Asian American Studies Commons^™

From Central Cities To Ethnoburbs: Asian American Political Incorporation In The San Francisco Bay Area, James Lai

Ethnic Studies

Asian Americans are increasingly more active and visible in local politics, extending beyond central city limits. While central cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston, and New York City remain vibrant 21st-century gateways for contemporary Asian immigrants and community formation, a majority of the U.S. Asian American population currently resides in suburban cities. Between 2000 and 2010, Asian American population growth in the suburbs reached 1.7 million, which was nearly four times the growth during the same period for those Asian Americans living in central cities. ¹ Approximately 62 percent of the U.S. Asian American population is situated …

Own Your Experience, Stephen Lin

SURGE

This is a computer-generated message from the Campus Navigation Portal (CNAV), which can be accessed via the URL: Campus Navigation Portal (CNAV). It was sent to you to inform you of a significant event.

I received this email when I was a young, nervous First Year student. I took advantage of the clean slate I got from attending a new school and was scrolling through the Digest in search of a new identity. Maybe I could be one of those quirky unicycle riding, juggling, circus kids—it was all up in the air. I wasn’t going to let the past …

Organizing Against Discrimination: The Chinese Hand Laundrymen Historical Niche And Ethnic Solidarity In America, Johnny Thach

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

From the late 1800s to early 1900s, hand laundries developed into the first Chinese historical niche in America in conjunction with Chinese laundrymen's activism, community organization, and ethnic solidarity in response to the proliferation of anti-Chinese discriminatory ordinances and laws instigated by White laundries and government officials. Using primary sources and secondary historical examples, this thesis explores the formation of the niche through the collective actions of two Chinese laundrymen organizations: the Tung Hing Tong “("同心堂")” in California, and the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance in New York. This thesis demonstrates that not only were both organizations founded differently and for …

Review Of Pioneer Girl, By Bich Minh Nguyen, Quan-Manh Ha

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

DNA

Fictional And Fragmented Truths In Korean Adoptee Life Writing, Jenny Heijun Wills

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

This article explores the ways that life writing allows transnational, transracial Asian adoptee authors to navigate their complex experiences of truth and authenticity. It also addresses the transformations adoptee authors make to the memoir genre in order to accommodate the particularities of their experiences. I analyze Jane Jeong Trenka’s foundational Asian adoption memoir, The Language of Blood, and Kim Sunée’s lesser-known text, Trail of Crumbs, paying attention to the ways that the authors’ hybridized and deliberately constructionist approaches to genre parallel some of the identity issues that are brought out in their respective books. I explore the significance …

“’Chinese Don’T Drink Coffee!’”: Coffee And Class Liminality In Elaine Mar’S Paper Daughter, Christian Aguiar

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

This article offers a reading of the foodservice spaces in Elaine Mar’s memoir Paper Daughter in order to suggest changes in the way we think about class liminality. It argues that by focusing not just on the way the socially-mobile narrator experiences liminality, but also on the ways her working-class parents and co-workers experience it, we can begin to consider some of the complexities and nuances the idea of the liminal offers. In so doing, the article suggests a slightly new approach to thinking about and teaching Paper Daughter.

From Raw To Cooked: Amy Tan’S “Fish Cheeks” Through A Lévi-Straussian Lens, Susan K. Kevra

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

In "Fish Cheeks" a scant 500 words short story, Amy Tan serves up a coming of age story about an Asian American teenage girl. Tan’s setting of Christmas for a traditional Chinese dinner, shared with the American boy on whom the protagonist, Amy, has a crush, emphasizes the girl’s dual identity as an Asian American, a reality she is confronting head on. Forced to see her family traditions through the eyes of a white, Christian boy, she finds those traditions distasteful. Rather than delighting in the dishes her mother has lovingly prepared, she is revolted by them, fixated instead on …

The Illegible Pan: Racial Formation, Hybridity, And Chinatown In Sui Sin Far’S “‘Its Wavering Image’”, Caroline Porter

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

Drawing upon Judith Butler’s theory of performativity, this article offers an interpretation of “‘Its Wavering Image’” that explains the biracial main character, Pan’s, process of racialization. The argument is two fold: first, the paper contends that in this story, Sui Sin Far theorizes that race is performative rather than biological. Race does not come from characters’ bodies, but is rather an incorporated performance of codes. Pan’s race, then, depends not on her parentage or her biology, but on the “codes” she internalizes and embodies, codes that are fleshed out throughout the article through historical contextualization of San Francisco and Chinatown. …

A “Monstress” Undertaking: An Interview With Lysley Tenorio, Noelle Brada-Williams

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

No abstract provided.

Introduction To Volume Six: An Identity Rebus, Noelle Brada-Williams

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

No abstract provided.

