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This project analyzes the diversity of the various Chinese languages present in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The diversity and presence of these languages can be used to make inferences about different aspects of the Chinese American community in the Phoenix area, and therefore the dialects and compared to other aspects of the Chinese American immigration experience, such as where immigrants are from, what areas of Phoenix they reside, and the Chinese language skills of both the participants and their children. The data is then presented with historical context of the Phoenix Chinese community as well as a brief discussion on the current Chinese community in Phoenix as well as the acculturation of Chinese American children.
ContributorsMartin, Adam (Author) / Li, Wei (Thesis director) / Xie, Siqiao (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
This dissertation focuses on the psycho-cultural perceptions and social interactions among a sample of 58 Chinese immigrant women in the Maricopa County, the Phoenix metro area of, Arizona, and the manner in which they are able to negotiate multiple identity markers that in part influence and define their capacity to achieve and maintain self-referential growth. The central question this dissertation seeks to address is: what historical forms have emerged, accumulated and reproduced through the actions of women in spaces within and between households, networks and social relations, voluntary associations, political participation, economic and financial transactions, and educational, religious, and civic, recreational and artistic activities; and how are these symbolically represented?This research is comprised of three stages. First, I show how a group of Chinese immigrant women living in, Arizona, combine the Eastern and Western connotations of the Phoenix metro area, to create a fourfold conceptual metaphor of the phoenix. Second, I demonstrate that how such symbolization and metaphorization represent their personal immigration experience, femininity, ethnic identity, and geographic location. Third, I also highlight how they associate themselves with the heuristic of the phoenix as a tool for self-empowerment, virtue, well-being, and self-representation.
This dissertation concludes that the Chinese women living in the Phoenix area not only apply the metaphor of the phoenix to themselves, but also reference this mythical bird in their social media ID, clubs names, and themed events, and include it in their oral traditions. In contrast, they reject, negotiate, or resist the stigma and stereotypes attached to the “dragon” symbol which often convey qualities of overpowering and irrational oppression in western mythology. Instead, they associate themselves with the heuristic of the phoenix as a tool for self-empowerment, virtue, well-being, and ethnic self-representation. Such metaphorization and symbolization contribute to their resistance to the symbolic violence by countering with their own powerful self-referential narratives, that have shaped their Chinese community.
ContributorsShi, Hua (Author) / Cruz-Torres, Maria (Thesis advisor) / Velez-Ibanez, Carlos (Committee member) / Li, Wei (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021