Notes on 'Yellow Perils,' Revived: Exploring Racialized Asian/American Affect and Materiality Through Hate Discourse over the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction

Keisuke Kimura's essay explores the hate produced against Asian bodies in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on Asian/American affect and materiality, including marginalized voices and narratives, to critique historical racial discrimination (yellow peril) and advocate for social justice and inclusion. The essay argues that Asian/American bodies are desensitized, dehumanized, and weaponized due to revived yellow peril sentiments during the pandemic. It also suggests adding affective and performative lenses in Critical Intercultural Communication research, using Asian/American bodies and hate discourse as a case study.

Initial Anti-Asian Sentiment

In February 2020, global media reported incidents of anti-Asian sentiment and violence linked to the COVID-19 outbreak. This transformed into an ideological pandemic with racism, xenophobia, and macro/micro-aggression against Asian bodies, including ethnocentrism, homophobia, and ableism. In response, AAPI civil rights organizations launched the Stop AAPI Hate reporting website, receiving 9,081 reports of discrimination as of June 30, 2021. These are only the reported cases.

Political Discourse and Immigration

Former President Donald Trump referred to COVID-19 as a "Chinese virus" and "Kung Flu," normalizing hate speech. Immigration policy changes have also framed immigrants as threats. Public discourse linking COVID-19 to China has led to real-life consequences for Chinese and Asian/Americans. Scholarly interventions exist regarding racism against Asian/Americans, but the COVID-19 outbreak heightened problematic representations of Asian/American identity.

Body Politics and Affect

The essay addresses the uptick in hate against Asian/Americans during COVID-19, providing resources to interrogate body politics and affect circulation. It emphasizes the need for continuous scholarly conversations on how bodies matter. The essay engages with Asian/American body politics during the COVID-19 outbreak to extend conversations in communication and cultural studies. It examines how materials generate effects through emotions, focusing on the materiality of yellow peril and how Asian/Americans experience everyday hate discourse.

Goal and Methodology

The essay explores the hate produced against Asian bodies in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic by studying affective-performative practices of hate discourse using reports from the Stop AAPI Hate website. Affective-performative practices refer to online/social media platforms as performance spaces where affect becomes visible through hateful reactions. Anti-Asian reports serve as discursive texts to evaluate the historical continuum and revivals of yellow perils. The essay argues that Asian/American bodies are desensitized, dehumanized, and weaponized during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Defining Asian and Asian American

The Census Bureau defines Asian as having origins in the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent. The essay acknowledges the complex and problematic definitions of Asian and Asian American as Western-centric identity markers rooted in colonialism. While these terms can conceal cultural nuances, pan-Asian constructions can also provide political agency. The essay uses "Asian/Americans" with a slash to symbolize the inseparable relationships between Asians and Asian Americans.

Critical Intercultural Communication

The essay is located in Critical Intercultural Communication studies, focusing on issues of power, context, socio-economic relations, and historical/structural forces. It addresses the silence of the body in qualitative Intercultural Communication research, advocating for a performative turn to centralize the body. Anti-Asian reports are used as a central body of knowledge to understand hate discourse. The essay aims to bring lived experiences of Asian/American people into critical scholarships of Communication. It revisits the notion of yellow peril, conceptualizes affect, and introduces critical textual analysis as the method.

Yellow Peril: Historicizing Anti-Asian Sentiment

The idea of yellow peril emerged in Western societies in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, referring to the West’s fear of the yellow race due to the large population in East Asia, economic power in China, and the rise of imperial power in Japan. In the U.S., increased Asian immigration sparked fear of Asian invasion. Asians were considered forever foreigners who would overtake the nation. This led to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Immigration Act of 1924. Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor intensified the discourse, leading to the incarceration of over 110,000 Japanese Americans during WWII. Even after WWII, Asians were framed as the enemy due to rapid economic growth. American citizens of Asian descent were also targeted. Examples include the killing of Vincent Chin in 1982 and the shooting of Vietnamese and Cambodian children in 1989.

Underreporting of Hate Crimes

Despite continuous racism against Asian/Americans, their voices have not been heard in public discourses. There is widespread underreporting of hate crimes, and law enforcement may fail to classify incidents as hate crimes. Congresswoman Grace Meng highlighted the invisibility of Asian/Americans and their determination to be seen and heard. The essay reiterates the importance of highlighting historical contexts of hate against Asian individuals and connects them to current discourse during the pandemic.

Affect, Affective Economy, and Performativity

The essay adopts affective economy and performativity as theoretical lenses. Affect is defined based on Deleuze’s (2004) explanation of affectus as the continuous variation of someone’s force of existing. It involves managing sensory intensities that increase or decrease bodies’ capacity to act. Scholars in affect studies have critiqued the lack of discussion on body politics. Glapka (2019) showcased discursive practices where the embodied becomes social and the social becomes embodied. The essay draws on Ahmed’s (2014) theorization of hate as an affective economy, where emotions circulate between objects and signs. Hate materializes collective bodily senses of othering. It creates a community of we who hate others while loving themselves. Affect is inherently political as bodies are part of an ecosocial matrix. Protevi (2009) analyzed how military training desensitizes killing by desubjectivizing the self and dehumanizing the enemy. In the context of COVID-19, this logic rationalizes hate.

Performativity and Discourse

Drawing on Butler’s (2011) theorization, performativity is used to discuss affect, understood as the reiterative practice by which discourse produces effects. It reinforces socially constructed norms through repetition, allowing an unpacking of the materiality of political affect. Repetition enables a subject and constitutes the temporal condition for the subject, with performativity creating spaces for marginalized identities. It can challenge marginalization by claiming normative venues for non-normative contexts. The Stop AAPI Hate website is seen as a counterpublic space for Asian/Americans to resist anti-Asian hate.

