Popularizing racial discourse: the visual and verbal representation of Africans in Chinese social media

Abstract

ABSTRACT The rise of social media has enabled Chinese migrants in the global south to participate in the production of racial knowledge from grassroots perspectives, adding complexity and dynamism to the racial discourse that was dominated by political and intellectual elites historically. This study investigates anti-black racial discourse on the popular short-video and live-streaming app in China, Kuaishou, where many Africa-based vloggers share their daily life experiences. This study examines the visual and verbal representation of Africans, focusing on 50 short videos posted by Africa-based Chinese and the comments made on them. The analysis shows that the racialization of Africans on Kuaishou is a multilayered process shaped by the intersection of race with other dimensions of identity, including class, gender, and nationality. This paper further illuminates the cultural embeddedness of these thoughts in a South-South setting, and discusses the impacts of different historical-ideological resources on racial thinking in the Chinese context.