Making a home in US rural towns: the significations of home for Chinese immigrants' work, family, and settlement in local communities

Abstract

This paper provides a micro-ethnographic study of a group of Chinese immigrants’ experiences of homeownership as an indicator of their long-term settlement in three rural towns located in the central region of New York State, USA. Drawing upon 12 qualitative and in-depth interviews with recent homeowners, this study attempts to construct home as a semiotic sign that not only contains traditional Chinese values but also conveys specific significations for Chinese immigrants’ work, family, and settlement in US rural communities. The findings here may pose a contrast with some existing studies in that settlement for Chinese immigrants is not necessarily a quantitative measurement, but a subjective conceptualization externalized in the ownership of a house as a meaningful sign of work, family, and settlement.

Este artículo provee un estudio microetnográfico de las experiencias como propietarios de vivienda en un grupo de inmigrantes chinos, como indicador de su prolongado asentamiento en tres poblaciones rurales situadas en la región central del estado de Nueva York. A partir de un conjunto de entrevistas cualitativas y profundas, este estudio intenta establecer el hogar como un signo semiótico que no sólo posee valores chinos tradicionales, sino que también contiene significados específicos para el trabajo, la familia y el asentamiento en los poblaciones rurales de los Estados Unidos de los nuevos inmigrantes chinos. Los hallazgos pueden crear un contraste con estudios existentes en el hecho de que el asentamiento de inmigrantes chinos no necesariamente es una medida cuantitativa, sino una conceptualización externalizada en la propiedad sobre la casa como un signo lleno de significado.

Keywords:

• Chinese immigrants
• family
• home
• rural towns
• settlement
• work

Keywords:

• Inmigrantes chinos
• familia
• hogar
• poblaciones rurales
• Asentamientos
• trabajo

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the valuable feedback of Judith Sixsmith who has been an editor in the fullest sense, the thoughtful suggestions of the two anonymous reviewers, and the support of the SUNY Faculty Research Grant Program in preparation of this article.

Notes

 1. The term ‘recent immigrants’ refers to those immigrants who came to the USA within the past 10 years as commonly defined in US census.