It is not my style to go out into the streets shouting and demanding my rights

Baumann, Clara; Denardi, Luciana

Abstract

Covid-19 has exacerbated racial discrimination and the exclusion of minorities around the globe. In particular, Chinese migrant communities found themselves confronted with racist attacks that forced them to react against their usual convictions. How have they managed to adapt to this crisis and make their voices heard? This study sheds light on the changing reactions of Chinese migrant communities to the pandemic in Argentina: Having initially focused on maintaining harmonious social relations by providing donations to their host society, they adapted to the more confrontational Argentine cultural configurations by increasingly defending themselves against a growing Sinophobia. This study explains these dynamics through the concepts of cultural configurations and regimes of meaning with theories of institutional change put forth through transnational connections. Using data from participant observations, informal conversations and evidence from social media collected from 2020 to 2022, it combines elements of process tracing with traditional and online ethnography.