INTERETHNIC INTERACTION – A MATTER OF DEFINITION: ETHNICITY IN A HOUSING ESTATE IN HONG KONG
DOUGLAS W. SPARKS*
This article examines interethnic interaction and ethnic boundary maintenance in a public housing estate whose residents include many former refugees from mainland China. Attention is focused on relationships between two ethnic groups who are similar in language and culture and between whom there is some intergroup passing but which are, paradoxically, separated by rigid cognitive boundaries. The historical origins and relationships between these two ethnic groups in China are related to interaction and communication patterns in the housing estate. Variation and confusion in categorization of people from villages in the border area between the two ethnic groups in China is shown to be a function of participation in social networks which include people from the border villages.
The fieldwork for this research was undertaken in a resettlement estate in Tsuen Wan, an industrial new town in the New Territories of Hong Kong, and was primarily concerned with the Teochiu ethnic group which is generally described in the companion article in this issue of the Journal.
The housing estate in which I worked is located in North Kwai Chung, in the eastern part of the new town, an area of heavy industrial concentration and the location of several large housing estates. This particular housing estate was chosen as the primary fieldwork site largely because I had very good contacts with Teochiu leaders in local religious associations. My major concerns in the research were with the analysis of group dynamics and leadership within these associations and within the dense Teochiu networks within the housing estate.
* The author is a postgraduate research student from The Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, who recently carried out 18 months field work in Hong Kong. This research was supported by a National Science Foundation Dissertation Research Grant, for which he expresses his indebtedness and appreciation.
INTERETHNIC INTERACTION – A MATTER OF DEFINITION: ETHNICITY IN A HOUSING ESTATE IN HONG KONG
DOUGLAS W. SPARKS*
This article examines interethnic interaction and ethnic boun- dary maintenance in a public housing estate whose residents include many former refugees from mainland China. Attention is focused on relationships between two ethnic groups who are similar in language and culture and between whom there is some intergroup passing but which are, paradoxically, separated by rigid cognitive boundaries. The historical origins and relationships between these two ethnic groups in China are related to interaction and commu- nication patterns in the housing estate. Variation and confusion in categorization of people from villages in the border area between the two ethnic groups in China is shown to be a function of par- ticipation in social networks which include people from the border villages.
The fieldwork for this research was undertaken in a resettlement estate in Tsuen Wan, an industrial new town in the New Territories of Hong Kong, and was primarily concerned with the Teochiu ethnic group which is generally described in the companion article in this issue of the Journal.
The housing estate in which I worked is located in North Kwai Chung, in the eastern part of the new town, an area of heavy in- dustrial concentration and the location of several large housing estates. This particular housing estate was chosen as the primary fieldwork site largely because I had very good contacts with Teochiu leaders in local religious associations. My major concerns in the research were with the analysis of group dynamics and leadership within these associations and within the dense Teochiu networks within the housing estate.
* The author is a postgraduate research student from The Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, who recently carried out 18 months field work in Hong Kong. This research was supported by a National Science Foundation Dissertation Research Grant, for which he expresses his indebtedness and appreciation.
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