Please write a (roughly) one page, single-spaced response that reflects upon the following:
Paddison argues that religion was central to formations of race and citizenship in the post-Civil War United States. Drawing upon his work (and optionally Takaki as well), please think about the following questions: Paddison says that race and citizenship in the United States after the Civil War were shaped by religion. Please think about the following questions in light of his work (and, if you want, Takaki’s as well):
In what ways were the Chinese viewed as a “danger” to American citizens?
How did their non-Christian status play into how Chinese came to be viewed and discriminated against? (How did this religious status compare with other groups?)
Finally, why? What does their racialization and treatment say about the emerging national understanding in the US and the struggle to define citizenship (i.e. to define who belonged to that nation)?
In giving your answer to these questions, you do not need to divide your response into three sections or proceed one-by-one. I am not looking for as much for correct answers as I am for engagement and reflections. These questions are meant more as food for thought. What I am looking for you to do is: 1) to give a summary of some of your main take-aways from the reading and 2) to add in any personal responses you have.
