China Men: Lecture II

 

I. Review

A. For Kingston "American" is

not a fixed term.  Instead,

its meaning is open to

re-definition and change as

the country undergoes a

perpetual process of remaking.

B. Nonetheless, "American" cannot

             mean anything.  What it means

            to be an American depends on:

1. The laws created to govern

and order society; the

political and civil rights

guaranteed by those laws.

2. How the various groups

making up "We, the people"

            interact and relate to

one another.

II. Language and otherness

            A. “Eccentric people” (15)

B. Otherness (276, 12, 273)

C. English (45)

            D. Self-alienation

                        1. "Sojourners" (44-45)

                        2. "Americans" (53)

            E. Double-consciousness

III. Silencing

            A. Untold history (145)

            B. "The rule of silence" (90, 100

                        110, 115, 117-118)

IV. Appropriation v. Assimilation

V. Appropriation of Language

            A. "The power of naming" (242)

                        1. Edison/ Eh-Da-Son (71)

                        2. Lo Bun Sun:

                                    Robinson Crusoe

                        3. "chinamen" (111, 88): China Men

            B. Positive double consciousness

C.     Title page

VI. Who makes America?

            A. Transcontinental railroad (145)

            B. New founding fathers:

                        "Binding and building ancestors" (146)

C. Vs. Taney

            D. Vs. Vatel:

"The true bond which connects the

            child with the body politic is not

            the matter of an inanimate piece of

            land, but the moral relations of his

            parentage. . ."

E. Kau Goong: (184)