Description:

In this talk, Dr. Fredy González will give the history of the Chinese sworn brotherhood, the Chee Kung Tong, one of the largest associations in the Cantonese diaspora in the Americas. Although historical literature on the Chee Kung Tong has primarily focused on Anglophone settler societies, the brotherhood also enjoyed a major presence in Latin America, including in Mexico, Peru, Cuba, Jamaica, and Panama. Dr. González will use the history of the Chee Kung Tong to illustrate the ways that Cantonese men circulated resources, ideas, rituals and mythology, and people throughout the Americas.

Fredy González is an Associate Professor of Global Asian Studies and History. His research focuses on Asian diasporas in Latin America, particularly on the Chinese diaspora. His first book, Paisanos Chinos: Transpacific Politics among Chinese Immigrants in Mexico, was published in 2017 with the University of California Press. His articles have appeared in the Western Historical Quarterly, the Pacific Historical Review, the Journal of Chinese Overseas and the PRC History Review, and won the Bert M. Fireman and Oscar O. Winther awards from the Western History Association. His current project is a global history of the Chinese sworn brotherhood, the Hong Men Chee Kung Tong. Professor González plans to use the history of the Chee Kung Tong to illustrate how different nodes of the Chinese diaspora interacted with each other; political activity and organization among Chinese overseas; and the complicated relationship between Chinese overseas and China and Taiwan. His work has been supported by a Fulbright Scholar Fellowship in Taiwan, as well as a IIE Fellowship for Graduate Study and a Fox Fellowship in Mexico

Lunch provided at the event.