Jia-Lin Liu, PHD, MSW

Hello! 

I am currently a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Social Work at California State University, Los Angeles. 

My forthcoming book, Far from the Model Minority: The Reimagination of Success among Transnational Chinese Families (University of California Press, 2026), examines how existing theories of social class and mobility fail to capture the experiences of immigrants—especially Chinese immigrants navigating precarious documentation status in the US. 

This book centers the voices and narratives of five undocumented and mixed-status Chinese immigrant families living in New York City and their sending communities in Fuzhou, China. Contrary to common research and societal portrayals of Chinese immigrants and their “model minority” success stories, the families in my study experienced multi-generational structural exclusion. As a result, they developed mobility strategies rooted in the cultural imperative of “face”—the need to gain, preserve, and protect family honor.

Before migrating to the US, their social class backgrounds and cultural framework of “face” often pushed them to abandon formal education. Instead, working abroad and sending remittances became the valorized path to bringing honor and upward mobility to their families in China. Once in the US, however, these families encountered a new racialized and socio-cultural context—compounded by the challenges of precarious legal status—that again constrained their social and educational opportunities. Ultimately, their undocumented status in the US undermined the very face-based gains their families had hoped for back in China.

I hope to expand this book project into a form of public and visual storytelling in the near future—whether through photography, a documentary, or a feature film. Stay tuned!

At CSULA, I teach courses on diversity and macro/micro practices: community organizing, culturally competent social work practice, diversity and intersectionality, institutional racism to cultural competency, culturally competent social work practice, and practice with groups. 

I graduated from New York University with my doctoral degree in international education in 2022. Prior to my doctoral studies, I worked as a child welfare social worker at the Center for Family Life, based in Sunset Park Brooklyn for 6 and a half years. During my time as a social worker, I provided clinical casework counseling to around 100 Chinese, Latino, and other Asian immigrant families. In addition, I also ran many community groups and helped the process of starting a tutoring cooperative, Sunset Scholars, which continues to flourish in the community today. Prior to my time as a social worker, I graduated from Columbia University with my master’s degree in social work, and Vanderbilt University with my bachelor’s degree in molecular cellular biology.

Thank you for visiting my website (still under construction)!