Factors affecting identity acceptance & preferences
1. Language Acquisition
From the table, we can see that language acquisition plays as an important element in motivating one to accept their Chiu Chow identities.
In Lee’s case, she explicitly mentioned that acquiring Chiuchownese was one of the main reasons motivating her to accept her identity. Since Lee is Pauline’s mother, her attitude also affects Pauline, the younger generation.
Pauline, during the interview, claimed that if she could acquire Chiuchownese, she would be willing to accept her Chiu Chow identity. At this moment, because she only knew few Chiuchownese words, therefore she did not regard herself holding Chiu Chow identity.
From Lee’s and Pauline’s words, we can see that acquisition of Chiuchownese allows them to recognize themselves holding the Chiu Chow identity. Language acquisition does play a crucial role to development of an identity. However, we can see from the table that it is not the only factors affecting one’s identity acceptance.
2. Consanguinity
Consanguinity is another very important factor motivating our interviewees to accept their Chiu Chow identity out of the three interviews, especially for our younger generation. According to Morgan (1871), consanguinity refers to humans who are affiliated by recognized birth (blood relations).
In Pauline’s case, she did not accept her Chiu Chow identity at the time when we interviewed her. However, she claimed that she was uncertain if she would accept in future her Chiu Chow identity. She believed that if she was forced to accept the identity at this moment, the only reason would be because her mother was a Chiuchownese, so she was also a Chiuchownese, because of consanguinity.
While In Judith’s case, Judith accepted herself holding the Chiu Chow identity. She claimed that the reason for her to accept the identity was because her father was a Chuchownese. Hence, she regarded herself also holding the Chiu Chow identity because of consanguinity, even though she had really little knowledge on Chiuchownese and disliked some of the Chiu Chow values.
In both cases, our interviewees lack knowledge of Chiuchownese and Chiu Chow cultures. The development of Chiu Chow identity, especially for Judith, is mainly due to blood ties. This points out that the development of an identity can be separated from language. Language is not the only factor which motivates one to accept their identities.
3. Affinity
Opposite to consanguinity, we have also another kind of relationship, affinity, which is a relationship by marriage (Morgan, 1871). Pauline has once said in the interview that apart from Chiuchownese language acquisition, another factor which could motivate her to accept Chiu Chow identity may be because in future she may marry a husband with strong Chiu Chow background. In this situation, she would have more channels in knowing Chiuchownese and Chiu Chow cultures, thus enhancing her knowledge on the language and cultures. In this sense, she would accept herself holding Chiu Chow identity.
4. Knowledge on cultures
The idea of having enough knowledge on Chiu Chow cultures is also an important factor which motivates one to accept or deny Chiu Chow identity. In Pauline’s case, she claimed that apart from not knowing Chiuchownese, she also did not have much knowledge on Chiu Chow cultures. Even when we asked her if she could think of any Chiu Chow cultures she may have heard of, the answers provided by her was full of hesitation and uncertainty. She admitted that lack of knowledge on Chiu Chow cultures was also one reason for her to deny herself as holding the Chiu Chow identity since she believed that to hold one’s identity, she at least needed to know not only how to speak the language, but also knew the cultures.
To conclude, language is one of the crucial factors which affect one’s identity acceptance. However, from the table, we also notice that it is not the only factor which affects the identity acceptance. Other factors such as consanguinity, affinity, etc., which are factors unrelated to language, can also be factors influencing one to accept or deny their identity (in this case, the Chiu Chow identity).
Factors affecting identity acceptance - Elaboration
Factors affecting identity Preferences - Elaboration
In our interviewees, apart from Pauline who believes herself only holding the Hong Kong identity, both Lee and Judith believe they hold more than one identity. In this situation, as stated by Braber (2006), there will be hierarchy among identity for those individuals who hold multiple identities. So what are the factors which determine one identity over another? Here are factors which we find throughout our interviews:
1. Residence
Residence is a crucial factor for our interviewees to determine their preferences of identities. The two interviewees, Lee and Judith, who accept themselves holding the Chiu Chow identity, all claimed that because they are now living in Hong Kong, therefore they prefer their Hong Kong identity more than other identities. It seems that residence in Hong Kong becomes the symbol for our interviewees thinking themselves as an in-group member of Hong Kong community. Since both interviewees live in Hong Kong when they were born, their sense of belonging of being as a part of the Hong Kong community will be much higher than that of Chiu Chow since they get in touch mostly with Hong Kong cultures and Cantonese, the dominant language of Hong Kong community in their daily lives. Therefore, it is a reason why they use residence as a crucial factor when identifying the preferences among identities.
2. Knowledge on one culture and corresponding attitude
Knowledge on one culture and the corresponding appreciation or depreciation of one culture can also influence one’s preference towards identities. One of our interviewees, Judith, told us in the interview that apart from residence, another reason for her to prefer her Hong Kong identity more is because she dislikes some of the Chiu Chow cultures. If one appreciates one culture, he / she will have higher interests in exploring more on one culture or even the language. On the other way round, if one depreciates one culture, he / she will not have interests to put efforts and time in having a deeper understanding on one culture. With a higher interest in one particular culture, one feels proud about being a member of this particular culture and thus identities have been linked with the level of prestige by individuals . Hence, it is a normal phenomenon for one to rank higher a particular identity, especially if another culture is not very appreciated by the individual.
To conclude, there are number of factors affecting one’s identity preference. Based on the interviews we held, residence, as well as appreciation or depreciation of one culture are more explicit factors discovered which affect identity preferences. There are still lots of factors which can affect one’s identity preference. However, we should always bear in mind that identity is something unstable and the hierarchy of identity can always undergo changes when our factors change.