Far from the Model Minority

Far from the Model Minority centers the voices of five undocumented and mixed-status Chinese immigrant families in New York City and their sending communities in Fuzhou, China. Challenging dominant narratives about Chinese Americans and the model-minority myth, these families have experienced multigenerational exclusion from educational pathways and developed mobility strategies focused on "face"—particularly the need to gain, save, and avoid losing face for their families.

In China, low social standing led them to prioritize immigration and remittance work over education, as overseas success became the primary way to garner face. In the US, undocumented status and poverty created new barriers to their and their children's acculturation. Moreover, the intersection of undocumented life and the culture of remittances often undermined the intended face gain for families back home and reinforced social stagnation. Based on four years of ethnographic research, Jia-Lin Liu's work explores how these transnational families respond to enduring structural exclusions by reimagining success, mobility, and dignity across borders.

Jia-Lin Liu is Assistant Professor at Cal State LA. Informed by her years as a bilingual social worker, her work examines how Chinese immigrant families experience US immigration and education, with attention to social class, culture, and trauma.