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Race, Nation, and Refuge

Race, Nation, and Refuge

By Coulson, Doug

Published by State University of New York Press

English 320 pages 2017
Estimated reading time: 5 h 52 min
PDF

About this book

Explores the role of rhetoric and the racial classification of Asian American immigrants in the early twentieth century. From 1870 to 1940, racial eligibility for naturalization in the United States was limited to "free white persons" and "aliens of African nativity and persons of African descent," and many interpreted these restrictions to reflect a policy of Asian exclusion based on the conclusion that Asians were neither white nor African. Because the distinction between white and Asian was considerably unstable, however, those charged with the interpretation and implementation of the naturalization act faced difficult racial classification questions. Through archival research and a close reading of the arguments contained in the documents of the US Bureau of Naturalization, especially those documents that discussed challenges to racial eligibility for naturalization, Doug Coulson demonstrates that the strategy of foregrounding shared external threats to the nation as a means of transcending perceived racial divisions was often more important to racial classification than legal doctrine. He argues that this was due to the rapid shifts in the nation's enmities and alliances during the early twentieth century and the close relationship between race, nation, and sovereignty.

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Race, Nation, and Refuge is available as PDF at 9 online bookshops. Bookshops carrying it include Bajalibros Argentina, Bajalibros Latam, Bookshop Uruguay.

Language
English
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In what formats is Race, Nation, and Refuge available?
Race, Nation, and Refuge is available as PDF at 9 online bookshops.
Where can I buy Race, Nation, and Refuge?
You can buy Race, Nation, and Refuge at Bajalibros Argentina, Bajalibros Latam, Bookshop Uruguay. Compare every option in the list on this page.
How long does it take to read Race, Nation, and Refuge?
At an average reading pace, Race, Nation, and Refuge takes about 5 h 52 min to read (320 pages).

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