The Hairscapes of Chinese International Students Public

Abstract

Under the background of the growing field of Linguistic Landscape studies that started to explore meaning-making systems in public other than languages, this study applies the Triadic Model of Linguistic Landscape analysis to investigate the hairstyles of Chinese international students as a semiotic system. Eleven Chinese international students who were studying at US colleges participated in online interviews with open-ended questions. They talked about stereotypes, expectations, and regulations on hairstyles on various occasions as well as their personal experiences and feelings regarding hairstyles. The researcher identified 11 conceived spaces that strongly influenced the participants’ hairstyle choices. The participants’ lived reactions to these conceived spaces were varied and even contradictory. The study extends the scope of Linguistic Landscape studies to hairstyles and thus expands the understanding of how meaning-making happens in public spaces. It also demonstrates that the meaning-making of hairstyles of these Chinese international students is based on existing expectations and stereotypes in the setting, and it reveals that the diversity of Chinese international students might be greater than expected.

Table of Contents

Introduction …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1

Method .………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 10

Participants ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10

Table 1 .…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 10

Table 2 .…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 11

Table 3 .…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 11

Procedure ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 11

Results …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 15

Family ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 16

Hair Stylists ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 26

Society ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 29

School Authority ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 34

Popular Culture ………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 40

Figure 1 …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 41

Professions and School Activities………………………………………………………………………………… 45

Occasions and Events ……………….………………………………………………………………………………… 48

Race …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….…. 52

Gender ………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………..……. 55

COVID-19 ……………………………..……………………………….……………………………………………..……. 65

Private Sphere ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….….. 67

Lived Responses without Corresponding Conceived Spaces …………………………………….… 71

Discussion ………..……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 78

References …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 87

Appendix A. Study Description ………………………………………………………………………………………….…… 91

Appendix B. Interview Guideline ….………………………………………………………………………………….…… 92

Appendix C. Main Categories and Subcategories in Data Analysis …………………………………….…… 94

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Linguistics and Psychology
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Sociology, General Language, Linguistics
Mot-clé	Chinese student semiotics Linguistic Landscape hairstyles US society personal front
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Hiram Maxim, Emory University
Committee Members	Stella F. Lourenco, Emory University Simona Muratore, Emory University Susan Tamasi, Emory University

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