| Chinese Immigrants, African Americans, and Racial Anxiety in the United States, 1848-82 Contributor(s): Aarim-Heriot, Najia (Author) |
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ISBN: 0252073517 ISBN-13: 9780252073519 Publisher: University of Illinois Press OUR PRICE: $27.72 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: January 2006 Annotation: The first detailed examination of the link between the "Chinese question" and the "Negro problem" in nineteenth-century America, this work forcefully and convincingly demonstrates that the anti-Chinese sentiment that led up to the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 is inseparable from the racial double standards applied by mainstream white society toward white and nonwhite groups during the same period. Najia Aarim-Heriot argues that previous studies on American Sinophobia have overemphasized the resentment labor organizations felt toward incoming Chinese workers. This focus has caused crucial elements of the discussion to be overlooked, especially the broader ways in which the growing nation sought to define and unify itself through the exclusion and oppression of nonwhite peoples. This book highlights striking similarities in the ways the Chinese and African American populations were disenfranchised during the mid-1800s, including nearly identical negative stereotypes, shrill rhetoric, and crippling exclusionary laws. Removing Chinese American history from the vacuum in which it has been traditionally studied, this book stands as a holistic examination of the causes and effects of American Sinophobia and the racialization of national immigration policies. Publication of this book was supported by the Research Foundation and the Division of Arts and Humanities of the State University of New York at Fredonia |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Social Science | Emigration & Immigration - History | Social History - History | United States - 19th Century |
| Dewey: 305.800 |
| Series: Asian American Experience |
| Physical Information: 0.9" H x 7.54" W x 9" (1.14 lbs) 312 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Ethnic Orientation - Asian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The "Chinese question" and the "Negro problem" were bound up with one another in nineteenth-century America. Indeed, the negative stereotypes, exclusionary laws, and incendiary rhetoric employed against both populations bore striking similarities. Najia Aarim-Heriot forcefully demonstrates that the anti-Chinese sentiment behind the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 is inseparable from the racial double standards applied by mainstream white society toward white and nonwhite groups during the same period. Aarim-Heriot argues that previous studies on American Sinophobia have overemphasized the resentment labor organizations felt toward incoming Chinese workers. As a result, scholars have overlooked the broader ways in which the growing nation sought to define and unify itself through the exclusion and oppression of nonwhite peoples. A challenge to traditional approaches to Chinese American history, Chinese immigrants, African Americans, and Racial Anxiety in the United States, 1848-82 offers a holistic examination of American Sinophobia and the racialization of national immigration policies. |