Product Description
The Filipino American population in the U.S. is expected to reach more than two million by the next century. Yet many Filipino Americans contend that years of formal and covert exclusion from mainstream political, social, and economic institutuions of the basis of their race have perpetuated racist stereotypes about them, ignored their colonial and immigration history, and prevented them from becoming fully recognized citizens of the nation. Locating Filipino Americans shows how Filipino Americans counter exclusion by actively engaging in alternative practices of community building.

Locating Filipino Americans, an ethnographic study of Filipino American communities in Los Angeles and San Diego, presents a multi-disciplinary cultural analysis of the relationship between ethnic identiy and social space. Author Rick Bonus argues that alternative community spaces enable Filipino Americans to respond to and resist the ways in which the larger society has historically and institutionally rendered them invisible, silenced, and racialized. Bonus focuses on the "Oriental" stores, the social halls and community centers, and the community newspapers to demonstrate how ethnic identities are publicly constituted and communities are transformed. Delineating the spaces formed by diasporic consciousness, Bonus shows how community members appropriate elements from their former homeland and from their new settlements in ways defined by their critical stances against racism, homogenization, complete assimilation, and exclusionary citizenship. Locating Filipino Americans is one of the few books that offers a grounded approach to theoretical analyses of ethnicity and contemporary culture in the U.S. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Meaning Making in Spaces of Identity Reification
Locating Filipino Americans by Rick Bonus is by definition an ethnographic study. Having said that, ethnographic studies carry with them the benefits and risks of undertaking such a project. As most ethnographic studies of this nature are concerned one is able to push forward an agenda without really stating one's agenda up front. In this case, however, bonus is clear that his agenda is plainly descriptive. He deftly moves to describe the Filipino American communities in both Los Angeles and San Diego. Bonus is also clear that he is working within a multi-disciplinary framework and he is examining the connection between identity and space. Locating Filipino Americans is unique in that Bonus is grounded in a theoretical framework that allows us to get a better understanding of the state of affairs. As much as labels allude to a sense of clear-cut definitions, Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian-American group in America just behind the Chinese. The Filipino-American community should be grateful and use this book in an effort to get a better understanding and potential that is clearly self-evident. Bonus has done an important piece that is as informative and thought provoking as it is inspiring.

Bonus posits that particular spaces allow Filipino Americans to react to, oppose the ways in which the dominant discourse has throughout history, and via hegemonic institutions have removed this group of agency, hence voice. Bonus zeroes in on three particular "spaces.": [1] "Oriental" stores, [2] the community centers (where the pinoys practice "palengke" politics), and [3] through the media via the local newspapers. Identifying the spaces and articulating our mechanisms of resistance, Bonus does us a big favor. First, he allows us to see what we are doing. In this sense, he makes us more self-reflective. Second, through this articulation we can now be self-reflective of how we use these mechanisms of resistance to our advantage. Self-reflexivity then allows us to move forward more aware of our actions and move towards some form of positive change. Bonus is also good at showing us how we "invent" ourselves (although the fetish for liminality does not really allow us to pin stuff down in any definite way) and through a reverse sense of "Orientalism" (see his references to Edward Said) in that we tend to appropriate what is needed and exclude what is not useful in an effort to cope with the situation at hand. On the other hand, it seems like Bonus is flirting with the idea that migration becomes a homogenizing experience - which the next generation is losing touch with their roots and becoming more "american" or what they perceive "american" to be. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing but that it is part of an ever-changing landscape of self-identity. Bonus alludes to several key things that he does not really follow through. What is missing is the complexity within the community itself. Bonus begins to write about the 150+ sub-groupings under COPAO in San Diego and another 200+ sub-groupings in San Diego. He alludes to a historical development in terms of migration (with a link to colonialism) and intra-ethnic division and loyalty that undermines social as well as political unity. Consider this work then a seed to even further complexity and exploration.

Power in Everyday Life
This review was published in the fall 2001 issue of _The Pacific Reader:An Asian Pacific North American Review of Books_.

Why do I feel such a deep sense of comfort when I am rummaging through dried fish, canned sardines and Spam at one of the many corner groceries along Jackson Street and Beacon Hill?What social function could "Filipino Time" (i.e., being perpetually late for meetings) serve for Filipino Americans?Or why is it that many times community meetings proceed like chaotic and politically-heated yelling matches?

Perhaps one of the more auspicious experiences of a reader is the time when something, whether a written or visual work, empowers one to see the everyday world freshly and with new eyes.Moreover, for someone like myself, who was a student of Asian American Studies, it is additionally gratifying to witness a new generation of Filipino American scholars making significant contributions to academia in such an original manner.Rick Bonus is currently an assistant professor of American Ethnic Studies at the University of Washington, and he obtained his Ph.D. in Communications at the University of California, San Diego.His first book, Locating Filipino Americans:Ethnicity & the Cultural Politics of Space, is a highly accessible ethnographic study that analyzes the seemingly mundane worlds of Filipino "Oriental" stores and strip malls, community newspapers and beauty pageants in Southern California, and uncovers a powerfully rich and complex network of community building and resistance to racialization by Filipino American women and men.

