Gardens, transitions and identity reconstruction among older Chinese immigrants to New Zealand
Abstract
Psychologists have foregrounded the importance of links between places and daily practices in the construction of subjectivities and well-being. This article explores domestic gardening practices among older Chinese immigrants. Initial and follow-up interviews were conducted with 32 Chinese adults ranging in age from 62 to 77 years. Participants recount activities such as gardening as a means of forging a new sense of self and place in their adoptive country. Gardening provides a strategy for self-reconstruction through spatiotemporally establishing biographical continuity between participants’ old lives in China and their new lives in New Zealand.
Type
Journal Article
Type of thesis
Series
Citation
Li, W.W., Hodgetts, D. & Ho, E. (2010). Gardens, transitions and identity reconstruction among older Chinese immigrants to New Zealand. Journal of Health Psychology, 15(5), 786-796.
Date
2010-07
Publisher
SAGE