Representing the national self and the cultural other: the Chinese diaspora on Douyin.
Douyin's socio-economic opportunities have made it popular among the Chinese diaspora, who position themselves as 'cultural knowledge brokers' to introduce overseas lives to Chinese audiences. This study investigates the representation of the national self/ cultural other and the performance of nati...
| Published in: | Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies Vol. 52; no. 11; pp. 2857 - 2879 |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Jun2026
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=194393909&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 194393909 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 1369183X 56F jtl: Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies issn: 1369183X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jun2026 vid: 52 iid: 11 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 194393909 10.1080/1369183X.2025.2585132 ppf: 2857 ppct: 22 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 757KB tig: atl: Representing the national self and the cultural other: the Chinese diaspora on Douyin. aug: au: Zhang, Xiaoyu Dumitrica, Delia Jansz, Jeroen affil: Department of Media & Communication, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands su: Chinese diaspora Cultural identity National character Social status Digital media Nationalism Social media Other (Philosophy) China sug: subj: China Chinese diaspora Cultural identity National character Social status Digital media Nationalism Social media Other (Philosophy) keyword: cosmopolitanism digital diaspora identity-performance ab: Douyin's socio-economic opportunities have made it popular among the Chinese diaspora, who position themselves as 'cultural knowledge brokers' to introduce overseas lives to Chinese audiences. This study investigates the representation of the national self/ cultural other and the performance of national/cosmopolitan identity in the content produced by Chinese diasporas on Chinese digital platform Douyin. By performing a thematic analysis of N = 70 Douyin videos produced by diasporic individuals, we identify four themes engaging with Chineseness and the cultural other, namely the global recognition of Chinese culture; the long-distance connection to the homeland; the 'exoticism' of difference; and, the affective ties to the Other. We argue that Chinese diasporic vloggers blend national and cosmopolitan identities when narrating their overseas lives. This discursive work of the diasporic vloggers reproduces official nationalist narratives back in China, romanticised or stereotypical representations of the cultural other, and established social imaginaries of the global hierarchy. The representation of the national self/ cultural other and the performance of national/ cosmopolitan identity is complicated by the entanglement of various factors: the commercial logic of Douyin, the dominance of nationalism in Chinese cyberspace, and the mobility capital and cosmopolitan capital as a sign of social distinction. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2026 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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