Contagious Divides charts the dynamic transformation of representations of Chinese immigrants from medical menace in the nineteenth century to model citizen in the mid-twentieth century. Examining the cultural politics of public health and Chinese immigration in San Francisco, this powerful book looks at the history of racial formation in the United States by focusing on the intriguing subject of the development of public health bureaucracies.

Nayan Shah reveals how ethnic differences were constructed and maintained by the modern state. Public health authorities depicted Chinese immigrants as filthy and diseased, as the carriers of such incurable afflictions as smallpox, syphilis, and the bubonic plague. This resulted in the vociferous enforcement of sanitary regulations on Chinese people, residences, and workplaces. Shah shows how Chinese Americans responded to health regulations and allegations with persuasive political speeches, lawsuits, boycotts, violent protests, and poems. Adroitly employing discourses of race and health, these activists argued that Chinese Americans were worthy and deserving of sharing in the resources of American society.