales, 2001). Their popularity and success reflects a worldwide trend toward people making media because of greater ease in publishing alternative and community media (Deuze, 2006; Niles, 2008). “They” refers to multicultural (or “ethnic”) media whose collective objectives address the informational, integrative, and advocacy needs of racialized and immigrant Canadians. In a global context in which the local and the global are in constant interplay, yet individual understanding of international relations and intercultural divisions is lacking, multicultural media provide fresh insights into cultural multi-belongings and spatial interdependencies (Mediam’Rad, 2009). This multidimensionality is crucial in theorizing a) the origins and rationale behind multicultural media; b) the role they play in society at large and minority communities in particular; c) the challenges in navigating a corporatized mediaspace; and d) their underlying logic despite variations in form, function, and process.


http://cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/2296

http://cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/2296


8

Reference Hwang, B., and He, Z. (1999). Media uses and acculturation among Chinese immigrants in the USA. International Communication Gazette, 61(1), 5–22.



Geographic Scope Silicon Valley in the USA


Participant Observation, Self-reported Survey

Key Words Chinese Acculturation, Ethnic Acculturation, Immigrants, Minority Media Use, Uses and Gratifications


This study employs a uses and gratifications approach to examine media consumption and acculturation among Chinese immigrants in Silicon Valley in the USA. It finds that the immigrants' use of the media - both English and Chinese - gratifies, to varying degrees, such acculturation needs as English skills and information and knowledge of the host society. However, the availability of Chinese-language media and a unique set of socio-demographic variables combine to hamper the impact of English media use on the immigrants' acculturation.

Annotation This article presents research on the acculturation of Chinese immigrants in Silicon Valley to their host culture in terms of the theory of uses and gratifications. The authors examine immigrants’ use of media for acculturation to host societies. Ten widely representative first-generation Chinese immigrant families, mostly from Taiwan, were chosen for extensive participant observation study, with follow-up interviews. The research indicated that these families used readily available Chinese media extensively for entertainment and news, and that English media were used supplementarily for mostly entertainment and language-educational purposes. Different types of media appeared to be used exclusively in one of the two languages, for example magazines and radio were only used in English. The researcher found the sample to be moderately acculturated and not very motivated to acculturate further. Media usage reflected participants’ acculturation needs based on their level of American education, their ages at the time of immigration, and their working environments. The article concludes that while the use of mainstream media by immigrants promotes acculturation, the use of ethnic media both encourages acculturation by informing immigrants about the local situation and discourages acculturation by promoting intellectual ghettoization and insulation.


9

Reference Jin, D. Y. and Kim, S. (2011). Sociocultural analysis of the commodification of ethnic media and Asian consumers in Canada. International Journal of Communication, 5(19), 552-569.





Statistical Analysis

Key Words Asian-language Media, Ethnic Minorities, Socioeconomic Impacts


This article studies the transformation of ethnic Asian media in the Canadian context and examines the role of media firms in the organization of Asian-language media by employing political economy and cultural studies perspectives. The analysis begins with the discussion of the body of knowledge related to ethnic media and Asians. It then investigates the role and limitations of ethnic media, not as a public sphere offering alternative views to the mainstream news and commentaries, but as a commodity, which is an advertising tool to target ethnic minorities and corporations. It also maps out the ways in which Canadian corporations and advertisers have commodified ethnic media. Finally, the article explores the overall socioeconomic impacts of ethnic media and the ethnic population on mass media marketing and its representation of Asian ethnicities.



10

Reference Kanat, K. (2005). Ethnic media and politics: The case of the use of the Internet by Uyghur diaspora. First Monday,10(7). Retrieved from http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/1259/1179



Geographic Scope Uyghur diaspora worldwide


Qualitative Analysis, Content Analysis

Key Words Uyghur diaspora, Internet and cyberspace, netizenship, Uyghur politics and identity


The role of the active production and consumption of various forms of media on the ethnic groups and diasporas has long been debated among scholars from different disciplines. Currently the use of the Internet has become the focal point of these studies. In recent years, the Uyghur diaspora has been increasingly using the Internet and cyberspace in order to reach their goals of "being the voice of the repressed people of their homeland," disseminating information and increasing communication among themselves. In this paper I will try to discuss the influence of this netizenship of the Uyghur diaspora on Uyghur politics and identity

Annotation This article discusses the question of how the increasing use of the Internet among Uyghur transnationals in the West has affected their diasporic politics and identity. The author discusses many of the important Uyghur websites available to, and primarily created by, the diaspora. Internet usage amongst Uyghur migrants to the West has increased the capabilities of political activists as well as increasing the visibility of Uyghur culture, including their music and history. The Internet has also allowed dispersed Uyghurs to maintain some connectedness amongst the diaspora and creating a new Uyghur identity and nationalist politics.

http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/1259/1179

http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/viewArticle/1259/1179


11

Reference Karim, K. H. (Ed.). (2003). The media of diaspora. New York, NY: Routledge.

Source Type Academic Book


Geographic Scope Transnational: Fiji Indians, Aboriginals, Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians, Iranians, Jews, Hispanics, Kurds, Turks, Macedonians, Vietnamese, Muslims, Chinese, Greeks, Rhodesians, Tibetans, and Ghanaians


Qualitative Analysis, Comparative Analysis

Key Words Multicultural Media, Globalized Communication Media, Diasporas, Transnational Identity


The Media of Diaspora examines how diasporic communities have used new communications media to maintain and develop community ties on a local and transnational level. This collection of essays from a wide range of different diasporic contexts is a unique contribution to the field.