Critical Textual Analysis

The materiality of affect can be examined through the language of hate discourse. Repetition lowers the intensity of emotions. Affective-performative practices guide the exploration of hate produced in a sociopolitical structure. Critical textual analysis is used as a method(ology) to theorize affect and performativity in the COVID-19 context. It focuses on the underlying ideological and cultural assumptions of texts, with specific attention to imbalanced power relations and historical contexts. Data is collected from the Stop AAPI Hate website, including both quantitative and qualitative data. The qualitative data, consisting of lived experiences, is examined from seven periodical reports uploaded between March 25, 2020, and March 16, 2021.

Themes from Stop AAPI Hate Reports

A close reading of anti-Asian reports offers perspectives on the hate produced during the pandemic. Anti-Asian tropes mirror the historical continuum of Asian/American stereotypes and materialize hate through circulation. Themes include Desensitized Ethnicities, Dehumanized Bodies, and Weaponized Bodies and Nations, which often overlap. The author's experience of becoming Asian in the U.S. informs the study. The author acknowledges their privilege and marginalization as a Japanese individual with a non-immigrant visa. However, their racialized positionality as Asian can critique affective-performative texts and challenge racism in the U.S.

Desensitized Ethnicities

Many anti-Asian reports blame China for the pandemic. Trump’s framing of COVID-19 as a "Chinese virus" has material consequences. Examples include an employee yelling about the "Chinese" inventing the virus and graffiti saying "the China virus kills people." The Chinese culture of eating is also portrayed as barbaric. These reports frame China as culturally inferior and a target of hate. China is seen as dangerous and threatening. One report details a teammate assuming the respondent was Chinese and harassing them, using slurs and stereotypes. Discriminatory experiences are not only directed towards Chinese individuals but also Asian bodies as a whole. Examples include verbal harassment and being told to "go back to China." The ethnicity of the hated subject becomes ambiguous. A Korean man was blamed as Chinese. A child was told that all Chinese people have the Coronavirus. These narratives demonstrate the monolithic racialization of Asian identities, with Asian ethnicities desensitized in day-to-day interactions. The case of Vincent Chin is reminiscent of this desensitization. Hate towards China translates to hate towards Asians at the micro-level.

Dehumanized Bodies

With hashtags like #ChinaVirus and Trump’s statements, Chinese people and/or Asian/Americans have often been hyper-visible as a virus. In response, hashtags like #JeNeSuisPasUnVirus and #IAMNOTAVIRUS combat hate. The latter campaign creates a space for Asian/Americans to protest against yellow peril tropes. Anti-Asian reports show this trope, with some people assuming Asian bodies carry a virus. This has turned into physical violence. One student said "Kill the Chinese" in class. The act of killing is desensitized. One narrative illustrates dehumanization with racial and gender dynamics. A White male customer asked about the respondent’s ethnicity and assumed they had Coronavirus. Whiteness plays a role in everyday life situations. Many reports disclose discrimination by White individuals. Two narratives illustrate racial slurs and references to being dirty and contagious. Whiteness is also visible in Trump’s political statements. Budhwani and Sun (2020) argued that the rhetorical use of "Chinese virus" creates COVID-19 related stigma. Reviewing hateful actions, whiteness is persistent through dehumanizing Asian/American individuals. One respondent felt dehumanized by an employee at the post office. These examples insinuate whiteness dehumanizing the Asian body as a virus. The use of hashtags like #JeNeSuisPasUnVirus is an affective-performative act and a form of resistance against whiteness. The hate discourse highlights the dehumanization of Asian bodies and the potential for future belonging.

Weaponized Bodies and Nations

This theme illuminates how bodies and nations have been politically weaponized. It indicates "emotional intensities of love and hate" (Ahmed, 2014, p. 52). Hate sustains the object through attachment. The act of hate against Asian bodies is reinforced through affective signs. One report describes a woman yelling at a respondent in an elevator, saying, "You f**king Chinese people, you’re not going to get away with this." Another report illustrates a colleague yelling, "Hey, it’s YOUR fault, it’s YOUR people that brought this over here." These voices showcase the dehumanization and weaponization of Asian bodies. They are not just the virus but also a weapon that will kill people. One report connects the Asian/American body with the virus, with a child pointing in their direction and saying they were going to die of Coronavirus. The Asian/American body becomes a threat. Non-Asian/American individuals are weaponized to justify attacks. One professor called it the "China Virus," suggesting a threat. In this vein, China became a weaponized enemy. The theme of Weaponized Bodies and Nations elucidates tensions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Historical Discrimination and Conclusion

Reviewing desensitized and dehumanized experiences, the analysis demonstrates how hate against Asian/Americans is a historical continuum of racial discrimination: yellow peril. Anti-Asian/American discourse is not a new phenomenon. Racism has always existed. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has made the correlation between hate and affect visible. Reports denote Asian bodies, particularly Chinese bodies, as a weapon against the U.S. One narrative indicates weaponized Chinese bodies as a threat, leading to calls for their extinction. Another reported being told to "Die Chink Die." Weaponized nations and rhetoric can be seen online, with calls to "blow out the China" and "use nuclear to finish China." China and Chinese people are politically weaponized for U.S. nationalism. Each theme demonstrates how Asian/Americans are targeted. The essay reinserts the historical continuum of racial discrimination. Asian/American bodies are desensitized, dehumanized, and weaponized. By decentering the dominant discourse, the essay aims to fight back against hate. The paper highlights limitations in its methodologies, failing to fully consider complex systems and focusing solely on Asian/American victims. Further exploration could include interviews with Asian/Americans about identity negotiation during the COVID-19 pandemic. In engaging with affect and performance, Critical Intercultural scholars must (re)centralize the body as a site of essential knowledge production and primal sensorial system of human interactions