Rieth 1 Christina Rieth HIST 204 - Greer 7 February 2014 Beyond the Textbooks: Early American History within

Constructed Binaries In his book Common Ground: Reimagining American History, author Gary Y. Okihiro analyzes the narratives constructed, repeated, and institutionalized since the foundation of the United States that contributed to forming the myth of the American identity. By bringing to light the stories and cases of underrepresented individuals, such as Asian-Americans and women, he aims to change the ways in which American history, since Columbus discovered the New World (7), is traditionally written about. He examines four binaries that were created and shaped in American history: west and east, white and black, man and woman, and heterosexual and homosexual. Those who belonged to the word first mentioned in a binary, that is white, male, and heterosexual, shaped the physical and social landscape as means of creating the pure, quintessential American that was distinct from the other. Throughout the chapters, Okihiro reveals that each binary featured elements that were mutually exclusive: the concept of white could not exist without the concept of black, man could not exist without woman, and west could not exist without east. However, these individual binaries were also interconnected, in that racial groups were gendered (53) and territories were racialized (12). Okihiro uses the love story of Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, in which Shis sexually ambiguous physique was humiliated and scrutinized, and he was reduced and objectified to his genitalia (116), to show how Asian men were portrayed as asexual and feminine (131). Conversely, nonwhite women, such as the Chinese geishas (69), were hypersexualized (90), placing them below white women hierarchically. These binaries were meant to be feasible in solidifying and implementing the social hierarchies so that heterosexual, Anglo-Saxon men could distinguish themselves from their

Rieth 2 European counterparts. the old world, but also the other that included Anglo-Saxon women and black men. The diversity within the newly established nation defied the rigid structures; race proved to be problematic for those who adhered to Darwinism and racial hierarchies (42) . The definition of non-white, particularly in the case of Asian-Americans (52), varied throughout different regions of the United States. Mixed-race individuals were given further labels, such as mulatto (133), to avoid confusion but more importantly to assert dominance over non-whites through slavery and discrimination. Throughout the book, Okihiro not only uses the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago as an example of Americas opportunity to show of its industrial, artistic, and academic prowess, but more importantly, the use of physical space and Neoclassical architecture to deliberately segregate and impose hierarchies under these binaries, reflected in the inferior architecture of the Womens Building and Midway Plaisance, in terms of its design, size, and location (55). Okihiro concludes by writing that these narratives have not disappeared, and that the discrimination and violence today driven by race, gender, and sexuality stems back to indelible and stagnant binaries that repeat over time. Americans cannot be classified into two categories because Okihiro proves consistently that there is always a middle ground, not only for those who are considered to be in between, but for everyone to level themselves on.