Annotation This book compiles a variety of essays on how globalized communication media have transformed ethnic media, and the effect that these ethnic media have on diasporas, both locally and transnationally. The various diasporic communities discussed in terms of the wide range of communication media available include: Fiji Indians, Aboriginals, Arabs, Armenians, Assyrians, Iranians, Jews, Hispanics, Kurds, Turks, Macedonians, Vietnamese, Muslims, Chinese, Greeks, Rhodesians, Tibetans, and Ghanaians. Instead of examining local ethnic medias, this book addresses the cross-border flows of audio-visual and computer-mediated ethnic media, in order to advance the available theory on migration, diasporas, media, and transnational identity.


12

Reference Kline, S. L., and Liu, F. (2005). The influence of comparative media use on acculturation, acculturative stress, and family relationships of Chinese international students. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29(4), 367–390.



Geographic Scope US


Questionnaire

Key Words International Students, Email, Family Communication, Acculturative Stress, Long-distance Relationships


The purpose of the study was to explore the media use and relational communication practices Chinese international students use to maintain their family relationships, and the association of these practices to acculturation, stress, and family cohesion. The media use and communication practices of Chinese international students studying at a large US university were analysed. Consistent with media niche theory, Chinese students preferred to use and did use the telephone more often than email to contact family members. In comparison to email, they used the telephone to communicate with family more often per week, covered a greater diversity of conversation topics, used a greater number of relational maintenance themes, and had a greater level of openness in their communicative exchanges. Gender, phone contacts per week and email topic diversity predicted students’ acculturative stress levels, while phone topic diversity and open phone communication predicted acculturation level. Open phone and email communication predicted family cohesion. Consistencies in particular topics and relational message themes were also discovered, with similar relational message themes occurring in email as well as in the telephone context.

Annotation This article presents research on the use of communication media by Chinese international students to connect with their families. The authors discuss the differences between using telephone and email for the maintenance of family relationships in terms of how this affects stress levels and acculturation. This research is analysed in terms of Dimmick’s theory of the media niche, which explains the reasons for differing preferences for types of media. The sample of Chinese students at Ohio State University completed open-ended questionnaires about their interaction with their families, via email and telephone, in terms of frequency, relationships, and subjects of conversation, as well as scale questionnaires to measure levels of openness in conversations and levels of stress, acculturation, and family cohesion. Students in the sample were found to prefer telephone use to connect with their families than email. While stress levels could be predicted based on gender, frequency of telephone communication and email topic diversity, acculturation was based more on the diversity of topics and openness in telephone conversations. The telephone appeared to be the preferred mode of communication for students with high stress levels and email for those with lower stress levels.


13

Reference Kong, S. (2011). Space of possibilities: Civic discourse and multicultural citizenship in locally produced Chinese television programs in metro Vancouver. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 239–247. doi: 10.1007/s12134-011-0227-z





Interviews

Key Words Geo-ethnic Media, Multicultural Citizenship, Public Sphere, Local Content, Chinese Transnationalism


This paper uses content analysis and interviews to produce case studies of Fairchild Group’s Talentvision (Mandarin) and two local current-affairs talk show programs in Mandarin. Based on the concept of geo-ethnic media and multicultural communication infrastructure model, the paper argues that geo-ethnic media can be a powerful means to promote civic virtues in a large, pluralistic modern society and to help new immigrants transform their “formal” citizenship into a “substantive” citizenship. The geo-ethnic media also provides a transnational supplement to the mainstream public sphere, which allows a sub-national ethnic community to maintain its cultural identity. The paper concludes that further efforts should be made to foster communication and interaction between the mainstream media and the diverse world of ethnic media in Canada.



14

Reference Kozar, S. (2002). Leaves gleaned from the ten-thousand-dimensional web in heaven: Chinese on-line publications in Canada. The Journal of American Folklore, 115(456), 129–153. doi:10.2307/4129216






Key Words Chinese Community, Magazines, Culture, Bias, Communication Media


As with popular culture generally, Chinese popular fiction borrows from elite and folk traditions in the creation of popular texts. Historically, Chinese audiences developed a variety of innovative ways to accomplish the transmission and distribution of texts and, just as importantly, to provide opportunities for communal participation and commentary. In this article, three Chinese electronic magazines at Canadian sites are examined in light of the wider traditions they share with earlier forms of Chinese popular culture. A sample of volumes from each publication formed a comparative analysis focusing on history and duration of publication, format, content, and some important common themes found in contributors' poetry and prose. Methodological challenges associated with this type of research are considered, including the issue of authorship.

Annotation This article discusses Chinese Canadian electronic magazines and their relationships to traditional Chinese culture, based on theory from McLuhan and Harold Innis, in terms of media as metaphors and the inherent bias of some communication media respectively. Through extensive literature review, content analysis of three Chinese e-zines based in Canada, and electronic communication with some of the authors, the research concludes that computer-mediated technology relies, like any other media, on traditional cultural norms and referential symbols. Chinese ethnic media online has had to be technologically innovative to adapt to the technological realities of non-Chinese societies, but has creatively maintained elements of folklore and popular culture, as well as traditional oral and written literatures, in order to invent a new kind of method of transnational computer-mediated communication that has become its own language or vernacular.


15

Reference Lee, W. -N., and Tse, D. K. (1994). Changing media consumption in a new home: Acculturation patterns among Hong Kong immigrants to Canada. Journal of Advertising, 23(1), 57–70.





