| This dissertation studied the creation and function of the "sojourner myth" in relation to Chinese immigration from the 1850s to a century later. The sojourner myth, which developed in conjunction with the massive Chinese emigration of the nineteenth century, interpreted this movement as a temporary overseas adventure. The immigrants would eventually return home with wealth and riches. The sojourner myth was evolved to provide an explanation, a reconciliation with reality, and an acceptable mythic perspective at a time when the urgent need to leave for a foreign land clashed with Chinese cultural tradition and its key notion of filial piety. Chinese immigrants were seen throughout this period as profoundly affected by this myth in their reality-construction activities in the New World.;The study was carried out within the theoretical framework of the sociology of knowledge with its emphasis on the power of people's belief, perception and interpretation of their actions. The sojourner myth first functioned to free the emigrants from the chains of their homeland; and, after their arrival in the United States, the myth served to organize the lives of the immigrants around the belief in a final return. The cruelty and violence that the immigrants experienced in the United States created a hostile environment, which strengthened the belief that they did not belong to this country and served to isolate and alienate the Chinese immigrants in the land of their residence. Together with this environment, the immigrants' reality-construction activities, carried out under the influence of the sojourner myth, made them behave like strangers, resulting in a unique form of accommodation and assimilation in the United States. |