Central to Bonus' argument is that although Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian American group in the nation, and the largest in California, there is a common complaint that they are mostly invisible from mainstream history, scholarship, media and positions of power.This systematic form of exclusion on the basis of race and ethnicity has encouraged Filipino Americans "to respond to and resist invisibility, exploitation, silencing, and racial constructing, by history and by institutions, as well as a desire to claim a `space' within the rubric `American' on their own terms."

His analysis of these "spaces" in stores, community centers, newspapers and pageants shows Filipino Americans attempting to construct an identity that is both Filipino and American while interrogating it at the same time.This dynamic of resistance and interrogation is something that has historical roots in the Philippines' colonial history and a people's cultural attempts to flourish and define themselves despite oppression, categorization, and tremendous regional diversity.Bonus argues that these particular cultural practices directly challenge these forms of exclusion and invisibility while also reflecting an effort to claim a self-determined space in America.

In his study of these commercial establishments, Bonus combines oral interviews, multi-disciplinary theories, history and ethnographic fieldwork and provides sophisticated and thorough analyses of his findings.What is refreshing is not only the telling Taglish (i.e., a combination of Tagalog and English) responses by interviewees to his questions, but his scholarly commitment to the interviewees of the study.One can see that he understands the art of the interview because he is successful in having their rich voices and concerns speak for themselves.He preserves the excruciating details of the interviews so well that I can imagine them taking place before me - facial expressions, hand gestures and all.

Furthermore, I appreciated his conscious admission of his own location as an ethnographer in relation to the interviewees, and how his facility in Tagalog, his education and generational status opened certain doors to him that perhaps would not be open for other ethnographers.Bonus' scholarly eye roamed in these spaces being very much aware of his position as both a critical observer and a Filipino American, absorbing the meaningful details in his encounters with great openness, depth and reflection.Throughout the book, there are numerous instances where he lyrically describes the bustling in a community center before a big pageant, the cramped quarters of a small newspaper's offices and a reporter's passion to cover a story, or the noise and pungent smells of the market.Such descriptions capture a particular cultural spirit, setting the foreground for the poetic and political voices of the community members and their own views of what these spaces mean to them as individuals and as a collective.

Bonus' first book is an important contribution to interdisciplinary studies on the politics of race and space, and how identity is constructed and communities are enlivened on a daily basis.I don't think I will approach an Oriental store or participate in a meeting in the same manner anymore because this book has provided a sophisticated articulation of what such individual activities mean on a local, national and international scale.Now that this promising scholar is currently teaching at the University of Washington, I am very eager to see his research relate to Filipino Americans in the Pacific Northwest.

Power in Everyday Life
This review was published in the fall 2001 issue of _The Pacific Reader:An Asian Pacific North American Review of Books(..) Central to Bonus’ argument is that although Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian American group in the nation, and the largest in California, there is a common complaint that they are mostly invisible from mainstream history, scholarship, media and positions of power.(...)

Power in Everyday Life
This review was published in the fall 2001 issue of _The Pacific Reader:An Asian Pacific North American Review of Books_.

Why do I feel such a deep sense of comfort when I am rummaging through dried fish, canned sardines and Spam at one of the many corner groceries along Jackson Street and Beacon Hill?What social function could "Filipino Time" (i.e., being perpetually late for meetings) serve for Filipino Americans?Or why is it that many times community meetings proceed like chaotic and politically-heated yelling matches?

Perhaps one of the more auspicious experiences of a reader is the time when something, whether a written or visual work, empowers one to see the everyday world freshly and with new eyes.Moreover, for someone like myself, who was a student of Asian American Studies, it is additionally gratifying to witness a new generation of Filipino American scholars making significant contributions to academia in such an original manner.Rick Bonus is currently an assistant professor of American Ethnic Studies at the University of Washington, and he obtained his Ph.D. in Communications at the University of California, San Diego.His first book, Locating Filipino Americans:Ethnicity & the Cultural Politics of Space, is a highly accessible ethnographic study that analyzes the seemingly mundane worlds of Filipino "Oriental" stores and strip malls, community newspapers and beauty pageants in Southern California, and uncovers a powerfully rich and complex network of community building and resistance to racialization by Filipino American women and men.

Central to Bonus' argument is that although Filipino Americans are the second largest Asian American group in the nation, and the largest in California, there is a common complaint that they are mostly invisible from mainstream history, scholarship, media and positions of power.This systematic form of exclusion on the basis of race and ethnicity has encouraged Filipino Americans "to respond to and resist invisibility, exploitation, silencing, and racial constructing, by history and by institutions, as well as a desire to claim a `space' within the rubric `American' on their own terms."

