Affective Economies and the Japanese Woman Question, 1919-1924

This paper examines the role of affect in the political campaigns led by anti-Japanese groups, white racial liberals, and the Japanese immigrant elite during the land and immigration debates of the 1920s. As scholars, politicians, and religious leaders debated the “Japanese Question”, the anti-Japanese campaigns pushed forth a project of building fear around a possible Japanese takeover, otherwise known as yellow peril, in order to call for land laws and immigration exclusion. In response, pro-Japanese, white racial liberals carved a project of America-Japan friendliness in order to repeal land laws and create a pathway for naturalization. In an attempt to align themselves with liberals, the Japanese immigrant elite ran a respectability campaign to train women in proper domesticity. By looking at the role of affect in the political realm, this paper will map the relationships between anti-immigrant nativism, early rise of racial liberalism, and intra-ethnic class tensions.