University Honors

In this capstone project, I analyze the impacts of US immigration laws between the late-1800s and mid-1900s through close readings of the policies and legal exceptions impacting Asian immigrants. These policies include the Page Act, the War Brides Act, Alien Land Laws, and the Immigration and Nationality Acts. Specifically, my capstone focuses on how these federal laws impacted the racialized exotification and sexual objectification of Asian women, who are considered outsiders to the US. Additionally, this capstone explores contemporary cases of violence against Asian women as evidence of this long history. In this project, I argue that this history of immigration policies and legal exceptions is relevant to the present-day because it reflects the deeply rooted perception of Asian women as racialized, hypersexualized, and exotified “others” who are desirable as sexualized objects, yet excluded from proper US citizenry. As a case study, I will discuss the 2021 Atlanta shooting, where six Asian women were killed by a white male shooter, with a secondary focus on the 2023 Boston subway attack. In examining the effects of 19th to 20th century immigration policies and recent events, this project emphasizes that the ingrained– yet unsupported– American belief of Asian women as sexually appealing “aliens” compromises their safety and sense of belonging in the US. Recognizing the posed danger associated with the racial and sexual objectification of Asian women is an important step to addressing and improving the conditions for Asian women living in the States.