Chinese new migrants in Suriname : the inevitability of ethnic performing

This study outlines the challenges to the local positioning of the Chinese community in Suriname in the context of the arrival of new Chinese migrants in the early 2000s. The main conclusion of this study is that the local in many ways takes precedence over the global; Chinese migrants freshly arriving in Suriname are not ‘Chinese’ yet, but they become so in light of Surinamese expectations of what being Chinese means, and in terms of pragmatic choices in securing a livelihood. As it emerges from this study, the positioning of New Chinese in Suriname mirrors that in South-east Asia and Africa, where the meaning of ‘Chineseness’ is either rearticulated under renewed immigration, or becomes a focus in political rhetoric.