This study seeks to understand Chinese ethnicity as a process of ongoing cultural construction engaged in by Chinese people in Vancouver from 1945 to 1980. Drawing evidence primarily from the ethnic press and voluntary organizations, it uncovers a diversity of cultural positions articulated by different groups of Chinese with respect to their ethnic identity and sense of community. This interior discourse on Chineseness unfolded in part because of changing demographic conditions within the ethnic group. After the Second World War, the older settlers who had arrived in Canada before the exclusion act of 1923 were joined and gradually outnumbered by their Canadian-born descendants and new immigrants. This development ushered in a contest for the power of cultural definition among various generations of local-born and immigrant Chinese. The emergent diversity of ethnic constructs in the Chinese minority after 1945 also reflected the continuous influence of China and the new opportunities Chinese people began to enjoy in Canada. The former unitary outlook of the ethnic group regarding the close relationship of overseas Chinese with their home country was displaced, but not by any simple cultural re-orientation to Canada. Particularly among the immigrant Chinese, the concern forthe native place, the care for family members in Mainland China and Hong Kong, the desire to promote some form of Chinese culture in Vancouver, and a residual interest in Chinese politics remained salient dimensions of their ethnic consciousness. At the same time, the dismantling of discriminatory legislation and other racial barriers in the larger society afforded Chinese people for the first time the option to nurture an identification with Canada. In the 1970s these two fundamentally different cultural orientations were reconciled, as the discourse on Chineseness took on a new paradigm. Under state multiculturalism and with the rise of ethnic sentiments, members of the Chinese minority advanced their claims to be "Chinese Canadians" within the officially enshrined Canadian mosaic. Despite popular subscription to this category, immigrant and local-born Chinese invested this label with different meanings. The underlying diversity of Chinese ethnic construction was once again unveiled.

This study seeks to understand Chinese ethnicity as a process of ongoing cultural construction engaged in by Chinese people in Vancouver from 1945 to 1980. Drawing evidence primarily from the ethnic press and voluntary organizations, it uncovers a diversity of cultural positions articulated by different groups of Chinese with respect to their ethnic identity and sense of community. This interior discourse on Chineseness unfolded in part because of changing demographic conditions within the ethnic group. After the Second World War, the older settlers who had arrived in Canada before the exclusion act of 1923 were joined and gradually outnumbered by their Canadian-born descendants and new immigrants. This development ushered in a contest for the power of cultural definition among various generations of local-born and immigrant Chinese. The emergent diversity of ethnic constructs in the Chinese minority after 1945 also reflected the continuous influence of China and the new opportunities Chinese people began to enjoy in Canada. The former unitary outlook of the ethnic group regarding the close relationship of overseas Chinese with their home country was displaced, but not by any simple cultural re-orientation to Canada. Particularly among the immigrant Chinese, the concern forthe native place, the care for family members in Mainland China and Hong Kong, the desire to promote some form of Chinese culture in Vancouver, and a residual interest in Chinese politics remained salient dimensions of their ethnic consciousness. At the same time, the dismantling of discriminatory legislation and other racial barriers in the larger society afforded Chinese people for the first time the option to nurture an identification with Canada. In the 1970s these two fundamentally different cultural orientations were reconciled, as the discourse on Chineseness took on a new paradigm. Under state multiculturalism and with the rise of ethnic sentiments, members of the Chinese minority advanced their claims to be "Chinese Canadians" within the officially enshrined Canadian mosaic. Despite popular subscription to this category, immigrant and local-born Chinese invested this label with different meanings. The underlying diversity of Chinese ethnic construction was once again unveiled. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

