Shape Shifters

Lily Anne Y. Welty Tamai is an assistant professor of Asian American studies at California State University Channel Islands. Ingrid Dineen‑Wimberly is a professor of history at University of LaVerne–Point Mugu and the author of The Allure of Blackness among Mixed-Race Americans, 1862–1916 (Nebraska, 2019). Paul Spickard is a professor of history, Black studies, and Asian American studies at the University of California–Santa Barbara. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including Almost All Aliens: Immigration, Race, and Colonialism in American History and Identity and Race in Mind: Critical Essays.

“The essays in this field-shaping work on shape shifters in world history are breathtaking in their breadth and fresh insights, challenging readers to think in provocative new ways about race, social mobility, and belonging from the borderlands of the ancient world to our own border-crossing moment.”-Samuel Truett, associate professor of history at the University of New Mexico “In Shape Shifters we are transported on a journey through mixed-race times and spaces that we always wanted to visit but never had the opportunity to do so. . . . Shape Shifters goes well beyond the ‘passing’ trope to examine fascinating contexts and identity changes. It explores the diverse transformations in these identities, the many different reasons for those changes, and the variety of means by which they happen. It is destined to be a key text in critical mixed-race studies.”-Rebecca King-O’Riain, senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth "This diverse group of historians, sociologists, and scholars of ethnic studies explore how shape shifters, either individuals or groups, have changed identities for a variety of complex reasons that include social situations, cultural appeal, outside pressure or coercion, and as a result of pragmatism, idealism, or some combination of both."-M. L. Roman, Choice “Through a variety of cutting-edge case studies that stretch from ancient China to the current United States, Shape Shifters offers a kaleidoscope of fresh vantage points from which to rethink the enduring riddle of identity. The contributors bring to life a diverse array of border-crossers, tricksters, and chameleons who previously remained hidden from view but who could not be more important or more timely to our present-day discussions of race and ethnicity.”-Karl Jacoby, author of The Strange Career of William Ellis: The Texas Slave Who Became a Mexican Millionaire “This is a smart, captivating, and groundbreaking book. It takes up the long-standing racial passing trope, stretching it to its limit and ultimately ripping it apart. [Shape Shifters] offers a welcome, deep critique of notions of imposture, authenticity, and appropriation. The book’s interdisciplinary approach beautifully shows the intricacies and nuances of shape shifting. Indispensable reading for those interested in race, ethnicity, border-crossing, gender, and world history.”-Julia María Schiavone Camacho, author of Chinese Mexicans: Transpacific Migration and the Search for a Homeland, 1910–1960

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgments1. Shape Shifting: Reflections on Racial PlasticityPaul SpickardPart 1. Different Context, Different Identity2. Places of Possibility: Shape Shifting in the Roman and Chinese BorderlandsRyan R. Abrecht3. Rabban Ṣauma: A Medieval Eurasian Shape ShifterColleen C. Ho4. From Fan Gui to Friend: American Chinese, Social Identity, and the Quest for SubjectivityDavid Torres-Rouff5. Becoming Mixed Race: Northern California and the Production of Multiracial IdentitiesAlyssa M. Newman6. “You Are the Shame of the Race”: Dynamics of Pain, Shame, and Violence in Shape Shifting ProcessesAngelica PesariniPart 2. Choosing Identity7. William A. Leidesdorff: The Rise of a Shape Shifter and the Posthumous Fall from Grace of a Racial ImposterLaura Moore8. Indian, Civilizer, Slaveholder, and Politician: The Many Shapes of Peter PitchlynnPaul Barba9. Half-Butterfly, Half-Caste: Sadakichi Hartmann and the Mixed-Japanese Drama “Osadda’s Revenge”Rena M. Heinrich10. Shape Shifting in the Transpacific Borderlands: Expressions of Japanese Chicano Culture and IdentityMaria Jose Plascencia and George J. SÁnchez11. Betwixt and Between: A Personal Odyssey through the Twilight ZoneG. Reginald Daniel12. Shape Shifting into Blackness in the Post–Civil Rights EraMargaret HunterPart 3. Compelled Identity13. Mudrooroo: Aboriginal No More?Paul SpickardContributorsIndex