Anti-Asian racism during the coronavirus pandemic: the invisible epidemic

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Date
2024-08-09
Authors
Luo, Yazhi
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Abstract

Although everything has been slowly returning “back to normal”, the coronavirus pandemic has caused irreversible social and economic harms, chief among them the racial discrimination experienced by Asian people. Anti-Asian terms are more frequently seen in social media, and news articles and research indicate the disturbing escalation in verbal and physical assaults that Asian people have witnessed or suffered from. Grounded in critical race theory and intersectionality and using cross-national survey data from the COVIDImpacts.ca team in Canada, USA, and Mexico, this thesis examines, quantitatively, if and to what extent does the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbate racism against Asian people in Canada and the U.S. Findings from bivariate and logistic regression analyses reveal that Asians in both countries have higher odds of experiencing racial discrimination during COVID-19 compared to those with other socioeconomic statuses or identities, and Asians living in the U.S. are more likely to experience racial discrimination or more inclined to report such experience compared to those living in Canada. These results provide insight into the lived Asian experience during COVID-19 and shed light on the struggles that the Asian community has been facing since even before this pandemic.

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Keywords
Anti-Asian racism, The coronavirus pandemic, Racial discrimination
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