Volume 6 Cover, Mark P. Brada

Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies

No abstract provided.

Political Contributions By Asian Americans: An Analysis Of The 2014 Massachusetts Gubernatorial Campaign, Michael Liu, Paul Watanabe

Institute for Asian American Studies Publications

The Institute for Asian American Studies’ report on political contributions by Asian Americans in the 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign represented the first time that these contributions were systematically reported and analyzed.1 In that election, Asian Americans constituted 1.0% of all individual contributions. In terms of dollar value, those contributions accounted for 1.1% of the total dollar amount contributed. This report follows that initial study by examining Asian American political contributions to candidates for governor in 2014.

The 2014 governor’s race was energized by the fact that two-term incumbent Deval Patrick chose not to seek re-election. Patrick’s decision touched off a …

Cultural Influences On Attitudes Toward The Criminal Justice System: A Focus On The Filipino American Community, Moises Osias Mina Jr.

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Based on the Individualism-Collectivism (I-C) perspective and elements of Cullen's social support theory, the present exploratory analysis tested for differences in individualism and collectivism and the potential impact of such differences on attitudes toward criminal justice constructs. Survey participants were Philippine residents, Filipino immigrants to the United States, and US-born Filipino Americans. Initial results suggested minimal variations in individualism and collectivism among the three groups, however, more significant differences were found when respondents were grouped by country of birth, with US-born Filipino Americans exhibiting lower scores in collectivism and, unexpectedly, in individualism. Measures of specific I-C traits, such as independence, …

Recombinant, Ching-In Chen

Theses and Dissertations

The hybrid texts (poems and prose) in the following dissertation investigate female and genderqueer lineage in the context of labor smuggling and trafficking. In this book-length project, I examine the challenges of communal memory by juxtaposing voices from Asian, African and indigenous communities in the Americas. Set in a speculative future, these voices simultaneously inhabit their own spaces and share pathways, a theme developed through manipulation of white space on the page. The narrative speculates about the origins of M. Lao, a snakehead matriarch who has created a business empire from a fictional edu-tainment park, CoolieWorld, which traffics in the …

A Portrait Of Chinese Americans: From The Perspective Of Assimilation, Wei Bai

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With more than 40 million immigrants, the United States is the major destination for most international migrants. It has always been so because America is a nation of immigrants. The United States has been shaped by four waves of immigration, and unlike previous waves, in the past 50 years immigrants have come from Latin America and Asia more than other regions of the world. Chinese immigration is the focus of this thesis. Chinese people have been present in this society from before the Revolutionary War, and their story is a complex one--one marked by rapid growth, discrimination, exclusion, acceptance, more …

Constructing The Yellow Peril: East Asia As The Enemy In American Discourse And Political Rhetoric, Laura K. Witwer

East Asian Studies Honors Papers

The notion of the Yellow Peril, the perceived racial threat of Asians or Asian nations overtaking Western Nations and Western culture, is not a new phenomenon, but instead an idea that has existed for many centuries, becoming popular in the nineteenth century. The Yellow Peril has been a potent belief which has influenced not only personal opinions, but has also affected Western foreign policy. The United States, whose ideological foundations were built upon Western ideology, was not immune to concerns of the Yellow Peril. Drawing on the theories of critical constructivism, poststructuralism, and postcolonialism, this study analyzes the manifestation of …

I Don't Want To Live Without You, Alanna F Wilkinson

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

One side of a cassette tape preserves a pivotal moment between two lovers from two different worlds. Through a recorded phone conversation and various mixtapes, a real story of true love unfolds between Navyman, Keith Wilkinson and waitress, Evelyn Espejo as they prepare for their new lives together in the United States. A black screen begins the story as the sound of a play button is pressed, and audio from a phone conversation is heard. Subtitles accompany the sound at the bottom of the screen. There is a cut to a photograph of Keith in his Navy uniform as Evelyn …

A Meal For The Man On The Redline, Stephen Lin

SURGE

These words will bite,

Acid bubbling

At the pit of your bowels

Vowels volatile won’t

Be easy to swallow. [excerpt]

The Anala Collaborative: Umass Boston’S Asian American, Native American, Latin@ And African Diaspora Institutes, Barbara Lewis, Carolyn Wong, Cedric Woods, Elena Stone

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The ANALA Collaborative is the newly-formed umbrella for the four UMass Boston racial and ethnic institutes. This year, with help from a team from the College of Management’s Emerging Leaders Program, we have come together to form ANALA in recognition of the area’s increasing racial and ethnic diversity and the need for majority-minority communities to work together toward common goals. While each of the four institutes will retain its separate identity and programs, we will also place greater emphasis on collaborative efforts in the service of our common mission and vision.

