Search

Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial group in the United States that consists of over 20 national origin groups with distinctive ethnicity, language, religion, cultural practices, immigration history, and socioeconomic status and mobility patterns. Yet, heterogeneity and subsequent intra-group boundary formation among Asian Americans are seldom explored empirically until recently. This paper uses intermarriage, or marriage across group boundaries, to examine the relationship between intra-Asian ethnic heterogeneity and boundary formation. Intermarriage is studied through patterns in interracial and intra-Asian marriages. Intermarriage is a personal, micro-level social process that forges an intimate link between social groups, drawing a culturally accepted parameter between groups. Using the American Community Survey (ACS) and 2016 National Asian American Survey (NAAS) datasets I find that Asian intermarriage patterns reflect social and symbolic ethnoracial boundaries among Asian ethnic groups and between Asians and non-Asians, but only to a certain extent. These boundarycrossing patterns shown in Asian intermarriage patterns have important implications for their assimilation and racialization patterns as well as the group positioning of Asian Americans as a whole in the U.S. race relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research on religious involvement and individual health has increased substantially over past decades, few studies have examined this relationship among Asian Americans. Using the 2008 National Asian American Survey and applying logistic regressions, this study examines (1) whether religious involvement (i.e., religious affiliation and converting to Christianity either before or after immigration) has any effect on self-rated health among Asian Americans; and (2) whether religious involvement interacts with immigration-related factors such as place of birth and English proficiency to affect health. Findings disclose that, compared to those with no religion, individuals with religious affiliation reported better selfrated health. In addition, religious affiliation and English proficiency interact to affect health such that the effect of having religion is more salient among those with higher level of English proficiency. In terms of conversion, individuals who converted to Christianity reported worse health compared to others. Our findings indicate that some aspect of religious involvement, such as religious affiliation, is beneficial for the health of Asian Americans and the effect is likely to be modified by some immigration-related factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from the 5% Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) of the 2000 Census, this study investigates absolute and relative poverty rates among Asian Americans. The empirical results indicate that Asian poverty is higher than white poverty in terms of both poverty measures, regardless of nativity status. Although foreign-born Asians experience a substantial reduction in poverty with a longer length of stay in the U.S., even then their poverty rates exceed that of foreign-born whites. However, detailed analysis suggests that such patterns of poverty among Asians still tend to be largely connected to their immigration-related characteristics. In particular, second-generation Asians tend to be young (with the exception of Japanese) and their economic well-being is therefore highly dependent upon the incomes of their immigrant parents. Among adult native-born Asian Americans as a whole, poverty rates are actually lower than that for whites. In other more detailed results, however, significant ethnic variation in poverty in the broad racial category of Asian American is investigated and seems to persist even among adult native-born Asian Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper asks how movements within organizations make the choice to identify and strategize as insider activists versus as outsider activists, how these movements signify this choice to other actors within the organization, and explores the consequences of these choices. The exploratory findings presented in this paper are based on an analysis of movements for curricular change in the post-1960s era at six diverse institutions of higher education. Data on these curricular change movements are drawn from archival research and interviews of activists. The paper concludes that the decisions of activists about strategy, tactics, and framing are shaped by the pre-existing collective identities shared by activists, as well as the organizational practices of inclusion and exclusion. It also offers a taxonomy of movement types to guide further research on activism within organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demographic predictions about the growth of the Latino and Asian American populations in the United States have prompted both "whitening" and "browning" theories of how this growth will alter (or not) US race relations. Such theories often expect Latinos and Asian Americans to either become like whites or else like blacks, without much attention to how these middle groups might affect more unique changes to the racial landscape. Using data from 50 in-depth interviews with Latinos and Asian Americans, I focus on (1) how their racial identities are perceived by others and how they feel about other ethnic groups; (2) the types of discrimination and prejudice they encounter; (3) the ways they employ and innovate racist ideology; and (4) their antiracist outlooks. Defying simplistic predictions, Latinos and Asian Americans' relatively greater connection to a global community than either blacks or whites becomes relevant in explaining some of these unique experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey are used to examine job satisfaction among scientists. Focus is on the model minority and the extent to which job satisfaction among scientists varies by sex and race. A multi-cultural gender perspective guides the research. Job satisfaction models including internal and external sources of job satisfaction are estimated. Findings show that white scientists have higher overall job satisfaction than Asian American scientists. Additionally, there are race differences favoring whites on external sources of job satisfaction (e.g. pay and fringe benefits). Asian American and white male scientists have similar levels of satisfaction. However, white women scientists have higher levels of internal job satisfaction than do Asian American women scientists. Thus race and sex interact to influence job satisfaction among scientists. Findings suggest that although Asian Americans (the "model" minority) are more likely than others to earn science degrees and be in scientific professions, they are not more likely to be satisfied with their job in the sciences. Causal processes are examined and implications of these findings are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an ethnographic study of a Chinese dance group in the Midwest region of the United States, I explore the following questions: What does it mean to be Chinese in the context of a multicultural American society? In what ways does Chinese dance facilitate the construction of group identities for recent Chinese immigrants? In what ways are production and speculation of Chinese dance in the U.S. affected by the racialization of Chinese American identities? And in what ways do Chinese dance production and speculation reinforce the racialization of Chinese Americans? Drawing on the racial formation theory from Omi and Winant (1994), I unpack Chinese immigrants' discourse on Chinese-ness against the background of multi-layered diversity within the Chinese Dance Group, and examine how mainstream American media and white American audiences receive Chinese dance. Through explicating this discursive racial project around Chinese dance, I demonstrate the ways in which Chinese immigrants, their cultural practices and their group identities are racialized in the United States. The racialization of Chinese American cultural practices and identities needs be understood in the context of broader racial formation processes. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the concept of authenticity construction based on ninety in-depth interviews with African American, Asian American and white professional actors. Within Hollywood, authenticity refers to how well a person or performance conforms to an idealized representation and to an actor's ability to perform naturally and sincerely. However, Hollywood's reliance on formulas and stereotypes creates dilemmas for actors, who must choose between conforming to external expectations or their personal sense of authenticity. While all actors complain of poorly-written roles, actors of color are more likely to frame the problem as racially stigmatizing while whites are more likely to frame the problem instrumentally. For example, actors of color often describe dilemmas with emotional strain and many feel burdened to represent their racial/ethnic groups in a positive light. In contrast, whites largely take an instrumental approach to the stereotypes, accepting them as "part of the job." ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on a sample of 523 institutions of higher education in the United States to test neoinstitutional and diffusion explanations for curricular change. It explores the adoption of programs and majors in women's studies, Asian American studies, and queer/LGBT studies through logistic regression analysis and network visualization. The paper finds less support than expected for conventional neoinstitutional and diffusion explanations while determining that the institutionalization of a discipline in the higher education field increases the role for neoinstitutional pressures. In addition, the paper finds that peer networks based on structural position with the higher education field play less of a role in curricular change than do those peers claimed by institutions as comparison institutions. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the forms of political activism among Muslim women of South Asian descent in the post-9/11 era. An ethnographic study on two religious student associations in New York illustrates a rising trend of "identity movements" centering on their religious dress code of veiling. Women's narratives presented in this article show the ways in which socially persecuted young women after 9/11 use their practice of the headscarf (or hijab) as a major political tool to fight the anti-Islamic sentiment in a local as well as global context. The implication of these findings signifies two theoretical views at intersection of race, gender and class lines related to South Asian women's activism: 1) cultural "difference" and "disadvantage" that Asian women bear could be reversely seen as a source of group mobility, strength and resiliency for their political activism: and 2) women's religious identity might play an increasingly significant role in boundary formation associated with South Asian women as social and political attentions toward Muslims and Islamic faith increases in the forthcoming age. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with other ethnicity minorities, Asian American youth least likely to have ever had sex intercourse and have less sexual partners. In addition to the effects of social economic achievement in the U.S., the Asian family value has been identified as an important role in protecting their teenagers from initiating the early sexual intercourse. However, with the assimilation, the protection of Asian family value may fade gradually. Asian family value per se has different degree expectation of sexuality to boys and girls which may make their assimilation path on sexual behavior differently across gender. In this paper, I carried a set of proportional hazard models to test the effects of acculturation on the time of first sex intercourse of Asian youth and generalize estimating equations (GEE) Poisson model on the number of sexual partners. The analysis shows that the longer time that the youth family is exposed to the U.S. society, the earlier the youth have had their first sex intercourse and the more sexual partners they have. Language spoken at home plays a significant role in protecting adolescent early sexual engagement, but the effects vary by gender with regard to age at first sexual intercourse. Female speaking English at home are the most risky group who experienced their first sexual intercourse early, followed by males speaking English at home, males speaking their mother language at home and female speaking their mother language at home. These results still hold when controlling for family background, parental controls, social controls and neighborhood social economic status. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is an ethnographic study of Asian American musicians in the American independent rock scene. As the second or later generations of Asian immigrants, they are trying to find their own voice and speak for the concerns of their community. Looking for Asian solidarity, they sometimes reach beyond national boundaries, making a revitalized connection with Asian 'homelands.' A new kind of diaspora that emerges from these musicians' efforts can be interpreted as a sign of global culture. Although the medium of rock music is not particularly well-suited for defining a racial minority's identity, Asian American indie rock is growing fast as a musicians' community. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presentation explores the gendered ways in which native-born sons and daughters of Asian immigrants negotiate their distinctive familial roles during their childhood years and how this results in different views on ethnicity and culture as they transition into adulthood. The presentation is broadly based on 27 in-depth interviews and specifically focused on 9 interviews I conducted with adult sons and daughters of Korean and Chinese immigrant families in the NY metropolitan area over the past two years. I begin by discussing modifications made in the conceptual design based on the diverse roles of siblings in different household structures and diverse manifestations of ethnicity among interviewees. Based on my initial interviews, I then discuss the gendered ways in which Asian Americans interpret their parent's immigration experiences. In general, sons are more likely to embrace more orthodox aspects of their parent's culture based on abstract relationships with their father, whereas daughters are more likely to create more innovative interpretations of this culture based on intimate relationships with their mothers. Intergenerational communication is central to understanding how gender, ethnicity, and class come together in shaping the views and behaviors of 2nd generation Asian Americans within the context of different household structures. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using life-history interviews, this article examines Asian American men's cross-racial "homosocial competition" with white masculinities in the context of intimate relationships with white women. It maps the operation of white masculinities in Asian American men's views of themselves, analyzing Asian American men's subjective experiences of (1) rivalry, (2) desire for normativity, (3) powerlessness, and (4) deficiency. It also addresses how white women's participation in Asian American men's masculinity formation contributes to both challenges and reiterations of hegemonic ideologies of race and gender. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On January 4th, 2005 the University of Southern California faced the University of Oregon in a "Downtown Showdown": a women's Division I basketball competition in the Sports Arena of Los Angeles. The showdown was an opportunity for members of the Japanese American community of Southern California to celebrate two extremely talented point guards who are both of Japanese descent: Corrie Mizusawa of Oregon and Jamie Hagiya of USC. USC's sponsorship of an event featuring Japanese American athletes says something about the position of these athletes as symbolic (and perhaps commodified) representations of a community, a culture, and a race. Moreover, the fact that these athletes are women playing a sport that is firmly situated at the core of hegemonic masculine dominance in sport (Messner 2002), leads to questions about the racialized and gendered nature of their iconic status. The overwhelming support by the community questions dominant understandings of gender relations within Asian American groups. The extent of these leagues - both in history and in scope - clearly show that Asian American women are not just playing sports in secret or as a form of rebellion against parents and culture (as portrayed in the film Bend it like Beckham), but also as a natural extension of their family and community. This paper reflects the data and conclusions of a pilot study and an attempt to lay out the potential empirical and theoretical implications of a larger-scale study of girls' and women's basketball in the Southern Californian Japanese American Community. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the demilitarization of Thai American wives. Thai Americans have not a long history as immigrants to the U.S. Most of them have been born in foreign countries. The Thai were had a major role to play in the American operations in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, when U.S. made Thailand its military base. The military assistance offered by the Thais to the U.S. paved the way for their migration to the U.S. The majority of contemporary Thai Americans are women, most of whom are married to non-Thai men.

