“My Heart Will Go On”: Chinese Karaoke and the Cultural Performance of Identity for Panama's Chinese Diaspora

This study investigates the psychological mechanisms through which intercultural performance facilitates identity negotiation, using Stan Lai's Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land as a case study to examine cultural identity construction in Chinese diaspora contexts. A mixed-methods design combined textual analysis with empirical investigation of audience responses across three participant groups: Chinese diaspora community members (n=108), non-Chinese audience members (n=108), and theatre studies scholars (n=108). Participants completed pre- and post-viewing assessments measuring cultural identity, intercultural sensitivity, and performance engagement, with 3-month follow-up data collected to assess sustained effects. Results confirmed all six-research hypotheses. Chinese diaspora participants demonstrated significantly higher identity flexibility scores (M=4.67) compared to non-Chinese participants (M=3.45) and theatre scholars (M=4.23), F(2,321)=47.32, p<.001, η²=.23. Viewing the performance produced significant increases in identity integration across all groups, with largest gains among Chinese diaspora participants (d=0.83). Cultural background emerged as the strongest predictor of cultural memory mediation effects (β=.42, p<.001), explaining 34.7% of variance. Strong positive correlations were found between identity flexibility and performance engagement (r=.67, p<.001). Thematic analysis revealed four distinct authenticity negotiation strategies, with Chinese diaspora participants employing hybrid and performative approaches at significantly higher rates . The findings demonstrate that intercultural performance functions as an "identity technology," providing structured opportunities for cultural identity exploration and integration. Findings indicate that theatre experience causes durable changes in psychology, which, in turn, justifies using it in multicultural learning and in therapeutic practice. The study becomes instrumental in adding empirical support to performance studies theories, and it provides novel models of insight into the process of negotiating the identity of the diaspora.

In this essay, Ⅰ shall first discuss the literary writings of early Chinese immigrants (who were ”ambassadors of good will”), second-generation Chinese American writers (some as assimilationists), Chinese American writers in the 1960s (some as cultural nationalists), and early bi-racial writers-all of whom situate racial identity within a binary context. Then, using Gish Jen's Mona in the Promised Land and Rebecca Walker's Black White and Jewish, Ⅰ shall explore a new mode of subjectivity in today's postmodern-capitalist regime, an identity that is no longer situated in the in-between of binary oppositions but involves an incessant movement of differences. Ⅰ argue that the never-ending performance of identities enables the performers of the two texts to disregard their split, ease their anxiety about the diminishing Other, and reduce the other to one-imaginary, authentic, and totally rhetorical. On that basis, Ⅰ shall examine how these identity performers in both texts are all assumed in the Capitalist Other and how identity performance and postmodern hybridity are both concomitant with today's Global-Capitalist regime. Finally, Ⅰ propose a possible political identity. It is one that is neither grounded on binary framework nor based on an endless movement of performance. Rather, it lies in acknowledging the extent of one's obedience to the Other, the recognition of the lack in self, others, and the Other, and the ability to embrace a Lacanian ”partial enjoyment.” Today, accepting the partiality of enjoyment is a way to form a symbolic bond in that we need to recognize that we all have made our sacrifice in enjoyment and none will have it all.

The study explores the identity performance of second-generation Chinese immigrants in Sri Lanka, a minority group comprising 0.02% of the population. Their identity is problematized by several scholars highlighting their intermediary social position and declining engagement in traditional Chinese cultural practices compared to their counterparts in Southeast Asia. Therefore, this study investigates how these individuals self-identify and position themselves in identity descriptions examining the linguistic devices employed in talk. Additionally, the research explores the discursive construction and negotiation of Chinese immigrant identities. The theoretical framework emphasizes the nexus between performance, language, and identity, with performance being pivotal in construction of identities. Subjectivities and subject positions are distinguished, with subjectivities representing personal views and subject positions reflecting societal perceptions. Interviews with four dental technicians employed through nonprobability sampling, form the basis of data collection, employing discourse analysis techniques to explore linguistic devices used in identity construction. Results indicate a complex interplay between subject positions and subjectivities, a negotiation between Sri Lankan Chinese and Chinese national identities. The conclusion highlights the nuanced nature of ethnic identity performance, where subject positions and subjectivities are intertwined, as individuals navigate their unique identities within a societal context often conflated with an archetypal heroic identity.

As seen in the previous chapter, the late Qing was a perfect era for political theatre: political and economic turmoil pushed theatre artists to dramatize current affairs; the rise of popular drama gave more voice and visibility to the local artists; and the presence of Westerners provided not only competition but also artistic and ideological inspiration. Late Qing political theatre indeed existed in several forms: old local opera equipped with a political message (as in certain border-crossing plays), new opera with modern stories and political themes (as performed by certain Cantonese opera troupes devoted to promoting the 1911 Nationalist Revolution), and modern theatre with political themes (such as the productions by Spring Willow). Whether it was about social reform or revolution, political theatre around this time was inevitably concerned with the performance of an ideal Chinese identity However, in certain extreme cases, theatre ceased to be political or even theatrical; theatre became the real revolution. The focus of this chapter is such kind of extreme theatre: the staging of revolution itself, which I term revolution-theatre. Revolution-theatre did not take place on stage but in real life, in the specific contact zone formed by Han Chinese, Manchus, and Westerners.

Mindy Calling: Size, Beauty, Race in The Mindy Project

This article examines the transformation of Santichon Village, a Yunnanese Chinese community in northern Thailand, from a socio-cultural and economic perspective. Originally established by migrants fleeing political unrest in China via Myanmar or Laos, Santichon was historically marginalized due to its association with statelessness and illicit economies, particularly opium cultivation. In recent decades, however, the village has transitioned into a prominent ethnic tourism destination. Against the backdrop of regional development initiatives and shifting tourism policies in northern Thailand, this study investigates how tourism serves as both a catalyst for economic restructuring and a force of cultural change. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and theories from anthropology and cultural studies, the article analyzes how residents engage in strategic cultural reconstruction to attract tourists while simultaneously reasserting ethnic identity. The research highlights the multifaceted role of tourism in transforming livelihoods, reconfiguring built environments, and reshaping symbolic practices such as language, ritual, and heritage. Santichon's tourism model—developed through cooperation among state agencies, local leaders, and external funders—demonstrates how minority communities negotiate between cultural preservation and market adaptation. While tourism has brought increased visibility, income, and infrastructural improvements, it has also introduced challenges related to cultural commodification and identity performance. This case contributes to broader debates on tourism and cultural change in Southeast Asia by showing how marginalized communities can actively reposition themselves within national and global frameworks. Ultimately, Santichon illustrates the dynamic and contested processes through which cultural heritage is not only preserved but also remade under the pressures of globalization.