His analysis of these "spaces" in stores, community centers, newspapers and pageants shows Filipino Americans attempting to construct an identity that is both Filipino and American while interrogating it at the same time.This dynamic of resistance and interrogation is something that has historical roots in the Philippines' colonial history and a people's cultural attempts to flourish and define themselves despite oppression, categorization, and tremendous regional diversity.Bonus argues that these particular cultural practices directly challenge these forms of exclusion and invisibility while also reflecting an effort to claim a self-determined space in America.

In his study of these commercial establishments, Bonus combines oral interviews, multi-disciplinary theories, history and ethnographic fieldwork and provides sophisticated and thorough analyses of his findings.What is refreshing is not only the telling Taglish (i.e., a combination of Tagalog and English) responses by interviewees to his questions, but his scholarly commitment to the interviewees of the study.One can see that he understands the art of the interview because he is successful in having their rich voices and concerns speak for themselves.He preserves the excruciating details of the interviews so well that I can imagine them taking place before me - facial expressions, hand gestures and all.

Furthermore, I appreciated his conscious admission of his own location as an ethnographer in relation to the interviewees, and how his facility in Tagalog, his education and generational status opened certain doors to him that perhaps would not be open for other ethnographers.Bonus' scholarly eye roamed in these spaces being very much aware of his position as both a critical observer and a Filipino American, absorbing the meaningful details in his encounters with great openness, depth and reflection.Throughout the book, there are numerous instances where he lyrically describes the bustling in a community center before a big pageant, the cramped quarters of a small newspaper's offices and a reporter's passion to cover a story, or the noise and pungent smells of the market.Such descriptions capture a particular cultural spirit, setting the foreground for the poetic and political voices of the community members and their own views of what these spaces mean to them as individuals and as a collective.

Bonus' first book is an important contribution to interdisciplinary studies on the politics of race and space, and how identity is constructed and communities are enlivened on a daily basis.I don't think I will approach an Oriental store or participate in a meeting in the same manner anymore because this book has provided a sophisticated articulation of what such individual activities mean on a local, national and international scale.Now that this promising scholar is currently teaching at the University of Washington, I am very eager to see his research relate to Filipino Americans in the Pacific Northwest. ... Read more

Product Description
Offering a broad overview of the Asian American experience, Asian Americans provides an accessible resource for all students interested in the expanding and important Asian American population. While historical information is provided for each group, the main focus is on the variables and issues that impact Asian American life today. The scholars who author the chapters look at topics such as labor force participation and economic status, educational achievements, intermarriage, intergroup relations, and settlement patterns. Photo essays help to enhance the presentations. ... Read more

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This unique book compiles some 120 remarkable letters from Japanese citizens to General Douglas MacArthur during the postwar occupation of Japan (1945-1952). Painstakingly culled from a vast collection, these letters evoke the unfiltered voices of people of all classes and occupations during the tremendous upheaval of the early postwar period, when the Japanese were coming to terms with the devastating losses of the war, adjusting to a new political system, and creating the framework for economic and social recovery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Rich and Illuminating!
"Dear General MacArthur" is a wonderful and very illuminating compilation of letters written by the Japanese to Gen. MacArthur during the American Occupation (1945-1952). Sodei's running commentary alongside the letters is full of powerful insight and helpful explanations which allow the reader to genuinely understand how, and why the Japanese wrote the General with their praise, adoration, pleas, and criticism regarding him and the occupation. It is a "must" read for any who are interested in, or are students of Japanese culture. The letters are moving, incredible, sad, and hilarious. Never in world history did a country ever "love" MacArthur as much as the Japanese did after WWII. As the Pulitzer Prize-winning and illustrious historian of Japan, John W. Dower notes in his foreword, "This is a rare gem of a book. We have nothing else like it concerning Japan." Compiled and expounded by the foremost authority on, and biographer of MacArthur, it is a book that all should enjoy. ... Read more

