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Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews http://csx.sagepub.com/ Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberal Paternalism and the Persistent Power of Race Sujatha Fernandes Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews 2013 42: 109 DOI: 10.1177/0094306112468721cc The online version of this article can be found at: http://csx.sagepub.com/content/42/1/109 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of: American Sociological Association Additional services and information for Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews can be found at: Email Alerts: http://csx.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://csx.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav >> Version of Record - Dec 28, 2012 What is This? Downloaded from csx.sagepub.com at HUNTER COLLEGE LIB on November 6, 2013 Ó American Sociological Association 2013 DOI: 10.1177/0094306112468721 http://cs.sagepub.com REVIEWS service and industrial sectors. The first gener- The Third Asiatic Invasion: Empire and ation of Filipino immigrants struggled for Migration in Filipino America, 1898–1946,by and soon (in 1906) attained the right, as U.S. Rick Baldoz. New York, NY: New York nationals, to unlimited entry into the United University Press, 2011. 301pp. $25.00 paper. States. The author skillfully shows how Fili- ISBN: 9780814791097. pinos were clearly agents, and not merely LANNY THOMPSON victims, in this process: they were active in University of Puerto Rico, Rı´o Piedras both class struggles, to obtain better wages [email protected] and conditions, and legal battles, to achieve right of entry into the United States. Even though they gained the right to unre- This book begins with the creation of the col- stricted immigration, Filipinos confronted ony of the Philippines in 1898 and ends with other legal barriers regarding interracial national independence in 1946. However, the marriage, property rights, and naturalization book does not center upon either; instead, it as U.S. citizens. In addition, local govern- focuses on the economic, political, and legal ments also attempted to police the color struggles of Filipino immigrants in the Unit- line by passing laws enforcing social segrega- ed States. The book is organized chronologi- tion. In general, the legal issues were compli- cally, although there is some overlap of peri- cated by two principal factors. First, the laws ods across chapters. The first chapter deals were not always created with Filipinos in with the racial politics of empire and the mind and the existing racial categories did establishment of the Philippines as a colony not easily apply. Indeed, part of the strategy of the United States. This lays the ground- of Filipinos was to argue that they were out- work for the analysis of the political econo- side of the laws that were erected explicitly my of Filipino immigration (1900s–1920s) in against Afro-Americans, Mexicans, and the second chapter. The next chapter deals ‘‘Asiatics,’’ namely, Chinese and Japanese. more specifically with social and legal bar- Second, the interests of local ‘‘nativists’’ often riers that Filipinos confronted during the conflicted with those in agribusiness or the first three decades of the century. Chapter federal government. On the one hand, the Four is a study of violence directed against nativists sought to preserve white privilege, Filipinos in the late 1920s and early 1930s. dominance, and the color line; they opposed Finally, last two chapters deal with the polit- Filipino immigration. On the other hand, ical negotiations for independence, the par- agricultural enterprises were in favor of Fili- ticipation of Filipinos in the Second World pino workers, although they also sought War, and the consequences for immigrants ways to divide and conquer them whenever in the United States. workers organized and pressed for better The colonization of the Philippines working conditions. In addition, the federal resulted in the creation of a new legal catego- government was obliged to concede some ry: the U.S. national, that is, those persons degree of legal and naturalization rights to owing allegiance to the United States because Filipinos. In the international sphere, it was they were at the same time citizens of one of not good politics to simply exclude them as its colonies. However ‘‘nationals’’ were not ‘‘aliens’’ in U.S. society.Especially interesting full-fledged citizens of the United States, is the analysis of the diverse and often con- and this initially led to considerable confu- tradictory positions of the local nativists in sion about their rights to entry and to work. towns, counties, and states, the economic This ambiguous political status set the stage interests of agribusiness in the region, and for the immigration of Filipinos who came the laws and policies of the federal govern- to work in agri-business, first in Hawaii and ment. In addition, the full range of actions then to the western and southwestern states. and strategies of Filipinos on different fronts Later, Filipinos would also find work in is fully explained. 