...second-generation Asian American students at the University of Illinois feel about being Asian American, particularly those who are not of Chinese, Korean, Filipino or Japanese descent. In other words, we are focusing on students whose background ethnicity represents Southeast Asian (Thai, Vietnamese, Laotian, Indonesian) and South Asian (Indian, Bengali, Pakistani) and so forth. We want to explore how various Asian ethnic groups identify socially and culturally with the term Asian American. We asked for written responses from Asian American students, who have these background ethnicities, to describe in their own words what being Asian American means to them. In addition, we walked around campus and interviewed several second-generation Asian Americans. In their explanations, we encouraged the students to explain if it was a struggle growing up in America, whether they have ever been a victim to stereotypes or discrimination and how they have dealt with it. We took these statements and compared them to the stereotypes placed immigrants of the 1900s. In addition to the interviews, we analyzed our finding with an article published by Jerry Park of Baylor University titled, “Second-Generation Asian American Pan-Ethnic Identify: Pluralized Meaning of a Racial Label” who did a similar study in four public universities, along with other readings from class. The term, Asian American, was formed as a significant symbolic move in constructing an ethnic identity for the pan-Asian community in...
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...what a stereotype is. A stereotype is a false picture or idea in many people’s minds about how all members of a certain group look, think, and/or act. Stereotypes exist about members of almost every possible social group, including racial, ethnic, gender, religious, and political groups, among others. A person is said to be “stereotyped” if someone outside of that person’s particular social group, whatever it may be, thinks about him as being like the group’s stereotype, without knowing anything about him; conversely, we say a person is “stereotyping” another if he thinks in stereotypes about people in a certain social group, again, whatever it may be. Most stereotypes are negative and offensive, a few are positive, and some are neutral. A negative stereotype shows a group in a bad light (For example, African Americans are violent.); a positive stereotype shows a group in a good light (For example, “… Asians are good at math” (www.ask.com); and a neutral stereotype is one that is neither good nor bad (For example, Blacks loves watermelon). Perhaps, the most prevalent stereotypes in the US concern all the different races and ethnic groups who live there. An examination of some common stereotypes regarding African Americans, Hispanics/ Latinos, and Asians in the US will demonstrate that negative, positive, and/or neutral stereotypes exist about all three of these groups; There are many negative stereotypes, a few positive stereotypes, and a few neutral stereotypes about...
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...The dominant image of Asian Americans as high achievers can be traced back to 1966 when Time Magazine (Peterson, 1960) and U.S. News and World Report (1966) reported on the ability of Japanese- and Chinese-Americans to achieve success in the face of the same adversities declared by proponents of the civil rights movement (Tran and Birman 2010). Direct experiences are pervasive, with research showing that over 99 % of Asian American adolescents have had at least one encounter in which they felt like they were being stereotyped as a model minority (Thompson and Kiang 2010). Yet, despite its prevalence and commonality, the developmental implications of the model minority stereotype are not well-understood. Most of the existing research has been...
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...Exploring Racial Discrimination Against Asian Americans According to Whitlock and Bronski, hate is not the sole cause of things such as “racism, misogyny, homophobia, violence against transgender people, violence against disabled people, or economic cruelty” (Whitlock and Bronski 16). The first two chapters of Considering Hate introduces the concept of hate as a feeling that is not just a personal one, but one that is perpetuated further by the structure of society and popular culture. In the first two chapters of Considering Hate, the concept of hate is introduced as a feeling that is not just a personal one, but one that is perpetuated further by the structure of society and popular culture. Minority groups that have experienced instances...
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...without forming an idea of who you are or where you have come whether you care to make it a part of your daily life, have no choice or acknowledge it when it is convenient; without that knowledge I find it difficult to fully make the most of life. Through the readings from the semester and class discussions I have come to the conclusion that White ethnics choose to either assert their ethnicities thickly or thinly, or they chose to incorporate it into their lives symbolically. Blacks on the other side of the spectrum lack choice in their racial identity because their race is visible and so it is assigned to them. Asians have both the ability to choose to assert their specific ethnicities but they are racially assigned. The issue with racial and ethnic construction is that it is born of social construction-what others believe of your race to be true. This can make the identity construction process much more difficult depending upon your racial or ethnic background. Regardless, I find this to be an important part of the identity construction journey. How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone. These words were spoken by the infamous French fashion designer, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. In America today, these words could not ring truer in the subject of identity. “Who am I?”, “Where do I come from?” All questions of self reflection which undoubtedly each individual asks themselves on a daily basis. These questions are not elaborate in structure...