Questionnaire

Key Words Media Consumption, Immigrant Consumers, Acculturation, Chinese Community (Hong Kong)


This study investigates (1) how immigrant consumers change their media consumption when they move across cultural boundaries and (2) whether media exposure relates to consumers' acculturation of the new social norms. A total of 938 respondents from four sample groups including Hong Kong residents, long-time and new Hong Kong immigrants to Canada and English-speaking Caucasian Canadians responded to a predesigned questionnaire. It was found that while the immigrant groups did not increase their total media consumption, their consumption across different media types followed both assimilation and ethnic affirmation models. This acculturation process seemed to be affected by immigrants' original media consumption behavior and language ability. Media exposure was found to relate significantly to immigrants' acculturation of the new social norms after influences due to personal characteristics were removed.

Annotation This article discusses immigrants to Canada from Hong Kong in terms of their media consumption habits from an advertising perspective in order to develop scholarship on how to strategize advertising with respect to growing populations of immigrants with differing levels of acculturation. The study took into account the media habits of four sample populations of people older than 16 in the 1990s: those living in Hong Kong, new Hong Kong Canadian residents in Vancouver, long-term Hong Kong Canadian residents in Vancouver, and Caucasian Canadians. While typical studies on acculturation tend to study immigrants as one group, this study examines the dynamism of the immigrant experience over time. Research data were collected from surveys completed by middle-income families in each of the cases and asked questions about media consumption habits and levels of acculturation for immigrants. The data reveal that Hong Kong immigrants to Canada change their media consumption habits very little from when they lived in Hong Kong and the bulk of the time spent using media is used on ethnic media, regardless of how long they have been in Canada.


16

Reference Lin, Lin,W. -Y. (2004). Communication and community building: The role of ethnic media in the Chinese immigrant community of Los Angeles (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://worldcat.org/oclc/61232183

Source Type Thesis (Ph. D.)


Geographic Scope Los Angeles, US


Survey Methods, Interview Methods, Content Analysis

Key Words Multicultural Media, Communication Infrastructure, Immigrant Communities


Ethnic media are central to immigrants' lives. Drawing upon communication infrastructure theory, this study positions ethnic media in an overall communication environment where immigrants, community organizations, and ethnic media form a storytelling network and act upon community problems collectively. The author examined immigrants' dependency relationships with ethnic media and the extent to which ethnic media work as essential storytellers in building community in Los Angeles' Greater Monterey Park area, where one of the largest ethnic Chinese enclaves is located. The data were collected by multiple methods, including a telephone survey of 321 households, interviews with 30 ethnic media producers, and a content analysis of 34 issues of ethnic newspapers. The findings revealed the central role that these media played in immigrants' lives relative to other communication channels including interpersonal conversation, mainstream media, and new media. It was found that first-generation immigrants generally depended more on ethnic media than their second-generation counterparts. Older Chinese residents also spent much more time connected to ethnic media than did young adults. In addition, residents who had lived in the neighborhood for five years or longer, but still connected highly to ethnic media, showed a lower sense of belonging than those longer-term residents who depended less on ethnic media. Moreover, Taiwanese-origin residents spent more time on ethnic media than Chinese immigrants from Mainland China and Hong Kong.

The content analysis revealed that more than half of the stories analyzed were concerned with home countries, whereas local news comprised only 8 percent of the total. Geo-ethnic stories, which are culturally and locally relevant stories that are promoted by this study, accounted for only 6 percent. Given that Chinese immigrants relied primarily on ethnic media for community information and that local content comprised only a small percentage of coverage in the ethnic press, the vision of "storytelling into community building" has yet to become a reality.



17

Reference Lindgren, A. (2011). Front page challenge: A case study examining what the ethnic media promises and what it delivers (CERIS Working Paper No. 83). (p. 21). Retrieved from the CERIS Ontario Metropolis Centre website: http://www.ceris.metropolis.net/wp-content/uploads/pdf/research_publication/working_papers/wp83.pdf http://www.cnmag.ca/issue-2/401-chinese-television-a-blueprint-for-ethnic-broadcasters

Source Type Internet Report

Target Audience Public

Geographic Scope Canada, Greater Toronto Area



Key Words Multicultural Media, Chinese Community, Greater Toronto Area, Local News, Homeland News


The editors and publishers of ethnic newspapers acknowledge the importance of reporting local news in helping their readers understand Canadian society. Yet detailed analyses of news content produced by ethnic media organizations often find that information that fosters understanding of life in Canada takes second place to news from the group’s home country. This study investigates the local news content published about the Greater Toronto Area in the Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao (Toronto-area edition) and identifies a significant imbalance in the mix of local news versus homeland news from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The author argues that newcomers trying to understand their adopted place would benefit from access to more extensive and varied local news and suggests that providing journalists who work in ethnic news media with greater opportunities for professional development would be one way to achieve this goal. Programs could include journalism skills workshops as well as seminars that explore the role of local news in helping immigrants adapt.

