Chinese Diaspora and the Making of the Pacific World, 1750-1911

What do the city of Singapore, ICE, the abolition of the slave trade, and the latex condom have in common? All are entangled with the merchant princes, people-smugglers, indentured laborers, and rubber planters that made up the Chinese diaspora in the ¿long¿ 19th century. This course will introduce the primary sources and interpretive techniques that historians use to understand the Chinese diasporic past by focusing on four main themes: autonomy and assimilation, indenture and forced labor, race and immigration, and intellectual and material exchanges.