The Oriental Question
Patricia Roy’s latest book, The Oriental Question, continues her study into why British Columbians – and many Canadians from outside the province – were historically so opposed to Asian immigration. Drawing on contemporary press and government reports and individual correspondence and memoirs, Roy shows how British Columbians consolidated a “white man’s province” from 1914 to 1941 by securing a virtual end to Asian immigration and placing stringent legal restrictions on Asian competition in the major industries of lumber and fishing. While its emphasis is on political action and politicians, the book also examines the popular pressure for such practices and gives some attention to the reactions of those most affected: the province’s Chinese and Japanese residents.
The Oriental Question is a critical investigation of a troubling period in Canadian history. It will be of vital interest to scholars of British Columbian and Canadian history and politics and of Asian, diaspora, ethnicity, and immigration studies.
Awards
- 2013, Winner - Patricia E. Roy is the recipient of the Canadian Historical Association's Lifetime Achievement Award for 2013.
This complex and meticulous study will reward an attentive reader. It is an admirable contribution to the historiography of British Columbia and Canada.
The Oriental Question is a solid empirical work, using government records, contemporary newspapers, memoirs, and secondary literature. It would be a highly usefu monograph for an undergraduate audience, since it brings together a broad range of information in a readable and congently argued style.
A finely textured account that convincingly show that while anti-Asian racism was never a monolith, it became consolidated in the image of British Columbia as a ‘White Man’s province’ during this era ... the significance of this work is that, like the earlier volume, it catalogues English-language anti-Asian discourse in British Columbia. As such it is an invaluable reference for students of racism and of British Columbia’s history.
Roy's careful attention to political contest and compromise gives us a rich portrait of how British Columbia consolidated around white supremacy ... These books are important empirical studies that will ultimately allow us to understand how migration and regional identities are framed in local and global terms.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 “The least said, the better”: The War Years, 1914-18
2 “We Could Never Be Welded Together”: The Inassimilability Question, 1914-30
3 “Putting the Pacific Ocean Between Them”: Halting Immigration, 1919-29
4 “Shoving the Oriental Around”: Checking Economic Competition, 1919-30
5 “A Problem of Our Own Peoples”: An Interlude of Apparent Toleration, 1930-38
6. Inflaming the Coast: The “Menace” from Japan, 1919-41
7 “Poisoned by Politics”: The Danger Within, 1935-41
Conclusion
Notes
Index
