1. How does the text circulate? The material analyzed by Robert Lee circulates in the form of a book that was originally published by Temple University Press on 1999. The author’s targeted audience lies within a broad spectrum that primarily consists of marginalized Asian Americans and uninformed members of society who have been either directly or indirectly affected by intrinsic forms of racism depicted in various forms of mass communication. Orientals: Asian Americans In Popular Culture, attempts to analyze the portrayal of Asians and Asian Americans in the media from a cultural perspective and their social implications. Lastly, parenthetical citations are used when the author references statistical data from sociological case studies or …show more content…
What is it about, empirically? (What is being studied as the object?) The book was formulated using an argumentative approach that primarily focuses on the racial ideology that cemented Asian stereotypes in American culture. In addition, the author effectively utilizes different sociopolitical epochs ranging from the conclusion of the second world war to the Reagan-Bush administration era in order to accurately contextualize the racial category many Asians were forced to occupy in American Society. With that in mind, the scale of the argument put forth by the author is limited in it’s applicability because it focuses on the social condition that prevailed during that time in American culture. Lastly, I was able to identify one additional source of comparison that has directly contributed to the analysis of socially designed racial hierarchies in American culture. For example, “Race, Racism & American Law,” (1973, print) by Professor Derrick Bell examines the crucial role racial hierarchies plays in promoting socioeconomic disparities such as income, wealth and opportunity between non-white individuals in …show more content…
Write a paragraph discussing a passage that inspired you, made you think, or frustrated you,and how it did so. The paragraph should be between 160-300 words, and you should cite the page number of the passage. One of the more interesting passages in the reading is located on page 146, paragraph one, and it revolves around the subject of ethnic assimilation as a cold war containment tactic utilized to circumvent the spread of communism, race mixing and homosexuality in American culture. Subsequently, I perceived the author’s explanation to be extremely powerful because it discussed the political climate that was directly responsible in crafting the narrative for the triumphant ethnic assimilation of Asians in America. The author goes on to acknowledge that the United States during the cold war era wanted to project Democratic values where people of color could enjoy equal rights and upward mobility. Moreover, the author effectively outlines the effects that the 1955 Time Magazine article had on creating a new racial hierarchy system in American. In my opinion, the authors decision to utilize the designation “model minority” as a means of explaining how many Asian Americans have been and continue to be placed in unsavory positions that directly contribute to racial hierarchies is extremely insightful and potent. In essence, the success of asian assimilation in America has culminated in the demotion of other ethnic minorities such as blacks and hispanics, but ultimately
Chapter six examines the anti-Chinese sentiment with the emerging class antagonism and turmoil between white capitalists and workers. The unwelcomed arrival of Chinese immigrants brought along their own social organizations such as the huiguan, fongs, and tongs. These types of social organizations secured areas of employment and housing for Chinese immigrants in California. This social structure that was unknown to Anglos led them to also categorize Chinese on the same level as Indians by depicting them as lustful heathens whom were out to taint innocent white women. These images were also perpetuated onto Chinese women, thus, also sexualizing them as all prostitutes.
Using The Shifting Grounds of Race by Scott Kurashige focuses on the role of African Americans and Japanese Americans played in the social and political struggle that re-formed twentieth-century Los Angeles. By linking important historical events, such as Black Civil rights movement, NAACP, and Japanese Alien Land Law, internment camps, Kurashige also explains the classical black & white separation to then explore the multiethnic magnitudes of segregation and integration. Understanding how segregation, oppression, and racism shaped the area of Los Angeles became a shared interest between African American and Japanese Americans living together within diverse urban communities. Using this newly profound empowered a mental state that prepared
The model minority hypothesis is where Asians were supposed to be economic and academically successful, respectful to authority, high moral values, adhere to strict gender roles, enjoyed strong and stable nuclear families and other Asian triats they are deemed to possess. The model minority term began after the confession program where Chinese immigrants can confess their illegal document status to become status, but must turn in any other Chinese who is using undocumented paperwork. Model minority was used frequently as young white kids become rebellious This notion of a model minority according to historian Helen Wu is that there were “two dominant American values during the cold war”. These values were the valorization of nuclear families
Everyday the future in America looks brighter for the issues dealing with race and identity. Brave souls are not letting racism, class discrimination, or sexism hold them back anymore. Furthermore, the fight for a balanced society that pushes for equality is on the horizon. As we close on an era, based on purely the skin of the person, we need to analyze the impacts of the Ethnicity paradigm and Class paradigm on politics of the 20th century. Race and Ethnicity are used interchangeable in everyday conversation, however; they are not the same.
