91社区

Cross-border marriages have grown across East Asia in the last few decades. Children from these transnational unions are reaching adulthood, but their identity formation is yet subject to academic scrutiny. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 50 young adult children of cross-border marriages in Taiwan, this talk examines how differences in ethnic backgrounds (Mainland Chinese or Southeast Asian immigrant mothers) shape their identity management strategies. I emphasize that the macro context of geopolitics enables and constrains their identity negotiation at the micro level. Taiwan鈥檚 New Southbound Policy, implemented in 2016, reframed the ethnic difference of Southeast Asian immigrants as a multicultural asset instead of a social liability, allowing 鈥渢he new second generation鈥� (a new official label) to enjoy some institutional opportunities and ethnic dividends. By contrast, as political confrontation has intensified across Taiwan鈥檚 Strait, Chinese spouses are easily suspected of lacking political loyalty; their language and cultural intimacy also make it difficult to claim a multicultural niche. Their children have developed different strategies, including replacement, rescaling, and differentiation, to manage the conflicting and ambiguous identities.