The Romance of Race: Incest, Miscegenation, and Multiculturalism in the United States, 1880-1930

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments This project has been nourished by many sources. I am indebted to friends and colleagues who have generously given their time and talents to make this book better. I am humbled by and grateful for their contributions. At the University of Virginia, Eric Lott, Caroline Rody, and Susan Fraiman encouraged my intellectual exploration of the fascinating turnof -the-twentieth-century period, while demanding rigor and clarity. Scott Saul first planted the idea that I should, and indeed could, write the book that I wanted to read. Sarah Hagelin and Jill Rappoport continue to teach me about friendship as a form of intellectual engagement. Their enthusiasm and astute critiques can be found on every page. Others who enriched this project include Stephen Arata, Cindy Aron, Alison Booth, Sylvia Chong, Barry Cushman, Stephen Cushman, Michael Genovese, Paul Gaffney, Justin Gifford, Grace Hale, Pensri Ho, Michael Lewis, Michael Lundblad, Rei Magosaki, Victoria Olwell, Hallie Smith Richmond , Jayme Schwartzberg, and Jordan Taylor. At Bowling Green State University, I have had the great good fortune to work with Kristine Blair, the chair of the English Department and a champion of junior faculty. I am grateful for terrific colleagues in the English Department and across the university—many of whom are affiliated with the American Culture Studies program and the Institute for the Study of Culture and Society (ICS)—who have contributed to the book: Bill Albertini, Candace Archer, Ellen Berry, Francisco Cabanillas, Amílcar Challú, Kimberly Coates, Ellen Gorsevski, Beatrice Guenther, xii / acknowledgments Julie Haught, Emily Lutenski, Don McQuarie, Lee Nickoson, John Kaiser Ortiz, Vicki Patraka, Susana Peña, Pedro Porben, Amy Robinson, and Maisha Wester. I am especially indebted to Scott Magelssen, Clayton Rosati, and Allie Terry-Fritsch of the Visual and Cultural Studies Writing Group; their thoughtful readings of many chapters at multiple stages improved this book immeasurably. In addition, my undergraduate and master’s students at BGSU have been a continual source of energy, enthusiasm, and creativity. Ashlie Dabbs and Patrice Whitney provided assiduous research assistance. This book was supported by an English Department research grant to visit the Hull-House archives at the University of Illinois at Chicago, by an English Department grant for image reproduction rights, and by a semester-long ICS Scholar-in-Residence fellowship. I would like to thank Joshua Clark and Valerie Harris at the University of Illinois at Chicago Library, Stefanie Hunker at the Browne Popular Culture Library at BGSU, and Jessica Wade of the BGSU English Department for their assistance obtaining the images that appear in the book. Much of this book was first worked out at conferences, in particular the American Studies Association, Association for Asian American Studies, and Dartmouth Futures of American Studies Institute. These fertile intellectual hubs, full of smart people who are passionate about U.S. culture, always renewed my excitement about the project and redoubled my commitment to make it better. I am especially appreciative of Colleen Glenney Boggs, Leslie Bow, Anna Brickhouse, Jean Lee Cole, Hamilton Carroll, Elizabeth Maddock Dillon, Cindi Katz, Eric Lott, Anita Mannur, Donald Pease, Cathy Schlund-Vials, Laura Wexler, and Robyn Wiegman for welcoming me into conversations about the meanings of American culture. I am grateful to Anne Cheng, Sylvia Chong, David Eng, Franny Nudelman, and Beth Piatote for their invaluable feedback on and advice about various parts of the book. Sarah E. Chinn deserves special thanks for her comprehensive and trenchant commentary on the manuscript. I also wish to thank Katie Keeran at Rutgers University Press for tending this project to completion. An earlier version of chapter 2 appeared in the Journal of Asian American Studies 13.1 (February 2010) as “‘Citizen Sure Thing’ or ‘Jus’ Foreigner’?: Half-Caste Citizenship and the Family Romance in Onoto Watanna’s Orientalist Fiction.” I wish to acknowledge the Journal of Asian American Studies for allowing me to reprint the material here. acknowledgments / xiii Monica Schneider’s countless commiserations have brought levity to long writing days. Rick and Ilene Sheffer, Garrett Sheffer, and Nicole Merlo have been indefatigable cheerleaders. George and Louise McInnis have provided an endless supply of cheerful snail mail and good sense. This book is dedicated to Daniel McInnis, who is fluent in the languages of my head and heart. He has taught me a new appreciation for and a deeper understanding of beauty, romance, and kinship. I am a better person for sharing my life with him, and this is a...