Paper Families

Lau Estelle T. Lau

Description

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 made the Chinese the first immigrant group officially excluded from the United States. In Paper Families, Estelle T. Lau demonstrates how exclusion affected Chinese American communities and initiated the development of restrictive U.S. immigration policies and practices. Through the enforcement of the Exclusion Act and subsequent legislation, the U.S. immigration service developed new forms of record keeping and identification practices. Meanwhile, Chinese Americans took advantage of the system's loophole: children of U.S. citizens were granted automatic eligibility for immigration. The result was an elaborate system of "paper families," in which U.S. citizens of Chinese descent claimed fictive, or "paper," children who could then use their kinship status as a basis for entry into the United States. This subterfuge necessitated the creation of "crib sheets" outlining genealogies and providing village maps and other information that could be used during immigration processing.Drawing on these documents as well as immigration case files, legislative materials, and transcripts of interviews and court proceedings, Lau reveals immigration as an interactive process. Chinese immigrants and their U.S. families were subject to regulation and surveillance, but they also manipulated and thwarted those regulations, forcing the U.S. government to adapt its practices and policies. Lau points out that the Exclusion Acts and the pseudo-familial structures that emerged in response have had lasting effects on Chinese American identity. She concludes with a look at exclusion's legacy, including the Confession Program of the 1960s that coerced people into divulging the names of paper family members and efforts made by Chinese American communities to recover their lost family histories.

Sujets

• Histoire
• USA
• Immigration law
• Ethnic studies
• États-Unis
• History
• China
• Migration

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 04 avril 2007
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822388319
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Paper Families

politics, history, and culture A series from the International Institute at the University of Michigan

Series Editors George Steinmetz and Julia Adams

Series Editorial Advisory Board Fernando Coronil, Mamadou Diouf, Michael Dutton, Geo√ Eley, Fatma Müge Göcek, Nancy Rose Hunt, Andreas Kalyvas, Webb Keane, David Laitin, Lydia Liu, Julie Skurski, Margaret Somers, Ann Laura Stoler, Katherine Verdery, Elizabeth Wingrove

Sponsored by the International Institute at the University of Michigan and published by Duke University Press, this series is centered around cultural and historical studies of power, politics, and the state— a field that cuts across the disciplines of history, sociology, anthropology, politi- cal science, and cultural studies. The focus on the relationship between state and culture refers both to a methodological approach— the study of politics and the state using culturalist methods—and to a substantive approach that treats signifying practices as an essential dimension of politics. The dialectic of politics, culture, and history figures prominently in all the books selected for the series.

Paper Families

Identity, Immigration Administration,

and Chinese Exclusion

Estelle T. Lau

duke university press Durham and London 2006

∫2006 Duke University Press

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States

of America on acid-free paper$

Designed by Amy Ruth Buchanan

Typeset in Quadraat by Keystone

Typesetting, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book.

This book is dedicated

to all of those I consider my family— immediate or extended,

through blood, marriage, law,

choice, or happenstance.

You know who you are

and why we are a family.

Contents ————————————

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: Identity and Exclusion 1

1. Legislating Exclusion 12

2. Challenges to Exclusion 23

3. Entry Despite Exclusion 33

4. Guardians of the Gate 67

5. Legacies 114

Notes 165

Bibliography 179

Index 207

Acknowledgments ————————————

I believed that writing the acknowledgments to this book would be easy. After all, I fully realized that without the support of many people and institutions, this book would have stalled out long ago. The problem, I finally recognized, was not because I had nobody to thank, but that, in fact, I have benefited from so much generosity that these acknowledgments would become epic in length. In an e√ort to keep these pages shorter than the book itself, I apolo- gize in advance to those who scan this generalized thank-you with the de- served anticipation of seeing their name. I hope, instead, I have demonstrated my gratitude in other ways. This book developed from my Ph.D. dissertation for the University of Chicago, and those noted in that manuscript deserve reiterated thanks here. Certain institutions, nevertheless, must be mentioned again—the National Science Foundation, members ofsunyat Bu√alo, School of Law, and the sta√ at the National Archives in San Bruno were indispensable. Susan Silbey, Law- rence Friedman, and Schlegel! through their continued friendship have pro- vided me with an ‘‘imagined’’ academic home since I left teaching. In addition, many new friends and colleagues have helped the manuscript in its transition to its present form: my editors at Duke University Press— Raphael Allen, Mark Mastromarino, and Courtney Berger—and my ‘‘anony- mous readers,’’ including Frank Wu, went well beyond my expectations to repeatedly provide useful insights that allowed me to turn the manuscript into a more cohesive whole. Eagle-eye Phil Lumish for his unfailing dedication to punctuation, David Chao ofdcm who gave me ‘‘shoptime,’’ and graphic assistance by Scott Peterson and Nancy Aaron must also be noted. Finally, I must thank three members of my family: my mother, who taught me to wander and wonder the world, Scott, who beyond all the words and