ABSTRACT
This chapter, based on the author’s narrative as a frame for contextualizing research, aims to reinterpret Chinese students’ silence and low maintenance through the theoretical lens of critical race theory. By pointing out the lack of cultural reference and inadequate communicative competence in English as a second language fail to unearth the real struggles behind Chinese international students’ silence, this chapter argues that the internalized oppression due to the ubiquitous white supremacy and the model minority narrative contribute to Chinese students’ self-silencing and self-censorship. Further, this chapter advocates the framework of Critical Whiteness Studies, which can be applied by educators to interrogate their internalized stereotypes and hegemonic whiteness, connect Chinese students’ silence to a larger structural racial dynamic, humanize their racialized experience, and therefore turn the classroom into a safe space of resistance and possibilities.
