Comparative Orientalism in Latin American Revolutions: Antichinismo of Mexico and El Salvador

Abstract

Across Latin America, mestizo nationalism became a common response to postcolonial independence, revolt, and revolution in the twentieth century. These different mixed-race nationalisms have been the subject of continuous debate in Latin American studies. The field of Asian American studies offers a different approach that highlights the political and cultural function of anti-Chinese politics beyond their targeting of racialized Chinese subjects. This article examines the anti-Chinese politics and mestizo nationalisms of Mexico and El Salvador to question if and when popular Orientalist racism aided indigenous and peasant consent to statesponsored mestizo nationalism. This methodology underscores the historical role that ideological formations of Asia and Asians have contributed to the political and cultural life of race in Latin America even when actual populations remained small or nonexistent. By understanding racial formations in a multiracial context I underscore the notion that anti-Chinese racism is not only important in that it discriminated against Chinese, but also that it served non-Chinese Latin Americans remarkably well and helped build an unstable equilibrium of mestizo hegemony.

Chinese migration to Latin America: From colonial to contemporary era

“…Jason Chang's monograph (2017) argues that Mexican federal government utilized Sinophobia as a tool to solidify its control over the country and advance its vision for modernization. Chang (2019) then extends his argument to Central America by claiming that Orientalism and anti‐Chinese racism enabled both the Mexican and Salvadorian governments to force mestizo nationalism onto the indigenous populations.…”