Ethnic Minorities, Media and Participation in Hong Kong

Second and third generation South and Southeast Asian minorities in Hong Kong, being marginalized from mainstream social and political affairs, have developed an ambivalent sense of belonging to their host society. Unlike their forefathers who first settled in Hong Kong under British colonial rule, these younger generations have spent their formative years in the territory. As such, they have increasingly engaged in the public and political realms of society, partly in response to the territory’s rapid political changes. Leung discusses and analyses the complex and diverse engagement of migrant and minority youths in Hong Kong - and their struggle for recognition, while desiring to 'be-long' to a place they call home. Some are joining the calls for democratic changes in the territory. In particular, she argues that much of this struggle can be seen in minorities’ involvement in creative sectors of society. While it will be of especial interest to scholars with an interest in Hong Kong, this book presents a compelling case study for anyone interested in the dynamics of migrant and minority engagement in the creative sector as a strategy for engagement.

"This book provides what is arguably the first sustained account of the contemporary lives of second and third generation South Asian ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. Leung makes visible the force of their creative expressions and coins the original concept of participatory-performance to articulate their ambivalent tactics of resistance and belonging. For anyone interested in the complexities of race and racism in Asia today, and how media and cultural forms are powerful sites for constituting minor identity and agency, this book is a must read." Professor Audrey Yue, Head of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore"The excitement of this book lies in its deft illustration of minoritized people’s creative inhabitation of the difficult cultural and affective spaces between their resistance to minoritization and their desire to belong in their own home city. Leung reveals how south Asian-descent and other non-Chinese Hong Kongers are agents of culture in the city, exercising creative forms of tactical belonging through artistic and mediated channels. Chapters open windows onto a wealth of cultural forms, from social media to public service radio to stand-up comedy and the kaleidoscopic scenes of community fashion practice among the city’s minority talents. The scenes the book engages are placed in rich historical context, and brought into generative conversation with a range of theoretical perspectives from postcolonial theory and critical multicultural studies to media and performance studies. Crucially, the book diversifies multicultural studies by de-westernizing the frame, adding to a small but dynamic emergent body of scholarship on multiculturalisms in Asia.Leung’s work exemplifies the irrepressible energies of cultural studies in and of Asia as an (un)disciplinary formation able to bring fresh and deeply engaged understanding to complex and fast-changing cultural, human and political scenes. Combining seriousness of political purpose with palpable delight at the creative vitality of the scenes it engages, the book grapples with the oppressions of the present while never letting go of the hope that the grassroots energies we witness today hold the seeds of a brighter collective future." Dr Fran Martin, Associate Professor & Reader, Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne, Australia‘Lisa Leung is one of the leading voices in cultural studies today. Her ethnographic eye and ear, her feel for the prevailing political economy, and her humane understanding of immigrant experiences combine with crisp prose to make this crucial reading for us all."Professor Toby Miller, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Cuajimalpa, Mexico

Lisa Y.M. Leung is Associate Professor in the Department of Cultural Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong. She has researched and published extensively in the area of minority and migration studies, and is co-author of the book Understanding South Asian Minorities in Hong Kong (2014). She has also researched extensively into the role of social media in social movements, having published journal articles such as ‘Online radio listening as affective publics? (Closeted) participation in the post-Umbrella Movement everyday’ in Cultural Studies (2018), and ‘Free TV as Cultural Right: the case of HKTV Movement’ in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies (2015).