Rice eaters in the land of cheese: the context of ethnic socialization of Chinese-Dutch children

Yang, Y. (2023)

Doctoral Thesis

This dissertation aimed to examine the ethnic socialization context in the upbringing of Chinese-Dutch children, specifically three social-contextual factors: parents, children’s books, and the COVID pandemic⁠. Results reveal that Chinese-Dutch children evaluate their ingroup and the White outgroup most positively, followed by the Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) outgroup, and the Black outgroup least positively⁠. Stronger maternal endorsement of multiculturalism is associated with lower child ethnic prejudice (in terms of less ingroup preference)⁠. In addition, results demonstrate maternal self-report ethnic-racial socialization strategies and the observed behaviors that reflect color-evasiveness and white normativity⁠. Furthermore, results show an overrepresentation of White authors, illustrators, and characters, and a preference for light skin color in East Asian characters in illustrations in Chinese children’s books, suggesting a form of current postcolonial influences on Chinese children’s literature⁠. Furthermore, results indicate ethnicity-related attitude differences among mothers participating after than before the COVID outbreak, with higher perceived discrimination and stronger ethnic identity⁠. A lower ingroup rejection among Chinese-Dutch children was found in the post-COVID-outbreak group than in the pre-COVID-outbreak group⁠. This dissertation can foster a better understanding of the interethnic relations in the underrepresented Chinese group and elucidate the ethnicity-related consequences of the pandemic in this group⁠.

• Interethnic prejudice
• COVID-19
• Discrimination
• Ethnic identity
• Multiculturalism
• Parenting
• White normativity
• Color-evasiveness
• Children's literature
• Chinese diaspora

• All authors: Yang, Y.
• Supervisor: Mesman, J.
• Co-supervisor: Emmen, R.A.G.
• Committee: Muller, E.R.; Scheepers, D.; Dubas, J.; Valk, H.A.G. de; Geel, M. van; Wu, C.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Leiden University College The Hague (LUC), Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University
• Date: 2023-06-21
• ISBN (print): 9789464693614
• Sponsorship: The research described in this thesis was supported by a Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) VICI grant awarded to Judi Mesman (project number 453-16-008) and the China Scholarship Council (CSC) scholarship awarded to Yiran Yang (201808110198)⁠.