Description
Book SynopsisExplores the legal paradox whereby U.S. law apprehends the Asian American body as simultaneously excluded from and included within the national body politic.
Trade ReviewThrough a host of illuminating examples ranging from PuccinisMadame Butterflyto the military prisons at Guantánamo to the indie-rock band Dengue Fever,A Race So Differenteffectively develops the idea of 'racial exception' to characterize the legal statuses and imaginative spaces occupied by Asian Americans. Legal history, theater, and everyday performance come together in this illuminating, profound, and intrepid study. -- Josephine Lee,University of Minnesota
Drawing upon theoretical insights of J.L. Austin, Erving Goffman, Carl Schmitt, Louis Althusser, and Michel Foucault, the author has fashioned an informative and nuanced study, which . . . is certainly provocative and fascinating. * The Journal of American History *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Performance, Law, and the Race So Different 1 "That May Be Japanese Law, but Not in My Country": Madame Butterfly and the Problem of Law 2 "Justice for My Son": Staging Reparative Justice in Ping Chong's Chinoiserie 3 Pledge of Allegiance: Performing Patriotism in the Japanese American Concentration Camps 4 The Nail That Stands Out: The Political Performativity of the Moriyuki Shimada Scrapbook 5 Illegal Immigrant Acts: Dengue Fever and the Racialization of Cambodian America Conclusion: Virtually Legal Notes Bibliography Index
