The politics of Chinese immigrants’ double unbelonging and deglobalization

Abstract

This study theorizes the politics of belonging, drawing on the case of Chinese immigrants. In the heyday of globalization, Chinese immigrants used to enjoy a high degree of transnational mobility and multiple belongings. Now, in the wake of China–West geopolitical contestations and during the time of COVID-19, many Chinese immigrants are experiencing double unbelonging due to marginalization in both the host society and China. By analyzing double unbelonging, this study makes three theoretical contributions. First, it expands the conventional cultural–humanistic framework of belonging to incorporate political analysis. Second, it discusses why and how to replace the positivist approach to belonging as exemplified by acculturation theory with a social constructionist approach to the politics of belonging. Finally, the study theorizes unbelonging—its epistemological advantage, its dialectical relation with belonging, its production by the nation-state and media, and how polarizing geopolitics produce double unbelonging.