The chronotopic construction of political identity and post-racial stance among Chinese international students in the UK

This paper examines how perception of racism is shaped by political identity. Based on a social constructivist approach to political identity and racial formation, it presents an ethnographically informed analysis of narratives by three Chinese international students whose accounts problematise prevalent monolithic representation of Chinese international students as patriots. I show that the three students make sense of racism by formulating chronotopic (time-space) contrasts between China as a chronotope of authoritarianism and the UK as a chronotope of democracy. Through this chronotopic contrast, they construe racism in the UK as a lesser issue of injustice and construct their political identity as liberal democrats who endorse Western ideas of human rights and democratic equality and criticise China’s lack thereof, distancing themselves from the stereotypical image of patriotic Chinese students. It is thus suggested that racial experiences do not necessarily lead to anti-racist attitudes or increased patriotism towards one’s home country, as perceptions of racism are mediated by political stance and identities. Contributing to the transnational study of race and political identity, this paper argues that transnational racial formation co-occurs with political identity formation, and both are shaped by lived experiences and romanticised imaginaries.