A New History of Asian America - Shelley PDF

Preview

Summary

reading notes...

Description

CHAPTER 1 : ORIENTALISM BEFORE ASIAN AMERICA ➔ European Orientalism ◆ Europeans have been targeting Asia for a long time (gaining upper hand culturally, politically, economically, militarily) ◆ Function of Asia’s presence is to substantiate Europe’s identity rather than to understand Asia in an accurate manner ◆ Hippocrates observed that Asia’s lush environment produced monotony and indulgence among inhabits, while Europe had less natural abundance and developed more energetic/courageous people ◆ Alexander the Great stated that Greeks triumphed over the “undisciplined, slavish, Asians” ◆ Despite the military prowess of Mongols, they were still viewed as filthy and barbaric people ◆ Europeans’ perceptions of the differences between Christians and non-Christians ● Dante’s Inferno depicts Muslim being damned to hell bc have not experienced Christian revelation ◆ Gender ● “Soft men and erotic women” ● “Hard, cruel men and virile, martial women” ◆ Orient (East) vs. Occident (West) ● Orientalism gives authority to the Orientalist who claims to know the area ○ Orient did not have a voice of its own ➔ Ideology and Power ◆ Western ambitions to dominate Asia ● Began with Portugal’s penetration of India, Southeast Asia, Macao ◆ Europeans became less impressed with contemporary Asia and fawned over the past, which is what their goal was: “raising them to their former greatness” ◆ Perception was shaped that Europeans were different and better, thus knowledge had long been constructed in advance ● Never visit the “Orient” or encounter an Oriental person, relied on texts and “experts” ➔ Orientalism in America ◆ Desire to find a westward sea route to India ◆ Americans shared the Eurpopean view in which Orient and Occident were separate worlds

● European orientalists: felt that twain (of East and West) would never meet ● American orientalists: hoped for some transfer of values to benefit their new republic / prevent its decline into the morass of materialism ◆ Fascination with Chinese luxury goods (i.e. Boston Tea party, fight over access to Asian commodities) ● Chinese pottery was often gifted ◆ Access to writings spiked some of the founding fathers’ interests in Confucianism (links between personal and state affairs) ◆

Interest in Chinese trade following Revolutionary war ● Empress of China traveled from New York to China and returned with tea, silk, porcelains, fans, etc ○ Trade continued to transform New York as the nation’s largest city ● The closer Americans got to real Chinese, the more their respect/emulation of Chinese civilization diminished

○ Dehumanizing views would be reinforced with Asian immigration ➔ American Orientalists ◆ Writings about Asia expressed admiration and romantic longing, but also conveyed repulsion and disdain ◆ India also started getting cultural fascination ◆ By the mid 19th century, consuming asina things was not limited to intellectuals/elites ● Phenomenon was rooted in spectacle and rooted in fetishing/exaggerated flattering of Asia that made it had shortcomings ○ I.e. Arabian Nights ● People could gaze at objects collected by whites who had travelled to those places ◆ Sense of civilizational mastery through collecting objects and creating exhibits, or becoming literary experts ● These acts reinforced a growing confidence in American values and practices ➔ Slavery, Coolies, and Freedom ◆ “Coolie”: imported Asian contract laborers from China/South Asia ● Worldwide demand intensified after 1807 when Britain banned the slave trade ● Coolieism relied on voluntary contracts and legal rights but employers used kidnapping/deception/corporal punishment ● Idea that Chinese immigrant laborers threatened the dignity and wellbeing of the American (working class) ○ “Exclusion act” opened up acceptance for black and white immigrants

as “freed” people ➔ Manifest Destiny Across the Continent and the Pacific ◆ Orientalism had tangible impacts on U.S. diplomatic objectives and actions ◆ America’s manifest destiny was an additional chapter in the Orientalist text of Europe’s dominating, restructuring, and having authority over Asia ◆ United States turned its attention on Japan w intention of “opening” it up to Western influence and domination ● China was viewed as corrupt and degraded while Japan showed vigor, thrift, and intelligence ● Sent Matthew Perry to Japan with warships, emperor agreed to commence international trade ○ US establishing itself as Westerners bringing light to other parts of the world ● Used similar tactic with Korea but resulted in a small battle and misunderstandings, but got a treaty in 1882 ◆ Annexation of Philippines after Spanish-American War ➔ Conclusion ◆ Trade with India also resulted in appearance of Indians in US port cities ◆ Early Asian arrivals did not assimilate that well into larger society, oddities ● American missionaries brought Asians this kind of attention, goals to raise money and support for their missions ◆ Other asians were presented in ways that catered to American’s appetite for the exotic (featured in exhibitions) ● Siamese Twins were a spectacle but never poke in their own voice due to white personas drafting their identities ◆ Americans enthralled by “pure spirituality” of India ◆ Asians could sometimes assist Amerians by enriching their cultural lives, but they could not be one of them CHAPTER 2 : THE ASIAN DIASPORA IN THE PRE-EXCLUSION YEARS Most overseas migrants were male laborers who intended on returning back home ➔ Chinese Migration ◆ Relative contact with foreigners and knowledge of opportunities abroad in southeastern provinces enticed the Chinese to migrate abroad

◆ Maritime and international trade networks gave rise to cosmopolitan “contact zones” ◆ First Opium War caused China to go into economic decline/civil conflict ● Displaced people from their land jobs ● Enlarged emigrant pool ◆ Hakka-bendi ethnic conflict (Hakkas were considered outsiders to the bendi “natives”) ◆ Pull Factors ● Western colonial development → attendant labor needs ● Discovery of gold ● Commercial opportunities ◆

Means of Departure ● Paying their way or relying on family resources ● Obtaining loans from merchants, brokers, shipping companies (repaid through wages) ● Contracts for working for a set term

● Deceived into boarding a ship and signing a contract ◆ Guangdong ● Land holdings forced landless peasants to work as laborers, makers, and servants ◆ Imperial edicts could not stop emigration ◆ Chinese laborers in tropical areas demonstrated them as a substitute for black labor ◆ Coolie trade was profitable and vital for colonial development as African slave trade phased out ● Raised serious moral and political issues ○ Passengers Act of 1855 - health and space standards on ships departing from Hong Kong ➔ Across the Pacific ◆ Main mode of production on Hawaiin islands was plantation agriculture (sugar), relied heavily on Asian labor ● Deemed to be more certain, systematic and economic than that of the native ○ Transformation of Hawaii in which natives nearly disappeared from the population and over 400,000 newcomers (laborers) arrived ◆ 1890s there was a shrink in islands’ Chinese population → hawaii turned to Portugese, Japanese, Koreans, Filipinos ● Most went to North America for gold rush ○ Traveling on U.S.-based Pacific Mail Steamship Company ◆ Increased revenue, later defended Chinese immigration

◆ 1868 Burlingame-Seward Treaty: agreed for emigration ● Second-class status of Chinese in America, denied Chinese immigrants the right to U.S. naturalization ◆ Page Act of 1875 excluded Asian women to immigrate ◆ Idea of saving up money in the Americas and then coming back to to settle down ➔ Japanese Immigration ◆ Ruler’s believed that Japan’s security depended on joining the international scramble ● Revising unequal treaties with West ● Engaging own program of expansion ○ Emigrants would benefit Japan by expanding her contacts with foreign countries and generating a demand for Japanese goods abroad ◆ Students made up the largest category of Japanese immigrants before 20th century ● Sponsored - receive scholarships ● Private - paying their own way working ◆ Meiji rule (mandatory conscription for males) also pushed Japnaese to seek escape ◆ Government regulated labor migration ● Employers cover transportation costs and basic living needs ● Deposit part of workers’ wages aside to guarantee voyage home ● Usually 3 years ◆ Confusion over who was a free laborer vs not a free laborer (took out written agreements) ◆ Gentlemen’s Agreement reduced Japanese labor migration ‘ ● Allowed farmers/businessmen to send for their wives ○ “Picture brides” had not met their husbands ➔ Korean Immigration ◆ Invasions by Japan ● By the end of 19th century, Japan was weak, impoverished, and politically unstable ◆ Converted christians through American missionary presence ◆ Backgrounds of Korean immigrants were relatively diverse (compared to Chinese/Japanese) ◆ 1905 ban on overseas migration after hearing reports that workers who were working in Mexico were being held in slavery ● Meant to be temporary, but was made indefinite under pressure from Japan ◆ Korean population stayed in Hawaii, and California, return rate was lower bc of uncertain political status

