Affective Economies and Alienizing Discourse: Citizenship and Maternity Tourism in Hong Kong
Abstract: Examining the rhetorical responses of Hongkongers towards the influx of mainland Chinese maternal tourists, this article investigates citizenship claims made by a citizenry that is locally and culturally powerful but is transnationally and socio-politically marginalized. By analyzing how alienizing discourse circulates and gains political valence through social media and popular cultural discourse, this article demonstrates that citizenship—particularly at a moment of national crisis—is intimately tied to and regulated by collective affects that could foreclose alternative and more inclusive articulations of membership.