“Westerners,” “Chinese,” and/or “Us”: Exploring the Intersections of Language, Race, Religion, and Immigrantization

Based on a four-year ethnography, I draw on critical race theory and Bourdieuian theory of language to analyze why a Chinese Immigrant couple regarded their 1.5-Generation Chinese Canadian leaders at an evangelical Christian church as “Westerners,” and how the leaders differentiated themselves from “Westerners” and “Chinese/Immigrants.” I argue that language and race intersect in complicated ways to racialize Immigrants and their children differently, and linguistic nationalism as a form of structural racism permeates everyday interactions.