“Citizen Aliens: American Xenophobia, Japanese American Migrants, and the Transpacific Borders of Belonging.” Journal of American Ethnic History (2025) 44 (4)
In this article I explore the perspectives of Kibei, U.S.-born Japanese Americans who returned from their transpacific sojourn in Japan, which illuminate the deeply entrenched culture and politics of American xenophobia and a systemic assault on Asian Americans’ birthright citizenship, from Chinese exclusion to anti-Japanese political campaigns throughout the Jim Crow American West. The Kibei’s lifelong journeys across transpacific borders of belonging expose the enduring exclusionary regime of US citizenship.
