Date of Award
Fall 2021
Document Type
Restricted Thesis
Terms of Use
© 2021 Catherine Zhao. All rights reserved. Access to this work is restricted to users within the Swarthmore College network and may only be used for non-commercial, educational, and research purposes. Sharing with users outside of the Swarthmore College network is expressly prohibited. For all other uses, including reproduction and distribution, please contact the copyright holder.
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
History Department
Abstract
Chinese food and restaurants have been a staple of the American diet since the mid twentieth century, despite the decades of discrimination and racism that Chinese immigrants have encountered since their immigration to the United States. Starting from the nineteenth century, Chinese immigrants faced racial discrimination due to already established stereotypes like Orientalism, which marked them as foreign yet exotic. As Chinese immigrants had limited tools for mobility in the nineteenth century, using Orientalism allowed for economic success by ways of their restaurants, but it was a double-edged sword in that its associations of depravity and sin as well as exoticism and allure often brought a reinforcement of social discrimination along with it.
Recommended Citation
Zhao, Catherine , '22, "The Double-Edged Sword of Orientalism: How Orientalism Influenced the Perception of Chinese Restaurants in the Nineteenth Century" (2021). Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards. 599.
https://works.swarthmore.edu/theses/599