Embodied by State Borders: Citizenship negotiations of children in Chinese– foreign families in the People’s Republic of China

Elena Barabantseva, Caroline Grillot, Michaela Pelican

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The citizenship of Chinese–foreign children who have been brought up in China is an area of increasing political relevance because of their growing numbers and public visibility, as well as the high status accorded to children in the political agenda of the Communist Party, and wider debates on Chinese citizenship, identity and belonging. In this article we examine how decisions about children’s citizenship are made across national and generational divides in three different family contexts in China, namely in Chinese–Vietnamese, Chinese–Russian/Ukrainian, and Chinese–Cameroonian families. We tease out contestations between foreign and Chinese parents and grandparents and discuss how gender, socioeconomic, and racial dimensions affect Chinese–foreign families. We argue that the bodies of the children of Chinese–foreign couples occupy a prominent place in the territorializing practices of Chinese citizenship that are shaped by gendered, racial, and socioeconomic inequalities.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3709-3729
JournalJournal of Ethnic and Migration Studies
Volume49
Issue number15
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 May 2023

Keywords

  • citizenship
  • cross-border/transnational families
  • children
  • China
  • Russia
  • Ukraine
  • Vietnam
  • Cameroon

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