Cole Walker is a sophomore at Duke and is majoring in Public Policy and Chinese.
Abstract:
As an African American studying Chinese, I have always been drawn to how people in the Chinese-speaking world perceive black people. My 2017 high school exchange trip to China gave me a wonderful opportunity to make friends in China and to live with a host family, but this was only for two weeks. While I was stared at in public spaces and asked to take selfies with random people, most of this was expected and didn’t really bother me all that much. However, through my research, I have found that anti-black racism in the Chinese-speaking world is very much alive. Unlike the more blatant systemic anti-black racism that continues to plague the US, anti-black racism in the Chinese-speaking world is more subtle and impacted by two critical drivers: Chinese cultural aspects and a lack of meaningful interactions with black people. I will discuss how this racism manifests itself in three locations: Singapore, Mainland China, and Taiwan, with the goal of raising awareness about this very serious societal issue. In addition to sharing my findings, a significant portion of this event will be focused on discussion amongst the participating audience. In our discussions, we will see that meaningful cross-cultural interaction between black people and the people of the Chinese-speaking world can play a role in resolving many of these cultural misunderstandings and strengthen solidarity.
Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies