Exploring Chinese International Students' Experiences of Racism in Times of Crisis Through Global Asian Critical Race Theory

• In Event: Centering Marginalized and Lived Experiences of Asians and Asian Americans

Abstract

This paper combines Asian and Global Critical Race Theories, or what I refer to as Global Asian Critical Race Theory (GlobalAsianCrit), to examine how Chinese international students faced racism and racialization before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through Zoom interviews with 21 economically elite Chinese undergraduate students in a predominantly white research university in the US, this study demonstrates that, as both Asians and foreign students, they constantly suffered racism and discrimination. Two salient themes emerged in the interview narratives: 1) the intersectional stigma of racism and xenophobia and 2) interest convergence between international students and US institutions, whereby Chinese students’ international education requires their dehumanizing social positioning as a “cash cow” or revenue generator in the study-abroad market.

Author

• Jing Yu, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author