Migrating identities: gender, whiteness and Britishness in post-colonial Hong Kong

Abstract

This paper explores the ways in which notions of nationality, whiteness and gender are drawn upon by British expatriate women in the construction and performance of their identities in post-colonial Hong Kong. A British colony since the mid-nineteenth century, Hong Kong was returned to China in the 1997 handover to become a ‘Special Administrative Region’. Now, as the administrative workings of empire are receding, so too are the expectations about race and nationality which went with them. For the white British, the opportunities to reconfigure discourses and subjectivities of whiteness are there, although the findings of this research reveals the unevenness of take-up. The paper draws on a broad feminist post-structuralist approach to reveal the ways in which four different British women migrants position themselves in the changing landscape. The approach shows important patterns of difference and diversity between the women in the performances of gendered Britishness and whiteness, and in the extent to which these are used to redefine or challenge the memory of relations established through imperialism.

Éste artículo explora las maneras en que las ideas de nacionalidad, blancura y género se utilizan por mujeres británicas expatriadas para construir y actuar sus identidades en el Hong Kong poscolonial. Una colonia británica desde la mitad del siglo XIX, se devolvió Hong Kong a China en la entrega del año 1997 y se convirtió a la ‘Región Administrativa Especial’. Ya como se disminuye el funcionamiento de la administración, también se bajan las expectativas sobre raza y nacionalidad que fueron componentes. Para los británicos blancos, existen las oportunidades para reconfigurar los discursos y las subjetividades de la blancura, aunque los resultados de ésta investigación revelan que se lo hace en maneras distintas. Éste artículo hace uso de un enfoque de pos-estructuralista feminista para revelar las maneras en que se ubican cuatro emigrantes británicas en un paisaje cambiante. Éste enfoque ilustra las pautas importantes de diferencia y diversidad entre las mujeres en las actuaciones de las identidades de género, blancura, y ‘Britishness’, y hasta qué punto tales identidades se utilizan para redefinir o cuestionar la memoria de las relaciones establecidas a través del imperialismo.

Keywords:

• migration
• expatriate
• whiteness
• British
• Hong Kong

Keywords:

• migración
• expatriado
• blancura
• ‘Britishness’
• Hong Kong

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the editor and three anonymous reviewers for their extensive comments, helpful advice and support in bringing this manuscript to fruition.

I am grateful to the University of Southampton for the funding for this research.

Notes

1. The term ‘expatriate’ is broad and somewhat contested. It is usually used by (white) Westerners who have lived abroad for various lengths of time. In Hong Kong many British people refer to themselves, and other white migrants, as expatriates, and for this reason I adopt the term here.

2. The Peak and Mid-Levels are among the more expensive residential areas of Hong Kong Island.

3. It is relatively commonplace to hire domestic helpers in Hong Kong. Many local Chinese families also engage domestic helpers as a strategy to free the mothers or wives for full-time paid work. The practice is not therefore exclusive to expatriates but is part of the culture of Hong Kong.