Annotation This article presents the findings of a content analysis on the balance of local and home country news that appears in the Toronto-area version of the Ming Pao Chinese diasporic newspaper. The author hypothesizes that more information on understanding the Canadian way of life would benefit new Chinese immigrants and suggests more professional development for ethnic media journalists on how to foster an understanding of host country culture as well as joint projects that would promote intercultural understanding. The content analysis of 28 issues of Ming Pao revealed that only 8% of the information was related to local news, whereas news from China represented more than half the stories, followed by international news, with about 33% of the coverage. Of the limited local coverage in the newspaper, most of this is sensationalist news that has little bearing on the lives of Chinese immigrants in Toronto. Ming Pao’s overabundance of Chinese news stories is often because of limited resources and the provision of completed articles by the media corporation in China. The author recommends professional development for ethnic media professionals at local journalism universities in order to promote strategies on intercultural understanding and cooperation.

http://www.cnmag.ca/issue-2/401-chinese-television-a-blueprint-for-ethnic-broadcasters

http://www.cnmag.ca/issue-2/401-chinese-television-a-blueprint-for-ethnic-broadcasters


18

Reference Lindgren, A. (2011). Interpreting the city: Portrayals of place in a Toronto-area ethnic newspaper. Aether: The Journal of Media Geography, 8 A, 68–88.



Geographic Scope Toronto, Canada


Mapping, Content Analysis

Key Words Chinese-language Newspaper, Local News, Community Representation


This study investigates the sense of place portrayed in Ming Pao, a Chinese-language daily newspaper published in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Mapping and content analysis of local news stories and photographs show that while the newspaper provides more coverage of the Chinese community than the mainstream range and amount of local news coverage. These findings, contained with the newspaper’s preoccupation with crime and lack of representation of other ethnic groups in a metropolitan area of unparalleled diversity, result in a portrait of the GTA that is incomplete and potentially misleading.

Annotation This article discusses the construction of space in the Toronto-based Chinese newspaper Ming Pao, based on cultural mapping and content analysis of local stories and photographs. While Ming Pao predictably reports on a large number of Chinese events, the coverage of local events is significantly sparse, especially in terms of acknowledging the substantial non-Chinese diversity of the greater Toronto area. The content analysis was conducted based on 28 issues of Ming Pao from 2008. The author concludes that the image of Toronto that emerges from the local coverage in Ming Pao is both incomplete and misleading. Coverage of Toronto portrays it as an unimportant city with a large degree of violent crime and gives little attention to aspects and services of the city that might aid new immigrants to understand their new culture. The author suggests cooperation between news agencies and a multi-ethnic service for the translation of news coverage for greater reach, as well as a rethinking of ethnic media strategies on local coverage.


19

Reference Louie, J. (2003). Media in the lives of immigrant youth. New Directions for Youth Development, 2003(100), 111–130.



Geographic Scope U.S.


Comparative Longitudinal Study, Survey Methods

Key Words Media Ownership, Use Patterns, Content Preferences, Media Consumption


This chapter uses data from the Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study to examine media use patterns among immigrant teens. Similarities and differences in media ownership levels, use patterns, and content preferences between immigrant teens and the U.S. teen population as a whole, as well as across immigrant groups and gender, are explored. Implications for educators and others who work with immigrant youth include active discussion with youth about their media choices and media messages.

Annotation This article presents research on the different patterns of youth media consumption in immigrant populations as compared to non-immigrant American youth. The data were drawn from the 2002 Longitudinal Immigrant Student Adaptation Study at Harvard, which looked at immigrant youth from China, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Central America, and Mexico. Open-ended questions were asked about media ownership, exposure levels, and content preferences. Major findings suggest that immigrant youth consume a large amount of English-language media their parents may not be able to engage with, and that girls were more likely to engage with large amounts of ethnic media that educators and peers may not relate to as much. The author suggests a larger role for both families and those who deal with children in being aware of media viewing habits and preferences in order to be able to positively influence and discuss issue with immigrant youth.


20

Reference Lum, C. M. K. (1991). Communication and cultural insularity: The Chinese immigrant experience. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 8(1), 91–101.



Geographic Scope New York, U.S.


Case Study Methods, Interview Methods, and Field Observations

Key Words Chinese Community, Media Use, Cultural Assimilation, Cultural Identity


Through a case study of a Chinese immigrant family's media use within the social and media environment of New York's Chinatown, this article examines the issues of cultural assimilation, pluralism, and insularity. The experience of contemporary immigrants supports the assimilation and the pluralism theses to varying degrees; it also suggests the importance of insularity as a process by which immigrants can maintain their cultural identity in a foreign land.

Annotation This article deals with discussions about cultural assimilation, pluralism, and insularity with regard to the media consumption behaviours of Chinese immigrants living in New York City’s Chinatown. While the author supports the idea of varying degrees of assimilation and pluralism for immigrants, this article also argues for the idea that some immigrants, or groups of immigrants, may be very insular about their interactions with their host societies. The author presents findings from a case study, through interviews and ethnographic observations about their media consumption habits, of a typical Cantonese speaking family who immigrated to New York from Hong Kong. The author concludes that while the children in the family all display assimilative and pluralistic cultural identities, with respect to their media use, the parents are both quite insular, so the family as a unit is also very insular, speaking only in Cantonese and consuming Chinese media almost exclusively as a group. The author stresses that insularity is not necessarily negative, or only as a result of language barriers, but is a way for immigrant families to preserve their culture.


21

Reference Parker, D., and Song, M. (2006). Ethnicity, social capital and the Internet British Chinese websites. Ethnicities, 6(2), 178–202. doi:10.1177/1468796806063751



Geographic Scope Britain


Content Analysis, Interview Methods

Key Words Racialization, Second Generation, Social Inclusion, Social Network


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.