The Quiet Girl In The Quiet Room: Can The Subaltern Speak?, Julie Tran

Theses and Dissertations

I was searching for a cure for being voiceless when I learned that I am not voiceless at all; I am silent. Voice, however, is a product of the dominant ideology of the ruling class, a product equated with presence and participation, whereas silence is a product of the resistance of the subaltern, a product equated with self-effacement and submissiveness. Therefore, voice is often understood as the opposite of silence, and those who possess voice possess power. The subaltern is consequently excluded, only heard and considered when adopting Western language and culture. This conformity fractures the identity of the subaltern, …

Review Of T. Pho, J. N. Gerson, & S. R. Cowan's (Eds.) (2007) Southeast Asian Refugees And Immigrants In The Mill City, Vichet Chhuon

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

No abstract provided.

Review Of O. Vitandham (2005) On The Wings Of A White Horse: A Cambodian Princess's Story Of Surviving The Khmer Rouge Genocide, Loan Dao

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

No abstract provided.

Review Of Y. J. Thao (2006) The Mong Oral Tradition: Cultural Memory In The Absence Of Written Language, Sovachana Pou

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

No abstract provided.

Hmong Parents Critical Reflections On Their Childrens Heritage Language Maintenance, Terry Yang

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This study utilizes a qualitative method to explore the critical reflections of Hmong parents helping their children maintain their native language. Specifically, it examines parents thoughts, feelings and experiences related to Hmong language maintenance. Findings reveal that Hmong parents worry about their children losing their ability to speak their native language. They believe that maintaining the Hmong language provides advantages in achieving academic success, attaining careers, and continuing to serve as role models in the community. Parents stressed the need to use Hmong at home in order to help their children develop and maintain the language. They reported some successes …

[Special Issue On Sea Demographics] Response - Asian American Studies, Peter Nien-Chu Kiang

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Response to Dr. Mark E. Pfeifer's featured article.

[Special Issue On Sea Demographics] Featured Article: Cambodian, Hmong, Lao And Vietnamese-Americans In The 2005 American Community Survey, Mark Pfeifer

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

The figures included in this short article are from the 2005 American Community Survey (ACS) released by the U.S. Census Bureau in late 2006. The 2005 ACS data set involves estimates based on surveys distributed to only a subset of the U.S. population and is thus problematic in some respects. This concise article is intended to provide basic 2005 demographic, educational and socioeconomic data related to Cambodian, Hmong, Lao and Vietnamese in the United States. It is not intended as a comprehensive explanatory research paper of factors underlying contemporary demographic, educational, and socioeconomic trends in these four ethnic communities. These …

[Special Issue On Sea Demographics] Editor's Introduction, Wayne E. Wright

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Introduction to special isssue on Southeast Asian American Demographics

Acculturative And Psychosocial Predictors Of Academic-Related Outcomes Among Cambodian American High School Students, Khanh Dinh, Traci L. Weinstein, Su Yeoung Kim, Ivy K. Ho

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

This study examined the acculturative and psychosocial predictors of academic-related outcomes among Cambodian American high school students from an urban school district in the State of Massachusetts. Student participants (N = 163) completed an anonymous survey that assessed demographic characteristics, acculturative experiences, intergenerational conflict, depression, and academic-related outcomes. The main results indicated that acculturative and psychosocial variables were significant predictors of academic-related outcomes. Specifically, Cambodian and Anglo/White cultural orientations and depression played significant roles across the four dimensions of academic-related outcomes, including grade point average, educational aspirations, beliefs in the utility of education, and psychological sense of school membership. This …

A Special Tribute To Anne Frank Of The Southeast Asian Archive At The University Of California, Irvine, Wayne E. Wright, Linda Trinh Vo, Caroline Kieu Linh Valverde, Nhi Lieu, Rifka Hirsch, Roy Vu, Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, Mark E. Pfeifer

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Special tributes in honor of Anne Frank for her service to the field through the Southeast Asian Archive at UC, Irvine.

[Special Issue On Hmong Newcomers To Saint Paul Public Schools] The Affective Consequences Of Cultural Capital: Feelings Of Powerlessness, Gratitude, And Faith Among Hmong Refugee Parents, Bic Ngo

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

In education research, the analysis of the role of cultural capital has focused primarily on its role in parent involvement. Little attention has been paid to how cultural capital affects the attitudes or feelings of parents about their worth and roles as parents. In this article I examine the impact of the exclusionary characteristic of cultural capital on refugee Hmong parents from Wat Tham Krabok. I highlight themes of uncertainty, powerlessness, gratitude and faith that parents repeatedly raised when speaking about their childrens education. I suggest that paying attention to the affectiveemotionalconsequences of cultural capital is critical for understanding the …