Brokering Belonging

By Lisa Rose Mar,

Book cover of Brokering Belonging: Chinese in Canada's Exclusion Era, 1885-1945

Book description

Brokering Belonging traces several generations of Chinese "brokers, " ethnic leaders who acted as intermediaries between the Chinese and Anglo worlds of Canada. At the time, most Chinese could not vote and many were illegal immigrants, so brokers played informal but necessary roles as representatives to the larger society. Brokers'…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Brokering Belonging as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Lisa Mar’s rich archival study provides a window into the important role of power brokers in Chinese Canadian political life and culture up until the end of the Second World War. My own book also tells the stories of Chinese Canadian power brokers who were active in political organizations and lobbied for the repeal of the Chinese Immigration Act. Unlike the power brokers of Mars’s study, the men in my study were active and influential beyond Vancouver’s Chinatown and in prairie rural Canada.

From Alison's list on to reimagine Chinatown.

Want books like Brokering Belonging?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Brokering Belonging.

Browse books like Brokering Belonging

Book cover of Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China
Book cover of Lives of the Family: Stories of Fate & Circumstance
Book cover of Becoming Yellow: A Short History of Racial Thinking

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,187

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in immigrants, Canada, and British Columbia?

Immigrants 180 books
Canada 450 books
British Columbia 55 books