¿Chinas o españolas?: La construcción de la identidad cultural de la segunda generación en Chinas (2023), de Arantxa Echevarría

Abstract

The Chinese community in Spain has been growing since the late 20th century, leading to the coexistence of different cultures and the emergence of a second generation of immigrants. This research analyzes the construction of cultural identity among the children of Chinese migrants within the Spanish context, which gives meaning to the concept of transculturality, a key term in contemporary cultural studies. The analysis focuses on the film Chinas (2023) by Arantxa Echevarría, which portrays the daily life of a Chinese family in Spain, particularly through the experiences of the daughters, Lucía and Claudia. This gives rise to the research question: How do the characters of Lucía and Claudia portray the construction of a transcultural identity in the film Chinas (2023) by Arantxa Echevarría? Through these two characters, the study concludes that family traditions and the surrounding environment shape the foundation of an individual's identity. When someone is born between two cultures, they learn to navigate the norms of each group, thus creating a new, hybrid identity. Stereotypes, racism, and gender impact how others perceive us and how we perceive ourselves. This connects to the concept of otherness, which opens the debate on how the way we are viewed and how we view others, in multicultural contexts, creates power dynamics between dominant and marginalized groups. Finally, the research explores the challenges faced by second-generation immigrants and how these influence their sense of belonging. They may not fully identify with one cultural group or the other but instead embody a mixture of both. Transculturality, therefore, is not a loss of identity but a creative and complex blend of multiple cultural references.