The Chinese Civilizational “Threat” and White Supremacy Construction in Hawaii before Annexation

Though Americans had been considering annexing Hawaii since as early as 1851, Hawaii’s conglomerate racial composition was always a hindrance. Obviously aware of Americans’ apprehension, Hawaiian whites, or haoles, took much care to construct themselves as the indisputably dominant race in the isla...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Tao Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas 2023-05-01
Series:Culture & History Digital Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://cultureandhistory.revistas.csic.es/index.php/cultureandhistory/article/view/272
_version_ 1797829378345795584
author Tao Zhang
author_facet Tao Zhang
author_sort Tao Zhang
collection DOAJ
description Though Americans had been considering annexing Hawaii since as early as 1851, Hawaii’s conglomerate racial composition was always a hindrance. Obviously aware of Americans’ apprehension, Hawaiian whites, or haoles, took much care to construct themselves as the indisputably dominant race in the islands. One means to that end was inventing and heroically confronting a civilizational threat from the Chinese, the biggest group of foreigners in Hawaii from the 1876 reciprocity treaty to the mid-1890s. In so doing, haoles managed to show that whites could and did overcome formidable obstacles to achieve a flourishing of their race and institutions in the island nation. This maneuver debunked anti-annexation Americans’ logic and concurred with American annexationists’ emphasis on Hawaii’s whiteness and its precariousness in the final stage of annexation debates. It was therefore one part of the Hawaii-U.S. cross-border effort at incorporating the former into the latter.
first_indexed 2024-04-09T13:19:29Z
format Article
id doaj.art-fabaa5c5510c43db8598ea470bd6cce2
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2253-797X
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-09T13:19:29Z
publishDate 2023-05-01
publisher Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas
record_format Article
series Culture & History Digital Journal
spelling doaj.art-fabaa5c5510c43db8598ea470bd6cce22023-05-11T09:18:15ZengConsejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasCulture & History Digital Journal2253-797X2023-05-0112110.3989/chdj.2023.013The Chinese Civilizational “Threat” and White Supremacy Construction in Hawaii before AnnexationTao Zhang0Sichuan International Studies University Though Americans had been considering annexing Hawaii since as early as 1851, Hawaii’s conglomerate racial composition was always a hindrance. Obviously aware of Americans’ apprehension, Hawaiian whites, or haoles, took much care to construct themselves as the indisputably dominant race in the islands. One means to that end was inventing and heroically confronting a civilizational threat from the Chinese, the biggest group of foreigners in Hawaii from the 1876 reciprocity treaty to the mid-1890s. In so doing, haoles managed to show that whites could and did overcome formidable obstacles to achieve a flourishing of their race and institutions in the island nation. This maneuver debunked anti-annexation Americans’ logic and concurred with American annexationists’ emphasis on Hawaii’s whiteness and its precariousness in the final stage of annexation debates. It was therefore one part of the Hawaii-U.S. cross-border effort at incorporating the former into the latter. https://cultureandhistory.revistas.csic.es/index.php/cultureandhistory/article/view/272HawaiiChinese immigrationAnnexationCivilizationWhite supremacy
spellingShingle Tao Zhang
The Chinese Civilizational “Threat” and White Supremacy Construction in Hawaii before Annexation
Culture & History Digital Journal
Hawaii
Chinese immigration
Annexation
Civilization
White supremacy
title The Chinese Civilizational “Threat” and White Supremacy Construction in Hawaii before Annexation
title_full The Chinese Civilizational “Threat” and White Supremacy Construction in Hawaii before Annexation
title_fullStr The Chinese Civilizational “Threat” and White Supremacy Construction in Hawaii before Annexation
title_full_unstemmed The Chinese Civilizational “Threat” and White Supremacy Construction in Hawaii before Annexation
title_short The Chinese Civilizational “Threat” and White Supremacy Construction in Hawaii before Annexation
title_sort chinese civilizational threat and white supremacy construction in hawaii before annexation
topic Hawaii
Chinese immigration
Annexation
Civilization
White supremacy
url https://cultureandhistory.revistas.csic.es/index.php/cultureandhistory/article/view/272
work_keys_str_mv AT taozhang thechinesecivilizationalthreatandwhitesupremacyconstructioninhawaiibeforeannexation
AT taozhang chinesecivilizationalthreatandwhitesupremacyconstructioninhawaiibeforeannexation