The article presents information on a paper examining three Asian American men's construction of manhood, particularly, their relationship with white women. In all three cases, the themes frequently emerge, include a sense of unattainable white manhood, a sense of racial alienation and resistance to the desexualized images of Asian American men. Another pattern emerging in all three cases concerns white women as they desire and give recognition to Asian American men. Another one pattern is that two Asian American men in these stories, positively view white manhood and whiteness as cultural alternatives and useful resources for their self-making.

This article examines the practice of Hijab among the second-generation Muslim college students in the U.S. It is surprising that these U.S.-born young women who shows great potential for socioeconomic assimilation, adopts their ethno-religious values in such an emphatic way, instead of joining the mainstream. These Muslim women wants to show their minority-ness in public by choice, as such they develop a strong sense of companionship among the Hijab wearers. By virtue of wearing the Hijab they tend to create new collective identity among the religious community members.

The article cites a study which focuses on the role of social capital in the Vietnamese American Initiative for Development (Viet-AID), the first American community organization founded and operated by Vietnamese refugees and immigrants to build its own community center. Viet-AID is the first community-based organization to build its own center, as other Vietnamese American communities have managed to lease building space or run programs from already-established sites. The concept of social capital provides a useful background for understanding the resources used by immigrant and refugee communities for collective action.

Although there is plenty of literature that studies Asian Americans' earning disadvantage, little of them jumped outside the concept of racial discrimination and immigration. This study examines a specific dimension of human capital— job-related human capital — in influencing Asian Americans' earnings returns from education. More specific, by using data from the 1993 National Survey of College Graduates, I compare job-related human capital between Whites and Asian Americans, as well as between native born group and immigrant, and examine whether Asian Americans and whites earnings gap within levels of education is due to the effect of race, immigration, or can be explained away by controlling for their job-related human capital. This study will contribute to the current body of knowledge regarding Asian American earning disadvantage in two senses: (1) Adding to the current literature another dimension of human capital perspective on Asian Americans' earning disadvantage — job-related human capital, and offer a possible explanation for why higher levels of education may not be paying off for Asian Americans. (2) Introducing three fresh concepts- consistency of study fields, consistency of job fields, and job-education relatedness - to measure job-related human capital, and trying to investigate whether and to what extent Asian Americans disadvantage can be attributed to job-related human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implications of cosmetic surgery by popular culture are that it is a practice driven solely by a desire to enhance one's features. However, based on my interviews with 15 Asian American women between the ages of 19-25, it is not certain that this pattern can be valid across cultures within and outside of the United States. In my study, I show that there are several reasons that Asian American women choose cosmetic surgery, based on western hegemony, class and as a rite of passage. This study uses a feminist theoretical framework, but the findings show that the implications of cosmetic surgery go beyond the pervasive body of literature on gender roles and a hegemonized appearance, but further show that there are several other key factors (culture and class) that also come into play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]