The First Wave: Anti-Asian Stigma

This chapter goes into the research details from our NS Covid-19 Stigma Project study. The chapter recounts the details of policies during the pandemic that led to the stigma of people who appear to be of Asian descent in Nova Scotia, New Zealand, and Australia. It also discusses the stigma and surveillance experienced by Māori people in New Zealand. Public health organizations prepared to counter this first wave of stigma with public awareness about anti-Asian racism, but this had limited effect. The chapter discusses the painful history of anti-Asian racism in these three settler-colonial jurisdictions and how it manifests into COVID-19.