Family Cultural Scripts Framing Chinese Diasporic Collective Action

This article, based on three historical case studies, examines how Chinese in the United States have been motivated to engage in collective action. Motivational frames are calls to action that present issues in a way that highlights the importance of movements for change. Participants are more likely to participate if these frames align well with their cultural repertoire. In examination of Chinese civil disobedience to the 1892 Geary Act, their organizing of the Bowl of Rice festivals during the Sino-Japanese War, and their involvement in the 1968–69 Black Student Union–Third World Liberation Front, we find that Chinese in the United States utilized movement frames oriented around their cultural repertoire of familism. These cultural scripts include building on diasporic brotherhood, appeals to support the motherland, and parental models of sacrifice and obligation. The political opportunity structures and generational status of the Chinese structured how each movement adopted these scripts.