Race, Nation, and Citizenship
Asian Indians and the Idea of Whiteness in the U.S. Press, 1906-1923
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23163587 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Hemant Shah (0000-0002-6423-2383, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1999 |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 249-267 |
| Publication date | 1999-10-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Howard Journal of Communications (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1064-6175 • E-ISSN: 1096-4649 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/106461799246744 |
| OpenAlex | W2044872556 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 9 |
For much of U.S. history, only people designated ''white'' could be citizens. However, the meaning of ''white'' and the qualities associated with whiteness have been the subject of much contestation. In the early 1900s, disagreements over meaning of the term created ambiguity for the social and political status of Asian Indians because their complexion was dark but they were ethnologically Caucasian. This study examines how centers of institutional power, such as the press, tried to resolve the ambiguous position of Asian Indians in regard to their eligibility for citizenship. Through textual analysis of the New York Times, San Francisco Examiner, and several news magazines of the day, the study found that news coverage of Asian Indians between 1906 and 1923 not only enumerated various negative qualities, but also associated these qualities with being non-white. Conversely, whiteness was defined as being associated with a number of desirable qualities. This study suggests that the press, along with courts, Congress, and the judiciary manipulated the meaning of the term white to ensure that the rights and privileges of citizenship could be limited to those designated white. Keywords: Whiteness;Immigration;Naturalization;Race
Ambiguity · Citizenship · Ethnic group · Immigration · Meaning (existential) · Naturalization · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Race (biology) · Sociology · White (mutation) · Anthropology · Asian American and Pacific Histories · Gender Studies · Law · Psychology · Race, History, and American Society
Exposing the Spectrum of Whiteness
Constructing Rhetorical Borders
“Bringing New Hope and New Life”
Political Economy, Ethnocentrism and big Brother Mentality in Framing Xenophobia
An “incredible number of Latinos and Asians
Racial incorporation through alignment with whiteness
"Reading and Using Mass Communication Research on the "Other
Communication and Nation Building
A Man
| Citations per year | 0.39 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2003 - 2022 (20) |
| Highly cited | No |