Linguistic racism and micro-aggressions in everyday encounters of African migrants in China: A challenge to the nation’s strategic vision for Africa?

Linguistic racism and microaggressions have their origins in the Western world, but their foci and methods are certainly applicable to any society in the age of global mobility. Drawing upon semi-structured interviews, observations and fieldnotes data informed by African migrants in China, this study expands these two notions in China – a country outside the centre and Anglosphere. I illustrate how linguistic racism manifested through shunning and social exclusion, as well as microaggressions practiced explicitly or implicitly in verbal interpersonal interactions. These verbal expressions often appeared subtle, innocuous, or even complimentary, yet they carried negative connotations, reminding the participants that they were linguistically and racially inferior to the Chinese. It is worth noting that the unequal and inequitable realities were perpetuated not only by those who were structurally privileged, but also by the victims’ acceptance, tolerance and complicity. This study, therefore, allows us to see an important, ongoing and often unnoticed social problem in China’s recent interactions with the world, highlighting the limitations of the Sino-African friendship rhetoric in addressing the challenges arising from the recent influx of African migrants to China. Implications for multicultural education and a society that honours diversity are discussed at the end of the article.