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This book is one of the first scholarly analyses of the current social constructions of Chinese American masculinities.Arguing that many of these notions are limited to stereotypes, Chan goes beyond this to present a more complex understanding of the topic. Incorporating historical references, literary analysis and sociological models to describe the construct a variety of masculine identities, Chan also examines popular novels (Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan), films (Bruce Lee), comic books (Master of Kung Fu), and literature (M. Butterfly). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good book plagued by poor research
Let me preface my review by stating my interest in this book was the author's interpetation of the Fu Manchu character. Overall, this was a good book on an important topic that receives scant attention: prejudice against Asians. The Fu Manchu character, like most fiction from Colonial Britain, has racist elements. However, the author is not sufficiently familiar with the work of the character's creator, Sax Rohmer. Rohmer loved what was then called the Orient. His heroines are Oriental. Fu Manchu is depicted as a genius and a man of integrity at all times. Later books in the series (Rohmer wrote of the character from 1912 to 1959) depict him not as evil, but as devoted to a cause often (but not always) at odds to the West. The rise of Communism in China is at cross-purposes to Fu Manchu's ambitions and the last few books see the character more on the side of the Western protagonists in defeating their common enemy. What is more, Fu Manchu was part of a tradition (owing much to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Professor Moriarity and Sherlock Holmes) of villains and heroes with veiled admiration for one another and who would clearly unite if not for their divisive principles. The author seems to be reacting more to the hackneyed portrayal of the character in film and television adaptations (which are far from faithful to Rohmer's text). Case-in-point, the infamous Fu Manchu moustache which the author emphasizes as a racial stereotype is not the invention of the character's creator who described Fu Manchu as devoid of facial hair in all thirteen novels and four shorter works that he appeared in. Even in the earliest, most racially insensitive books, Rohmer was quick to note that most Chinese immigrants were law-abiding citizens. The harmful stereotype that sprung from the character developed seperately from the writer who loved all things Eastern and wanted to share that love with his readers the world over.

Critical and necessary book on Chinese/Asian-Am. men!!!
So much of men's studies does not take men of color into account.Then, that which does focuses on African-American men, and sometimes Latino men.Thus, Chan's book is a direly needed intervention.The book focuses upon Chinese-American men, but it is applicable to Asian-Ams of many ethnicities.This book would be a wonderful edition to any collection of Asian-American studies texts or works on men of color.Chan has two projects.First, he discusses the history and racist underpinnings of four Chinese-Am men in popular culture of this century:Fu Manchu, Charlie Chan, Bruce Lee, and Shiang-Chi.Second, Chan is trying to formulate a Chinese-American masculinity that is neither sexist nor homophobic.He thus encourages "ambi-sexuality" and borrows the idea of "democratic manhood" from Michael Kimmel.My only critique of this text is that it did not have photos of the characters Chan examines.(I mean, I have heard of Charlie Chan, but I've never seen any of the decades-old films that use him.)In brief, if you enjoyed what Lisa Lowe said about Asian-American women in "Immigrant Acts", you will really love what Chan says about male counterparts in this book.Many readers may be turned off by the deeply academic, and some might say overly "PC" lingo that the author employs.Still, I think every Chinese-American man should own this book.I am very pleased that I bought and read this book; it's brilliant! ... Read more

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Asian/Pacific Islander American Women is the first collection devoted to the historical study of A/PI women's diverse experiences in America. Covering a broad terrain from pre-large scale Asian emigration and Hawaii in its pre-Western contact period to the continental United States, the Philippines, and Guam at the end of the twentieth century, the text views women as historical subjects actively negotiating complex hierarchies of power.

The volume presents new findings about a range of groups, including recent immigrants to the U.S. and understudied communities. Comprised of original new work, it includes chapters on women who are Cambodian, Chamorro, Chinese, Filipino, Hmong, Japanese, Korean, Native Hawaiian, South Asian, and Vietnamese Americans. It addresses a wide range of women's experiences-as immigrants, military brides, refugees, American born, lesbians, workers, mothers, beauty contestants, and community activists. There are also pieces on historiography and methodology, and bibliographic and video documentary resources.

This groundbreaking anthology is an important addition to the scholarship in Asian/Pacific American studies, ethnic studies, American studies, women's studies, and U.S. history, and is a valuable resource for scholars and students.

Contributors include: Xiaolan Bao, Sucheng Chan, Catherine Ceniza Choy, Vivian Loyola Dames, Jennifer Gee, Madhulika S. Khandelwal, Lili M. Kim, Nancy In Kyung Kim, Erika Lee, Shirley Jennifer Lim, Valerie Matsumoto, Sucheta Mazumdar, Davianna Pomaika'i McGregor, Trinity A. Ordona, Rhacel Salazar Parreñas, Amy Ku'uleialoha Stillman, Charlene Tung, Kathleen Uno, Linda Trinh Võ, Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, Ji-Yeon Yuh, and Judy Yung. ... Read more

Product Description
Remapping Asian American History discusses new frameworks such as transnationalism, the political contexts of international migrations, and a multipolar approach to the study of contemporary U.S. race relations. Collectively, the essays in this volume challenge some long-held assumptions about Asian-American communities and point to new directions in Asian American historiography. ... Read more

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Asian American Sexualities works to dispel the stereotype of oriental sexual decadence, as well as the "model minority" heterosexual Asian sterotype in the US.

