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The Narratives of Illusion and Suffering
Series:
Chinese Overseas, Volume: 17
Author:
This research employs the narrative of mental suffering as a prism through which to study Chinese migration in France. It provides new analytical angles and new perspectives on the paradoxical existence and conditions of the migrants, and traces the social links between individuals and societies, objectivity and subjectivity, the real and the imaginary.
The ethnographic survey in this study is situated in the context of the transformation of Chinese society over the last forty years. Dr. Wang deconstructs the stereotypes of Chinese people, demonstrates the dynamics of social mobilities and heterogeneous living conditions of Chinese migrants, who experience and narrate happiness as well as pain, joy as well as sorrow, and hope as well as despair.
The transversal approach used to analyse the heterogeneity within an ethnic group will be of interest to scholars of migration studies in general.
The ethnographic survey in this study is situated in the context of the transformation of Chinese society over the last forty years. Dr. Wang deconstructs the stereotypes of Chinese people, demonstrates the dynamics of social mobilities and heterogeneous living conditions of Chinese migrants, who experience and narrate happiness as well as pain, joy as well as sorrow, and hope as well as despair.
The transversal approach used to analyse the heterogeneity within an ethnic group will be of interest to scholars of migration studies in general.
The Narratives of Illusion and Suffering
Series:
Chinese Overseas, Volume: 17
Author:
This research employs the narrative of mental suffering as a prism through which to study Chinese migration in France. It provides new analytical angles and new perspectives on the paradoxical existence and conditions of the migrants, and traces the social links between individuals and societies, objectivity and subjectivity, the real and the imaginary.
The ethnographic survey in this study is situated in the context of the transformation of Chinese society over the last forty years. Dr. Wang deconstructs the stereotypes of Chinese people, demonstrates the dynamics of social mobilities and heterogeneous living conditions of Chinese migrants, who experience and narrate happiness as well as pain, joy as well as sorrow, and hope as well as despair.
The transversal approach used to analyse the heterogeneity within an ethnic group will be of interest to scholars of migration studies in general.
The ethnographic survey in this study is situated in the context of the transformation of Chinese society over the last forty years. Dr. Wang deconstructs the stereotypes of Chinese people, demonstrates the dynamics of social mobilities and heterogeneous living conditions of Chinese migrants, who experience and narrate happiness as well as pain, joy as well as sorrow, and hope as well as despair.
The transversal approach used to analyse the heterogeneity within an ethnic group will be of interest to scholars of migration studies in general.
Author:
Abstract
Chapter 5 focuses on the descendants of migrants born in China, who immigrated into France before adulthood, a few years after their parents’ immigration. This two-step migration highlights a specific phenomenon to Chinese families, that I name “reverse parenting obligations”, in other words referring to the duties of children of Chinese origin towards their parents. Having suffered from parent-child separation for several years, these young people of Chinese origin express their psychological distress and develop several strategies to escape “reverse parenting obligations”: by striving to achieve upward social mobility, getting involved in an association, or even seeking mental health help.
Author:
Abstract
Chapter 6 aims to study the psychological difficulties of French-born Chinese using an approach in terms of social class. These children live a paradox of “disruptions and continuities” between their family legacy, and social norms they have acquired outside the family. According to their social environment, these French-born Chinese have different views regarding how to achieve “upward social mobility”. According to their background and their degree of commitment to social mobility, each French-born Chinese appropriates and manages differently mental suffering during their social ascension.
Author:
Abstract
The conclusion exposes five main results emerging from this ethnographic work. Firstly, it highlights the sociological heterogeneity of Chinese immigration in Paris through an approach articulating the diverse social factors. Secondly, this work shows the relevance of studying international migration through the lens of mental health. Thirdly, by also analyzing the views of health professionals, this book unveils the logic underlying political discourses related to the integration of migrants, and shows that the therapeutic relationships between health professionals and Chinese families could be perceived as being a power balance, based on both ethnic otherness and social distance. Fourthly, the ethnographic study in both Chinese families and psychiatric institutions, as well as my simultaneous “inside and outside” observations of the population I have studied, points out the richness of the ethnographic approach and the epistemological ability of sociology to contribute to the study of the medical field. Finally, all these methodological and epistemological reflections help to deconstruct the ethnopsychiatric approach and revisit trends of thought called “culturalist” in a care relationship, and more broadly in the French context of migrant reception policies.
