Allan Isaac (Associate Professor of American Studies, Rutgers University)

In classical rhetoric, litotes is the use of the double negative, or, more specifically, affirmation through negation of the contrary. To understand the varied uses of simultaneous racial marking and deferral, I read Brian Ascalon Roley's novel, American Son, through early 20th century citizenship cases and holdings to think through modern racial formation of whiteness through the formation of Asian-ness. Given the history of Asian exclusion from U.S. citizenship, I ask how does non-belonging and non-identity within the U.S. nation-state configure and discipline subjects? How is Asian racialization distinct from Black racialization?