Becoming Yellow

A Short History of Racial Thinking

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies, History
Cover of the book Becoming Yellow by Michael Keevak, Princeton University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Michael Keevak ISBN: 9781400838608
Publisher: Princeton University Press Publication: April 18, 2011
Imprint: Princeton University Press Language: English
Author: Michael Keevak
ISBN: 9781400838608
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication: April 18, 2011
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Language: English

In their earliest encounters with Asia, Europeans almost uniformly characterized the people of China and Japan as white. This was a means of describing their wealth and sophistication, their willingness to trade with the West, and their presumed capacity to become Christianized. But by the end of the seventeenth century the category of whiteness was reserved for Europeans only. When and how did Asians become "yellow" in the Western imagination? Looking at the history of racial thinking, Becoming Yellow explores the notion of yellowness and shows that this label originated not in early travel texts or objective descriptions, but in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century scientific discourses on race.

From the walls of an ancient Egyptian tomb, which depicted people of varying skin tones including yellow, to the phrase "yellow peril" at the beginning of the twentieth century in Europe and America, Michael Keevak follows the development of perceptions about race and human difference. He indicates that the conceptual relationship between East Asians and yellow skin did not begin in Chinese culture or Western readings of East Asian cultural symbols, but in anthropological and medical records that described variations in skin color. Eighteenth-century taxonomers such as Carl Linnaeus, as well as Victorian scientists and early anthropologists, assigned colors to all racial groups, and once East Asians were lumped with members of the Mongolian race, they began to be considered yellow.

Demonstrating how a racial distinction took root in Europe and traveled internationally, Becoming Yellow weaves together multiple narratives to tell the complex history of a problematic term.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In their earliest encounters with Asia, Europeans almost uniformly characterized the people of China and Japan as white. This was a means of describing their wealth and sophistication, their willingness to trade with the West, and their presumed capacity to become Christianized. But by the end of the seventeenth century the category of whiteness was reserved for Europeans only. When and how did Asians become "yellow" in the Western imagination? Looking at the history of racial thinking, Becoming Yellow explores the notion of yellowness and shows that this label originated not in early travel texts or objective descriptions, but in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century scientific discourses on race.

From the walls of an ancient Egyptian tomb, which depicted people of varying skin tones including yellow, to the phrase "yellow peril" at the beginning of the twentieth century in Europe and America, Michael Keevak follows the development of perceptions about race and human difference. He indicates that the conceptual relationship between East Asians and yellow skin did not begin in Chinese culture or Western readings of East Asian cultural symbols, but in anthropological and medical records that described variations in skin color. Eighteenth-century taxonomers such as Carl Linnaeus, as well as Victorian scientists and early anthropologists, assigned colors to all racial groups, and once East Asians were lumped with members of the Mongolian race, they began to be considered yellow.

Demonstrating how a racial distinction took root in Europe and traveled internationally, Becoming Yellow weaves together multiple narratives to tell the complex history of a problematic term.

More books from Princeton University Press

Cover of the book Designing San Francisco by Michael Keevak
Cover of the book Read My Lips by Michael Keevak
Cover of the book The Furies by Michael Keevak
Cover of the book The Princeton Encyclopedia of the World Economy. (Two volume set) by Michael Keevak
Cover of the book The Tao of Architecture by Michael Keevak
Cover of the book The Strategic President by Michael Keevak
Cover of the book Economy of the Unlost by Michael Keevak
Cover of the book Workable Sisterhood by Michael Keevak
Cover of the book Marxism and Form by Michael Keevak
Cover of the book Kiev by Michael Keevak
Cover of the book The Peace of the Gods by Michael Keevak
Cover of the book Do Zombies Dream of Undead Sheep? by Michael Keevak
Cover of the book Hamlet in Purgatory by Michael Keevak
Cover of the book Coming of Age in Medieval Egypt by Michael Keevak
Cover of the book Democratic Breakdown and the Decline of the Russian Military by Michael Keevak
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy