Construction of overseas illegal migrants’ identity through folk Fujian opera consumption

Framed around the theories of Halbwachs, Turner, Bakhtin and Wenger, and contextualized in a case study of Fujian folk opera festival, this paper examines the construction of overseas illegal migrants’ identity through the consumption of folk Fujian opera. It argues that as the illegal migrants exist only as ‘ghosts’ within their host country and lack the opportunity to interact with their adopted community, thriving folk opera offerings from diaspora to home region, act as a key ritual commodity to provide individual diaspora with identity inclusion, and international lineage socio-economic consolidation. Furthermore, folk opera consumption, as a subculture, creates an alternative carnival world, in which the underclass justify their position as rebellious heroes, challenging the official legal social system to gain revival. This paper assists readers to understand the distinctive social and economic function of folk opera in constructing identity for overseas illegal migrants, with a focus placed on Fujian.