ASIAN RACIALIZATION AND THE LOGIC OF SETTLER COLONIAL CAPITALISM IYKO DAY Duke University Press | Durham and London | 2016 © 2016 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper ♾ Designed by Heather Hensley Typeset in Whitman by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Day, Iyko, [date] author. Alien capital : Asian racialization and the logic of settler colonial capitalism / Iyko Day. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8223-6079-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8223-6093-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8223-7452-7 (e-book) 1. Capitalism—Social aspects—North America—History.  2. Asians—Race identity—North America. 3. Asians—North America—Public opinion. 4. Stereotypes (Social psychology)— North America. 5. North America—Race relations— Economic aspects. I. Title. HC95.D35 2016 305.895′07309034—dc23(cid:23)2015034387 Cover art: Tommy Ting, Workers Posing as Workers (Chinese Workers for the Great Northern Railway), 2013, inkjet print, recycled wood, 167 × 298 cm. Duke University Press gratefully acknowledges Mount Holyoke College, Dean of the Faculty’s Office, which provided funds toward the publication of this book. For DAVID and TEI CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | ix INTRODUCTION | 1 The New Jews: Settler Colonialism and the Personification of Capitalism CHAPTER 1 | 41 Sex, Time, and the Transcontinental Railroad: Abstract Labor and the Queer Temporalities of History 2 CHAPTER 2 | 73 Unnatural Landscapes: Romantic Anticapitalism and Alien Degeneracy CHAPTER 3 | 115 Japanese Internment and the Mutation of Labor CHAPTER 4 | 151 The New Nineteenth Century: Neoliberal Borders, the City, and the Logic of Settler Colonial Capitalism EPILOGUE | 191 The Revenge of the Iron Chink NOTES 199(cid:23)BIBLIOGRAPHY 223(cid:23)INDEX 235(cid:23)CREDITS 243 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is a welcome pleasure to reflect on entirely different forms of debt and exchange value than those covered in this book. In another world I would send each friend I’ve neglected to mention here a nice box of chocolates. Words aren’t enough, but for now they are a taste of my sincere gratitude to those who helped see me through this project. This book was inspired and nurtured by great conversations with very smart people, generous readers, and an abundance of external sources of optimism and humor. For many years I have been blessed with the brilliant likes of David Hernández and Jodi Kim; these two have always been my first line of intellectual support, reading numerous drafts, answering a thou- sand questions, and hearing out all of the turns in my thinking. In Sylvia Chan-Malik and Wes Yu I could not have asked for smarter interlocutors or more sustaining friendships. This work also benefited from the inspiration and wisdom of longtime friends and coconspirators Dory Nason, Danika Medak-Saltzman, and Ofelia Cuevas. Years have passed since my days as a graduate student, but I remain indebted to my professors at UC Berkeley. I continue to be in awe of the brilliance and grace of my dissertation adviser, Sau-ling Wong; the instincts and generosity of Elaine Kim; and the friend- ship and steadfast support of Michael Omi. And a long-overdue thanks must go to Chris Nealon, not least for encouraging me to read Moishe Postone’s Time, Labor, and Social Domination, which became an indispensable anchor for this book.