Japanese Racial Identities within U.S.-Japan Relations, 1853-1919

Tarik Merida is Assistant Professor of Japanese Studies at Freie Universität Berlin. Tarik completed his PhD in 2019 and has published articles in journals including The Asia-Pacific Journal and Japan Review.

Tarik Merida brilliantly illustrates how modern Japan encountered the world of White supremacy and negotiated within it to create a "racial middle ground." With a sophisticated theoretical framework and detailed historical research, this provocative study overturns our common understanding of racial dichotomy to provide a new interpretation of how exceptionally complex Japanese racial identity was constructed.

• Introduction: The Japanese Racial AnomalyOn the (Ir)Relevance of Studying RaceSubject and ScopeTheoretical Framework – The Racial Middle GroundFocus and SourcesStructure of the BookPart I: Race in the Japanese Context: Early Modern Patterns of Differentiation and the Introduction of Race in Modern Japan Chapter 1: Patterns of Differentiation in Early Modern JapanOn the Existence of Race in Early Modern JapanConfucianism and the ‘Middle Kingdom’Gender and Equality in Early Modern JapanHairy Barbarians: Ainu, Foreigners, and Japanese CivilisationChapter 2: The Translation of Race in the Meiji PeriodIntroducing Modernity: The Translation of Race in the Early Meiji PeriodAdapting the Concept of RacePart II: A Racial Middle Ground: Negotiating the Japanese Racial Identity in the Context of White Supremacy Chapter 3: Between Two Races – The Birth of the Racial Middle Ground between Japan and the WestJapan and the Standard of Civilisation: The Problem of Race against CivilisationJapan, the West, and the Racial Middle GroundRacial pessimism and the Survival of the FittestChapter 4: Two Wars and First Successes: From the Port Arthur Massacre to the Treaty of PortsmouthEarly Benefits of the Racial Middle Ground: The Port Arthur Massacre‘Yellow’ Fears of ‘Yellow Peril’: Race and the Russo-Japanese War Agents of the Racial Middle Ground Chapter 5: Further Successes and the Limits of the Racial Middle Ground – The California Crisis Becoming Visible: Japanese Immigration to the United States Theodore Roosevelt and the Japanese Racial identityChapter 6: African Americans and the Racial Middle GroundThe Race at the Bottom (I): The Black Press and the California Crisis The Race at the Bottom (II): The Meaning of African Americans for JapanEarly Japanese views of African Americans The ‘Black Problem’ or How to Sell Japanese Immigrants The Human Aspect of the Racial Middle Ground Chapter 7: The End of the Racial Middle Ground The Crisis Goes on: The Alien Land Law of 1913 Losing Appeal: The West, Japan, and Alternative Visions of World Orders Embracing Yellowness: The Appeal of Pan-Asianism The collapse of the Racial Middle Ground: The Paris Peace Conference Conclusion: The Elusive Japanese Race