Writing from an impressive array of interdisciplinary perspectives, the contributors discuss a variety of topics, including sexuality and identity politics; community activism and gay activism; transnational aspects of love between women in Thailand; queer South Asian culture in the US; gay and lesbian filmmakers; same-sex sexuality in Pacific literature; and Asian American male homosexuality and AIDS. The relationship of the gay and lesbian experience to Asian American studies and Ethnic Studies is also explored. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Underrated book about API gay men and lesbians
This book is pretty good; I actually enjoyed it more than the more-popular "Q&A" anthology. This anthology features articles from the leading gay and lesbian API academics in the country. I purposely say "API" because the book includes a chapter on gay Polynesians. There's gender parity in the articles, or at least the editor is mindful of not making another androcentric book.I think all gay Asian-Americans should get their hands on a copy of this book. It's neither hyperacademic babble nor another cheesy poetry book. It would also be a great resource for ethnic studies majors. I think straight API allies will enjoy it as well. I recommend this book. It's a keeper. ... Read more

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In examining Asian American ethnicity and communication, William Gudykunst begins by summarizing the cultural characteristics of Asian cultures that affect Asian Americans' communication. Next, he looks at Asian American immigration patterns, ethnic institutions, and family patterns, as well as at how ethnic and cultural identities influence Asian Americans' communication. The author focuses on how communication is similar and different among Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, and Vietnamese Americans. Where applicable, similarities and differences in communication between Asian Americans and European Americans are also examined. Gudykunst concludes with a discussion of the role of communication in Asian immigrants' acculturation to the United States. Scholars of intercultural communication will find this book useful, as will students in courses on intergroup communication.

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Customer Reviews (8)

Must Read
Anyone with an interest in Asian American history, politics, and culture needs to read this book.A courageous effort to synthesize and contextualize the Asian American experience.

academically rigorous, and perhaps not an intro text?
With so many negative reviews of this book, I feel the need to give some context.

About the difficulty of the language: first, those reading this text should note that you will be entering mid-stream into an academic conversation already taking place between marxism, poststructuralism, feminism and Asian American cultural politics (among other strands of thought). Academic language at its best helps us conceptualize in new ways, and like any language, we need to learn it.

Second, as readers we should also be careful to not project what might be our own anti-intellectualism onto the texts we read. There are reasons why this book is a classic Asian American Studies text. Stick with it, and familiarize yourself with the different theoretical frameworks that are woven into it. There are many theoretical and practical insights to be gained from Lowe's work that are relevant to thinking about Asian American cultural politics.

Pain.
When my favorite professor assigned "Immigrant Acts" for an Independent Study on race, immigration and labor, he said, rather dryly, "I'll just throw that in there to see if it pisses you off."

I've read plenty of bad academic writing, but Lowe astounded me anew. "Turgid," "bloated," "ponderous," and "pompous" are adjectives that came to mind as I attempted to claw meaning from her prose. It's that bleeding awful.

Certainly clearer, more graceful, and far less alienating ways to convey these ideas exist (and no, they aren't dumbed-down). Why, oh why, do some academics *insist* on torturing their readers like this? The self-consciously opaque language does nothing to add substance or authority to Lowe's argument. If anything, it weakens it; there are only so many times the reader can exclaim, "Oh, so *that's* what she meant! Why didn't she just say it?" before weary contempt kicks in.

Had my professor not insisted I read it, I would have ditched "Immigrant Acts" without regret. He was right--this book *did* piss me off, but in the wrong way. It wasn't the ideas or the argument that provoked me; it was the utter lack of regard for the reader.

I did find Lowe's arguments intriguing once I managed to translate them, and I particularly liked Chapter 4, which critiques official productions of multiculturalism. Yet I'm still not entirely sure the work required was worth it. I also suspect there are finer points that I missed altogether, but since Lowe can't be bothered to present them clearly, I don't care to go back and try to find them.

So gnarled with big words and long sentences...
I had to read this for my Theories of Race course at Mills College, and after the class collectively ranted against this structural disaster, I am sure the professor won't use it again. Lowe knows of what she speaks, but can you decipher it? We couldn't. And, it is unfortunate, as she is obviously a leader in her field. I resent scholars making things overly difficult, as it alienates the reader - and boy, did Lowe do a fabulous job with that! I suggest reading Ron Takaki if you want a good, very rewarding look at ethnicity in America. He rocks! Lowe rocks...somewhere, but not here. (meow!)

from a former Lisa Lowe student
Personally, I feel that Professor Lowe is very insightful about theory, the Asian American experience, colonialism, identity politics, cultural criticism. etc. I learned a lot from her as a student and after reading this book, I continue to learn from her.I think Immigrant Actsdeserves a 5 star rating for academic merit.