he past 40 years have witnessed an increase of Asian athletes in American sports. In addition to their low population, earlier Asians lived in an era when racial discrimination and oppression impeded their access into sports (Zhao & Park, 2013). Asians had been discriminated against since the arrival of Chinese immigrants as cheap labor for the railroad and mining industries during the mid-1800s. This discrimination became more obvious during World War II when thousands of mostly Japanese Americans were forced out of their properties, separated from family and friends, and placed in internment camps. There they were subject to horrific living conditions, extreme deprivation and brutality.
Racial formation is the process by which humans classify other human beings based on what they look like and where they come from. To racialize someone is to categorize someone; however, race is not natural, and is in actuality a product of sociohistorical processes. Because racial classifications are manmade, it is pivotal to consider the context and time period of racial systems because they change with history. They are a social construction rather than a biological reality, meaning they can be created, destroyed, and transformed. These processes can be observed when we look at how the Irish, who were initially subject to intense racial discrimination, adopted “whiteness,” or how the Chinese, who were also limited to strenuous physical labor, became the model minority.
In both of these articles, the authors show similarities of discrimination however the articles highlight differences using diction, anecdotes, and tone throughout their writing with the soul purpose to account for racism. The authors write and project towards a certain audience to acknowledged the racial issues the people are still facing.
The historical lineage between the African and Asian diasporas present a reciprocal relationship of influence and experience. Throughout the passage of time, these bodies of people have been both opposing forces and allies; in response to the racial tensions surrounding their respective groups, in their corresponding environments. Interactions between Africans and Asians created a dynamic that whites often felt threatened by but also used to wield power and institute dissension among the groups. By utilizing facets of colorblindness, multiculturalism, primordialism, polyculturalism, and Afro-orientalism, racial formation will examined as it exists within the Afro-Asian dynamic. American meritocracy presents a front that states that individuals may succeed and attain power on a basis of exclusively ability and talent, regardless of other factors such as race and
African Americans on the battle front are put into segregated divisions, whereas Native Americans dealt with compliment racism or unintentional racism. Chinese Americans were concerned with being accused of being Japanese, while the Japanese Americans tried to prove they were American too. Throughout his book, Takaki demonstrates the varying levels of racism experienced, and how hard work and perseverance helped these groups prove themselves to some degree. Takaki claims, all of these minorities groups, gained some form of freedom and equality either through the military or through job opportunities and improvements.
Solommon Yohannes October 5th, 2017 Sociology& 101 Mr. Woo Racial Inequality Viewed Through the Conflict Perspective Lens The racial inequality that we have in modern day blossomed from the historic oppression and comprehensive prejudice of minority groups. From the very beginning of “American” history, other groups of people who were not of European decent were discriminated against and treated inhumanely and without the smallest regard for their lives. Native American populations were decimated by diseases brought oversea by Europeans and forced from their ancestral lands by settlers to make room for their expanding populations.
America’s racist ideals were seeded way before the bombing of pearl harbor. Acts like the Naturalization Act of 1870, Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, and the Immigration Act of 1924 grew racism towards Asians. (Notes). This would lead to the sentiment that Japanese people did not belong in America. In document 9, this is supported with the statement “The Chinese and Japanese are not bona fide citizens.”
Even though the group of minorities seem to be increasing, “such as Asian Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and African Americans, whiteness still conveys an ideology of privilege and power,” (Blank,
She talked about all the good things about Asians but portrayed America as a bad place, trying to motivate more Asians to become active in fighting for their rights. It’s been 20 years since Kochiyama made her famous speech and new problems face the Asian-American community that would have required a new version of Kochiyama’s
However, they had a different socioeconomic background. This paper is to persuade representing Filipino American in Asian Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issue and History of Asian Americans Exploring Diverse Roots to capture Mr.
There’s a myth about Asian Americans, that generalizes them into one group. People create false images of us through stereotypes. These stereotypes have been manifested in books, movies, and literature, but they have repercussions for Asian Americans in society. We are often treated as foreigners, people leading us to believe that we don’t belong in American society, and that we have no purpose being here. Stereotypes are natural things that people will talk about.