➔ Indian Immigration ◆ Not recruited to work in Hawaii, landing in North America was just a stop on way to Asia ◆ Most coolies went to East Africa, conditions similar to slavery ◆ For Indians who settled in US permanently, they held ambiguous place in racial and social order, either disappearing into surrounding communities or standing out as exotic curiosities ◆ British colonialism (post 1898) caused disruption and India and triggered wave of emigration ◆ Plague in Punjab also caused emigration ● Went to Uganda to work in railway construction ◆ Punjabi immigrants who ended up in North American West were drawn from small landowning peasant classes, travelled with relatives and people from nearby villages ➔ Filipino Immigration ◆ Spanish American War transferred power of Philippines from Spain to the US ● Ultimately annexed the Philippines ○ Relied on US for imports/exports, ultimately weakened Filipinos’ power ◆ 3 groups: ● Young sojourners seeking education (1903 - WWII) ● Workers who came to Hawaii (1907 - 1930s) ● West Coast migrants (1920s - early 1930s) ◆ Young men under age of 30 ◆ Pensionado Act of 1903 established a program for government-sponsored FIlipinos to study ◆ Entered Hawaii first ◆ Labor sojourning ◆ Cash economy made economic conditions more exploitative and precarious, leading people to consider traveling to even farther distances CHAPTER 3 : MAKING A LIVING (mid 1800s - 1920s) labor for transcontinental line (railroad) were native and foreignborn white men (unsteady, unreliable, demanding) → switched to chinese men Chinese labor was paid less than white labor, dangerous conditions

➔ Early Forays in the Eastern United States and the Ideological Place of Asian Labor ◆ Construction of transcontinental railroad drove the stereotype that the Chinese were cheap and exploitable laborers → transferred onto immigrants ◆ Emancipation created sudden labor shortages on southern plantations → CHINESE! ● Large-scale employment never materialized bc of 1862 Coolie Act ● Form of labor resembling slavery would imperil the newly won freedom of former slaves ◆ Japanese, Korean, Indian, Filipino wageworkers concentrated in similar geographic areas as Chinese, but also went to industrial areas / major cities in other regions ➔ Hawaii Plantations and Asian Labor ◆ Economy and labor system that evolved in Hawaii resembled the American South ● Hawaii’s plantation system relied on imported Asian labor ● South’s depended on enslaved Africans ◆ Small producers and workers in california checked capital and development of monopoly power ● Absence of ^ in Hawaii allowed capitalism to function without any constraints ◆ Organization of work on plantations maximized production, disciplined workers, kept down costs ● Also shored up racial and ethnic stratification ○ Privilege whiteness and maintained planter elites’ power ◆ Europeans were paid more than asians but also recruited as family groups/couples ● Recruiters discouraged migration of asian laborers’ wives to prevent their permanent settlement ◆ Japan used “divide-and-control” (ethnic diversity with Japanese) to avoid collusion among laborers ● Used other races to counteract potential strikes ◆ Planters used welfare services (housing, hospitals, stores, insurance) to manage workers but also took deductions from paychecks ● Also gave workers greater control over how they spent their workday ○ Paying based on amount of work performed ➔ Asian Labor in the North American West ◆ After 1868 the profile of Chinese immigrants skewed increasingly toward the

unskilled/semi-skilled ● Merchants, craftsmen, professionals decreased ◆ Asian participation in west coast salmon canning industry ● First chinese and japanese dominated, eventually outnumbered by Filipinos ◆ Chinese people came first, and called dibs, guarding best jobs to themselves ● Filipinois had the hardest time gaining leverage through contracting, pursued advancement by unionizing and challenging the system ◆ Asian laborers made greatest impact on agriculture ● Railroads/refrigerated cars facilitated access to distant markets ● Growing national population sustained demand for the products ● Chinese before development of large-scale agribusiness, established niches as gardeners and truck farmers ○ New immigrants found that their only entry into agriculture was at the bottom as laborers ● After 1900, Chinese workers’ role in farm labor dwindled due to exclusion ○ japanese took over, and were offered free transportation and housing assistance ● Indian immigrants settled in British Columbia as field laborers, truck gardeners, stump clearers ○ Inferior to other laborers (alternatives to Japanese) ● Korean men relied on gang leaders and traveled from job to job ○ Also alternatives to the Japanese ● Filipino farm workers were common migrants, no geographically stable communities ➔ Urban Occupations and Ethnic Enterprises ◆ Demand for household servants fulfilled by asian men and women ● Most were students who received free room and board ◆ Cigar Making was common for Chinese in New York ◆ Laundering was the prime occupation for the Chinese ● Working for low wages = laundries multiplied ◆ Opportunity to pursue entrepreneurship ● Grocery stores, shops that sold medicine, tofu, fruit ● Business enterprises needed startup capital through group resources ● Filipino’s high rate of participation in migratory work hindered their entry into small business ◆ Japanese made the most pronounced move ito business ownership

