ABSTRACT
This chapter moves beyond the domestic to explore the interactions between Chinese Australian women and other members of the Australian community in more public spatial and social contexts such as schools/universities, workplaces and general community spaces. Recounted memories are drawn upon to first examine the ways in which Chinese Australian women were constructed and viewed as racialised outsiders via their interactions with other Australians. I argue that cultural and/or racial identity—‘Chineseness’ or ‘Australianness’—that were self-ascribed or imposed by others fostered feelings of difference or similarity and were used as a mechanism to exclude or include women in various understandings of race, culture and nation. The ways in which gendered, classed and generational identities also marked women as ‘outsiders’ within their various social contexts are examined. In the second half of the chapter, the diversity of these interactive experiences is acknowledged by highlighting the friendships and social supports experienced by some Chinese Australian women. These experiences fostered feelings of inclusion and belonging. From discussions with Chinese Australian women regarding their identities and interactions with White Australian communities, interesting and complex issues regarding assimilation, and more particularly, the limits of assimilation, arose. These issues are addressed in the final part of the chapter.
