Ken Chih‐yan Sun
Biographic Data
| ID | 3582234 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ken Chih‐yan Sun |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ken Chih‐yan |
| FAMILY NAME | Sun |
| SIGNATURE | SUN K C Y |
| AFFILIATIONS | Hong Kong Baptist University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1127-0906 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 63 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Confronting linked immobility
Drawing on qualitative interviews with 51 Chinese migrants who live in the US but strive to support frail parents back home, this article analyzes the impact of China's zero-COVID policy on transnational family caregiving. We argue that the restrictions sending states enforce on individuals' movement across locales affect migrants' negotiation of critical family life transitions in unexpectedly complex and challenging ways. This article offers th…
Seeking transnational social protection during a global pandemic
Negotiating the boundaries of social membership
This article focuses on the experiences of aging returnees who have moved back to Taiwan after retiring in the United States to illustrate how older return migrants develop a set of narratives about their membership in the homeland. Drawing on data collected from life history interviews with 58 aging return migrants, the author argues that the encounter between aging returnees and a drastically evolving home society demands that aging return migr…
Negotiating transnational ambivalence
This article uses older parents of parachute kids as an example to explore the ways in which the heads of transnational households assess intergenerational intimacy at a later stage of their life trajectories. I argue that transitioning to a later life stage motivates or even demands older parents reorient their perspectives on the separation from their children overseas. Specifically, I offer the concept of transnational ambivalence to analyse t…
Immigrants as settler colonists
With territorial expansion of the US came dispossession of Native Americans, supported by policies that made white immigrants settler colonists. On Indian reservations, the federal government encouraged land-taking by allotting land to Indians and making land available to homesteaders, many of them recent immigrants. Few scholars have studied relationships between Natives and newcomers. This paper draws on the concept of boundary work to analyse …
Parenting, Uncertainty, and Expert Advice
This article uses privileged families who hire Independent Educational Consultants (IECs) as an instance to examine how privileged parents collaborate with individuals whom they consider educational experts to support their children in the college race. We argue that advantaged parents' anxieties about their children have created a market for IECs who provide expert advice in order to mitigate the uncertainties that these parents experience and t…
Professional remittances
This article uses ageing Taiwanese returnees to illustrate how older migrants draw on their accumulated knowledge, experiences, and networks in their host society to contribute to their home society. Drawing on data collected from life history interviews with ageing return migrants, I argue that changing notions of social membership across life stages, coupled with the working experiences that professional middle-class migrants accumulate in the …
Privileged American Families and Independent Academic Consultants They Employ
This article focuses on how economically advantaged families hire independent educational consultants ( IEC s) to help them navigate the college application process. We argue that the help provided by IEC s embodies the marketization of emotional and relational mediation that many privileged families pursue during times of great anxiety. We offer the concept of “family mediator” to illustrate the relationship between parents, children, and the IE…
Transnational healthcare seeking
In this article, I argue that, by offering ageing return migrants new opportunities both to organize their lives and to rethink their social attachments, the extension of public healthcare in Taiwan constitutes a new contextual feature of the transnational social field bridging Taiwan and the USA. I use the concept of 'transnational healthcare seeking' to describe how returning seniors try to maintain their physical, psychological and social well…
Transnational Kinscription
This study uses ‘parachute kids’ in the USA and their parents in Taiwan as a case study to examine how cross-border kinship networks shape child-rearing strategies. The author argues that cross-border kin ties activated by parents are central to understanding the familial and cultural belonging of their children who are sent to study abroad. Drawing on 40 interviews with parachute kids and their parents, the author uses the concept of ‘transnatio…
Reconfigured Reciprocity
Drawing on 55 interviews with older Taiwanese immigrants who relocated to the United States at an earlier life stage, the author argues that changing contextual features involved in the processes of international migration encourage and even demand aging immigrants to reconstruct cultural logics of aging and geriatric care. He develops the concept of reconfigured reciprocity to demonstrate how aging migrant populations transform cultural logics o…
Rethinking Migrant Families from a Transnational Perspective
This article provides an overview of existing studies which take a transnational approach to examining the experiences of migrant parents and their children. In this article, I examine (1) how migrant parents who settle in host societies seek to raise the next generation transnationally, (2) how the children of migrants respond to being raised in a transnational social field, (3) how migrant parents manage relationships with their children who re…
How Do Organizations Respond to New Immigrants? Comparing Two New England Cities
This study examines how municipal, civic, and religious organizations in two New England cities—Portland, Maine and Danbury, Connecticut—provide social services for recent immigrants. We draw on data gathered in interviews with representatives of 48 organizations to demonstrate how different types of organizations in each city articulate and act on their responsibilities for recently arrived immigrants. We find that in Portland, municipal and civ…
Fashioning the Reciprocal Norms of Elder Care
