Identity Formation in Displacement: Chinese Migrants on the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1899-1945

This dissertation, “Identity Formation in Displacement: Chinese Migrants on the U.S.-Mexico Border, 1899-1945,” examines the transnational experiences and identities of Chinese migrants in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Where previous scholarship emphasized integration into foreign societies, my research highlights ways that overseas Chinese simultaneously embraced Chinese nationalism and preserved transnational connections with their birthplaces. Drawing on Chinese, English, and Spanish sources including government documents, newspapers, remittance letters, and oral histories, this project explores how Chinese migrants constructed and negotiated overlapping identities amidst the creation of modern China and anti-Chinese racism and political exclusion in North America. Following the introduction, chapter 1 analyzes how Chinese governments inadequately protected migrants abroad while using overseas Sinophobia for nationalist propaganda. Chapters 2 and 3 explore Chinese migrants’ integration into multiracial societies, emphasizing their roles in trans-border trade, regional organizations, and mission church networks. Chapter 4 highlights their maintenance of Chinese identities through remittances, correspondence, and community engagement between the borderlands and qiaoxiang. Chapter 5 examines Chinese women’s critical roles as breadwinners, activists, and transnational community builders, challenging male-centered migration narratives. Concluding with a postscript on contemporary Chinese migration to the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, this dissertation underscores the ongoing importance of overseas Chinese transnational networks and multifaceted identities. It goes beyond the limitations of geographical concepts in defining Chinese people in the world. This interdisciplinary study bridges Chinese diaspora studies, borderlands studies, and critical race and ethnicity studies, offering a nuanced understanding of the dynamics of Chinese migrants’ social and ethnic identities across time and space.