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, which 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.

The Speaker

Julia María Schiavone Camacho is a historian and the author of Chinese Mexicans: Transpacific Migration and the Search for a Homeland, 1910- 1960 (University of North Carolina Press, 2012). She teaches history at Goshen College. As a historical fiction writer, Julia has published short stories in The Florida Review, The Coachella Review Blog, and The Hopper, and her work has been nominated for Best of the Net Anthology. She lives with her husband in the Midwestern US. Find her at https://JuliaSchiavoneCamacho.com/

Venue: Online on Zoom, please sign up to receive the link

Admission: No charge, please register your attendance in advance

Booking: Please email membership@royalasiaticsociety.org.hk in advance to register your attendance