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Biotic Borders: Transpacific Plant and Insect Migration and the Rise of Anti-Asian Racism in America, 1890–1950
A rich and eye-opening history of the mutual constitution of race and species in modern America.
In the late nineteenth century, increasing traffic of transpacific plants, insects, and peoples raised fears of a "biological yellow peril" when nursery stock and other agricultural products shipped from Japan to meet the growing demand for exotics in the United States. Over the next fifty years, these crossings transformed conceptions of race and migration, played a central role in the establishment of the US empire and its government agencies, and shaped the fields of horticulture, invasion biology, entomology, and plant pathology. In Biotic Borders, Jeannie N. Shinozuka uncovers the emergence of biological nativism that fueled American imperialism and spurred anti-Asian racism that remains with us today.
Shinozuka provides an eye-opening look at biotic exchanges that not only altered the lives of Japanese in America but transformed American society more broadly. She shows how the modern fixation on panic about foreign species created a linguistic and conceptual arsenal for anti-immigration movements that flourished in the early twentieth century. Xenophobia inspired concerns about biodiversity, prompting new categories of “native” and “invasive” species that defined groups as bio-invasions to be regulated—or annihilated. By highlighting these connections, Shinozuka shows us that this story cannot be told about humans alone—the plants and animals that crossed with them were central to Japanese American and Asian American history. The rise of economic entomology and plant pathology in concert with public health and anti-immigration movements demonstrate these entangled histories of xenophobia, racism, and species invasions.
In the late nineteenth century, increasing traffic of transpacific plants, insects, and peoples raised fears of a "biological yellow peril" when nursery stock and other agricultural products shipped from Japan to meet the growing demand for exotics in the United States. Over the next fifty years, these crossings transformed conceptions of race and migration, played a central role in the establishment of the US empire and its government agencies, and shaped the fields of horticulture, invasion biology, entomology, and plant pathology. In Biotic Borders, Jeannie N. Shinozuka uncovers the emergence of biological nativism that fueled American imperialism and spurred anti-Asian racism that remains with us today.
Shinozuka provides an eye-opening look at biotic exchanges that not only altered the lives of Japanese in America but transformed American society more broadly. She shows how the modern fixation on panic about foreign species created a linguistic and conceptual arsenal for anti-immigration movements that flourished in the early twentieth century. Xenophobia inspired concerns about biodiversity, prompting new categories of “native” and “invasive” species that defined groups as bio-invasions to be regulated—or annihilated. By highlighting these connections, Shinozuka shows us that this story cannot be told about humans alone—the plants and animals that crossed with them were central to Japanese American and Asian American history. The rise of economic entomology and plant pathology in concert with public health and anti-immigration movements demonstrate these entangled histories of xenophobia, racism, and species invasions.
- GenresHistory
312 pages, Paperback
Published April 20, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 4, 2023
How does science and ecology play a role in sociopolitical phenomena? How were Asian immigrants and Asian Americans impacted by the racialization of invasive species? 100 years later, in the 2020s, are we seeing history repeat itself?
When Donald Trump coined the terms “China Virus” and “Wuhan Flu” he was, in reality, joining a long history of ecological racialization, that is, assigning racial categories to biotic elements. This books tells a similar story.
In the early 20th Century, as the western American frontier closed and a globalized world opened, plant species flowed across borders. In particular, Japanese botanicals immigrated into the western American coast. Simultaneously, the practice of monoculture led to an increase danger from invasive insect species. These species were categorized in racial terms (e.g. the Japanese Beetle). The result was widespread biological xenophobia, anti-Asian discrimination, increasing uses of pesticides, reactionary desires for American biological nativism, and the consolidation of national borders.
When Donald Trump coined the terms “China Virus” and “Wuhan Flu” he was, in reality, joining a long history of ecological racialization, that is, assigning racial categories to biotic elements. This books tells a similar story.
In the early 20th Century, as the western American frontier closed and a globalized world opened, plant species flowed across borders. In particular, Japanese botanicals immigrated into the western American coast. Simultaneously, the practice of monoculture led to an increase danger from invasive insect species. These species were categorized in racial terms (e.g. the Japanese Beetle). The result was widespread biological xenophobia, anti-Asian discrimination, increasing uses of pesticides, reactionary desires for American biological nativism, and the consolidation of national borders.
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November 8, 2022I was glad to have read this century-long history of Asian immigration (of people, plants, and pests) into the U.S., a story that begins with a staggeringly high American demand for Japanese exotic plants in the 19th century against the backdrop of Chinese exclusion. It’s a history ripe with paradoxes. Shinozuka argues for the mutual constitution of race & species and the centrality of biological nativism in forming the modern American government and landscape. Some really savvy and careful work about the rhetoric of invasion and the precedent of militaristic pest management. The chapters are not ordered chronologically but are organized by pests, so reading them in sequence means lots of jumping around in time and space (not a bad thing)
March 27, 2025
extreeeemely repetitive (esp the first 3 chapters), partially because it is organized by pests and invasions rather than chronologically so she has to revisit many events/decisions/key figures over and over— but even within chapters, there were multiple times i stopped and thought “i swear you said the exact same things 4 sentences earlier, just in a different way…”
that being said, very rich research and the personal accounts from archives were interesting and definitely added smth to her overall argument
i was a little disappointed that she critiques the “native vs invasive” binary throughout the book but doesn’t really offer a solution/alternative
definitely interesting and original research though
that being said, very rich research and the personal accounts from archives were interesting and definitely added smth to her overall argument
i was a little disappointed that she critiques the “native vs invasive” binary throughout the book but doesn’t really offer a solution/alternative
definitely interesting and original research though
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews