Overview
- Argues that the figure of the Chinese person has been essential to the production of Chilean national identity
- Describes that the identity of the Chilean nation has historically excluded the Chinese, blacks, and indigenous
- Traces the evolution of the role Chineseness plays in defining racial and class aspects of Chilean national identity
Part of the book series: Studies of the Americas (STAM)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
This book explores the role of Chineseness or lo chino in the production of Chilean national identity. It does so by discussing the many voices, images, and intentions of diverse actors who contribute to stereotyping or problematizing Chineseness in Chile. The authors argue that in general, representing and perceiving China or Chineseness as the Other is part of a broader cultural and political strategy for various stakeholders to articulate Chile as either a Western country or one that is becoming-Western. The authors trace the evolution of the symbolic role that China and Chineseness play in defining racial, gendered, and class aspects of Chilean national social imaginary. In doing so, they challenge a common idea that Chineseness is a stable signifier and the simplistic perception of the ethnic Chinese as the unassimilable foreigner within the nation. In response, the authors call for a postmigrant approach to understanding identities and Chilean society beyond stubborn Orient-Occident and us-them dichotomies.
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Maria Montt Strabucchi is Assistant Professor in the Institute of History and Member of the Center for Asian Studies at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
Carol Chan is Associate Professor of Sociology at Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano, Chile.
María Elvira Ríos is a researcher in the Institute of Aesthetics at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Chineseness in Chile
Book Subtitle: Shifting Representations During the Twenty-First Century
Authors: Maria Montt Strabucchi, Carol Chan, María Elvira Ríos
Series Title: Studies of the Americas
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83966-6
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-83965-9Published: 16 December 2021
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-83968-0Published: 17 December 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-83966-6Published: 15 December 2021
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIII, 236
Number of Illustrations: 5 b/w illustrations, 20 illustrations in colour
Topics: Political Science, International Relations Theory, Comparative Politics