Annotation This article discusses young second-generation Chinese people in Britain and their use of the Internet in terms of social capital theory. Research data are collected by non-participant observations of several British Chinese websites’ forums and discussions, interviews with website owners, and questionnaires filled out by contributors. The data suggest that these websites are crucial nexuses of connection for young British Chinese people, not only for identity constructions of ethnicity, but also of gender and sexuality. Ethnic British Chinese discussions on the websites serve as challenges to postcolonial orientalist conceptions of ethnic Chinese identity in service of hybrid identities that express both Chinese and British cultural belonging, and specific family cultures. These websites are networks of support and potentially of civic engagement. The author concludes that the social capital earned from participation on these websites must be considered in social capital theories on ethnic identity formation.


22

Reference Setlock, L.D.,Quinones, P. –A. and Fussell, S. R. (2007). Does culture interact with media richness? The effects of audio vs. video conferencing on Chinese and American dyads. Proceedings of System Sciences, 2007. HICSS 2007. 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference 2007, 13-13. doi:10.1109/HICSS.2007.182

Source Type Conference Paper


Geographic Scope America


Controlled Laboratory Experiment

Key Words Computer-supported Collaborative Work, Computer Mediated Interpersonal Communication, East Asian, U.S.


Eastern and Western cultures differ along several dimensions affecting computer-supported collaborative work. We consider one such dimension, low context (requiring little situational information) or high context (requiring substantial situational information) communication style. Specifically, we report on a laboratory study comparing communication and performance of low-context American dyads, high context Chinese dyads, and mixed American-Chinese dyads on a negotiation task under two possible media conditions: audio conferencing or video conferencing. Although theoretical cultural work and some prior research suggest that high-context Chinese dyads can benefit from the visual cues available in video-enabled systems, we found little support for this hypothesis. There were no effects of culture or medium on conversational efficiency. We did find differences in word usage and quality of interaction between the groups, suggesting potential impact on long term collaborations. We discuss some of the implications of these findings for a theoretical understanding of culture and collaborative work.

Annotation This article presents findings on how computer-mediated interpersonal communication efficiency is affected by media technologies and cultural differences, in terms of the ability to detect vocal and visual social cues. For the purpose of the study, Westerners, specifically Americans, are assumed to belong to a low-context society in which communication is primarily verbal and does not rely heavily on situational information, whereas Eastern cultures, here Chinese, are from a high-context culture that do rely on nonverbal cues. The data are drawn from a laboratory experiment on cross-cultural computer-mediated English-language decision-making tasks measuring the helpfulness of media that differed in levels of observable context, between pairs of Americans, pairs of Chinese, and cross-cultural pairs, all university students. The results revealed little significant difference in the efficiency for any of the dyads based on media richness. The authors hypothesize that this may be because the culture and media richness do not directly correlate; high-context cultures may rely on visual and vocal cues in conjunction with one another, or written communication and verbal communication have very different meanings and uses for Chinese culture.


23

Reference Shi, Y. (2005). Identity construction of the Chinese diaspora, ethnic media use, community formation, and the possibility of social activism. Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, 19(1), 55–72.



Geographic Scope US


Open-ended (In-depth) Ethnographic Interviews

Key Words Chinese Community, Diasporas, Multicultural Media, Media Content, Media Use


This article addresses the increasingly important topic of the Chinese diaspora and its use of ethnic media content to construct everyday life in other culturally different, challenging, and other hostile environments. Analyzing the ethnic media content consumed and how it is used by Chinese diaspora living in the United States, the author explores notions of identity formation that are situated on cultural borderlands and centered on remembered or imagined homelands. Significantly, the author shows that these constructed lives are neither homogenous nor active/passive, but are marked by differentiation in class and gender and other lived conditions, highlighting the need for us to address, or at least be aware of, new forms of cross-cultural communication that are intracultural rather than intercultural.

Annotation Through in-depth ethnographic interviews with six ethnic Chinese Americans who immigrated to Iowa City as university students and professionals since 1965, this article discusses the use of ethnic Chinese media by the diaspora in the United States in terms of how they consume this media and how it affects self-imaginings of the Chinese diaspora. The study is conducted through the lens of mainstream diasporic identity theory. For the transnational participants of this study, cultural identity will never again be wholly Chinese or American, but engagement with ethnic media allows them to feel a sense of cultural cohesion in the diaspora and to develop cross-cultural social capital despite the large diversity in the specific ethno-cultural identities of the Chinese people in the United States. Because the felt cohesion of the virtual diaspora does not easily translate into strong real-world diasporic cohesion, social activism is not a large part of ethnic Chinese diasporic identity in Iowa City.


24

Reference Shi, Y. (2009). Re-evaluating the ‘alternative’ role of ethnic media in the US: The case of Chinese-language press and working-class women readers. Media, Culture and Society, 31(4), 597–616.



Geographic Scope U.S., San Francisco Bay Area


Interview Methods, Individual Interviews, Group Interviews

Key Words Newsprint Media, Media Consumption, Chinese Community


This study intends to extend the research scope of ethnic media studies with a cultural approach and a focus on working-class, female audience members, whose unique social position can test the limits and promises of Chinese-language press in the US.

