Marriage among ethnic Chinese in Bangkok: An ethnography of gender, sexuality, and ethnicity over two generations

In this study I use marriage to explore the active and ongoing constructions of ethnic identity among middle class Chinese in contemporary Bangkok. Drawing on two extensive field trips and over one hundred interviews, I argue that dynamic interconnections between their experiences of kinship, sexuality, gender, and class shape both the individual practices of ethnic identity, and the relations between ethnic Chinese men and women, on the one hand, and ethnic Chinese and Thai on the other hand. This approach, which takes into account gender differences in ethnic consciousness, marks a significant departure from earlier studies that assume a simple, unidirectional assimilation of the overseas Chinese. Recent studies that examine links between class and ethnic Chinese tend to focus mainly on male economic roles as the index of ethnic status while largely ignoring issues of gender and sexuality in defining ethnic identity and boundary.; My dissertation looks at marriage among two generations of ethnic Chinese. Rather than studying generational conflicts solely in terms of the loss or transmission of "original" Chinese culture, I analyze three aspects of marriage over two generations: (a) the practice and transformation of patrilineal kinship, (b) the sexual division of labor in the family economy, and (c) sexuality within and outside of marriage. Everyday marital practices provide a unique lens for studying the interrelations between sexuality, gender, class, and ethnicity.; Within each of these spheres, I focus on the gender-specific experiences of men and women. Using participant observation, life history interviews and survey information, I document how the China-born generation defines sex/gender, class, and ethnic boundaries primarily by reworking Confucian patrilineal principles, and how in the Thai-born generation an increasing number of professional women often renegotiate and challenge these boundaries. Ethnic Chinese men often articulate their ethnic identity through their earning power and sexual practices outside of marriage. In contrast, women tend to construct their feminine identity in terms of fidelity and motherhood, in opposition to working class Thai women who have to sell their labor and sex. My study produces the following findings: (a) in the second generation, ethnic Chinese men continue to enjoy structurally conferred privilege, (b) increasingly, women negotiate with men by exercising individual forms of power, and (c) the dynamic interactions between husband and wife, and gender-specific interactions between ethnic Chinese and Thai individuals, are central to forming and reforming ethnic identities and sex/gender boundaries.; The organization of marriages among middle class Chinese over two generations documented in my research demonstrates the fundamental asymmetrical sex/gender relations that define and constitute ethnic identity. Research on ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia must examine how within marriage and family there is a continual attempt to reproduce patrilineal principles in the practice of sexual privilege, kinship, the household division of labor, and ethnic differentiation. This study maintains that marital relations are central to an understanding of what it means to be Chinese in Thailand, and the ways in which the ethnic Chinese maintain and transform ethnic boundaries.