Author ORCID Identifier

http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2715-5208

Degree Year

2021

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

East Asian Studies

Advisor(s)

Emer Sinéad O'Dwyer
Ann Sherif

Committee Member(s)

Sheila Miyoshi Jager, Chair
Hsiu-Chuang Deppman
Andrew Macomber
Bonnie Cheng

Keywords

Afro-Asian solidarity; Japan; Japan Studies; Asian Studies; Social media activism, Black radical movements, Asian American Radicalism, Black internationalism, Black internationalist feminists, Allyship, BlackLivesMatter, StopAsianHate

Abstract

The summer of 2020 marked a dramatic shift in race consciousness around the globe. The murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, coupled with the rise of Anti-Asian hate crimes, sparked a global outcry of support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and renewed interest in solidarity between Black and Asian communities as a means to organize against systemic racism and white supremacy. This paper sets out to investigate the intersectional histories of oppression faced by these communities, offers a timely analysis of the history of Afro-Asian Solidarity domestically and on the international stage, and explores the relevance of Afro-Asian allyship to contemporary social movements, #BlackLivesMatter and #StopAsianHate. Based on the analysis of scholarly and journalistic sources, I argue that the transnational progress made through Afro-Asian solidarity in the global freedom struggle provides a compelling example and invaluable blueprint of the radical potential for Afro-Asian Solidarity in the age of Black Lives Matter.

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