Annotation This article discusses the newsprint media consumption habits of first-generation female working-class Chinese immigrants in the San Francisco Bay area of the United States in order to demonstrate the heterogeneity of diaspora groups that are often considered to be homogenous and to explore how segments of the diaspora are affected by ethnic media. Nine, mostly middle-aged, Mandarin women participated in the research directed the study by giving their interpretations and reactions to the coverage in a year’s worth of ethnic newspapers in both individual and group interviews. The author concludes that while ethnic media provide positive opportunities for the Chinese diaspora to challenge mainstream racism and racist discourses, they are internally oppressive in terms of gender and class issues. The criticism of mainstream racism does not have the ability to question underlying logics or to inspire social activism, with some even reinforcing mainstream discourses by encouraging assimilation. The alternative, resistant character of ethnic media depends to a large extent on media ownership and outlets differ in their degrees of inclusiveness within their own audiences. The coverage referenced in this study did not advocate for working-class women members of the Chinese community in San Francisco.


25

Reference Sun, A., Zhang, J., Tsoh, J., Wong-Kim, E., and Chow, E. (2007). The effectiveness in utilizing Chinese media to promote breast health among Chinese women. Journal of Health Communication, 12(2), 157–171.



Geographic Scope U.S., San Francisco


Interview Methods, Survey Methods,

Key Words Health Awareness, Media-based Education Campaigns, Immigrant Chinese Community, Multicultural Media


To increase the awareness and practice of breast health guidelines, a media-based education campaign on breast health was launched among immigrant Chinese community in San Francisco. The media campaign included airing two public service announcements (PSAs) on Chinese television and radio stations and publishing the same message in Chinese newspapers during 2000. Seven-hundred-ten face-to face interviews were conducted with women who were recruited from various settings in the city of San Francisco to evaluate the impact of the campaign. Survey participants were asked to describe the content of the PSAs. Having viewed the PSA was significantly associated with the ability to identify all four guidelines (OR ¼ 1.96; 95% CI: 1.35–2.85), knowing how to perform breast self-exam (BSE; OR ¼ 2.25; 95% CI: 1.53–3.29), having performed BSE within the past month (OR ¼ 3.12; 95% CI: 2.05–4.74), and having a clinical breast exam (CBE; OR ¼ 2.98; 95% CI: 1.82–4.90) and mammogram (MAM; OR ¼ 1.97; 95% CI: 1.16–3.36) in the past year. The study findings support that a media campaign utilizing PSAs is effective in improving knowledge of breast health guidelines, teaching Chinese women how to (BSEs), and increasing breast health practices.

Annotation This article presents research gathered from interviews with Chinese American women in the San Francisco area after a 2000 media campaign, through television and radio PSAs and newspaper ads, to promote monthly breast self-examinations, yearly clinical breast examinations, or annual mammograms amongst a population with a high risk of breast cancer mortality because of low levels of early-detection. The results indicated that two-thirds of the women in the sample were aware of the PSAs and that they inspired positive breast health awareness results in the women who had viewed or heard them. These findings led the authors to conclude that using Chinese ethnic media to make Chinese Americans aware of issues affecting them is an effective method for health promotion, although larger, more sustained campaigns would be necessary to reach a larger proportion of the population.


26

Reference Sun, W. (2005). Media and the Chinese diaspora: Community, consumption, and transnational imagination. Journal of Chinese Overseas, 1(1), 65–86.





Qualitative Analysis

Key Words Chinese Community, Diasporas, Multicultural Media, Cultural Identity, Electronic Communication


This paper is concerned with the formation of a global diasporic Chinese media sphere. In the first part, I will delineate the imbricative relationships between community, commerce, and cultural consumption of the Chinese media. What I perceive to be the three conceptual nodes constituting the analytical framework within which meanings of ¿Chineseness¿ are constructed and contested. In the second part, I will further argue that a global diasporic Chinese imagination is inherently transnational, and central to the formation of such transnational imaginary is what I refer to as the ¿transnational media sphere¿ which, as I will demonstrate, is a global phenomenon nevertheless inflected with local concerns. I will end the paper with some thoughts on how best to approach this extremely complex and ever changing phenomenon, tentatively suggesting some points of entry into a place- and context-specific understanding of the production and consumption of the Chinese language media and the crucial role it plays in the formation of a Chinese transnational imagination.

Annotation Whereas diasporic communities used to be geopolitically localized, with the advent of electronic communication diasporas are now global transnational cultural identities with some local inflection that is constructed by global and local, homeland and diasporic ethnic medias, the Chinese mediascape of Appadurai’s theory. The globalized Chinese transnational mediasphere means that, increasingly, diasporic communities in one place can easily access local ethnic media, ethnic media in other places, as well as the Chinese media in the home country equally. All of these media contribute to the formation of the transnational imagining of China, Chinese diaspora, and Chinese identity. The transnational overlaps both the national or nation-state and the post-national or diasporic. The author concludes not that there is one true notion of the Chinese diaspora, but neither that there are smaller local entities of Chinese diasporic communities. The Chinese diaspora mediascape is a constantly evolving concept reliant on notions of media circulation, distribution, production, and consumption.


27

Reference Yang, C., Wu, H., Zhu, M., Southwell, B. G. (2004). Tuning in to fit in?: Acculturation and media use among Chinese students in the United States. Asian Journal of Communication, 14(1), 81–94. doi: 10.1080/01292980420001951512





Survey Methods

Key Words Media Use, International Students, Acculturation, Chinese Community


This study approaches media use among international students from a uses-and gratifications perspective to explore the relationship between need for acculturation, acculturative motives, and media use among Chinese students in the United States. Eighty-four Chinese students participated in a survey at a large research university in the Midwestern United States. Results indicate that need for acculturation is, in fact, correlated with media use motives and patterns. An acculturative motive, for example, is correlated with watching US-based TV news programs and using US-based news websites and BBS. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Annotation This article deals with the mass communication media consumption undertaken by Chinese university students in the United States as a tool for acculturation. Mass media consumption is especially important to the initial phases of adaptation in a new culture as new immigrants often do not have sufficient language proficiency for interpersonal communication and so turn to more accessible means, namely mass media. The author relies on the theory of uses and gratification to explain her findings on the consumption of mainstream media by recently arrived Chinese university students in the Midwest United States. 84 students’ media use and the motivation for, and levels of, acculturation were measured by a questionnaire. Findings revealed that the level of perceived need for acculturation affected the level of media consumption participants engaged in and the types of media they used in support of this goal. While TV was used to gain access to American culture, the Internet was used to connect with China, either to communicate with families or to get information on home country events.