In this study, the author uses the changing practice of geriatric care within transnational Taiwanese families as a case to examine the processes through which a family ideology 'travels,' varies, and operates across worlds. Specifically, the author argues that family members across generations reconstruct 'rules of reciprocity' to facilitate the application of ethnic traditions regarding aging and geriatric care in the context of family separati…
Fashioning the Reciprocal Norms of Elder Care
In this study, the author uses the changing practice of geriatric care within transnational Taiwanese families as a case to examine the processes through which a family ideology 'travels,' varies, and operates across worlds. Specifically, the author argues that family members across generations reconstruct 'rules of reciprocity' to facilitate the application of ethnic traditions regarding aging and geriatric care in the context of family separati…
Transnational Kinscription
This study uses ‘parachute kids’ in the USA and their parents in Taiwan as a case study to examine how cross-border kinship networks shape child-rearing strategies. The author argues that cross-border kin ties activated by parents are central to understanding the familial and cultural belonging of their children who are sent to study abroad. Drawing on 40 interviews with parachute kids and their parents, the author uses the concept of ‘transnatio…
Reconfigured Reciprocity
Drawing on 55 interviews with older Taiwanese immigrants who relocated to the United States at an earlier life stage, the author argues that changing contextual features involved in the processes of international migration encourage and even demand aging immigrants to reconstruct cultural logics of aging and geriatric care. He develops the concept of reconfigured reciprocity to demonstrate how aging migrant populations transform cultural logics o…
Privileged American Families and Independent Academic Consultants They Employ
This article focuses on how economically advantaged families hire independent educational consultants ( IEC s) to help them navigate the college application process. We argue that the help provided by IEC s embodies the marketization of emotional and relational mediation that many privileged families pursue during times of great anxiety. We offer the concept of “family mediator” to illustrate the relationship between parents, children, and the IE…
Seeking transnational social protection during a global pandemic
Transnational healthcare seeking
In this article, I argue that, by offering ageing return migrants new opportunities both to organize their lives and to rethink their social attachments, the extension of public healthcare in Taiwan constitutes a new contextual feature of the transnational social field bridging Taiwan and the USA. I use the concept of 'transnational healthcare seeking' to describe how returning seniors try to maintain their physical, psychological and social well…
How Do Organizations Respond to New Immigrants? Comparing Two New England Cities
This study examines how municipal, civic, and religious organizations in two New England cities—Portland, Maine and Danbury, Connecticut—provide social services for recent immigrants. We draw on data gathered in interviews with representatives of 48 organizations to demonstrate how different types of organizations in each city articulate and act on their responsibilities for recently arrived immigrants. We find that in Portland, municipal and civ…
Immigrants as settler colonists
With territorial expansion of the US came dispossession of Native Americans, supported by policies that made white immigrants settler colonists. On Indian reservations, the federal government encouraged land-taking by allotting land to Indians and making land available to homesteaders, many of them recent immigrants. Few scholars have studied relationships between Natives and newcomers. This paper draws on the concept of boundary work to analyse …
Parenting, Uncertainty, and Expert Advice
This article uses privileged families who hire Independent Educational Consultants (IECs) as an instance to examine how privileged parents collaborate with individuals whom they consider educational experts to support their children in the college race. We argue that advantaged parents' anxieties about their children have created a market for IECs who provide expert advice in order to mitigate the uncertainties that these parents experience and t…
Professional remittances
This article uses ageing Taiwanese returnees to illustrate how older migrants draw on their accumulated knowledge, experiences, and networks in their host society to contribute to their home society. Drawing on data collected from life history interviews with ageing return migrants, I argue that changing notions of social membership across life stages, coupled with the working experiences that professional middle-class migrants accumulate in the …
Rethinking Migrant Families from a Transnational Perspective
This article provides an overview of existing studies which take a transnational approach to examining the experiences of migrant parents and their children. In this article, I examine (1) how migrant parents who settle in host societies seek to raise the next generation transnationally, (2) how the children of migrants respond to being raised in a transnational social field, (3) how migrant parents manage relationships with their children who re…
Confronting linked immobility
Drawing on qualitative interviews with 51 Chinese migrants who live in the US but strive to support frail parents back home, this article analyzes the impact of China's zero-COVID policy on transnational family caregiving. We argue that the restrictions sending states enforce on individuals' movement across locales affect migrants' negotiation of critical family life transitions in unexpectedly complex and challenging ways. This article offers th…
Negotiating the boundaries of social membership
This article focuses on the experiences of aging returnees who have moved back to Taiwan after retiring in the United States to illustrate how older return migrants develop a set of narratives about their membership in the homeland. Drawing on data collected from life history interviews with 58 aging return migrants, the author argues that the encounter between aging returnees and a drastically evolving home society demands that aging return migr…
Fashioning the Reciprocal Norms of Elder Care
