ABSTRACT
This opening chapter resolves around the fundamental conceptualisations of the book. We first revisit the notion ‘diaspora’ and review contestations around it. On the one hand, the proliferation and dispersion of the notion across semantic, conceptual, and disciplinary spaces have paradoxically eroded its distinguishing power. On the other hand, the notion of diaspora has a liberating force, functioning as a symbolic capital in context of oppressive national hegemony. To grapple with the macro and micro levels of complexities of Chinese diaspora, we have recourse to Bourdieu’s sociology, particularly his three interconnected moments of field analysis. However, it would be difficult to realise the analytical power of Bourdieu and the emergent properties of Chinese diaspora without an understanding of history and culture. We therefore provide a panoramic overview of Chinatown – a trans-temporal, trans-cultural, and trans-spatial field for Chinese diaspora’s historical developments. This is followed by a discussion of contemporary Chinese diaspora in Australia and Canada, the context of the book. We finish the chapter with an introduction to the major themes of the book – identity work, educational socialisation, and resilience building of Chinese diaspora – and an outline of subsequent chapters.
