Evelyn Hu-Dehart,
"Chinese Shopkeepers in Northern Mexico: From Petite Bourgeoisie
to Pariah Capitalists—What Can We Learn That Is applicable
to Chinese, other Asians and Jews in Latin America?"
Abstract:
Chinese merchants throughout the world have often been compared
to Jews, in two senses: One, they are viewed as an inordinately
successful commercial people, and two, that very success breeds
resentment resulting in their violent persecution. This discussion
traces the formation of the Chinese as a petite bourgeoisie
in the northern border state of Sonora from their arrival in
the last quarter of the 19th century, through the tumultuous
years of the Mexican Revolution of the early 20th century, up
to the eve of the Great Depression in the late 1920's. At this
time, the numerous and ubiquitous community of Chinese shopkeepers
in Sonora were rounded up and expelled, their properties and
businesses confiscated and distributed to Mexicans. How can
we explain the phenomenal rise of this "outsider" merchant group?
What is the exact nature of its commercial activities? Why did
its success provoke such violent reaction from the local people
with whom they conducted daily business? What can we learn from
the Chinese experience in Northern Mexico that is applicable
to Chinese and other Asians elsewhere in Latin America/Caribbean
and at other times? Equally important, does the history of the
Chinese in this case study tell us more about the Chinese themselves,
or more about Mexicans at this particular place and time in
their history? Finally, does the comparison between Chinese
and Jews really hold up?
About
Evelyn Hu-Dehart: Evelyn Hu-DeHart is a professor of history,
Chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies, and Director of the
Center for Studies of Ethnicity and Race in America (CSERA)
at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She has also taught
at the City University of New York system, New York University,
Washington University in St. Louis, University of Arizona and
University of Michigan, as well as lectured as universities
and research institutions in Mexico, Peru, Cuba, France, Hong
Kong, Taiwan, and China. She received her BA with honors in
Political Science from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in
Latin American History from the University of Texas at Austin.
She is the recipient of numerous research awards, including
two Fulbrights, to Brazil and Peru. She is also the recipient
of a three-year Kellogg National Leadership Award.
She has
published three books on the Yaqui Indians of northern New Mexico
and Arizona (one in Spanish) and numerous scholarly articles
on her current research on the Asian diaspora in Latin America
and the Caribbean, and written on the politics of multiculturalism.
She speaks Spanish and Portugese as well as three dialects in
her native Chinese, reads French and German, and has traveled
extensively throughout Europe, the Middle East, Latin America
and the Caribbean, Taiwan, and China. She is published in English,
Chinese, Spanish, and Zoque Mayan.
