Radical Feelings in the ‘Liberation Zone’: Active Chinese Canadian Citizenship in Richmond, BC

Abstract

I rethink Chinese Canadian citizenship through a cultural studies framework combining anti-colonial education and affect, contextualized in the Vancouver area where the Chinese have a long history of settlement, of living with racism, and have now become the majority population in Richmond. Key to such rethinking is a textual analysis of how discourses of Chinese pride signify three different Chinese Canadian citizenship claims. Chinese pride involves radical feelings – ‘radical’ meaning the rise of Chinese epistemology that challenges and changes Eurocentric White supremacy. It is also active, meaning such epistemology is translated into praxis and mobilized toward citizenship claims.