Biotic Borders: Transpacific Plant and Insect Migration and the Rise of Anti-Asian Racism in America, 1890-1950

In the late 19th century, concerns about a biological yellow peril led to the import of Japanese plants and animals to the United States, which transformed conceptions of race and migration and fueled American imperialism. Jeannie N. Shinozuka's book "Biotic Borders" explores how these crossings shaped the fields of horticulture, invasion biology, entomology, and plant pathology and sparked anti-Asian racism.

Format: Hardback
Length: 296 pages
Publication date: 11 February 2022
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press

In the late 19th century, a surge in the transportation of transpacific plants, insects, and people sparked concerns of a biological yellow peril, as nursery stock and agricultural products from Japan were imported to meet the growing demand for exotics in the United States. Over the next fifty years, these crossings revolutionized notions of race and migration, played a pivotal role in the establishment of the US empire and its government agencies, and shaped the fields of horticulture, invasion biology, entomology, and plant pathology. In her book Biotic Borders, Jeannie N. Shinozuka delves into the emergence of biological nativism that fueled American imperialism and perpetuated anti-Asian racism that still lingers today.

Shinozuka offers a revealing perspective on biotic exchanges that not only impacted the lives of Japanese in America but also reshaped American society as a whole. She demonstrates how the modern obsession with panicking about foreign species gave rise to a linguistic and conceptual arsenal used by anti-immigration movements that thrived in the early 20th century. Xenophobia led to concerns about biodiversity, resulting in the creation of new categories of "native" and "invasive" species that categorized groups as bio-invasions that needed to be regulated or eradicated. By highlighting these connections, Shinozuka emphasizes that this story extends beyond human history, as the plants and animals that accompanied these crossings played a significant role in the history of Japanese Americans and Asian Americans.

The rise of economic entomology and plant pathology alongside public health and anti-immigration movements serves as a testament to these interconnected histories of xenophobia, racism, and species invasions.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780226817293