In a nutshell, this book examines how gender, social background, migratory generation, age and region of origin jointly influence the sociogenesis and the management of migrants’ mental suffering. From the case of five different subgroups of Chinese migrants living in Paris, this book evidences how they are differently exposed to mental suffering, and subsequently, how individuals appropriate and re-appropriate their own psychological difficulties in different ways. Overall, this book contributes to international migration studies through the lens of “mental health”. At the same time, these findings give fascinating insights into the ethnicity and interculturality in the field of psychiatric institutions studies, especially related to the provision of healthcare for and socio-medical management of migrants without any postcolonial dimension in the host country.
Author:
Author:
Abstract
After a brief introduction on the theoretical framework, research question and methodology of this research (cf. Table of contents below), Chapter 1 focuses on the Chinese emigration scene – the social stratification in China from 1949 to the present day and the evolving visions of the West. Then, it delineates the history of Chinese immigration to France, and finally it studies the sociological composition of this Chinese population in Paris.
Author:
Abstract
Chapter 2 focuses on intellectuals’ exile in the wake of the Tiananmen square events. This chapter focuses on the feeling of uprooting following political exile, the psychotherapeutic setting is used by those exiles as a place to build collective memory and of subjectivation (to rework on the relationship between individual and collective). In that respect, this chapter discusses the politicisation of suffering and the suffering of politicisation.
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Abstract
Chapter 3 is concerned with young Chinese who settled permanently in France after graduating there. By adopting a gendered approach, this chapter shows the disruption of the matrimonial market in a transnational context and the sociogenesis of gendered suffering linked to the matrimonial destinies of transnational skilled migrants.
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Abstract
Chapter 4 deals with migrants from working class backgrounds, a majority of whom are undocumented. After an analysis on the enduring “collective lie” entailed by clandestine migration, this chapter discusses the social uses of the law by these migrants living precariously based on the “illness clause” (i.e. applying for residency permit in France for medical reasons). Studying both their healthcare itinerary and, over a relatively lengthy timespan, the decision-making process regarding their migration project enables to deconstruct the image of these undocumented migrants as “strategists”.
Daily Lives, Racial Struggles and Transnational Citizenship of Migrants and Descendants
Volume Editor:
The day after the epidemic broke out in Wuhan, Chinese people in France are already busy sending masks across borders and sharing media information; at the same time, a significant number of Chinese people are victims of racist attacks, insults and discrimination in France. Based on both quantitative and qualitative empirical data, this book reveals the new dynamics and interactions generated by the Covid-19 pandemic not only between different sub-groups of Chinese in France, but also between ethnic Chinese and their both countries: China and France. Mutual aid, local or transnational solidarity, inclusion initiatives, like any act of exclusion and hostility, invite you to question the essence of humanity in transnational settings, beyond the racialization of the Covid-19 virus.
Daily Lives, Racial Struggles and Transnational Citizenship of Migrants and Descendants
Volume Editor:
The day after the epidemic broke out in Wuhan, Chinese people in France are already busy sending masks across borders and sharing media information; at the same time, a significant number of Chinese people are victims of racist attacks, insults and discrimination in France. Based on both quantitative and qualitative empirical data, this book reveals the new dynamics and interactions generated by the Covid-19 pandemic not only between different sub-groups of Chinese in France, but also between ethnic Chinese and their both countries: China and France. Mutual aid, local or transnational solidarity, inclusion initiatives, like any act of exclusion and hostility, invite you to question the essence of humanity in transnational settings, beyond the racialization of the Covid-19 virus.