Recognising young Chinese Australian’s perceived resources within and beyond schooling

Abstract

This article reports how aspects of Chinese young people’s perceived identities can be viewed as resources in Australian schooling. The data in this article were taken from a larger scale study underpinned by a critical and interpretive ethnographic method conducted in two school sites. Qualitative methods elicited young people’s perspectives about their identities, ethnicity, and perceived strengths and weaknesses with regards to their daily lives, academic and school physical activity contexts. Based on Yosso’s notion of cultural wealth and its various forms of capital and operationalised by drawing on Bourdieu’s notions of how capital works to privilege and marginalise, we aim to problematise the often taken-for-granted, deficit discourses represented in the popular media, research and educational policy, and to promote a strengths-based approach to understand and recognise young Chinese Australians perceived resources within their socio-cultural environment. We conclude that these young people’s lives are constructed across transnational boundaries and they possess resources in dealing with challenges within and beyond schooling.

Keywords:

• Chinese young people
• Bourdieu
• Yosso
• cultural wealth
• strengths-based approach