Belonging beyond the deficit label: The experiences of 'non-Chinese speaking' minority students in Hong Kong

Belonging beyond the deficit label: The experiences of 'non-Chinese speaking' minority students in Hong Kong

• Gao, Fang The Education University of Hong Kong
• Lai, Chun The University of Hong Kong
• Halse, Christine Margaret The Education University of Hong Kong

Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2018

Routledge

2018

• N Students & Student Services
  • NO Minorities & Immigrant Students
• P Social Context of Education
  • PC Society & Education

Belonging "Non-Chinese Speaking" ("NCS") "International Multilinguals" Hong Kong

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Unknown or Unspecified

How migrants, refugees and minority groups acquire a sense of belonging in their adopted society is a concern for nations worldwide as they aim to balance the diversity and inclusion of growing numbers of migrants with ensuring harmony and cohesion across society. In postcolonial Hong Kong, the population diversity is accompanied with a swift change in the racialisation of Hong Kong where minorities in schools find themselves categorised as 'non-Chinese speaking' ('NCS') rather than a 'Hongkonger'. The NCS label stigmatises young people as linguistically and academically deficit, de-legitimises acceptance by the local Chinese, Cantonese speaking majority designated as 'Hongkongers'. Yet how minority youth interpret their status as 'NCS' and negotiate belonging in Hong Kong has received scant attention. This qualitative study is a substantive and theoretical contribution to the literature on how multilingual minorities can construct a positive sense of place-belonging to their adopted city. Reflecting the contentious nature of the politics of belonging, we found that students challenged and sought to redefine the narrow, prevailing identity of a 'Hongkonger'. Rather, they stressed their multilingual identity, historical affiliations, emotional attachments and place-belongingness to the city in order to legitimate their entitlement to sociopolitical belonging in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

• English

Journal Articles

• 01434632

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/en/bibs/2eb1f9d5

2018-10-03