Revisiting Manhattan Music in the Time of Covid-19

Body Politics, Anti-Asian Racism and Negotiation of Ethnic Identity

Bibliographic Data

ID3616190
AuthorsFarzana Akhter (0000-0002-8836-601X, Department of English, East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume43
Issue6
Pages704-721
Publication date2022-11-02
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Intercultural Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0725-6868 • E-ISSN: 1469-9540
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/07256868.2022.2128082
OpenAlexW4298394087
LanguageEN
References cited12

The rise in COVID-19 cases has not only generated anxiety and uncertainty but has also caused an upsurge in anti-Asian racism all over the world. The racially motivated attacks have forced us to rethink the concept of migration, integration, and racism in a global context. In this paper, I look back at Meena Alexander’s Manhattan Music and relying on Arjun Appadurai’s critical theory in Fear of Small Numbers: An Essay on the Geography of Anger I investigate the dynamics that go into making the dominant culture hostile towards immigrants and ethnic populations. Drawing a connection between my reading of the novel and the COVID-fueled racism, I debunk the myth of assimilation as a means of integration and attest that race and ethnicity still play crucial role in the politics of power. That is, despite the ethnic protagonists’ negotiation of their subjectivity, their ethnic body will continue to be victims of racial politics and used as scapegoats as long as white supremacy prevails and is considered normative. Revisiting Manhattan Music and rendering the connection between race, ethnicity and racism opens up avenues for critical rethinking and compels us to ever more consider the intersection of ethnic identity and race today in an era of global pandemic that has targeted Asian migrants in and beyond America

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Aesthetics · Art · Ethnic group · Identity negotiation · Identity politics · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Racism · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Asian American and Pacific Histories · Gender Studies · Law · Medicine · Music History and Culture · Race, History, and American Society

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