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...answers in your paragraphs; don't make a list of your questions and answers.) What are you going to write about? Why did you choose this topic? Based on your topic, what are the main issues you will explore? What is the thesis (or the tentative thesis) of your final paper? Who are you interviewing for your paper? Why? What are your other sources? (Remember that there should be at least two sources in addition to your interview.) What do you intend to prove with this paper? What, in your view, is the relevance of your topic? I am going to write about being Asian and more specifically being Chinese in a particular part of the United States in the 21st century. I will explore the perception that some non-Chinese people have of Chinese people in the US and also explore the pros and cons, in terms of public perception, of being Chinese. I chose this topic because this would be a good study of stereotypes, as well as a venue to express the truth about my identity. The ttentative thesis of my final paper is to find the truth about my identity, it includes three parts, the first part is the perception that some non-Chinese people have of Chinese people in the...
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...Asian Pacific Americans are portrayed in the media in a variety of contradictory stereotypes, ranging from the "model minority" at the head of his or her class in school, to the non-English-speaking welfare recipient who is a "drain on the system." Asians are also characterized in film as unscrupulous businessmen and cruel mobsters, or as compliant, submissive and exotic. One-dimensional portrayals, coupled with the absence of accurate images and positive role models, obstruct public understanding of the Asian American community, which can contribute to an anti-Asian climate. Despite the diversity among Asian Pacific Americans, they are often misperceived as a monolithic group. Thus, even though an act of anti-Asian sentiment might be perpetrated with a particular ethnic group in mind (e.g., Indian, Filipino or Korean), a failure to make distinctions between Asian Pacific American ethnic groups causes members of all groups to become potential victims of hate crimes. Hate incidents are expressions of hostility based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or disability. Hate incidents are not illegal. They may take the form of name-calling or using racial slurs, hate speech, the distribution of racist leaflets or other disrespectful behavior. Hate crimes are defined by federal or state statutes. A hate crime occurs when a person commits an act such as assault, battery, criminal damage to property, criminal trespass to property or mob action because of the victim's...
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...Identity: American Born Chinese Asian American students today are faced with the issue of identity in the American society. They are faced with this issue because of their unfamiliar background to the American society. They want to fit-in and become accepted in school’s diverse environment. The graphic novel, American Born Chinese by Gene Yang, exemplifies the issue of Asian American students search for identity in the American society. He wanted to target teenager that are struggling to find an identity and acceptance in school. To target Asian American students, Yang uses the stories of three different characters: Monkey King, Danny, and Jin Wang. Each character in the story faces the issue of finding an identity and acceptance. Yang mostly focused on the story of Jin Wang because his Chinese background constantly plagues him. Jin tries to do everything to fit-in with the American students. He tries to conceal his Chinese background, and tries to change his appearance. In the end, he learns to accept his Chinese background; therefore, finding his identity and acceptance. Yang wanted to show that accepting yourself is the key to unlocking your identity and finding acceptance in the American society. Yang wanted Asian American students to connect with his book by strategically converging the three stories, negative experience of characters, and negative stereotypes to show that accepting themselves will allow them to find their identity and acceptance in the American society...
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... & Monsters: The Unmasking Asian Images of U.S. comics. It was such a cool and fun exhibit to visit! I felt like I was walking into a life size comic book with huge blow-‐ups of superheroes followed by a brief humor with text in caption. From today’s generation, creators: William Wu and Jeff Yang combined archives of comics that served as racial propaganda during World War II. The exhibit opens with a large billboard with Marvels and Monsters written all over it. As you walk into the exhibition, each character is lit up by light bulbs hanging from the ceiling and followed by a description below. With unique character names like: Guru, Brain, Temptress, Manipulator, Alien, Kamikaze, Brute, and Lotus Blossom go beyond the typical Asian American stereotype. These comical characters displayed a story of how Asians are portrayed in the comical...
