PhD defence
Rice Eaters in the Land of Cheese
- Y. Yang
- Date
- Wednesday 21 June 2023
- Time
- Location
-
Academy Building
Rapenburg 73
2311 GJ Leiden
Supervisor(s)
- Prof.dr. J. Mesman
- dr. R.A.G. Emmen
Summary
This dissertation aimed to examine the ethnic socialization context in the upbringing of Chinese-Dutch children, specifically three social-contextual factors: parents, children’s books, and the COVID pandemic. Consistent with Social Identity Theory and Systematic Justification Theory, results reveal that Chinese-Dutch children (7 to 11 years old) evaluate their ingroup and the White outgroup most positively, followed by the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) outgroup, and the Black outgroup least positively. In their immediate social environment, stronger maternal endorsement of multiculturalism is associated with lower child ethnic prejudice (in terms of less ingroup preference). In addition, results demonstrate maternal self-report ethnic-racial socialization strategies and the observed behaviors that reflect color-evasiveness and white normativity. Furthermore, results show an overrepresentation of White authors, illustrators, and characters, and the preference for light skin color in East Asian characters in illustrations in Chinese children’s books, suggesting a form of current postcolonial globalization influences on Chinese children’s literature. In a broader social environment, results indicate ethnicity-related attitude differences among Chinese-Dutch mothers participating after than before the COVID outbreak, with higher perceived discrimination and stronger ethnic identity. Similarly, different ethnic attitudes were also found among Chinese-Dutch children, with a lower ingroup rejection in the post-COVID-outbreak group than in the pre-COVID-outbreak group, which confirms the impact of world-changing events on (the development of) ethnic prejudice in children. This dissertation can foster a better understanding of the interethnic relations in the Chinese underrepresented group and elucidate the ethnicity-related consequences of the pandemic in this group.
PhD dissertations
Approximately one week after the defence, PhD dissertations by Leiden PhD students are available digitally through the Leiden Repository, that offers free access to these PhD dissertations. Please note that in some cases a dissertation may be under embargo temporarily and access to its full-text version will only be granted later.
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