The heathen, the plague, and the model minority: Perpetual self-assessment of Asian Americans as a panoptic mechanism
Incidents of racism against Asians have been rising since the COVID-19 pandemic turned global in early 2020. Employing Foucault’s concept of panopticism and Kathryn Lofton’s insights on the function of religion to demarcate group boundaries, this article argues that American religion constructs Asia...
| Published in: | Critical research on religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
2021
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| In: |
Critical research on religion
Year: 2021, Volume: 9, Issue: 3, Pages: 265-283 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
USA
/ COVID-19 (Disease)
/ Pandemic
/ Racism
/ Asians
/ Whites
/ Hegemony
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion KBM Asia KBQ North America ZA Social sciences ZC Politics in general |
| Further subjects: | B
Covid-19
B Racism B Asian American B American Religion B Foucault |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Incidents of racism against Asians have been rising since the COVID-19 pandemic turned global in early 2020. Employing Foucault’s concept of panopticism and Kathryn Lofton’s insights on the function of religion to demarcate group boundaries, this article argues that American religion constructs Asian American stereotypes to limit the discursive space within which Asian Americans may negotiate their identities. These discursive limitations have, in turn, buttressed white supremacy. This article examines how some Asians and Asian Americans respond to anti-Asian sentiments during the pandemic by performing a close reading of an op-ed by prominent Asian American politician Andrew Yang in The Washington Post. This reading reveals that Yang’s colorblind solution upholds whiteness as the American gnosis and limits the discursive space in which Asian Americans may negotiate their identities. This article also discusses how the myth of America as a white Christian country withstands challenges from minority groups contesting its dominance. |
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| ISSN: | 2050-3040 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Critical research on religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/20503032211044436 |