Abstract

CHACON FLORES, Carlos Alberto  and  ALMADA BAY, Ignacio Lorenzo. “For the Homeland, and for the Race.” An Inquiry about Chinese Exclusion in Nacozari de García and Pilares de Nacozari, Sonora, 1915-1925. Intersticios sociales [online]. 2020, n.20, pp.225-259.  Epub Nov 20, 2020. ISSN 2007-4964.

Since Chinese people arrived to the State of Sonora, at the end of the XIX Century, were received with hostility due to the negative stereotype constructed around them. Violence and legal measures against them had several causes such as cultural differences, economic elements, and an exclusionary nationalism. This article analysis racism and xenophobia against the Chinese population who resided in Nacozari de García and Pilares de Nacozari. To reach this objective, discriminatory practices that caused their exclusion were studied in municipal, state and federal archives. The municipalities of Nacozari and Pilares were selected as spaces of analysis due to the fact they hosted large Chinese populations and, thus, a strong and aggressive anti-Chinese movement was developed. The theoretical and methodological basis is founded on the concept of racism, also including racial prejudice, discrimination, stereotypes, and exclusionary nationalism, since they are closely interlinked to racism. Thus, it allows us to understand and explain the racial background of the exclusion of the Chinese population in these two municipalities of the State of Sonora.

Keywords : Nacozari de García; Pilares de Nacozari; Chinese people; racism; exclusion.