● Owned hotels, boardinghouses, grocery stores, restaurants, nurseries, etc. ➔ Women’s Work ◆ Nursing programs gave rise to opportunities for migration for filipinos ◆ Women immigrants’ chief duty was to perform domestic duties in the home, but also took on paid work due to financial constraints ◆ Women worked alongside / same occupations as men (agriculture) ◆ Need for domestic servants stemmed from industrialization, gave rise to expanded urban middle class (little time to do housework) ◆ Asian men’s participation in domestic service declined in late 19th and early 20th century, women’s involvement grew ◆ Sex workers (prostitution) helped maintain labor force of single young men ● Source of economic agency for women to help themselves and their families with their earnings ○ Allowed for capital accumulation and viability of Chinatowns ● Prostitutes lacked networks of support, had little recourse against abuse and exploitation ◆ Mui tsai - girls from China or daughters of prostitutes who worked as domestic servants in affluent Chinese homes or brothels ➔ Hardship, Mobility, and Resistance ◆ Seasonal nature of many jobs forced workers to adapt to abrupt changes (periods of extreme work and then no work at all) ◆ Migrant workers represented majority of Filipinos in the work force ◆ Railroad workers lived in boxcars, poor diets caused malnutrition ◆ Many workers left their jobs as they learned of better opportunities ◆ Some asian workers sought advancement within their industries of employment ◆ Ethnic cooperation was vital for Asians’ ability to move up the agricultural ladder ➔ Elites, Middlemen, and the Broker Class ◆ Contractors played crucial middleman roles that brought them much power in immigrant communities ● Earliest chinese contractors started out as emigration brokers who expanded their businesses by moving to U.S. and servicing newly arrived immigrants ◆ Larger workforces made it impossible for companies to deal with employees individually, and the labor market became more stratified ● Work of finding and managing workers fell on ethnic middlemen who negotiated wages and issued work orders ○ Led to exploitation form the contractors bc they were responsible for

distributing payments ○ workers ‘ discontent focused on contractors as much as employers ◆ Declining power as responsibilities of managing workers shifted from contractors to cannery superintendents ➔ Conclusion ◆ Racial formations and meanings were very much tied up in work and perceptions of asian labor ◆ Tried to overcome employers and interethnic antagonisms they themselves might have internalized ● Possibilities of multiethnic labor strategy CHAPTER 5 : RACISM AND THE ANTI-ASIAN MOVEMENTS ➔ Major Asian groups became targets of organized movements and eventually federal immigration exclusion ➔ Boundaries of U.S. citizenship and social belonging were redrawn in response to immigration of racial “others” ➔ The Legal Disenfranchisement of Asians in America ◆ Asian’s legal disenfranchisement hinged largely on the group’s racial ineligibility for naturalized citizenship (full citizenship = white privilege) ● People v. Hall solidified link between Chinese immigrants’ non-whiteness and their subordinate legal standing in California ◆ “Any aliens except natives of China and Japan” ◆ Status of racially indeterminate groups (i.e. Asian Indians) underscored the inadequacy of ethnological classifications and other categories as a guide on enforcing naturalization policy → courts struggled with the concept of race in naturalization cases ◆ Ozawa v. United States - Japanese were ineligible for citizenship, the Supreme Court stated that lack of specific inclusion of Japanese implied their ineligibility ◆ Only Asians whose status remained unclear were Filipinos due to their status as U.S. nationals ◆ Small numbers of Asian immigrants continued to become citizens due to inconsistencies in the interpretation and enforcement of the law (through military

service) ● Birthright citizenship - assured the U.S. citizenship of children of immigrants regardless of parents’ status ➔ Creating Social Pariahs ◆ Chinatown as an “unmitigated and wholesome nuisance” ● Quarantine where an assumption that a Chinese man had bubonic plague caused evacuation of white people and disinfection of the residents ○ In Honolulu disinfection didn’t happen and instead burned buildings which left people homeless ○ Ineffectiveness of quarantines showed that contagion, race, and space were not as tightly linked as people presumed ◆ Living and socializing in constrained and segregated conditions (Chinatown) was not merely a survival strategy or preference to be near people like them; it was also a reality imposed upon them ◆ Interracial mingling represented the most alarming threats to racial order ● Elsie Sigel’s body found in the trunk of a Chinese Man Leon Ling (love story), biggest mistake was Sigel considering Ling as her social equal ○ Most western states passed prohibitions on Asian-white intermarriage ◆ Concept of Asian men chasing white women ◆ Segregationg of interracial contact through Oriental Schools ◆ anti-Asian sentiment and practices tended to be less pronounced where they were less visible as a group ● Asian indians’ turbans were a “passport to high society” in the northeast compared to the west coast ➔ Economic Exclusion ◆ Asians were often blamed for white unemployment during economic downturns ◆ Foreign miners license tax which mandated a monthly fee of $3 per miner ◆ Boycotts of companies that hi...