American Orientalism was shaped by domestic Asian migrants rather than direct colonial administration

Evidence

The di√erence in forms of Orientalism was also apparent in the geographic division of European and American interests. While European Orientalism concentrated on the Middle East, India, and China, American contact with the Orient focused on creating influence and ties in East Asia and Southeast Asia. American Orientalists nonetheless constructed representations of this entire region based on their domestic experience of Asian migrants to the U.S. and through the political and economic relations of the U.S. and Asia. — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 286

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s broader thread on how US racial categories get built from domestic migration politics rather than direct imperial rule. — connects to: American Orientalism couples inherited European alienness claims with produced Arab stereotypes. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 204