Chinese Mexicans - by Julia María Schiavone Camacho (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

At the turn of the twentieth century, a wave of Chinese men made their way to the northern Mexican border state of Sonora to work and live. The ties -- and families -- these Mexicans and Chinese created led to the formation of a new cultural identity: Chinese Mexican. During the tumult of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, however, anti-Chinese sentiment ultimately led to mass expulsion of these people. Julia María Schiavone Camacho follows the community through the mid-twentieth century, across borders and oceans, to show how they fought for their place as Mexicans, both in Mexico and abroad.
Tracing transnational geography, Schiavone Camacho explores how these men and women developed a strong sense of Mexican national identity while living abroad -- in the United States, briefly, and then in southeast Asia where they created a hybrid community and taught their children about the Mexican homeland. Schiavone Camacho also addresses how Mexican women challenged their legal status after being stripped of Mexican citizenship because they married Chinese men. After repatriation in the 1930s-1960s, Chinese Mexican men and women, who had left Mexico with strong regional identities, now claimed national cultural belonging and Mexican identity in ways they had not before.

Review Quotes

"A pioneering and innovative study. . . . Utiliz[es] rare materials to illuminate new questions." -- Western Historical Quarterly

"An accessible book. It can be used well with undergraduate courses and is a good teaching tool for those in the field of oral history." -- Hispanic American Historical Review

"Camacho's use of twenty-seven oral interviews (which she conducted) yields insight into aspects of Chinese Mexican experiences previously unexplored by scholars. She captures nuances that are missing from the written record." -- American Historical Review

"Contributes substantially to the growing scholarship on long-neglected topic . . . Chinese Mexicans adds to the historiographies on transnational movements, race relations, nationalism, cultural construction, and gender." -- The Americas

"Not only is this a serious history book, but also a highly readable story." -- Prof Antonio C. Hsiang, International Journal of Diasporic Chinese Studies

"Recommended. All levels/libraries." -- CHOICE

"The lucid prose and clear chronological structure will be appropriate for both general and specialized audiences." -- H-Boarderlands

"This book is a must-read for students of the Chinese diaspora in the Americas." -- Frontiers of History in China

"Chinese Mexicans demonstrates the racial, gender, sexual, and social mores that were forged in diaspora and forced Chinese Mexican expulsions." -- American Quarterly

About the Author

Julia María Schiavone Camacho is associate professor of history at Goshen College.