Julian T. Demegillo
ASA 115
Week 3
Deenesh Sohoni’s “Unsuitable Suitors: Anti-Miscegenation Laws, Naturalization Laws, and the Construction of Asia” explores and analyzes the cultural phenomenon of the legal segregation and categorization of the different Asian ethnic groups that migrated to the United States through the years. Sohoni analyzes the legal system during the time period such as the state-level anti-miscegenation laws as well as the national level debates on the validity of these different ethnic groups eligibility for American citizenship. Sohoni explains how U.S. laws during that time period influenced the very fabric and nature of immigration experience to the U.S. of several Asian groups. These laws shape how immigrant groups were viewed by the entire country as it influenced the molding of views and opinions of White America towards the incoming minority groups. In addition, Sohoni discusses the reason behind the need of the United States government to classify different ethnic groups to function as a form of barrier needed to prevent the unwanted mixing of different races. Such unclassifiable mixing was believed to bring more “complications” within the American society.
Thomas Teo’s “The Historical Problematization of ‘Mixed Race’ in Psychological and Human-Scientific Discourses” discusses the documented history of different scientific and academic studies and practices that have contributed to the problematization of racial mixing throughout human history. Teo starts off strong by giving an example of Hitler and his belief in racial purity and superiority of the Aryan race, explaining that extreme and often dangerous ideologies such as this influence the shaping of views and opinions towards “inferior races”. Teo discusses several examples of racial problematization in academia, even citing famous scientists and scholars about their negative views on racial mixing and hybridity, mostly claiming that this would cause social imbalance and eventual racial extinction for the so-called superior races. Anthropological, Biopsychological, Sociological areas of the sciences, at certain periods of history, have had pioneers and contributors to the demonizing of racial mixing. Such studies had claims that were factless and unconfirmed. Eventually, time catches up and debuffs these studies supporting claims of inferiority of minority ethnic groups. The world’s understanding of hybridity has changed along with the cultural and political shifts throughout the years. Despite this, the concept of race continues to appear self-evident, thus requiring more time and work for its public deconstruction. With the current political landscape in the United States, what can we predict about the future of studies on mixed-race in the country?
Marvel introduced a biracial version of Spider-Man to its comic book universe in 2011. The man behind the iconic mask is now Miles Morales, the teenage son of an African-American father and a Puerto Rican mother.
Article: The Backlash to the Backlash of a Multi-racial Spider-Man
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