Thind and Belonging across the Edges of Time

Abstract

Utilizing Tyehimba Jess’s conception of “double-jointed,” the author interprets the Bhagat Singh Thind case in relation to the Takeo Ozawa case as a way to engage spatially and historically. Through such a comparison, the author underscores the importance of comparative racialization in understanding not only the historical legacy of the Thind case but also how it manifests today during times of the “global war on terror,” anti-Asian racism amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Indigenous dispossession, and ongoing anti-Black racism. Thangaraj writes about these cases while putting it in conversation with parallel cases, histories, and processes in order to make the point that race, as with the Thind case, must be understood through a comparative racialization frame in order to conceptualize social justice and citizenship through the broadest frames.