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...now, Asians from countries such as China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, and the Philippines, have been immigrating into the United States. Arriving with not anything in their pockets and nothing but hope, without a doubt they truly believe that the United States is the land of opportunity. Although many of them have successfully amalgamated into American culture through hard work and diehard persistence, the idea of this “model minority” trails behind them unceasingly. This stereotype of the model minority characterizes Asians as having everything “figured out”. They are willing and ready to assimilate completely into American culture; they stay of trouble and are submissive, and they dominate in both education and in the work place. Even though this stereotype seemingly praises Asians; in truth, it has a counteractive effect on both the Asian community and other ethnic groups as well. Despite the existence of this model minority stereotype, Asians are not followers of the myth and altogether demonstrate it counterfactual. In Asian American Dreams, Helen Zia introduces the model minority myth through an article titled “Success Story of One Minority Group in the United States” where it explains it as a reasonably form of praise claiming “at a time when Americans are awash in worry over the plight of racial minorities, one such minority, the nation’s 300,000 Chinese Americans, is winning wealth and respect by dint of its own hard work…” (Zia, 46). This quote claims that Asian Americans...
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...population coming to a new country with the goal of becoming a permanent resident. Culture A culture is a group of people or characteristics that are similar with each other whether its age, race, sex, religion, or demographic. A culture is a group of people that share the same social qualities. Part II Answer each question in 250 to 350 words: 1. What are some of the ways groups of people are identified? People can be identified into all sorts of different groups, there is a racial group which is based off of a person’s skin color, hair color or body type. Some typical racial groups would be Native Americans, Asian Americans, or African Americans. Racial groups typically run into stereotypes as well. For example Native Americans may be looked down upon more than a Caucasian, or an Asian American tends to carry a stereotype of advanced intelligence and a person who is Latina may be overlooked in comparison to the Asian American. There are many different types of racial groups but those are a few examples. Ethic...
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...perpetuated, or “spread”, by fear of the unknown; a virus which insidiously promotes discrimination and segregation based off differences in both culture and appearance, flourishes amongst the ignorant and is prevalent throughout both America’s distant and recent history, as well as in the archives of world history. A parent to ignorance and the culprit to the divisive vices of racial prejudice of all creeds, a lack of sufficient education, along with blatant disregard for one’s global community, is the underlying reason why Orientalism is a recurring theme in history that has yet to be abolished entirely. However, there exist scholars and filmmakers, such as Le Espiritu, Sucheng Chan, Wakako Yamauchi, etcetera, who give hope to the fight against such ignorance by using their work to inform and educate the public in order to challenge such stereotypes and atrocious ways of thinking. In order to effectively and efficiently push against orientalism in today’s age of information, and secure a future for future generations in which no one racially profiles one another, discriminates against anyone else based on racial profiling, or constructs social barriers that belittle and...
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...jobs. But as the number of Asian American immigrants started to increase, so did the discrimination and racism towards them. Actually, they were divided into three identities, first generation Asians who traveled to United States, the second are those who were born in America, and the third late generation whose identity is neither fully Asian nor fully American. The discrimination that many Asian Americans had faced often...
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...The article The Sexual Bonds of Racial Stardom explains how Asian American women in Hollywood have been portrayed as scandalous women. From being thought of as prostitutes to being dark and evil people with an ulterior motive, these stereotypes don't really hold true outside of the silver screen. In our society today, Asian American women are very respectful, kind people that are intertwined into our everyday culture here in Orange County. The article states, "You know, because Suzie Wong was a prostitute a lot of Americans got the wrong idea and they thought that all Asian women were prostitutes" (58). This clearly is implying that Americans think that Asian American women are a sex object. However, I see it as the complete opposite around the Fullerton Campus. Sure, some are more outgoing and social than others, but the vast majority of Asian American woman that I have observed are generally more quiet and reserved. On top of that, they do not really seem to wear any revealing clothing or do anything that seems provocative. That being the case, this specific stereotype does not seem to hold any water. The article also mentions the 'dragon lady' and how she asserts herself to get back at white men. "The dragon lady uses her "Oriental" femininity, associated with seduction and danger, to trap white men" (59). While this is used far too often in Hollywood films, this stereotype also does not exist in our society. No women are looking to 'trap' another man with the thrills of...
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...Asians in the American entertainment industry have been discriminated against since the silent era of film. With rare exceptions, the basic caricatures of Asians are the same today as they were in the early years of film. The lack of evolution in roles available to Asians in American entertainment perpetuates the perception that Asians are alien, foreign, and “other.” Their absence from film and television demonstrates how underrepresented Asians are in American entertainment. The scarce representations that do depict Asians, are predominantly worn-out stereotypes, yellowface, and whitewashing of roles originally intended for Asian characters. Historically, Asians have been represented as a single group of “Orientals” instead of seen as individual...
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