28

Reference Yang, G. (2003). The Internet and the rise of a transnational Chinese cultural sphere. Media, Culture and Society, 25(4), 469–490.



Geographic Scope Transnational


Qualitative Analysis, Mapping Methods, Ethnographic Methods

Key Words Chinese Community, Electronic Media, Transnational Flows, Cultural Spaces


Starting with a broad conception of public sphere, this paper analyses the nature, dynamics and political functions of online Chinese cultural spaces, particularly newsgroups, online magazines and bulletin board systems. Although these spaces are located both in and outside of China, the global nature of the Internet gives them a transnational character. The dominant language of communication in these spaces is Chinese and the `publics' are drawn from what Tu Wei-ming calls `cultural China'. Analysis based on ethnographic data reveals the size and diversity of these spaces, as well as their similarities, differences and connections. Further analysis shows that these online spaces have had visible influences on trans-national politics and civil society in China. The picture that emerges from this analysis is that of a transnational Chinese cultural sphere. The article concludes with a discussion of three key conditions of its emergence: media, culture, and society.

Annotation This article discusses the concept of a particular Chinese transnational public sphere, namely the online Chinese cultural sphere. The article analyzes both interactive and non-interactive online spaces in the Chinese cultural sphere and compares them in terms of their effect on civil society in China and on transnational politics. The author calls herself a ‘guerilla ethnographer’ in that the mapping of the online Chinese cultural sphere undertaken in the article was done in the spirit of the Internet, where she sampled from all sorts of different sources without treating the sphere as a network of locations in which to conduct fieldwork. Although the online cultural spaces that make up the Chinese cultural sphere are based both inside China and outside, in the technologically globalized online environment, there is little meaning in the distinction as access does not depend on being local, and thus all parts of the sphere are a part of the transnational sphere. The cultural sphere has developed an ethic of civil engagement and collective action for those who populate the online Chinese cultural sphere.


29

Reference Ye, J. (2005). Acculturative stress and use of the internet among East Asian international students in the United States. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 8(2), 154–161.





Survey Methods

Key Words Acculturative Stress, East Asian Community International Students, English Language Acquisition


This study investigated the relationships between acculturative stress of East Asian international students and their use of the Internet, taking into account Internet types (English-language Internet and native-language Internet) and Internet motives. A survey was conducted among 115 East Asian international students who attended a large urban university in the southeastern United States. On average, students used English-language Internet more than native-language Internet. A positive correlation was found between using English-language Internet and English proficiency. The analysis identified three Internet motives: information seeking, relaxation/entertainment, and social utility. Perceived discrimination was a positive predictor of the motives of social utility and relax/entertainment. Fear was a positive predictor of the motive of social utility.



30

Reference Zhang, K., and Hao, X. (1999). The Internet and the ethnic press: A study of electronic Chinese publications. The Information Society, 15(1), 21–30.



Geographic Scope Transnational


Case Study Methods

Key Words Cultural Identity, Cyberspace, Ethnic Communities, Ethnic Press, On-line Publication, Chinese Community, Diasporas


This article explores the roles of on-line publications in promoting ethnic communication. Through a case study of the on-line Chinese language publications, it examines the potentials of such publications in supplementing and expanding the functions of the traditional ethnic media, strengthening cultural and communal ties of the ethnic groups, and mobilizing them for action. The authors argue that in the age of cyberspace, the role of ethnic media in fortifying the cultural traits of ethnic immigrants is expected to be further strengthened. As a result, ethnic groups are more likely to be assimilated into the mainstream culture without losing their own cultural roots and ethnic identity.

Annotation This article asks the question of whether the Internet will help ethnic media to survive and flourish in the 1990s era of uncertainty about the Internet’s role in contributing to homogenizing globalization or to the fragmentary nature of McLuhan’s global village. The authors examine the diasporic Chinese online media, which serves an increasingly educated, dispersed, and socially mobilized Chinese diaspora on a global scale, not just locally. Through the discussion, the authors conclude that the Internet indeed has the potential to contribute to a revitalization of ethnic Chinese culture abroad by connecting diasporic Chinese to form a global ethnic village. Traditional print ethnic news media have a difficult time surviving the political restrictions and financial restraints in small ethnic community pockets of the diaspora. Connecting communities online means that more ethnic media have the potential to survive and reflect the diversity of the Chinese diasporic culture, by providing access to the Chinese culture that guards against negative assimilative losses of culture.


