Asian Americans’ Communicative Responses to COVID-19 Discrimination in Application of Co-Cultural Theory

Abstract

Early news coverage of COVID-19 influenced public suspicions of Asians as being the origin and carriers of the disease, and stigmatizing and racist terms (e.g., “Kung flu”, “Chinese virus”, “Wuhan virus”) have been improperly used to refer to the virus. The racist rhetoric, accompanied by increasing verbal and physical attacks, has impacted the lives of Asian Americans during the pandemic. The present study investigates targeted Asian Americans’ communication responding to the aggressors of COVID-19 racism in application of co-cultural communication theory. Targeted individuals’ characteristics and previous experience of racial discrimination are tested as determinants of such communicative responses. Data come from 242 Asians across the U.S. who reported having experienced racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the three identified types of communication responses, the nonassertive approach was used most intensively by Asian Americans in responding to COVID-19 racism, followed by the assertive and aggressive ones. Salient ethnic identity and previous discrimination experience were associated with a higher level of nonassertive and a lower level of aggressive approach. Males were more likely to practice assertive approaches. Our findings contribute to the extension of the co-cultural communication framework in explaining Asian Americans’ communicative responses to pandemic-fueled racism.

Keywords:

• Asian Americans
• co-cultural theory
• COVID-19
• racial discrimination