Jason Oliver Chang, “Chino: Anti-Chinese Racism in Mexico, 1880-1940” (U. Illinois Press, 2017)

New Books in Asian American Studies · Dec 13, 2017 · 1h 9m

In his new book, Chino: Anti-Chinese Racism in Mexico, 1880-1940 (University of Illinois Press, 2017), Jason Oliver Chang (University of Connecticut) traces the evolution of the Chinese in Mexico from “disposable laborers” (motores de sangre, or “engines of blood”) to “killable subjects” to “pernicious defilers.” Applying an Asian Americanist critique to the political and intellectual history of modern Mexico, Chang revises conventional explanations of the relationship between mestizo national identity and anti-Chinese racism by showing that the former did not lead to the latter. Rather…