31

Reference Zheng, S. (2010). Claiming diaspora: Music, transnationalism, and cultural politics in Asian/Chinese America. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Source Type Book

Target Audience Academics, General Public



In-depth Interviews

Key Words Music, Transnationalism, Cultural politics, Chinese Community, Diasporas


Claiming Diaspora explores the thriving contemporary musical culture of Asian/Chinese America. Ranging from traditional operas to modern instrumental music, from ethnic media networks to popular music, from Asian American jazz to the work of recent avant-garde composers, author Su Zheng reveals the rich and diverse musical activities among Chinese Americans and tells of the struggles and creative searches by Chinese Americans to gain a foothold in the American cultural terrain. In doing so, she not only tells their stories, but also examines the transnational and racialized experiences of this musical culture, challenging us to take a fresh look at the increasingly plural and complex nature of American cultural identity. Until recently, two intersected models have dominated studies of Asian American cultural expressions. The notion of "claiming America" has been a fundamental political strategy for the Asian American movement; while the Americanization model for European immigrants has minimized the impact of the "old country" on immigrant life and cultural expression. In Claiming Diaspora, Zheng critically analyzes the controversies surrounding these two models. She unveils the fluid and evolving nature of music in Chinese America, discussing current cultural struggles, while acknowledging an unavoidable connection to a history of Asian exclusion in the U.S. Furthermore, Zheng breaks from traditional approaches which have portrayed the music of non-Western people as rooted and immobile to examine the concept of "diaspora" in the context of Asian American experiences and cultural theories of space, place, and displacement. She calls into question the contested meaning of "Asian American" and "Asian American cultural identity" in cultural productions, and builds a comprehensive picture of community and cultural transformation in Chinese and Asian America. Zheng taps unpublished historical sources of immigrant narrative songs, extensive fieldwork in New York City and China, in-depth interviews in which musicians narrate their life stories and music experiences, and her own longstanding involvement as community member, musician, presenter, and cultural broker. The book delineates the introduction of each music genre from its homeland and its subsequent development in New York, and explains how Chinese Americans express their cultural longings and belongings. Ultimately, Zheng reveals how Chinese American musical activities both reflect and contribute to local, national, and transnational cultural politics.



32

Reference Zhou, M., and Cai, G. (2002) Chinese language media in the United States: Immigration and assimilation in American life. Qualitative Sociology, 25(3), 419-441.



Geographic Scope U.S


Content Analysis, Interview Methods

Key Words Chinese Media, Ethnic Media, Enclave Economy, Immigration, Assimilation


The upsurge of Chinese language media—publications, radio, television, and the Internet—mirrors the linguistic, cultural, and socioeconomic diversity of the Chinese immigrant community, its vibrant ethnic enclave economy, and its multifaceted life in the United States. This article explores the causes and consequences of the ethnic media and its impact on the process of adaptation among Chinese immigrants. The data on which our study is based entail a content analysis of a selection of newspapers, television and radio programs, and websites, supplemented by telephone or face-to-face interviews. We attempt to answer a fundamental question: Does the ethnic media inhibit or promote the assimilation of immigrants into American society? We find that the Chinese language media not only connects immigrants to their host society, but also serves as a road map for the first generation to incorporate into American society by promoting the mobility goals of home ownership, entrepreneurship, and educational achievement.

Annotation Through a content analysis of Chinese ethnic media, including newspapers, television, radio, and websites, along with interviews, this article examines how the Chinese ethnic media contribute to the acculturation of immigrants to American culture in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. The authors found that the Chinese ethnic media both helps immigrants feel connected to their homeland and provides guidance on American culture for new immigrants. One conclusion the research draws is that while the Chinese ethnic media helps new immigrants to feel comfortable and supported in their new homes, it can lead to an isolationist attitude where immigrants can be successful without adapting to the new culture or learning English. For the authors, this is not necessarily bad as it appears to be temporary for many immigrants, and where ethnic Chinese have assimilated to American culture, they often return to ethnic communities where ethnic media are a source of community cohesion and seem to provide the Chinese community with the information they need. The authors seem to be arguing that these ethnic Chinese communities are American in and of themselves, and so there is no need for further acculturation.


33

Reference Zhou, Y. (1998). Beyond ethnic enclaves: Location strategies of Chinese producer service firms in Los Angeles. Economic Geography, 74(3), 228–251.



Geographic Scope U.S., Los Angeles


Survey Methods, Interview Methods

Key Words Ethnic Enclaves, Ethnic Network, Location Strategy, Producer Services, Chinese Immigrants


Ethnic enclaves are often not only the main residential areas for ethnic populations hit also the prime locations for their businesses. As more and more ethnic enterprises locate outside such enclaves, the spatial pattern of ethnic business becomes more complex. To understand the spatial pattern of ethnic business, I agree that we need to go beyond treating “ethnic” as the only adjective. Drawing from the literature on industrial networks and territorial agglomeration, I examine the location patterns of ethnic producer services and their interfere transaction networks. Chinese-owned firms in three types of producer services of Los Angeles County were selected: accounting, banking, and computer distribution. I collected information on networks and locations through surveys, interviews, and directories. This research found that location strategies are extremely important for ethnic entrepreneurs to exploit their market niches in all three sectors. While Chinese firms show markedly different spatial patterns from their non-Chinese counterparts, each type of producer service also differs from the others in spatial pattern. Accounting offices and bank branches concentrate in the Chinese central business district because of their Chinese-client-oriented network. A number of larger bank headquarters find downtown Los Angeles a favorable location because they are seeking international recognition and closer integration with mainstream financial institutions. Computer firms locate at the fringe of Chinese-concentrated areas and cluster with other Chinese computer distributors to participate in a product pool so that parts can he exchanged faster. I conclude that the spatial organization of ethnic business needs to be understood as the outcome of interaction between cultural and industrial identities of enterprises.

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