Taking Up the Dragon: A Case Study of Chinese-White Intermarriage in the Early 20th Century
View Dublin Core Metadata
|
Title:
|
Taking Up the Dragon: A Case Study of Chinese-White Intermarriage in the Early 20th Century |
|
Author:
|
Lozada, Patrick
|
|
Advisor:
|
Smith, Paul Jacov; Kitroeff, Alexander
|
|
Department:
|
CPGC: Student Research |
|
Department:
|
Haverford College. Dept. of History |
|
Type:
|
Thesis (B.A.) |
|
Issue Date:
|
2011 |
|
Abstract:
|
The late 19th and early 20th century was a period characterized by intense xenophobia
against Chinese immigrants that was manifested through a host of anti-Chinese laws and extralegal actions. These attitudes were created and maintained through a pervasive discourse of a great "Yellow Peril" that was poised to physically invade America, take American jobs, and most importantly take advantage of American women. Despite the enormous cultural
prejudices that painted Chinese men as dangerous and sexually deviant, some women decided to marry Chinese men and create families. My thesis addresses these women and the identities and prejudices that were inscribed onto them. I argue that these women occupied a racially 'queer' discursive space in which they were imagined, in some measure, to be Chinese. This identity was created through discourses surrounding Chinese sexuality and white female purity, and propagated by a number of
institutions, especially the law and print media. I examine these mediums and the lives of three women: Mae Franking, Emma Fong Kuno, and Ella May Clemens Wong as a case study. Instead of defiantly proclaiming their 'own' identities in the face of a discourse that sought to
marginalize them, they adopted and performed Chinese identity. Understanding the discourses surrounding identity, race, and sex and how they affected lived experience is a key element in
understanding the social landscape of Yellow Peril America. |
|
Subject:
|
Interracial marriage -- United States -- 19th century
|
|
Subject:
|
Married women -- United States -- Nationality -- History
|
|
Subject:
|
Chinese -- United States -- History -- 19th century
|
|
Terms of Use:
|
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/
|
|
Permanent URL:
|
http://hdl.handle.net/10066/6742
|
Files in this item
Citation
Lozada, Patrick.
"Taking Up the Dragon: A Case Study of Chinese-White Intermarriage in the Early 20th Century".
2011. Available electronically from
http://hdl.handle.net/10066/6742.
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
View Dublin Core Metadata