In this ethnographic inquiry, I examine how a selected group of Chinese immigrant children in Montreal, Quebec negotiate literacy practices in three languages, Chinese, English and French. I collected data between 1998--2002 through participant observations in different socio-cultural-linguistic contexts that include a Chinese Heritage Language school and the students' home domains. Data sources also include interviews, classroom discourses, field-notes and the students' written texts in the three languages. I draw on Vygotskian socio-cultural theory as an overarching framework to conceptualize my understanding of Chinese immigrant children's triliterate actions. I use Wertsch's concept of "mediational means", Bakhtin's notions of "utterance, voice, dialogicality" and Ivanic's theory of "writing and identity" to present portraits that illustrate the complex relationships among the children's contexts, agency, cultural positionings and uses of literacy as mediational means. I examine the children's perceptions of their multiple school experiences, their school and language affiliations and identity. Lightfoot's concept of "portraiture" is a useful methodology to illustrate how multilingual children present and negotiate their life worlds in the three languages and spaces---from home to school and from heritage language school to formal public school. The reflective understandings that emerge from this inquiry are integrated within the contexts of the historical role of Confucianism and the characteristics of the written Chinese language. The results of my inquiry suggest that multilingual children's literate actions are interwoven with issues of agency, access, choice, identity, power and status in different contexts. Results further indicate that maintenance of a heritage language in its written form is possible when children receive appropriate parental support and guidance and have access to literacy materials. The development of multili

The relations between mismatched parent-adolescent autonomy beliefs, and psychological adjustment and parenting self-efficacy were investigated among 89 immigrant Chinese Canadian families with early adolescents. Hierarchical regression analyses assessed whether interactions between parents’ autonomy beliefs and adolescents’ autonomy beliefs predicted psychological adjustment and parenting self-efficacy. Parent-adolescent conflict intensity was evaluated as a mediator of these relations. Parental warmth was evaluated as a moderator of the relations between autonomy beliefs and adolescent psychological adjustment. When adolescents held early expectations for autonomy, mothers who held later expectations for autonomy reported lower parenting self-efficacy. When fathers perceived high decision making independence, adolescents who perceived low decision making independence reported fewer depressive symptoms. Conflict intensity did not mediate these relations. Although parental warmth did not moderate in the predicted manner, fathers' warmth moderated the relation between fathers’ expectations for autonomy and adolescent self-esteem. Implications for healthy adolescent autonomy among immigrant Chinese Canadian families are discussed.

Recent years have witnessed the large number of Chinese immigrants in Canada. With the coming of those immigrants is the large number of school age children. Hence, immigrant families' educational expectations and parental participation in their children's schools become major educational concerns. This study focuses on recent Chinese immigrants' expectations of and concerns about their children's schooling. / Drawing from Bourdieu's cultural capital theory and Ogbu's social mobility theory, in this study, I used a qualitative interview methodology to explore the educational expectations and school involvement of five Chinese parents who had recently immigrated to Canada. The educational expectations for their children and school participation of these Chinese immigrants are deeply rooted in Chinese tradition and heritage and are also greatly shaped by their personal experiences in Canada. Their cultural values and beliefs and immigration experiences as visible minorities have had a great impact on their educational expectations. Language barriers and different cultural values between dominant mainstream and Chinese traditions are the two main factors that hinder immigrant parents' participation in school activities and hence in their children's schooling.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2007. Graduate programme in Social and Political Thought. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 360-367). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004 & res_dat=xri:pqdiss & rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation & rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:NR32058.

Thesis (M.A.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 78-95). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR51611

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A qualitative - exploratory study was conducted to investigate the experiential consequences of underemployment for Chinese immigrants who were former professionals in their country of origin. Twelve male immigrants aged 28 to 63 who have resided in Canada 1 to 4 years were interviewed. For the most part, the study was existentially based using a phenomenological - content analysis format to derive results. Results indicated that Chinese immigrants' problematic responses to underemployment differed greatly depending upon their initial place of origin i.e., familiarity with and adaptability to the host society being the significant factor. Counseling suggestions to assist these individuals followed the existential paradigm. Finally, several possibilities that exist for further research into this topic of the underemployed immigrant are described. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

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