Together Here, Now and Forever: Chinese Immigrants’ Belonging in Australia, Family, Ethnicity and Memorialisation

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates end-of-life decisions, ethnic influences and memorialisaton of Chinese immigrants in Melbourne, Australia. Drawing on interviews with 41 participants including 25 individuals and 16 community or industry stake holders, we present insights into what this group experiences and how they negotiate end-of-life choices to accommodate their hybrid circumstances as immigrants. We find evidence of merging cultures that suggests a new Chineseness played out in diverse ways. We also found this group of Chinese had acquired a sense of belonging relating to being together with family and friends that they wished to continue beyond their lived experience. Their adopted new home in Australia provided an opportunity to be together now and forever.

KEYWORDS:

• Chinese migrants
• Australia
• funeral rites
• memorialisation
• family
• belonging

Acknowledgements

With grateful thanks to the Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust, Springvale Botanical Cemetery for their cooperation and support for this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Dr Helen Forbes-Mewett is Discipline Head of Sociology and Deputy Director of the Monash Migration and Inclusion Centre. Her research is focused on migration, international education and social cohesion. Helen is a member of the Victorian Multicultural Commission Regional Advisory Committee. Helen’s work is widely published and her books include: International Student Security (Cambridge, 2010), International Students and Crime (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), The New Security: Individual, Community and Cultural Experiences (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), and Vulnerability in a Mobile World (Emerald, 2019).

Gil-Soo Han is an Associate Professor in the School of Media, Film and Journalism at Monash University. His research interests include media, ethnicities, migration, religion, health, and nationalism. His recent publications include Nouveau-riche nationalism and Multiculturalism in Korea (Routledge, 2016) and Funeral Rites in Contemporary Korea: The Business of Death (Springer, 2019).

Wilfred Yang Wang is a lecturer in Media & Society at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on Chinese language social/digital media, mobile media and migration, digital geographies, and China. He is the author of the book, Digital Media in Urban China Locating Guangzhou (Rowman & Littlefield International, 2019).

ORCID

Helen Forbes-Mewett http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7437-0966