'Love your China' and evangelise: Religion, nationalism, racism and immigrant settlement in Canada

Huamei Han*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper explores how race, religion and national origin intersect in one transnational context. In an educational ethnography, I encountered a discourse that called for overseas Chinese to convert and evangelise other Chinese (in China), which won many followers in Canada. Using Critical Race Theory and the notion of intersectionality, I analyse the shared understandings of race and national identity, and the shared experience of institutionalised discrimination in everyday life in this community. I suggest that sanctioned and enabled by Canadian banal nationalism and racism, structural discrimination against racialised minority immigrants contributes to difficulties they experience in settlement. Intersecting with racism and banal nationalism, Christian evangelism offers many Chinese immigrants an alternative frame to understand the meaning and purpose of immigration and of living as racialised immigrants. Implications for immigrant settlement and for education in general are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)61-79
Number of pages19
JournalEthnography and Education
Volume6
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Banal nationalism
  • Evangelical Christianity
  • Evangelistic conferences
  • Immigrant settlement
  • Racialisation/racism

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of ''Love your China' and evangelise: Religion, nationalism, racism and immigrant settlement in Canada'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this