Yeeva Cheng
Davidson College
Project
Unbound: Empowerment among Hakka Women in Jamaica, Indonesia, Germany and Mauritius
Jamaica, Indonesia, Germany, Mauritius
How do contemporary transnational Chinese women experience and challenge arranged marriage in relation to other social issues, such as race, religion or income? I will collect narratives and stories through dialogue-based workshops, storytelling, and peer mentorship among Chinese girls and women. I want girls to tell their own stories, in their own voices, within their own cultural contexts.
The Hakka are an ethnicity within the Han ethnic group. Because I am Hakka, I will use Hakka organizations and associations as access points to the communities. The Hakka have historically traveled and settled in various countries where there were few overseas Chinese. These communities are known for being particularly insular, thus being more likely to practice some form of arranged marriage.
I will live in communities in Jamaica, Indonesia, Germany and Mauritius. These countries each have significant Hakka-Chinese populations, each with varying attitudes toward women’s roles and arranged marriages. These varying attitudes affect how girls and women consider or plan their education, work, family life and other aspects of their daily lives. Additionally, each community has its own context of social issues, which I hope to explore. As I build relationships with Chinese girls and women across borders, I will collect a network of stories of lived experiences. Their perspectives will contribute to a greater understanding of different feminisms, challenging what many Western-educated women (myself included) believe about feminism and approaches to empowerment.