Book review of Sucheng Chan and Madeline Y. Hsu (Eds.), Chinese Americans and the Politics of Race and Culture. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2008. $27.95 papercover

Chow, Julian Chun-Chung

English

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The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare Volume 36 Issue 4 December - Special Issue on People with Disabilities and Social Welfare Article 19 2009 Review of Chinese Americans and the Politics of Race and Culture. Sucheng Chan and Madeline Y Hsu (Eds). Reviewed by Julian Chun-Chung Chow. Julian Chun-Chung Chow University of California, Berkeley Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw  Part of the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation Chow, Julian Chun-Chung (2009) "Review of Chinese Americans and the Politics of Race and Culture. Sucheng Chan and Madeline Y Hsu (Eds). Reviewed by Julian Chun-Chung Chow.," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 36 : Iss. 4 , Article 19. Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol36/iss4/19 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Social Work at ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact maira.bundza@wmich.edu. 186 Journal of Sociology & Social Welfarewould hardly agree that their grand narrative is now irrelevantand Marxists would argue that the current global recessiondemands a grand narrative that can challenge the hegemonyof a failed capitalist system. Nevertheless, this is a valuablealthough very expensive addition to the literature which willbe a valuable resource for anyone working in the field of inter-national social work today.James Midgley, University of California, BerkeleySucheng Chan and Madeline Y. Hsu (Eds.), Chinese Americansand the Politics of Race and Culture. Philadelphia, PA: TempleUniversity Press, 2008. $27.95 papercover.In recent years, the concept of transnationalism has re-ceived significant attention from social science scholars inimmigration studies. By definition, the transnationalism dis-course primarily focuses on the dual nature of immigrationlife, traveling between home and host countries. However, dif-ferent generations of immigrants at various historical periodsface problems that are unique to a particular time and place.Surprisingly, modem social science studies of immigrationthat have adopted a transnationalism framework tend to focuson the present situation, overlooking the historical context inwhich immigrant groups lived. This limits our understandingof why and how different immigrant groups are treated differ-ently in the U.S., and, perhaps even more importantly, why thesame groups have received differential treatment at differenttimes.The authors of this book, most of whom are historians,provide a detailed and erudite account of what the study ofhistory can offer to fill this knowledge gap. Using the transna-tionalism framework, they provide compelling evidence that,throughout history, immigration policy often served the inter-national interests of the government rather than the interestsof immigrant groups residing in the country. How immigrantgroups were treated, therefore, is a dynamic interplay depen-dent on U.S. relations with the home countries of immigrantgroups, and the negotiation of immigrant groups themselves,creating their own place and space in the U.S. Unlike assimila-Book Reviewstion, the development of inter-racial relations within a trans-national framework is neither a linear nor a static process.Cultural understanding between mainstream society andethnic groups is often undermined by the wider social and po-litical environment.The authors take on the challenging task of capturing theexperience of Chinese Americans as an immigrant and ethnicgroup in the U.S. over the last two centuries. In her introduc-tory chapter, Sucheng Chan provides a detailed review of theacademic and popular literature on Chinese Americans, docu-menting and analyzing chronologically, the issues that havebeen discussed since the mid-19 th century. In particular, shedemonstrates how political events shape the way in whichChinese nationals and Chinese Americans were portrayed.Chan concludes by making a provocative point that "The sub-jects that authors choose to write about, the tone of the liter-ature produced, and the uses to which knowledge is put allunderpin the idea that there are no eternal 'objective' truths"(p. 47). She argues that to increase our understanding of thehistory of any given immigrant group, we must first confrontour own biases.The seven essays that follow are also organized chrono-logically, covering a wide array of issues in Chinese Americancommunity life over the years. These issues include fighting theright to public school education during the Chinese Exclusionera; organizing community activism and political participa-tion in war time; fitting-in to the mainstream society with com-mercialization during and after World War II; forming racialidentity and resolving cultural conflicts between Chinesenessand Americanization; and embracing community self-supportand social entrepreneurship in modern time.This is a remarkable collection of papers, all well-written.Together, these papers provide a comprehensive picture dem-onstrating how internal and external forces intertwined withculture and politics to shape the Chinese American commu-nity. They will not only be appreciated by scholars in ChineseAmerican studies but by readers from many different fieldswho will appreciate the detailed documentation, criticalanalysis, and thought-provoking insights that the authorsoffer. They not only help us understand past discriminatory188 Journal of Sociology & Social Welfareimmigration struggles, but encourage an exploration of howwe can improve inter-racial relations, and facilitate immigra-tion incorporation now and in the future.Julian Chun-Chung Chow, University of California, BerkeleyAlex Vitale, City of Disorder: How the Quality of Life CampaignTransformed New York Politics. New York: New YorkUniversity Press, 2008. $40.00 hardcover, $20.00 paper-cover.Times Square is now a striking emblem of New York City's"quality of life" campaign and "zero tolerance" policing, defin-ing features of the Giuliani administration. Once a seedy refugefor prostitution, drug dealing, X-rated films, and panhandling-dark and dangerous but also exotic and even, for many, al-luring-it has now been "Disney-fied," say many, turned intoa safe and antiseptic destination for tourists, complete with anApplebee's® and a vast array of corporate brand stores. OtherNew York neighborhoods underwent similar transformationsin the 1990s, as public space was "reclaimed," "order" was re-stored, and the visible markers of poverty and social disorga-nization were scrubbed away like so much graffiti. Crime isdown, tourism is up, and New York is no longer, as Times filmcritic Vincent Canby wrote in 1974, "a metaphor for what lookslike the last days of American civilization."Alex Vitale's City of Disorder offers a rich and thoughtfulaccount of these transformations, although his subtitle doeshim a small disservice: what makes this book distinct is thatit is not merely another recounting of the results of RudolphGiuliani's efforts to restore order but is instead a more nuancedand historically-informed examination of how three decadesof local politics and policymaking created conditions so favor-able for this aggressive new regime. It's a story of causes asmuch as consequences. Not content to single out RepublicanMayor Giuliani for blame or credit, Vitale traces the rise of in-tensive policing and the criminalization (but not amelioriza-tion) of poverty and homelessness to the failures (and complic-ity) of urban liberals. While he notes, as others have, that many

Review of \u3cem\u3eChinese Americans and the Politics of Race and Culture.\u3c/em\u3e Sucheng Chan and Madeline Y Hsu (Eds). Reviewed by Julian Chun-Chung Chow.

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Review of \u3cem\u3eChinese Americans and the Politics of Race and Culture.\u3c/em\u3e Sucheng Chan and Madeline Y Hsu (Eds). Reviewed by Julian Chun-Chung Chow.

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