63 Contemporary Sociology 42, 1 64 Reviews The author includes an excellent discus- experience and in this respect the sociological sion of the racial dimensions in the definition analysis is superb. This book on the political of Filipinos as a ‘‘social problem’’ by domi- economy and politics of Filipino immigration nant groups. During the 1920s and 1930s, to the United States is an excellent study of nativists began to interpret Filipino immigra- the paradoxes and contradictions of racial- tion as a social problem, focusing upon ized citizenship. issues of public health, interracial sex, devi- ant sociality, labor competition, and political radicalism. Local officials and newspapers Homeless in Las Vegas: Stories from the Street, were active in defining and attempting to by Kurt Borchard. Reno, NV: University of segregate immigrants while the local popu- Nevada Press, 2011. 239pp. $24.95 paper. lace often resorted to riots and vigilante vio- ISBN: 9780874178371. lence. Beginning in the late 1920s, violence erupted sporadically all along the west coast CHAD R. FARRELL up through the early 1930s and this brought University of Alaska Anchorage many issues to national attention. Nativists [email protected] considered Filipinos to be ‘‘aliens’’ and tried to exclude them, by any means necessary, ‘‘They should have a ‘beware of people’ sign from social, political, and economic partici- when you enter this city’’ (p. 171), exclaims pation. Filipinos responded in creative a homeless subject in Kurt Borchard’s eth- ways: labor organizing, legal test cases, alli- nography set in Las Vegas. The author con- ances, and so on. ducted in-depth interviews with 48 homeless By the 1930s the movement for indepen- persons in 2005 and 2006 and one gets a sense dence in the Philippines converged with local that such a sign would do little good warding and federal interests in controlling immigra- off newcomers. Las Vegas is a powerful mag- tion. The Tydings-McDuffie Act (1934) estab- net, attracting those who seek riches, excite- lished a ten-year probationary period that ment, opportunity, and a new start. This is would culminate in full independence and a book about those who get much more it also prepared the way for limiting immi- (and much less) than they bargained for. At gration of citizens from what would eventu- times engrossing and too often exasperating, ally (1946) become an independent country. it provides a flawed yet layered look at home- However, World War II soon complicated lessness in Sin City. the process. In the United States, Filipino Homeless in Las Vegas is Borchard’s second immigrants were recruited to serve in the book about homelessness in Vegas, so he armed forces and in the Philippines regular knows the ground well. He takes the reader and guerrilla units were organized under outside the ‘‘homeless corridor’’ where U.S. command. The author argues that the homeless services are concentrated into loyalty shown by Filipinos to the United niches less visible to tourists and authorities. States’ war effort was the basis of their claims Unfortunately, the book is sometimes as for veterans’ benefits and for the naturaliza- meandering and disorganized as the lives tion of veterans as U.S. citizens. of its subjects. Too often the author’s sub- Although the book is not systematically stantive discussion of the broader implica- comparative, it frequently introduces com- tions of his encounters is characterized by parisons with Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, tangential self-revelation, flighty supposi- and occasionally Puerto Rican immigrants. tion, and jumbled overreach. This adds considerable depth to the legal dis- For example, he introduces Jessi—a dis- cussions. The book is well researched, using abled Native American female—to illustrate a wide range of newspapers, legal cases, Con- the array of obstacles faced by racial minori- gressional debates, and legislation. Many of ties and the need for childhood educational the issues raised by the Filipinos were fought programs. This seems straightforward, yet out in the courts, but the book always contex- a few pages prior to this discussion Jessi tualizes these cases and never becomes too has confided that she previously attended legalistic. The author is very conscious of college, owned a home, and worked as the class and gender aspects of the Filipino a medical technician. In other words, her Contemporary Sociology 42, 1 Reviews 65 narrative is completely at odds with much of homeless persons apparently falling through the discussion used to contextualize it. Jessi’s the cracks? It is unclear. Perhaps it is a bit pathway to homelessness appears to stem unfair to expect such a deep analysis of the from the trauma of a car accident resulting local social service infrastructure in an ethno- in an amputated leg. This would seem an graphic study.

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