Reflecting on "Immigrant Sensibilities in Tech Worlds: Sensing Hate, Capturing Dissensus"

There are a lot of things that I think about in the course of my day. What I’ll have for dinner. What homework I have to do later that night. How many episodes of The Crown is too much for one day. But I am embarrassed to admit that never once have I thought about immigrants working in the Seattle tech world. However, after reading the article “Immigrant Sensibilities in Tech Worlds: Sensing Hate, Capturing Dissensus” by Sareeta Amrute in the peer-reviewed Cultural Anthropology journal, I now will be thinking about them often.

The essay details harassment reports made by Chinese and Indian who work in software-related businesses in the Seattle area to the Washington state government. The essay early on indicates that these incidents of harassment increased after Donald Trump was elected President of the United States in 2016.

It was terrifying to read through the experiences of these workers, and even more terrifying to read how Washington State responded, or in most cases how they failed to respond, even with hate incidents and hate crimes on the rise. The essay also includes the fascinating fact of “sensing hate;” in short, these workers have become so accustomed to hate that they sense hateful language and slurs as racially motivated or biased, demonstrating how this hateful language has become meshed into the fabric of these Seattle-extended areas. But the most upsetting part of all of it is how little surprised I was at the lack of governmental action to protect these people who are the backbone of one of America’s most profitable and crucial industries. These immigrants who came to America like so many others to create a better life and brought useful skills that are boosting the nation’s economy should be protected and trusted instead of neglected and attacked.

The essay also makes the point of how politics have infiltrated the tech world in Seattle and is contributing to these racist and hateful incidents against immigrants workers. So in this regard they are not only being failed by the Washington State justice system but also the big-time tech companies they work for. While they are just trying to do their jobs, they have to endure attacks from intolerant coworkers who cannot separate politics from the workplace to accomplish common company goals.

Amrute’s research and restraint in her writing makes the essay informative and insightful without imposing opinions on the reader. I highly recommend reading her essay to become more knowledgeable on an issue that sadly does not seem that foreign to the rest of the country, but is still as infuriating as in any other industry or part of the world. It is an important reminder that racism and hate is still rampant and that it must be destroyed not just in theory but systemically.

Read the essay here: https://journal.culanth.org/plugins/generic/pdfJsViewer/pdf.js/web/viewer.html?file=https%3A%2F%2Fjournal.culanth.org%2Findex.php%2Fca%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F4175%2F562%2F