Being Chinese in Buenos Aires: A case study

Abstract

This paper is part of a broader project that seeks to analyze the ways in which the Chinese identity is built through and in language. The work presented here is a case study of an ethnically mixed couple: a Chinese woman and an Argentinian man (son of a Chinese father and Argentinian mother). The hypothesis that guides the study is that the identity built in the speech, in the case of the Chinese person is linked to language, while in the case of the Chinese descendant, other aspects prevail in the construction.
Semi-structured interviews with the two subjects were conducted separately and analyzed using discourse analysis tools. The aim was to identify features that are evident in the discourse and the place given to different languages (Mandarin and Spanish) in their speech. Some coincidences were found between the identity construction of the Chinese descendant and the one other authors revealed of Italian and Spanish descendants from the beginning of the 20th century.