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HARIDUSTEADUSED Tallinna Ülikooli üliõpilaste 2015/2016. õppeaasta PARIMAD TEADUSTÖÖD / Artiklite kogumik
Liguang as a unique individual who engages in transnational activities by referencing the cultural repertoires of both China and Finland. erefore, the “authenticity” of his identity construct is fore- grounded by the practice of cultural referencing. By constantly rede ning and modifying Chinese cuisines in his restaurant, Cheng Liguang was cra ing his own conceptualization of self and his social positioning in Finland. In addition, I showcased the grocery experience with Feng Yichan, in order to further illustrate the individual agency of Cheng Liguang and Feng Yichan’s, which I argued is the pivot of their transnational cultural practice.
In the third chapter, I involved Feng Yichan — the wife of Cheng Liguang, the mother of Cheng Li’ao, the co-owner of the restaurant — more in the scope of analysis. I argued that to some transna- tional subjects, the notion of “home” has little correlation with speci c physical locales. Instead, it is manifested through social relations, speci cally the transnational social eld, which is established, modi ed and maintained by transmigrants themselves. Moreover, by depicting the di erence between Cheng Liguang and Feng Yichan regarding their home decoration ideas, I intend to draw attention to the salience of material items and their latent symbolic property correlating to the process of “home- making” for transmigrants. is in turn shed light on the “time” vector of the matrix of transnational lifeway. It is my intention to accentuate, through the simultaneous portrait of the couple, the “relatio- nal” feature of transnational movement and practice, and to showcase, in the scenarios presented in this ethnography, how the sense of “belonging”, “home”, “solidarity” and “a liation” are anchored in the domestic social environment within a nuclear family of three.
In the fourth chapter, Cheng Li’ao — the son of Cheng Li’ao and Feng Yichan, a second generation immigrant — was the protagonist. I argued, based on the interpretation of Cheng Li’ao’s narrative of his life story, that transnationalism perseveres to the second generation individual. e terms “trans- nationalism” and “transnationality” are — even though sometimes interpreted and utilized di erently in contemporary disciplinary scholarship — apt when describing the livelihood and lived experiences of transmigrants’, should it be read as a social morphology and phenomenon instead of denoting the individual’s physical presence in two or more physical locales (“here” and “there”). Cheng Li’ao servers as a very important character in the formation of the transnational social eld, not only to himself, but also to his parents — rst generation transmigrants. Cheng Li’ao’s knowledge and capacity to utilize cyber space and relevant online communication tools enables him to be involved in the transnational social eld initiated by his parents, and consequently to take responsibility for, and to take up an indis- pensable role in, this transnational social network. e motivation for such conscious involvement is a collaboration between Cheng Li’ao himself and his parents: it is Cheng Li’ao’s hope that a transnational social network would create more career opportunities for him in the future, in terms of social and economic bene ts; while it is his parent’s wish that Cheng Li’ao would be able to sustain a social con- nection with family members and relatives in China.
in lieu Of a cOncluSiOn
In lieu of a conventional, summarizing conclusion, I connect the story about the family to my own, in seeking of a sense of inter-personal connectivity.
I have been brought up in a mobile family myself. Growing up, my family and I moved a lot both
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