HDEV Research Seminar Series: Dr. Pei-Chia Lan
The Department of Human Development hosted Dr. Pei-Chia Lan (Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Director of Global Asia Research Center, and Associate Dean of the College of Social Sciences at National Taiwan University) for a presentation on her new book, “Raising Global Families: Parenting, Immigration, and Class in Taiwan and the U.S.” (Stanford University Press, 2018) on November 6, 2018. This standing room only presentation was attended by CLA faculty and students. The event was funded by a CLA Scholarly Intersections grant and co-sponsored by the Departments of Human Development, Sociology, and Psychology. A recording of the talk is currently housed on Youtube at: https://youtu.be/T2orUcFSfZM
Dr. Pei-Chia Lan’s presentation abstract:
Public discourse on Asian parenting tends to fixate on ethnic culture as a static value set, disguising the fluidity and diversity of Chinese parenting. Such stereotypes also fail to account for the challenges of raising children in a rapidly modernizing world, full of globalizing values. This talk examines how ethnic Chinese parents in Taiwan and the United States negotiate cultural differences and class inequality to raise children in the contexts of globalization and immigration. Dr. Lan’s research enlists a comparative, multi-sited research model with middle-class and working-class parents in Taiwan and Chinese immigrant parents in the Boston area. Despite sharing a similar ethnic cultural background, these parents develop class-specific, context-sensitive strategies for arranging their children’s education, care, and discipline, and coping with uncertainties provoked by their changing surroundings.