BUT, it has been 5 years since I taken one of her courses and I have forgotten how jargon filled her language can be. After being away from academia, reading this book was a daunting task. As much as I respect this text, I feel that it is unfortunate that Professor Lowe cannot relate to a general audience.She is definitely (intentionally or unintentionally)catering to fellow scholars.She has a lot to say and offer her reading public.Its too bad that most people can not understand her.I give only one star for writing style and being reader friendly.Sorry, Professor Lowe. ... Read more

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Asian American Women: Issues, Concerns, and Responsive Human and Civil Rights Advocacy reveals the struggles of Asian American women at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder where hunger, illness, sweatshop labor, exposure to hazardous chemicals and even involuntary servitude are everyday realities. Asian American women of all socio-economic classes suffer from domestic violence whose root causes stem from the particular forms of patriarchy that exist in Asian cultures. Their health and lives are endangered due to stereotypes about Asian women. The lack of research or the lumping together of the over 24 subgroups of Asian Americans into a homogeneous whole misleads the public as to the extent of injustices inflicted on Asian American women. The book captures their suffering and also the fighting spirit of Asian American women who have waged social and economic justice campaigns to right the wrongs against them. The book is a call to action to Asian Americans, policy makers, civil rights organizations and the philanthropic community to support Asian American women in their struggles to advance their social justice agenda.

The second edition was updated by Asian American women activists, advocates and organizers who have dedicated their lives to the elimination of the human and civil rights violations described in this book.

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Examining contemporary Okinawan culture, politics, and historical memory, this book traces the dynamic reconstruction and reframing of Okinawan identity. The contributors explore the cultural and political expression that has flowered in the past decade with the vigorous growth of local museums and memorials and of the popularity of distinctive Okinawan music and literature, as well as of political movements targeting both U.S. military bases and Japanese national policy on ecological, developmental, and equity grounds. A key strategy has been the mobilization of historical memory, particularly recalling the violent subordination of Okinawan interests to those of the Japanese and American wartime and occupation governments. With its intertwining themes of memory, nationality, ethnicity, and cultural conflict in contemporary society, the book will be valuable reading for scholars and students across the social sciences and humanities. ... Read more

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The divide over race is usually framed as one over Black and White. Sociologist Eileen O’Brien is interested in that middle terrain, what sits in the ever-increasing gray area she dubbed the racial middle.

The Racial Middle, tells the story of the other racial and ethnic groups in America, mainly Latinos and Asian Americans, two of the largest and fastest-growing minorities in the United States. Using dozens of in-depth interviews with people of various ethnic and generational backgrounds, Eileen O’Brien challenges the notion that, to fit into American culture, the only options available to Latinos and Asian Americans are either to become white or to become brown.

Instead, she offers a wholly unique analysis of Latinos and Asian Americans own distinctive experiences—those that aren’t typically White nor Black. Though living alongside Whites and Blacks certainly frames some of their own identities and interpretations of race, O’Brien keenly observes that these groups struggles with discrimination, their perceived isolation from members of other races, and even how they define racial justice, are all significant realities that inform their daily lives and, importantly, influence their opportunities for advancement in society.

A refreshing and lively approach to understanding race and ethnicity in the twenty-first century, The Racial Middle gives voice to Latinos and Asian-Americans place in this country’s increasingly complex racial mosaic.

Customer Reviews (2)

Deft handling of the complexities of race today
It is not often that I read a book that simultaneously expands my knowledge base on social and cultural realities AND draws me into deep reflection upon my own life in the midst of the knowledge.What a gift Eileen O'Brien has given this cyclical armchair sociologist.Throughout the reading of The Radical Middle I found myself exhaling with deeps sighs of self awareness while being moved by the thoughtful way in which she has dug deeply into the lives of those who contributed to her study.

The Radical Middle is the account of what many of us have experienced who have lived a life in a world who's rhetoric around race is arguable controlled and guided by that of the White/Black dynamic.Those of us "brown" folks have been, for generations, stuck in the middle and much of society not knowing what do with us.Are you White?Are you Black?Where are you from?Where did you learn to speak English? "What are you?" This list of confusions goes on and on.Many of us know exactly what this cultural location feels like, we are adeptly able to shift from context to context without skipping a beat, but there are few who have captured this experience so well.

But . . . now addd to your list of books to read on race, The Radical Middle: Latinos and Asian American Living Beyond the Racial Divide by Eileen O'Brien.

While this book feel a little academic at times, especially the first chapter where we get a glimpse of the methods that were used, the rest of it is deft dance between the sharing of first account stories and experiences and O'Brien's insightful analysis and reflection.Throughout the book OBrien acknowledges and affirms the realities of this middle racial reality while challenging some of the ways that this group is still impacted by race, racism and the divide between White and Black.

Here are a few snippets from the book.

on self-understanding of race . . . Perhaps the most striking finding is that racial and ethnic categories operate more as sliding scales or continuums in the mind of respondents rather than hard and fast classifications.That is, one can conceive of race and ethnicity as continuous variables rather than categorical.Race and ethnicity appear to be "relative" designations that take shape for respondents as meaningful or salient categories for them depending on the context or who is surrounding them. - page 30

on the middle race's upholding of racist paradigms . . . When we look at this racial hierarchy from the vantage point of Latinos and Asian Americans themselves, we see that they are highly complicit in its maintenance.Leeway is given for white partners that is not given for blacks.Often antilock prohibitions are not explicitly stated, and are seen as taken for granted or matter-of-fact. - page 123

on the future of race . . . The future of race may be thus not in academic theories and racial terminology, but in the everyday experiences of the racial middle themselves, as they do the work of carving out a space that they ca call their own.This space values bilingualism, even multilingualism, language "of the world," whether or not they seem to correspond to one's particular ethnicity.This space values cultural traditions that do not emanate from the dominate culture, and welcomes the opportunity to celebrate multiple traditions simultaneously. - page 217

Needless to say, I would highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested what I would call an "emerging" reality of the racial landscape in the United States that will continue to affect all facets of American life: religious, political, social, cultural, etc.And yes, it does have a Kindle version.