In this study, the author uses the changing practice of geriatric care within transnational Taiwanese families as a case to examine the processes through which a family ideology 'travels,' varies, and operates across worlds. Specifically, the author argues that family members across generations reconstruct 'rules of reciprocity' to facilitate the application of ethnic traditions regarding aging and geriatric care in the context of family separati…
Rethinking Migrant Families from a Transnational Perspective
This article provides an overview of existing studies which take a transnational approach to examining the experiences of migrant parents and their children. In this article, I examine (1) how migrant parents who settle in host societies seek to raise the next generation transnationally, (2) how the children of migrants respond to being raised in a transnational social field, (3) how migrant parents manage relationships with their children who re…
How Do Organizations Respond to New Immigrants? Comparing Two New England Cities
This study examines how municipal, civic, and religious organizations in two New England cities—Portland, Maine and Danbury, Connecticut—provide social services for recent immigrants. We draw on data gathered in interviews with representatives of 48 organizations to demonstrate how different types of organizations in each city articulate and act on their responsibilities for recently arrived immigrants. We find that in Portland, municipal and civ…
Transnational healthcare seeking
In this article, I argue that, by offering ageing return migrants new opportunities both to organize their lives and to rethink their social attachments, the extension of public healthcare in Taiwan constitutes a new contextual feature of the transnational social field bridging Taiwan and the USA. I use the concept of 'transnational healthcare seeking' to describe how returning seniors try to maintain their physical, psychological and social well…
Transnational Kinscription
This study uses ‘parachute kids’ in the USA and their parents in Taiwan as a case study to examine how cross-border kinship networks shape child-rearing strategies. The author argues that cross-border kin ties activated by parents are central to understanding the familial and cultural belonging of their children who are sent to study abroad. Drawing on 40 interviews with parachute kids and their parents, the author uses the concept of ‘transnatio…
Reconfigured Reciprocity
Drawing on 55 interviews with older Taiwanese immigrants who relocated to the United States at an earlier life stage, the author argues that changing contextual features involved in the processes of international migration encourage and even demand aging immigrants to reconstruct cultural logics of aging and geriatric care. He develops the concept of reconfigured reciprocity to demonstrate how aging migrant populations transform cultural logics o…
Privileged American Families and Independent Academic Consultants They Employ
This article focuses on how economically advantaged families hire independent educational consultants ( IEC s) to help them navigate the college application process. We argue that the help provided by IEC s embodies the marketization of emotional and relational mediation that many privileged families pursue during times of great anxiety. We offer the concept of “family mediator” to illustrate the relationship between parents, children, and the IE…
Professional remittances
This article uses ageing Taiwanese returnees to illustrate how older migrants draw on their accumulated knowledge, experiences, and networks in their host society to contribute to their home society. Drawing on data collected from life history interviews with ageing return migrants, I argue that changing notions of social membership across life stages, coupled with the working experiences that professional middle-class migrants accumulate in the …
Negotiating transnational ambivalence
This article uses older parents of parachute kids as an example to explore the ways in which the heads of transnational households assess intergenerational intimacy at a later stage of their life trajectories. I argue that transitioning to a later life stage motivates or even demands older parents reorient their perspectives on the separation from their children overseas. Specifically, I offer the concept of transnational ambivalence to analyse t…
Immigrants as settler colonists
With territorial expansion of the US came dispossession of Native Americans, supported by policies that made white immigrants settler colonists. On Indian reservations, the federal government encouraged land-taking by allotting land to Indians and making land available to homesteaders, many of them recent immigrants. Few scholars have studied relationships between Natives and newcomers. This paper draws on the concept of boundary work to analyse …
Parenting, Uncertainty, and Expert Advice
This article uses privileged families who hire Independent Educational Consultants (IECs) as an instance to examine how privileged parents collaborate with individuals whom they consider educational experts to support their children in the college race. We argue that advantaged parents' anxieties about their children have created a market for IECs who provide expert advice in order to mitigate the uncertainties that these parents experience and t…
Negotiating the boundaries of social membership
This article focuses on the experiences of aging returnees who have moved back to Taiwan after retiring in the United States to illustrate how older return migrants develop a set of narratives about their membership in the homeland. Drawing on data collected from life history interviews with 58 aging return migrants, the author argues that the encounter between aging returnees and a drastically evolving home society demands that aging return migr…
Seeking transnational social protection during a global pandemic
Confronting linked immobility
Drawing on qualitative interviews with 51 Chinese migrants who live in the US but strive to support frail parents back home, this article analyzes the impact of China's zero-COVID policy on transnational family caregiving. We argue that the restrictions sending states enforce on individuals' movement across locales affect migrants' negotiation of critical family life transitions in unexpectedly complex and challenging ways. This article offers th…
Sociology (13 works) · Political science (12 works) · Law (11 works) · Migration and Labor Dynamics (10 works) · Gender Studies (9 works) · Immigration (6 works) · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy (6 works) · Homeland (5 works) · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving (5 works) · Politics (5 works)