20世纪犹太裔和华裔女性移民比较研究——基于对“犹太信札”和“黛安信箱”的分析

A Comparative Study of Jewish-and Chinese-American Immigrant Women in the Twentieth Century: An Analysis of the Bintel Brief and Dear Diane Letters

美国华裔和犹太裔移民是美国社会生活中两个重要族裔群体,他们在历史和当今社会的移民生活中表现特征虽有不同,但其相似处很多。本文运用同化理论,采用文本分析方法对比研究美国20世纪先后出现的反映犹太裔和华裔女性移民生活的答疑信件,并借此对20世纪美国的犹太裔和华裔女性移民群体进行分析。研究发现,尽管两个族裔的移民时间、种族特点不尽相同,但是华裔和犹太裔女性移民在美国文化融入过程中所遭受的多种经历和遇到的实际问题以及和原属国之间的多种联系有着诸多相似之处,其中,代际矛盾、身份认同、文化冲突和同化挑战尤为明显,这些问题也会在新移民的同化进程中出现。

Jewish and Chinese Americans are two important ethnic groups in American social life. They share many similarities even though as immigrants they have displayed different characteristics,past and present. This article,utilizing assimilation theory and text analysis methodology,examines Jewish-and Chinese-American advice letters in the twentieth century. These letters reflected Jewish-and Chinese-American immigrant women's lives in different ways. This study finds that though the two ethnic groups differed in their time of arrival in America and their ethnic cultures,the Jewish and Chinese immigrant women encountered many similar problems and maintained close relations with their individual cultures in their assimilating to America. Among the most striking similarities are a generation gap,identity crisis,and conflicts in adaptation and assimilation. This is a process that future immigrants will experience as well.