In-depth interviews illuminate a changing America
This is a fascinating and well-written book about the growing Asian American and Latino population and their views on and experience of race and ethnic relations in the U.S.It is based on fifty in depth interviews, presented in sufficient detail that you can draw your own conclusions and agree or disagree with the author's analysis. O'Brien starts with recent debates over how the addition of millions of people of Hispanic and Asian origin to what was once a predominantly white and African-American population is changing race relations in America.Some suggest that a new majority coalition of people of color and white allies will bring an end to racism. Others suggest that African-Americans will remain at the bottom of a racial hierarchy that is changing from white over non-white to non-black over black. O'Brien finds that there is evidence to support some aspects of both of these theories, and that the members of the "racial middle" have their own ideas and experiences to add to the mix.

The interviews provide an enlightening picture of the complex interaction of culture, ethnicity and race. The Asian Americans and Latinos in these interviews describe the ways in which they are pulled in different directions by the expectations of family and ethnic community, by their concepts of what it means to be an American, and by the stereotypes applied to them by white Americans. They are very aware of the ethnic diversity within their own "racial" groups, and dislike being racially stereotyped, yet they often stereotype the other groups they are not part of.

My major disagreement with O'Brien comes when she argues in Chapter Five that her Asian American and Latino interviewees are subject to pervasive white racism and that they are largely in denial of that fact. It appears to me that the people she interviews make a plausible case for their own views to the contrary. The interviewees say that they think much of the stereotyping they encounter (usually a presumption of "foreignness") is simple ignorance, and the examples they give seem to bear that out.When an older white American with a Japanese daughter-in-law is unable to comprehend that an Asian American woman he is speaking with at a social gathering grew up in America, speaks only English, is of Thai descent, and knows nothing about Japan, it seems quite a stretch to consider that racism rather than ignorance. Similarly, when people have never heard of Macao or Cambodia, that too is ignorance, however annoying it may be to people whose families originate in those places. And when several people say that the discrimination that they face as Asian Americans or Latinos is of a different and far less harmful nature than the discrimination faced by African-Americans, I see no reason for O'Brien to describe this as a form of denial or minimization of racism, especially since, in a somewhat different context she herself distinguishes between her respondents own "in-group ethnocentrism" and the "rigid inflexibility" that characterizes "anti-black racism" (p.101).It seems a very accurate statement.

In-depth interviews such as these can help distinguish between different types of ethnic prejudices, ranging from those that are largely based on ignorance, to those based on varying degrees of ethnocentrism to those based on racism. Historian George M. Fredrickson says that racism has two components, "one is a belief that the differences between the ethnic groups involved are permanent and ineradicable.If conversion or assimilation is a real possibility, we have religious or cultural intolerance but not racism. The second is ... its linkage to the exercise of power in the name of race and the resulting patterns of domination or exclusion" (Racism: A Short History, 2002).It is necessary to understand the differences between types of prejudice in order to develop policies to overcome them and it is not useful to simply label them all as "racism".Telles and Ortiz' recent book, Generations of Exclusion: Mexican Americans, Assimilation and Race (2008), sets an excellent example as it carefully distinguishes between impermeable racialized barriers and barriers that can be overcome and examines how the barriers against full equality have changed for four generations of Mexican Americans. However, their book is based on surveys and O'Brien's in depth interviews add an important dimension to our ability to understand people's lived experience, in addition to covering a wider range of ethnic groups.

O'Brien makes another important contribution in the book's concluding portrayal of several people she interviewed whose self-identification is multi-cultural and whose mixture of national origins, religious beliefs and languages spoken breaks out of stereotypes and transcends fixed racial identifications.This group wants to "change the rules of the racial game" because they identify with "complexity... rather than any homogenous identity".They value multilingualism and different cultural traditions and want to take what they consider best from each without being labeled as "acting white", "acting black", "acting (or not acting) Asian" or "acting (or not acting) Latino".Despite her generally pessimistic analysis of American race relations, O'Brien joins in the hope that this group helps point the way to a genuinely diverse American future.

