Search

This thesis aims to understand Sinophobia in the context of post-racial, anti-racist and color-blind Sweden, specifically concerning news representations of China and racial caricatures of Chinese and other East-Asians through “Gook humor”. Sinophobia is examined through race humor and public engagement with satirical race representations using the controversial case of news satire of China produced by Swedish public television SVT in 2018. A reflexive thematic analysis is conducted to analyze the news satire as transcripts from a YouTube video, and public engagement as relevant YouTube comments in Swedish. The findings of the analysis are situated within a critical race theoretical framework based on the concept of liquid racism, color-blindness, Yellow Peril narratives and critical humor theories. The result shows that the news satire contains liquid race representations of Chinese as ironic yet exaggerated racial caricatures, while portraying China as a powerful yet threatening authoritarian state, alluding to Yellow Peril narratives. Mediated through humor, these representations implicitly promote liquid racism in public engagement, in which racist interpretations could exist in the context of white liberal anti-racism. This paper coins the term liquid Sinophobia to describe how covert racism has adapted to exist in post-racial and color- blind Sweden by primarily negating accusations of racism by Swedish-Chinese minorities. Explicit Sinophobia was also found in the public engagement rooted in cultural racism, nationalism and counter-PC culture. This thesis has major implication for Sinophobia research in Asian critical race studies in Sweden, being the first of its kind to focus on this topic at the nexus of news satire and public engagement. Further research is required to study liquid Sinophobia and anti-Asian racism based on the general and intersectional experiences of Swedish-Asian communities.

This thesis aims to understand Sinophobia in the context of post-racial, anti-racist and color-blind Sweden, specifically concerning news representations of China and racial caricatures of Chinese and other East-Asians through “Gook humor”. Sinophobia is examined through race humor and public engagement with satirical race representations using the controversial case of news satire of China produced by Swedish public television SVT in 2018. A reflexive thematic analysis is conducted to analyze the news satire as transcripts from a YouTube video, and public engagement as relevant YouTube comments in Swedish. The findings of the analysis are situated within a critical race theoretical framework based on the concept of liquid racism, color-blindness, Yellow Peril narratives and critical humor theories. The result shows that the news satire contains liquid race representations of Chinese as ironic yet exaggerated racial caricatures, while portraying China as a powerful yet threatening authoritarian state, alluding to Yellow Peril narratives. Mediated through humor, these representations implicitly promote liquid racism in public engagement, in which racist interpretations could exist in the context of white liberal anti-racism. This paper coins the term liquid Sinophobia to describe how covert racism has adapted to exist in post-racial and color- blind Sweden by primarily negating accusations of racism by Swedish-Chinese minorities. Explicit Sinophobia was also found in the public engagement rooted in cultural racism, nationalism and counter-PC culture. This thesis has major implication for Sinophobia research in Asian critical race studies in Sweden, being the first of its kind to focus on this topic at the nexus of news satire and public engagement. Further research is required to study liquid Sinophobia and anti-Asian racism based on the general and intersectional experiences of Swedish-Asian communities.

This study examines use of semiotic resources, deployed by selected English language newspapers to describe a discourse of Sinophobia in the first wave of Covid-19. It explores how was the discourse of Sinophobia (anti-Chinese sentiments) expressed by highly circulated English language newspapers in the world? The data was based on 10 editorial articles of four English language newspapers: “The New York Times, The Guardian, The Tribune, and The Japan Times”. In addition, 30 participants’ perceptions about the semiotic choices used by these newspapers were studied to support the findings from selected editorials. Public comments were taken on the notion that they should talk about China and the role of Chinese people in spreading Covid-19. The data was interpreted through thematic analysis by codifying the emerging discursive themes. The findings reveal that semiotic resources deployed by the selected English language newspapers created a discourse of Sinophobia as the data laid great stress on the emergence of virus in the City of Wuhan, China. Moreover, the use of semiotic resources by the English language newspapers is replicated by the participants, as the language of the newspapers and participants on these semiotic resources surface positive self-claim and negative out-group. They divide between them and us, have and have not, eventually widened the language of fear, panic, and hatred.

In this commentary, based on a close readi ng of media reports and our everyday experiences as overseas Chinese researchers, we examine the production of ignorance surrounding the COVID-19. Specifically, we focus on ignorance caused by selective inattention and power plays. We challenge the dominant dualistic frame of authoritarianism versus democracy and the role it plays in overly simplifying and even distorting the responses of Chinese authorities in handling this public health emergency. We maintain that this binary thinking is reflective of the conflation of orientalism, sinophobia and statephobia in the West, which also intersects with sexism and racism within and outside academic sites of knowledge production. The consequence is that knowledge accumulated by experts from China as well as other Asian countries about the virus and mitigation strategies are marginalised, discredited, distrusted, if not dismissed altogether.