Art as a Channel and Embodiment of Symbolic Interaction Between Migrants and Non‐Migrants

Abstract

Many non‐migrant politicians, journalists, and scholars in migrant‐ destination societies often represent migrants with self‐interested objectives and in specific instrumental ways based on stereotypes. Yet research on symbolic interaction reveals migrants are not passive victims. They actively and strategically shape their interactions with non‐migrants. The artwork produced by Chinese migrant artists becomes a non‐verbal channel through which the migrant can convey such challenges to non‐migrants who can more empathetically appreciate these challenges. By analyzing the artwork and narratives of first‐generation migrant artists, I show how art highlights various challenges that migrants confront in their process of immigration, like enduring physical pain, conforming to the institutions of the host society, navigating language barriers, confronting regular cultural clashes, accepting social estrangement, and coping with double consciousness. This paper shows how migrant art can serve as a semiotic object that reveals important features of past symbolic interactions between migrants and non‐migrants and offers a channel through which non‐migrants can potentially empathize more with migrants' experiences.