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Painters, photographers, sculptors, and installation artists are among the seventy-five artists represented in this guide to Asian American artists. Within each entry, Kara Hallmark describes the artists' early life, education and training, and impact on the art world both in their country of heritage as well as the U.S. While some artists dismiss any notion of their heritage influencing their work, others describe how assimilation and immigration affected themselves and their families, particularly those affected by World War II and the Japanese internment camps. Interviews with living artists, as well as extensive images, enhance entries that celebrate the contributions of Asian American Artists to American art.

Asian artists from China, Cambodia, Hawaii, Japan, Korea, the Phillipines, Taiwan and Thailand are represented in this volume:-Leo Amino -Thai Bui -Keo Bun -Kip Fulbeck -Jin Soo Kim -Maya Lin -Frank Okada -Rirkirt Tiravanija

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In Becoming Asian American, Nazli Kibria draws upon extensiveinterviews she conducted with second-generation Chinese and Korean Americans in Boston andLos Angeles who came of age during the 1980s and 1990s to explore the dynamics of race,identity, and adaptation within these communities. Moving beyond the frameworks created tostudy other racial minorities and ethnic whites, she examines the various strategies used bymembers of this group to define themselves as both Asian and American.

In her discussions on such topics as childhood, interaction with non-Asian Americans, college,work, and the problems of intermarriage and child-raising, Kibria finds wide discrepanciesbetween the experiences of Asian Americans and those described in studies of other ethnicgroups. While these differences help to explain the unusually successful degree of socialintegration and acceptance into mainstream American society enjoyed by this "model minority,"it is an achievement that Kibria’s interviewees admit they can never take for granted. Instead,they report that maintaining this acceptance "requires constant effort on their part." Kibriasuggests further developments may resolve this situation—especially the emergence of a new kindof pan–Asian American identity that would complement the Chinese or Korean Americanidentity rather than replace it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not much new...
In the research on contemporary immigration and identity formation, Professor Kibria has done some pretty good work on gender negotiations (In journal such as gender and society) as well as other aspects of identity. In this book however there's just not much in this book here that noone else has touched on, the research is pretty extensive and comprehensive in its scope and does capture the social field of Second generation Asian Americans- but there really is not much depth and in the end, there's nothing new... ... Read more

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This text reinterprets a misunderstood epoch of the Asian American experience_the Asian American movement (AAM). The authors address the AAM's dramatic impact on the direction of Asian American political and social activity beginning in the 1960s, particularly in terms of neighborhood redevelopment, civil rights, international solidarity, and the Jesse Jackson presidential campaigns. They argue that the movement became the vehicle to bring Asian American communities into the mainstream of civil life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An asset to Asian American research and history
The Snake Dance of Asian American Activism is a pivotal work in Asian American research.Liu, Geron and Lai explore the multiple aspects of the Asian American Movement and the history surrounding it.They open up a new world of information for any student, scholar or researcher.For anyone who is interested in diving into or learning more about Asian America, this book is a must!

Awesome!
Long awaited book on the Asian American Movement.

Important background of the moment we are in with Asian American activism. Explains the legacy and origins of important campaigns (Vincent Chin, internment reparations) and institutions in the community from health centers and service organizations to grassroots groups. For anybody who wants to figure out how to do good in the world and create a movement for change, especially in the Asian American community. ... Read more

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In this incisive and polemical book, E. San Juan, Jr., the leading authority on Philippines-U.S. literary studies, goes beyond fashionable postcolonial theory to bring to our attention the complex history of Philippines-U.S. literary interactions. In sharp contrast to other works on the subject, the author presents Filipino literary production within the context of a long and sustained tradition of anti-imperialist insurgency, and foregrounds the strong presence of oppositional writing in the Philippines. After establishing the historical context of U.S. intervention and Filipino resistance, San Juan examines the work of two very significant writers. The first, Carlos Bulosan, a journalist and union activist, became in the author's words a 'tribune' of the people. Bulosan's writings which combine critique and prophecy do not allow us to forget the atrocities inflicted on the Filipino people.The other, Jose Garcia Villa, lapsed into premature obscurity on account of the complexity of his writings about the Filipino predicament. Read through San Juan's eyes, these writers are revealed as multifaceted thinkers and activists, not stereotypical ethnic artists.San Juan goes beyond literary studies and contemporary debates about nationalism and politics to point the way to a new direction in radical transformative writing. He uncovers hidden agendas in many previous accounts of U.S.-Philippine relations, and this book exemplifies how best to combine activist scholarship with historically grounded cultural commentary.Author note: E. San Juan, Jr. is Fellow of the Center for the Humanities and Visiting Professor of English, Wesleyan University, and Director of the Philippines Cultural Studies Center. He was recently chair of the Department of Comparative American Cultures, Washington University, and Professor of Ethnic Studies at Bowling Green State University, Ohio. He received the 1999 Centennial Award for Literature from the Philippines Cultural Center. His most recent books are "Beyond Postcolonial Theory", "From Exile to Diaspora", "After Postcolonialism", and "Racism and Cultural Studies". ... Read more