Collective Unbelonging: Late Arrival Chinese Migrant Youths’ Civic Identities and Their Social Studies Learning

The ongoing US-China geopolitical tension occupies news headlines in both states. In the US, suspicion and hostility against China have become a bipartisan agreement. The historically-rooted ostracization against Chinese Americans means that US-China relationship has deep implications on Chinese Americans' lives, but research into how they negotiate this geopolitical tension is scant. Meanwhile, teaching transnational citizenship through social studies education can challenge the normative discourses of citizenship that often sustain nationalism and neglect migrants' affiliation with multiple states, but how transnational citizenship is affected by geopolitical tension is an underexplored topic. Using Asian Critical Theory and transnational citizenship, this study interviewed Chinese migrant youths who received social studies education in both China and the US. While the youths reconstructed "Chineseness" and "Americanness" based on their lived experiences across borders, they also shared a pessimistically optimistic outlook toward the prospect of the US-China relationship. The youths developed a transnational citizenship that is characterized by their collective unbelonging in neither the US nor China. Their social studies curriculum failed to challenge the normative discourses of citizenship and failed to provide a critical space for them to discuss migration. This study also discusses the theoretical and pedagogical implications of the youths' experiences.